Some cars de-slot when drifting too far

[John-347493]

Not sure if this is limited to Scalextric or not, but I have a few cars that have trouble drifting in turns. It's hard to describe maybe and I haven't had time to make a video. The cars seem to drift fine up to a point, but if they drift too far away from the rails, perhaps 15 degrees or so, then violently bounce back in the other direction back towards the rails and then de-slot. It seems as though the guide blade gets stuck or reaches a hard limit of how far it will rotate then bounces back quickly the other way. Not all my cars do this, but the ones that do it really takes away from the fun. To me drifting is like the best part of racing, approaching being out of control / too fast, but then recovering.

One car I have that does this is the "Scalextric Porsche 911 3.0 RSR Jagermeister 1:32 Slot Race Car C4211 Orange"

Thanks

[Andy P.]

To each his own.. Personally I find drifting a waste of time and resources particularly after I saw Top Gear teach grannies how to do it.

Yes it shows someone has good control of the car but so does all other forms or racing without all the waste of smoking tires and the noise...

Then again, there are people who actually LIKE Morris Dancing so who am I to judge?

:-)

Be that is it may to your question:

Most slot cars do have an extreme beyond which they cannot drift and stay in the slot.

Whether they return depends on the guide (some have a spring to bring them back), the wiring (if the wires are too taught they can act as springs) and the magnet (there are magnets out there that have a stronger "magnatraction" on the edges of the magnet).

How quickly a car`s tail breaks out is usually down to tires and the magnet (see above).

Usually racers sand the tires to INCREASE grip but if you want to slide around want them smooth as ice.

The standard Hornby Scalextric borders have curbs that will destabilize the car. There are other brands like SCX that are direct replacements that are flat.

For ultimate drifting you should remove the magnet but that will make any problems with gears meshing or axles straightness very apparent. It is all reparable but it will mean more time tweaking.

If you are using the ARC APP you can adjust acceleration to induce drifting more predictably as well.

Have fun!

[John-347493]

Thanks, Andy. Wish this forum had a like button :-)

[Andy P.]

I wish at least 10% left nice comments like you!

I do this as a volunteer out of the goodness of my heart.. :-)

[Paul-346202]

Hi John!

Do the cars have magnets in? If so then that is probably the issue. If you want to set your cars up to drift you can add weight to the cars.

Scalextric also sell drift cars with 360 rotating guide blades for some great 360 drifting.