FAST TRACKERS: Are They As Good As They Claim? I Was Quite Taken

Submitted by Kelly Morman on Sat, 08/22/2009 - 21:44

Fast Tracker Sideways The ad reads "Fast Trackers were rated first in speed and cornering when tested against ALL popular national slot car brands".

I recently bought the car in the picture (and yes I am man enough to admit that I like Jeff Gordon. I am also 6'3" and 235lbs if any of you want to make fun of it). The picture shows the car in a severe slide on the high banks of my track because this is where it spent most of it's time when tested. I will say the car accelerates as fast if not faster than any slot car I have ever run, I think this is largely due to the big rear gear. That, the looks, and detail of the body are about the only good things I have to say about it. I alsolike the fact that someone out there is making slot cars that are keeping up with the times as far as what it actually being raced today. One of the most frustrating things about the car is it does not coast at all. It seems to be either all on or all off. I tried to put approximately 50-75 laps on with it (my track is 3/4 mile to scale) and got tired of running back and forth from end to end when it spun out on the curves. I think the combination between the torque and virtually no coasting made this one of the most difficult cars to run I have ever experienced. In comparison, I have several of the Tomy AFX cars which I would say are as close as I know of to compare. The Tomys will not keep up on initial take off but will catch up with it. The Tomys without a doubt STICK to the track better and coast multi times better. I know that slot cars of the same brand differ from one to another, and testing only one of a brand may not be an adequate comparison but, I will anxiously await a more positive test result from a member of this group before I purchase another one. To sum it all up, I was quite taken by the looks of the car and the information in the ad, and I guess that also is the way I feel now. Like I was quite taken.

FAST TRACKERS.

Submitted by Aussie Ho on Sun, 08/23/2009 - 00:30.

Kelly. Great story and a subject I've chatted about with Ray in the past. I've been keen to test out the same car by different manufacturers. Eg JL Ford Mustang Vs Aurora Ford Mustang Vs Life Like Ford Mustang etc. We could all do a "Top Gear" type ladder showing the best cars from top to bottom. There would be a lot of personal opinion to each car test but it would be cool to try I reckon. You've demonstrated pretty much what I had in mind and I think we should develop the idea and make it a regular thing.

As far as the Fast Trackers go, I don't think I have one in the collection just yet but I certainly have a lot of the generic and older Life Like cars and yes, they ALL perform a little different to each other. Making comparisons is difficult when each car maker has different ideas on what a slottie should and shouldn't do. I personally like cars slippin' and slidin' everywhere and am willing to sacrifice speed if that means more realistic racing.

There's no doubting Tomy AFX cars having excellent down force and their ability to stay on the track is second to none. But does this make them a better car? I probably have more Tomy cars than any other in my collection but they are not my favourite racer. They have heaps of get-up-and-go but aren't at all smooth. I much prefer the slower reving but slick-as-cat-poop Aurora AFX Magnatraction chassis' for smoothness.

Angel.

Thanks Guys

Submitted by Kelly Morman on Sun, 08/23/2009 - 11:15.

Thanks Tony and Angel for the kind words. Angel I have to agree about the variation in opinions if we were to try and do an overall comparison of whats out there. (I bet Ray would enjoy a little relief on having to come up with interesting topics for awhile) I have to agree with you on another statement you made. I too like a little slipping and sliding to make it more realistic. On the road course I get that from my souped up Tjets however, on the high banks other than one extremely smooth Tomy, my favorites by far are my Magna Tractions, My analogy is that there are slick-as-snot on a door knob. I have to compare the MT's to the small block chevy engine, I think it was one of the best designs ever built, easy to work on, easy to improve, and just seems to get better with age. Not to mention there is a wealth of parts both old and new available. Maybe if we were to start a comparison venture we could all submit a list of cars individuals would like to see compared, get those posted and allow people to choose which ones they have, and/or would like to test. Might have to get a little help from Admin on setting this up?

Good Job Kelly!

Submitted by mgbbrown on Sun, 08/23/2009 - 06:03.

Kelly; GREAT review and GREAT photo! Of course looks is not everything, even for Pretty Boy. But it was a start though as he has one beautiful wife to go along with it! Jeff is a good bridge between the the old and new, and he is indeed a good driver. He has control of his temper, and I did see him speak at Promise Keepers. My brother is the town planner for Huntersville, NC where all of the big team race shops are around Lowes tucked away into a small industrial park near Simpson World. When I first saw the place all of the cars were in the back of Simpson getting fitted for new lap belts and restraints for the Coca-Cola 600. No-no tickets though through my brother-even for me! From time-to-time he will see the drivers and their families in the grocery store. As for the slot car-new is not necessarily better, but it is hard even for us vintage guys to not marvel at the improvements thanks to pioneers such as Tom Bowman. God Bless! Tonymgbbrown

Great looking car for sure...

Submitted by mkgcars on Mon, 08/24/2009 - 18:48.

A great looking car for sure. Jeff is a talented guy. I've been going to 1-2 Cup races at NH since 2001 (the September race that year was held the day after Thanksgiving - my first race), and the crowd has finally crowned Kyle Busch as the most booed - when we did a track tour last July the first turn had numerous entries "Kyle Aim Here X". As far as Kyle goes, he has a great talent as a driver, but he needs to grow in other ways.

Anyway, is there any way to adjust the brush tension, to make it lighter? That might help the glide factor. Other than that I guess weaker magnets, if they can be changed, could affect. Do you have as second car of the same make, does it drive similarly? That might tell us if it's general (strong mangets, gearing, etc) or perhaps something like brush tension.

Have fun with it though - and thanks for sharing!

matt

PS: Outside the track, after the July race, walking against a huge crowd, all of sudden we spotted Kasey Khane. We'd seen drivers go buy in vehicles after a race, but not walking buy in a huge crowed. No one malled him, he had a big grin on his face.

IC

Submitted by Kelly Morman on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 18:45.

I just returned from a week of riding the trails in cool, colorful Colorado ( the return was not by choice) and I see that there were additional comments to the Fast Tracker test. To answer the questions I saw in the comments; The controller I used in the test is the original Model Motoring steering wheel type. I also recently got back into the slot car scene and since this is what I already had and have never used anything else that is what I used. I do have what I believe is a Parma pistol grip type controller but have yet to hook it up. I would love more info on the ohms of the controllers and how much difference they make etc. To answer mkgcars question about another car, well, I do have another one, it is #48 Jimmy Johnson's car of the future. Everytime I try to run it, it runs out of gas on the back stretch! Just kidding about that. I have yet to take it out of the package. I really do not plan on getting into a lot of parts swapping on these cars as I have so much and many of the Aurora's I will probably never get them all like I want them. I just thought it would be fun to try something new. Once again I would love to see an article about controllers (if there isn't one already) from one of you guys.

Thanks as always

Tony

Submitted by Admin on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 19:01.

Tony is probably the guy to best rate a variety of controllers. All I know about OHMs is simply that Tjets like higher (I use a 120 batjet) and AFX seem to favor lower around 45 OHM. And...that's about what I seem to know. I too would like to see an article splaining all this stuff.

Controllers

Submitted by mgbbrown on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 21:01.

Kelly; Good to see you are back in one piece! Where in Colorado? I went to school in Boulder in the mid 1970's for Southwestern Archaeology. I was a BIG rock climber then but have not tried trail biking. I have in the works an article on mainstream HO controllers specifically for T-Jets which would include Aurora's venerable steering wheel; the second in Aurora's line-up-"George Jetson" Speed Controller; the Mark II Speed Controller (I have an NOS set waiting-so many things to buy! and this is what is holding up the article); Aurora-Russket pistol grips which also work well; vintage Parma Sebrings in 90 OHM which I currently use and are fitted with brakes; and Tower Stats in both 30 and 60 OHM which were the top rated controller in 1969 if you like a thumb type controller with brakes. Tower Stats are small and fit well in my small paw. When I first built Riverside I used my restored childhood steering wheel controller. I became quite adept at turning the wheel! We also used Speed Controllers as boys and had a navy pair of Aurora-Russkits. I used my steering wheel controllers for quite a while, which parallelled with having various specialty tracks on my Riverside as I did in the 1960's. When I decided to remove all of the specialty track except a Start/Finish track and Terminal track (I use my childhood DC-2 powerpack-again for nostalgia reasons) I opted to try the other controller types, starting with what I knew as a boy. Restoring a set of Speed Controllers can be tricky, but they work well as a period piece but are not as responsive as the Aurora-Russkits. My set of red Aurora-Russkits are 80 OHM I believe. My next progression was a pair of Tower Stats, which I purchased as NOS from Bob at The Slot Car Site. BY FAR these are the BEST thumb type controllers out there. Thirty and 60 OHM work fine for T-Jets. In fact, as far as performance is concerned it is almost a toss-up to the vintage Parmas once you get used to them. I currently run a set of 90 OHM sparkley red Parma Sebrings, and will probably keep these in use for some time. The folks at Parma were more than helpful in my choosing the correct OHM's for my track. All of the wires are contained in a black sheath, so they are not a wire rat's nest like the Tower Stats. Ray has a Tom Bowman rewound rheostat on all of his controllers at Alexandria Speedway and they are smooth as silk by Ray's report. If you decide to upgrade and want to go vintage-Parmas are out there daily on ebay. The oldest permutation was the Parma Tiger, which was a Russkit with a Parma Tiger sticker on it before Parma retooled the handle after their buy-out of Russkit. Vintage Parmas are still quite desireable, and parts are available to retrofit the rheostat from a 1/24th or 1/32nd one. Controllers are an often overlooked part of the vintage experience and a good controller will do more than just send a slot car down the track-it will enhance the experience commensurately. God Bless! Tonymgbbrown

Coasting Fast Trackers

Submitted by mountaindudetoo on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 21:30.

Thanks for the review on the Fast Trackers, I sure I will need to have one soon. I have only recently returned to slot car racing and I have a lot of catching up to do. I am impressed by the knowledge exhibited by those individuals on the forum. I'd like, however, to put my two cents in. Recently I started reading Easy Model Railroad Wiring, by Andy Sperandeo and Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest M Mims III. My intention was to properly wire my new track. I've learned a few things that have made my life easier. Can it be possible that the new cars require controllers rated with higher or lower ohms? It's just a thought. I'm curious about any feedback.

Serge