Sidewinder versus In-line motors.

[LesD]

I have two BTCC cars and one, the orange BMW number 3 and the VW Passat of Jason Plato.

the VW sticks to the track very well.

the BMW is very tail happy.

I presume this is because the BMW has a sidewinder motor with ALL the wait at the back and the VW is an inline motor?

I’ve tried moving the magnet in the BMW to the forward position with no noticeable effect.

is it the case that you cannot race Inline against Sidewinder?

[Andy P.]

Performance parity i.e. getting cars to be more or less handling and performing the same can take a long time.

Moving the magnet forward will actually reduce downforce on the rear.

First make sure all the cars are set up to perform their best:

After that you can try things like lowering the magnet by shaving off plastic and getting the magnet closer to the rails.

A search here or at places like slotracer.online will give you lots of other tips.

Or, if you have an ARC system of any kinds (ONE, AIR or PRO) they all offer ways of reducing the power on the faster car to make them match more easily.

Good luck!

[LesD]

Andy, many thanks.

I did wonder whether moving the magnet would have the desired effect, but it seemed counter intuitive not to. I’ll move it back and test.

I have trued the tyre on the wheel where the main cog is located (being a sidewinder motor) because it was only running on one edge.

I have ARC AIR and as you say I can reduce the power on the faster car. I tried turning down the power on this car and it made the handling easier.

ive been getting wheel spin a lot.

[Andy P.]

There is also a way to adjust the throttle curve in the app that might help as well.

There are aftermarket "progressive" magnets that are stronger on the outer edges of the magnet so that a car has high straightline speed but grip in the corners.

There is a user-created APP called Magic ARC that should be available again soon in the Apple store and is still readily available for Android that allows a few more tweaks than the standard app.

[LesD]

Andy thanks for the advice.

I put the magnet back into the rearward location of the cassis next to the motor.

I ran the car again and with the trued tyres knocked a second off my best lap!

the car is more stable and much less wheel spin..

[gorp]

Anytime would prefer sw over inline for racing.

Handling is affected by guide to rear axle length, variables in stock motors, gear ratios, tires, magnets, body weight, and position of motor.

Avoid front motor cars.

[David -372648]

It seems that the cars with small diameter tires only run inline as sidewinder utilizes a large diameter drive gear on the GT cars etc, that have larger diameter tires.