Lancia Stratos - Failure of Digital Conversion

[Scuderia Scalextric]

I bought the Lancia Stratos twin pack over Xmas, and understood that they are analogue cars. Was very happy with my purchase, both cars are stunning and handle really well. I wanted to convert them to digital (to take advantage of the extra digital power and lane changing), and so took them to my local scalextric dealer. They have previously converted a number of my analogue cars to digital (Ford Focus, Suburu Impreza, Ford GT40 and Ferrari 330P4), and have also fitted LED lights to the Focus, so are highly experienced. However, after conversion, both cars had problems; they repeatedly cut out, or after a few laps suddenly went to full throttle and flew off the track. I took them back to the dealer, and after checking, they said that there was a problem, I think to do with not enough 'suppressors' in the motor/circuit? They were puzzled themselves, and so I asked for them to convert them back to analogue, which they did. Both cars still drive great as analogue, so I am still happy with them, but can anyone explain why this might have occurred...? Many thanks...

[gorp]

if it was dpr , then would suggest early version that did that frequently

if wired chip ,  here would first check 2 piece guide assembly for improper assembly

if toy goes crazy here now - fast , stop or shakes, its most always the guide

[Andy P.]

It was likely this set, correct?

https://www.scalextric.com/uk-en/lancia-stratos-1976-rally-champions-twinpack-limited-edition.html

Thos cars are not DPR so they must have soldered in the C7005 retro chip.

While the position of the suppressor (also called ferrit man) is important the behavior you highlight sounds more like the chip was faulty and the car was acting like an analog car.

GregK at the slotcarforum is famous for finding the problem with chips and reparing them as well as upgrading them to help them handle more volts, amps etc.

[Scuderia Scalextric]

Many thanks for the replies. Yes, it was the rally champions twinpack, and yes, the retro chip was soldered onto the cars. The unusual thing was that both cars exhibited exactly the same behaviour after the fitting, which is why they felt it couldn't be the chips (and I've never had an issue with these types of chips before). The erratic behaviour occurred after fitting the chip when I ran them in both digital and analogue modes (as digital cars can also run in analogue mode on my 6-car powerbase). However, both cars ran fine before the chip was fitted, and still work fine now that the chip has been removed. I'm happy with them back as analogue, but might try slotcarforum in the future...

[Andy P.]

Well it often occurs that an entire batch could be bad. The only way to know is to try to solder them into other cars and seen what happens...