SteveinFrance Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 I'm fascinated by the C81/82 cars from the Forumla Junior range. I admire their cornering and speed. A couple of questions I wonder if anyone can answer. These cars run with their front wheels on the track. Unusually in my experience, they also, unusually, have a front axle which steers, and finally they have a centering device ( a rubber band) to centre the front axle after a corner.Is this system unique to these cars?Does it work? Does it improve their cornering?interested to hear anyone's thoughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodcote Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 Hi SteveinFrance - welcome to the forum! Quite a few F1 models from various manufacturers have had steering. It certainly looks good, but any off-straight wheels are going to be an issue at high speeds. As far as I'm aware, the Scalextric Formula Junior steering mechanism is unique in the way it is operates and is considered very effective. It can break, but JS Chassis Design do produce a 3D-printed replacement that is more robust. They also produce a replacement chassis that takes modern running gear. I hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveinFrance Posted February 8, 2020 Author Share Posted February 8, 2020 Thanks so much Woodcote.I hope you don't mind if I insist a little!.Do many Scalextric cars have front wheels that actually run on the track? Apart from the Formula Juniór ones the ones I have don't seem to. It seems to me that the FJ front tyres actually contribute to the cornering. I'm just curious to know why they didn't continue to use this. I guess your remark about high speeds must be the answer. My collection of cars and my track are all from the 60's and 70's. I suppose later cars are much faster.Earlier this week I held an evening's Scalextric racing with some friends. The FJ cars were the quickest. Only rivalled by my Exin models from the late 70's.Mind you the FJ cars are very suscebtible to setting the correct braid heinght and angle. On reflection this could have been the issue. if the front wheels are slightly off the ground the braid is fully in contact with the track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodcote Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 No. I can't think of any other Scalextric cars with front steering. The Formula One (and Indy cars) that came before and afterwards didn't - and a straight axle was preferred through the 70s and 80s and to the modern day. Of the cars I am aware of, the 1990s SCX F1 cars did have steering, as do the Fly and SlotWings classic F1 cars. The very fast and highly-detailed SRC McLaren M23s also have front steering - although I understand SRC will opt for a straight axle for their new Hesketh because of performance concerns. I guess the straight axle is a safer bet - the steering is more complex and if it goes askew (in manufacturing or after an impact), then it hinders performance. I have seen quite a few Fly F1s with wonky front ends. But when they work, they do look great. The Scalextric FJ mechanism is simple and not particularly refined - compared with the SCX, SRC and Fly models - so it works well. As you say, if the wheels are barely touching the track, it is better for the braid contact in any case. Glad you are having a lot of fun with them - the FJs still have plenty of fans, nearly sixty years on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Oxford Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 My memory is pretty vague cos it was about 50 years ago (I'm 57 now and I'm referring to my first Scalextric set), but my first cars were like this:/media/tinymce_upload/3c61d0c3e8bdcb2ea8f1ff2d3220d249.jpgMy (possibly faulty) memory is that these had front end steering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorp Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 A slot car is not a real car. It runs ideally on the guide and 2 rear tires. Anything else cause friction. Back in late 60s, the front wheels became so tiny to solve the tripping over the front wheels on curve problem and to lighten the toy. The only really positive thing about touching front wheels and steering fronts is to watch them roll and turn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorp Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 My memory is pretty vague cos it was about 50 years ago (I'm 57 now and I'm referring to my first Scalextric set), but my first cars were like this:/media/tinymce_upload/3c61d0c3e8bdcb2ea8f1ff2d3220d249.jpgMy (possibly faulty) memory is that these had front end steering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorp Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Sweet !You can tell it is front wheel steering because the front wheels are not in line with the body and the front wheel pin (center of hub) is how it is attached.If the toy was actually available, you could turn it over and generally see the name of the manufacturer. Personally have a few MRRC f1s before they went normal straight front axle.Quick but brittle since plastic ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Oxford Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Just to be clear, that's not a photo of a car I now have - I did an image search to try to find one that most closely fits my memory. I had a set that included a car very close to that, and a similar-ish red one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Oxford Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Also, I can't really vouch for the performance as I was about 7 so didn't really have the skills to get the most out of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Oxford Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 A bit of a Google image search for similar-ish but red, cars tells me that the other one in the set was a C86 Porsche Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Oxford Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 Sorry for double posting that, I didn't initally realise that posts with images are moderated (it makes sense that they are, I just missed the message so thought I'd messed up the post and did it again). (Edit: and now I've kinda triple posted it, I need to work out how better to use this slightly odd forum software, sorry again) Mr/Ms Admin, feel free to delete if you like :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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