Hey There!

The Holy Grail of stock traction weights for Magnatraction and Xtraction cars come to us from Sears. I'm not sure of the history here, perhaps some of the historians out there can enlighten us. From a practical stand point, they are a good cheap bet to improve your car's performance.The photo shows the two styles. On the right, the long wheel base only and on the left, the long or short wheelbase version. The two Vipers shown, each require a different type. There is another very subtle difference between the two styles as well. The long wheelbase style weighs 1.8 grams while the variable style weighs about 1.9 grams. The weight on the variable style is also slightly more forward. The choice is up to you.

Hey There! Yesterday I was in Denver and decided to go to the hobby shop. I'm always looking for the bigger better parts car. This sometimes means, buying a brand new car and bringing it home to dissect it. I ended up buying an AW Thunderjet 500, Ultra G. When I brought it home, I decided to give it a try. I was really surprised at how well it handled and how fast it was. I couldn't stop running it.

Hey There!

Well, when it comes to postioning magnets in a pancake chassis, I'm not done yet. I thought I would save the best for last. So far I've covered, shimming the magnets closer to the armarture and centering the armature between the magnets. Here is a tool that helps you accomplish these and more. Magnets can also be skewed in there mounts, leaving a bigger gap on one side or the other, in relationship to the armature.

Hey There!

I'm sure Ray must thing I'm losing it. Over the past few months I've purchased a lot of magnets from him. Here is a photo of my current inventory. Even though none of the magnets have a home, I just ordered another 6 pair. The numbers on each magnet represent the gauss readings.

Hey There!

I want you to know, that when I post tips and tricks, I'm giving you my best advice. It's very much about sharing. I was out of racing for almost 30 years when I met up with two groups of great guys, namely the racers of FRHO and the members of HOSlotRacer.

Hey There!

Sometimes I can get pretty intense about building fast cars. The other day Dan commented on the extreme lenghts that people go to build a competitive car. He's right, it's almost obsessive. Sometimes you've just got to step back and take a deep breath and enjoy the hobby for what it is.

Hey There!

When I posted my first blog on Armature Balancing, I wasn't ready to advise anyone about the right location to remove material. I'm still not! But, I at least I can show you how some of the big guys do it. I'm throwing my own way in, as well, It's an easy way for the racer on a budget to get it done themselves.

Hey there!

Matt brought up a few good points up the other day about tungsten axles, Why should they work in the rear? Dan mentioned that the non magnetic quality of tungsten would help reduce friction. I think that's part of it. After I thought about it a while, I answered the question in my own mind with a resounding DUH! Here are my thoughts.

Hey There!

I had the pleasure the other day to recieve an invitation to Joe Furili's workshop. I spent one of the best afternoons I've had in a long time. Joe was gracious enough to give me a complete tour of his 3000+ collection and awesome resin casting operation. I mentioned to him that I'd like to come back and document some of his collection and casting process. He agreed with some reservations. I'll be paying Joe some visits over the next few months at which time I will share what I've learned. I'm sure the wait will be worth it.

Hey There!

I've been quietly trying out some new things on my club cars during the last few weeks. One of the things I've done is built a back-up car for each of my race cars. It's been a little costly but well worth it. The first class I did this with was the FRHO, GT class. I managed to build a car that almost set a track lap record in the first heat of competition. Unfortunately I spun the pinion at the beginning of the second heat. Tip #1 "Always use Loctite when replacing a pinion". Anyway the idea of a second car, is the ability to test new ideas without committing to them on race day. If something doesn't work out you have another car to race. Sometimes for every step forward you go two back!