Car problem; sticking to the track

[RichK]

Hello everyone.

This is my first post on this forum so hello. I’m Rich and from Nottingham. 

I have 2 children who’ve recently updated their analogue track to digital and we’re all really getting into it. My son bought an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 about 3 weeks ago but we seem to be having real problems with it.

It’s started sticking to the track in certain places. It started on one of the corners but it’s happening on other sections too now. When it gets stuck, the rear wheels just spin and you have to give it a nude to get it going.

I’ve had a look at the car and nothing seems to be in contact with the track except the electric pickup and 4 weeks. As the car travels around the track, it sounds like it’s contacting the plastic beneath the metal rail.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can resolve this? This is one of 3 cars we bought and the other cars work fine so is a real mystery to me as a beginner.

Thanks in advance.

Rich

[woodcote]

Hi Rich - welcome to the forum!

 

There are a few Scalextric cars that can get stuck as you describe, but not the Vantage. I've just taken my Vantage out of the box and had a look at ground clearances on some Scalextric Sport track. It looks fine - even though the rear tyres have been ground down and it has very thin braids for racing :-)

 

I also checked the clearance of the LED in the digital chip as this protrudes from the latest C8515 digital plugs more than previous versions. Again, it looks okay.

 

Do you run on Scalextric Sport track (2000-present day) or the older Scalextric and SCX Classic track (from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s)? Sport track has a deeper slot and the most recent Scalextric cars (from the past 5 years or so) have deeper guides that will catch the bottom of the slot on Classic track pieces. If that's the case, you can shave about 1mm from the bottom of the guide.

 

If it sounds like a plastic-on-plastic scraping sound, I would check two other things. The first is checking the circular braid plate is pushed back into the slot on the guide and it exactly covers the circular assembly underneath. The second is to have a look at the bottom of the car (the underpan / chassis and the front spoiler on the body) and see if that is being worn anywhere. If there is evidence of that, it could just be the underpan is warped - which would most likely be a manufacturing fault. If it does looked warped, definitely contact Scalextric Customer Services (details below or right) who should be able to organise a replacement.

 

I hope that helps!