Calibration - World GT ARC AIR

[Yupster]

Hi

 New to Scalextric and just bought the World GT ARC AIR.

 All good apart from calibration.  First time calibration was fine but I've found that with one of the cars it will suddenly lose performance. Almost as if there's no drive and stutters on the track. If you lift the back wheels there's plenty of power to the rear axel but when back on the track it just stalls. The only way I've found to cure the issue is to re-calibrate.

 Does this sound right? Normal behaviour? How often should you need to calibrate. Thanks for the help.

[woodcote]

Hi Yupster - welcome to the forum!

 

The low speed calibration is individual to each car - it is setting the slowest speed a car will get round the track without stalling. Some cars will need more 'juice' than others. The low-speed calibration is used for ARC features where the power is reduced - 'out of fuel', 'tyre blowout', 'weather change', 'incidents' etc. It should also kick in at the end of a race.

 

Is the stuttering only happening in low speed features or all the time? Does it happen when you are not using the app too? Or is this happening with the Pace Car mode when you are setting the speed of the pace car?

 

If this is happening with just one car, it could be an issue with the car. Stuttering can often be caused by the braids not making contact properly with the track or the contacts below the braid plate. Check the braids are neat and that the braid plate has not come loose - it should be pushed back in the slot at the front of the guide blade so it covers the circular guide base.

 

Another reason for stuttering can be track problems - is the stuttering happening at a specific part of the track? Connections should be checked and tabs under the track tightened, if necessary: www.scalextric.com/uk-en/support/track-maintenance

 

Hopefully that gives you a few things to look at. If none of them solves the problem, please let us know and give more details of what is happening and when.

 

Good luck!

 

[Yupster]

 Hi Andy

Just in the process of returning my second World GT Arc Air set!! I sent the first one back to Amazon and the replacement came about 3 weeks later.

All god for a day or so and then the same thing started to happen again.........with the same red Ford GT car. A very strange coincidence. So either there's a batch of faulty Ford GT's floating about or Amazon siimply sent me back the sameset that I'd returned previoulsy..........I guess we'll never know.

So I'm getting a refund but not sure where to buy from next. I've seen Jadlam out there but don't know too much about them. Either that or buy direct from Scalextric?

Best

Andrew

[AcuMD]

I'm looking at the same set for my first slot car set. I'm starting to hesitate because a lot of the reviews on Amazon seem to show that this particular set is very faulty. 

[Andy P.]

Please use the link azt the right to highlight this to Scalextric Customer Care.

This can be dealt with.

[woodcote]

Hi AcuMD - welcome to the forum!

 

Do remember that the feedback that gets posted online tends to be negative - if a customer has a good experience, they just get on and enjoy using the product. The ARC Air and ARC Pro systems are complex, so can - in some cases - go wrong. If that happens, Scalextric Customer Services are always very helpful - so there's no risk involved.

 

I have four ARC powerbases - 1 x One, 1 x Air and 2 x Pro. I have used them all a lot, including at public events, and never had an issue. There are a dozen other people at my slot car club who have ARC Air and/or ARC Pro sets and none of them has had to send a powerbase back for repair or replacement. Some have asked for tips about using the ARC app and that could be part of the issue with some of the bad reviews - it can be a steep learning curve with the app.

 

Whether it's people I know or people posting here (or on other forums), I would say 60-80% of problems are fixed by reading the set instructions, the ARC Quick Start Guide or having a few issues that are not covered in the guide explained by another enthusiast. In the past, there were a lot of issues with Android device compatibility, but this seems to be better now. Reports that people have had exactly the same problem with 2, 3 or 4 replacement powerbases will mean 999 times out of 1000 that the product is not being used correctly.

 

An exception could be with the Ford GTEs that Yupster mentioned. They have a different motor in them that can be a little temperamental, even with normal use. It is the only Scalextric GT car with that motor.

 

In my opinion, ARC Air is a great introduction to slot car racing. It has loads of exciting features and that means it takes time and some work on behalf of the new owner to learn how to get the most out of it. If you take it step by step, read the instructions and ask questions here if you are stuck with something, I am sure it'll work out fine. An alternative would be to buy a standard Scalextric set, learn the slot car basics and then upgrade the powerbase to ARC Air later.

 

I hope that helps.

[LesD]

I’ve got the World GT set with ARC AIR and it’s really good although I can’t find any tutorial explaining what the features do.

Also I can only calibrate a car in lane 1.

The cars are analogue so I need to be able to do the same in lane 2.

[LesD]

In fact the Pace Car runs only in lane 2 Green. Which is in fact better for the pace car as it’s the lane on the outside of a radius 1 hairpin.

[Andy P.]

Well that all depends on if you use cross over pieces or not.

Most of the features are covered here:

https://slotracer.online/community/showthread.php?tid=181