We do both here on my track. Cars that have high downforce style bodies such as can am run magnets where older class stockers and sports cars run mag less.
When a magnet car comes off its a far more violent crash. Magless is a lot more challenging but rewarding when you set the car up. Scalextric and Carrera cars are cheap to buy and yes you can throw money at them to get the performance you want. A lot of people have the mentality that if you need to spend so much money on them well you may as well buy an NSR or one of the other top end brands. Fortunately Carrera & Scalextric both do American and Aussie cars that I am particularly interested in and I will throw time and money at them to get what I want out of the car.
G'Day Travis, entertaining as always. I am always amused by the fascination of flat out speed around a track, especially with modern Digital tracks. I like to cut back the power and slow the cars down a little, less launching cars into space like Starlink Satellites and more driving the track. If you fly your car off the track your done mate, you wrecked it, its harsh and makes for a lot of very quick races, but you want to win you git gud! I am thinking of a video series where a fixed throttle position is used to maintain maximum overall speed without de-slotting and then only using the lane changers to set comparative track records. Cars could be compared by how much fixed power they can run on the track with out human input. Maybe I will start my own channel someday, if only I could buy some charisma! LOL
Our club is Carrera Digital, all magnet cars. I recently chipped a Slot-It LMP car, and got it working better - our track joins are not so smooth, and I needed to raise the ride height in addition to changing to NSR rubber tires. The car has a *slight* bit of magnet downforce but nothing like the carrera cars. It's extremely light (about 30% lighter!) and has a slightly higher-RPM motor. I particularly enjoy racing that car against the Carrera cars - it's a bit faster on the straights, a bit slower on the tight corners, but oddly, faster on the mid-speed corners. It's a different experience and good fun. That said, I'm using non-magnet tuning tricks to make my full-mag Carrera car faster, too, so I like both types.
Hi Travis. I prefer non mags. My home track is a three lane timber routed, own design and build, and it has copper braid. Result being that magnets don't work anyway. Track is now 11 years old and I still love it but not as big, track or shed, as yours.
Another great topic! You have found the third rail of slot car racing, mag vs no mag. Great debate. Will come down to personal preference an the skill of the drivers. They are two very different types of racing! Keep up the good work !
I love both for certain scalextric I do magnet like there cool modern touring cars but with high end cars and professional cars I like non I love the modding and prepping and the technical side of driving not mag racers.
Non-mag all the way for me mate; anything else is just a fast train set ;-) . Carrera cars have always been a bit of a handful with the mags out, but once you give the rears a bit of truing on some sandpaper they can be an absolute joy to drive; especially on your awesome long sweeping track.
I will do a future video of a complete stock car then tune up without magnets but this was a little bit of fun to show what difference the magnet makes in a standard car 😊
Hi Travis, I race 1/48 vintage slot car no magnet however my 1/32 some have magnets however it depends on the individuals and clubs great youtube thank you regards rhys watsonia
Great video, I run a mix of both magnet and non magnet cars, mostly in pairs and all 1/24. I had my carrera track layout in the garage but was recently prompted to move it into the house by my wife. I have found that the track has better grip inside probably due to less dust and a more constant temperature. Some run great without any magnet with just a change of tyres and a bit of tuning with some weights. All are good fun mag or no mag
A big problem with Carrera cars if you take the magnets out is that the motors have awful braking power. I've a had a couple where I've replaced the motor with a Scaleauto short can & replaced the tyres. This has meant taking a knife to the chassis to remove some material. The results have been good fun but then you've spent extra £s. Maybe worthwhile if it's a car you love that no other manufacturer makes but may make more sense to go with an NSR, Racer, SRC, etc to begin with.
Trav: Thanks as always for these videos bro. Once a Carrera car is tuned with NSR trued rubber, nail polished fronts, suspension adjustments ( 8mm float screws) to create proper chassis float, I prefer non magnet racing on a Carrera digital track. Should you not compare mag vs professionally properly weighted non mag car? That lead still makes a big difference for traction out of corners along with good rubber. That is what will show Carrera guys globally that they can keep their mirrors and spoilers intact and have fun with nothing but a little truing and tuning. I would like to see more racers invest in simple truing ( track sandpaper method) of some better rubber tires and some 8mm body float screws, add some tunston or lead and pull magnets. The time differentation will be lots less then 4 second differential at that point. They will as you said learn to drive their cars and have more fun. I know a lot of guys with hyper cars, none of them pull 6G corners at 260kmh in real life racing.
I love them both, however the mag cars can be a lot more fun depending on the cars of choice. What I did was choose what Cars I want for non mag racing for local competition and all others I left alone with the mag for lots more fun where you can really push the car to the limit especially having kids using them also.
We need to make them bigger and tame their more agressive traits. Then get rid of the heavy motor and move them with electro-magnets. Now we just need to make grooves in the middle of the roads with digital controls. And switches. Lots of switches. Now they are ready for people!!!
I'm surprised the Carrera car only has 1 magnet standard. I have always seen them with 2 magnets. I think I prefer magless racing. There's more driver skill involved & the racing seems to be closer. Car set up is different but important for both.
Agreed - there is also a magnet in front of the motor, but it's not visible from the bottom of the chassis. It's usually held in with the clip that holds the digital chip.
at Way to fast race way in the A.C.T we race with non magnetic cars in all classes. however I like both magnetic and non magnetic for me it doesn't matter. take care slotcarguy from your pal Helcat.
Lol, everyone in comments section acting like no magnets is a cool thing. Yeah, if you want to fight with your car all race long. Just seems too sloppy racing with ass of car always drifting out... imagine we all drove to work like that everyday. I don't seem cars in GT world racing doing an intentional "drift." Pathetic.
I guess it depends whether you want closest to real life, or top speed. The two offer different experience and different challenge. Personally I prefer slowing down the car to something which looks and feels more like real life and requires a heightened driving skill set. It adds up to more fun once you got it cracked. I would suggest everyone start without magnets, which requires slightly modding the car from day one of course, as not only will it be more fun, but less car damage also.
If you really seriously want to drive without magnets, first of all the track needs to fit to that style... starting a turn with a K1 is an absolute nogo. Minimum start the turn with a K2 and then maybe continue with a K1. Second you need to improve the grip on your wheels. So aluminum rims on front and rear with sanded and polished PUs (or rubber tires) plus some additional weight are a good start. To be honest, I ended up in exchanging the original carrera chassis with brass-based racing chassis with front suspension and aluminum rims + high performance PU-tires in all my Carrera 132 cars. In this configuration running without magnets is pure joy....
Hi Travis, this one's oversteering a bit much for my liking without magnets! I think Shaun Casey (comment below) has the best approach. Maybe add some weight to compensate and change the tyres. You should be able to dial in some good balance that way and you'll also have the satisfaction of recording mag less times too :)
if you put a set of good tyres on the carrera car still with the magnet in ,you wont see much/any difference cos the magnet is what is keeping the car on the track now if you put those same good tyres on a NON magnet carrera car you will improve the cars performance 1000 percent,maybe even quicker than the magnet car
Big difference if you put a good set of tyres on .I use Paul Gauge and MJK and depending on the Carrera car I can gain a t least half a second up to almost 2 seconds
Always got to be without traction magnets for me. When racing with traction magnets it sort of becomes a battle about who has the strongest magnet and most powerful motor that will not trip the power supply 😂
@@thatslotcarguy , we used to run a magnet class at my local plastic car slot car club. The cars were so fast, they went round on full power without needing to brake for a whole 3 minute race!
We do both here on my track. Cars that have high downforce style bodies such as can am run magnets where older class stockers and sports cars run mag less.
When a magnet car comes off its a far more violent crash. Magless is a lot more challenging but rewarding when you set the car up. Scalextric and Carrera cars are cheap to buy and yes you can throw money at them to get the performance you want. A lot of people have the mentality that if you need to spend so much money on them well you may as well buy an NSR or one of the other top end brands. Fortunately Carrera & Scalextric both do American and Aussie cars that I am particularly interested in and I will throw time and money at them to get what I want out of the car.
For me non mag cars, I like the fact you have to control the car and balance the power in the corners. Great video Travis, thankyou :)
Thanks mate ☺️
G'Day Travis, entertaining as always. I am always amused by the fascination of flat out speed around a track, especially with modern Digital tracks. I like to cut back the power and slow the cars down a little, less launching cars into space like Starlink Satellites and more driving the track. If you fly your car off the track your done mate, you wrecked it, its harsh and makes for a lot of very quick races, but you want to win you git gud! I am thinking of a video series where a fixed throttle position is used to maintain maximum overall speed without de-slotting and then only using the lane changers to set comparative track records. Cars could be compared by how much fixed power they can run on the track with out human input. Maybe I will start my own channel someday, if only I could buy some charisma! LOL
Our club is Carrera Digital, all magnet cars. I recently chipped a Slot-It LMP car, and got it working better - our track joins are not so smooth, and I needed to raise the ride height in addition to changing to NSR rubber tires. The car has a *slight* bit of magnet downforce but nothing like the carrera cars. It's extremely light (about 30% lighter!) and has a slightly higher-RPM motor. I particularly enjoy racing that car against the Carrera cars - it's a bit faster on the straights, a bit slower on the tight corners, but oddly, faster on the mid-speed corners. It's a different experience and good fun. That said, I'm using non-magnet tuning tricks to make my full-mag Carrera car faster, too, so I like both types.
Hi Travis. I prefer non mags. My home track is a three lane timber routed, own design and build, and it has copper braid. Result being that magnets don't work anyway. Track is now 11 years old and I still love it but not as big, track or shed, as yours.
Another great topic! You have found the third rail of slot car racing, mag vs no mag. Great debate. Will come down to personal preference an the skill of the drivers. They are two very different types of racing! Keep up the good work !
I love both for certain scalextric I do magnet like there cool modern touring cars but with high end cars and professional cars I like non I love the modding and prepping and the technical side of driving not mag racers.
Non-mag all the way for me mate; anything else is just a fast train set ;-) . Carrera cars have always been a bit of a handful with the mags out, but once you give the rears a bit of truing on some sandpaper they can be an absolute joy to drive; especially on your awesome long sweeping track.
I will do a future video of a complete stock car then tune up without magnets but this was a little bit of fun to show what difference the magnet makes in a standard car 😊
@@thatslotcarguy It's good mate, loving the content
Thanks legend 😊
Hi Travis, I race 1/48 vintage slot car no magnet however my 1/32 some have magnets however it depends on the individuals and clubs great youtube thank you regards rhys watsonia
Great video Trav! Congratulations on the 2k subs brother! Awesome milestone! 🙌🏻
Thanks mate ☺️ can't wait to see yours mate 😊
Great video, I run a mix of both magnet and non magnet cars, mostly in pairs and all 1/24. I had my carrera track layout in the garage but was recently prompted to move it into the house by my wife. I have found that the track has better grip inside probably due to less dust and a more constant temperature. Some run great without any magnet with just a change of tyres and a bit of tuning with some weights. All are good fun mag or no mag
Thanks for watching mate
A big problem with Carrera cars if you take the magnets out is that the motors have awful braking power. I've a had a couple where I've replaced the motor with a Scaleauto short can & replaced the tyres. This has meant taking a knife to the chassis to remove some material. The results have been good fun but then you've spent extra £s. Maybe worthwhile if it's a car you love that no other manufacturer makes but may make more sense to go with an NSR, Racer, SRC, etc to begin with.
Drifting for fun races gets my vote
Trav: Thanks as always for these videos bro. Once a Carrera car is tuned with NSR trued rubber, nail polished fronts, suspension adjustments ( 8mm float screws) to create proper chassis float, I prefer non magnet racing on a Carrera digital track. Should you not compare mag vs professionally properly weighted non mag car? That lead still makes a big difference for traction out of corners along with good rubber. That is what will show Carrera guys globally that they can keep their mirrors and spoilers intact and have fun with nothing but a little truing and tuning. I would like to see more racers invest in simple truing ( track sandpaper method) of some better rubber tires and some 8mm body float screws, add some tunston or lead and pull magnets. The time differentation will be lots less then 4 second differential at that point. They will as you said learn to drive their cars and have more fun. I know a lot of guys with hyper cars, none of them pull 6G corners at 260kmh in real life racing.
I love them both, however the mag cars can be a lot more fun depending on the cars of choice. What I did was choose what Cars I want for non mag racing for local competition and all others I left alone with the mag for lots more fun where you can really push the car to the limit especially having kids using them also.
Another Awesome video Trav , the great debate
Thanks legend
We need to make them bigger and tame their more agressive traits. Then get rid of the heavy motor and move them with electro-magnets. Now we just need to make grooves in the middle of the roads with digital controls. And switches. Lots of switches. Now they are ready for people!!!
I'm surprised the Carrera car only has 1 magnet standard. I have always seen them with 2 magnets. I think I prefer magless racing. There's more driver skill involved & the racing seems to be closer. Car set up is different but important for both.
Agreed - there is also a magnet in front of the motor, but it's not visible from the bottom of the chassis. It's usually held in with the clip that holds the digital chip.
With my kids and guest at my home who dont have slot car experience i race with them with magnets. Alone or with slot cars fan, i am magnetless
at Way to fast race way in the A.C.T we race with non magnetic cars in all classes. however I like both magnetic and non magnetic for me it doesn't matter. take care slotcarguy from your pal Helcat.
G'day mate, once covid is livable I will have to road trip up for a race
@@thatslotcarguy yeh that would be great.
Awesome desgin track as always bro
Thinking of running both. But torn at this poiint. Depends on me mates.
Race on!
Carrera 132 cars looks good but AFX cars will blow the doors off of Carrera cars plus they stay glued to the track
Great comparison mate, keep up the great work 👏👏
Lol, everyone in comments section acting like no magnets is a cool thing. Yeah, if you want to fight with your car all race long. Just seems too sloppy racing with ass of car always drifting out... imagine we all drove to work like that everyday. I don't seem cars in GT world racing doing an intentional "drift." Pathetic.
It's all about the tires. Stock tires with no prep or treatment are not the best way to go magnet less.
Couldn't agree more mate
Like mags due to physical limitations on movement
I guess it depends whether you want closest to real life, or top speed. The two offer different experience and different challenge. Personally I prefer slowing down the car to something which looks and feels more like real life and requires a heightened driving skill set. It adds up to more fun once you got it cracked. I would suggest everyone start without magnets, which requires slightly modding the car from day one of course, as not only will it be more fun, but less car damage also.
If you really seriously want to drive without magnets, first of all the track needs to fit to that style... starting a turn with a K1 is an absolute nogo. Minimum start the turn with a K2 and then maybe continue with a K1. Second you need to improve the grip on your wheels. So aluminum rims on front and rear with sanded and polished PUs (or rubber tires) plus some additional weight are a good start. To be honest, I ended up in exchanging the original carrera chassis with brass-based racing chassis with front suspension and aluminum rims + high performance PU-tires in all my Carrera 132 cars. In this configuration running without magnets is pure joy....
Amazing advice mate, but I'm not ready to scare of any new comers just yet 🤣🤣🤣
Please do same test with same car after you have replaced the back tyres with urethane, for everyone to see
magnets make it easier to have the "right" tires
Hi Travis, this one's oversteering a bit much for my liking without magnets! I think Shaun Casey (comment below) has the best approach. Maybe add some weight to compensate and change the tyres. You should be able to dial in some good balance that way and you'll also have the satisfaction of recording mag less times too :)
Wow 2k congrats brother ,that means another give away prizes is coming then bro if so hopefully i win next time brother
if you put a set of good tyres on the carrera car still with the magnet in ,you wont see much/any difference cos the magnet is what is keeping the car on the track
now if you put those same good tyres on a NON magnet carrera car you will improve the cars performance 1000 percent,maybe even quicker than the magnet car
Big difference if you put a good set of tyres on .I use Paul Gauge and MJK and depending on the Carrera car I can gain a t least half a second up to almost 2 seconds
Always got to be without traction magnets for me. When racing with traction magnets it sort of becomes a battle about who has the strongest magnet and most powerful motor that will not trip the power supply 😂
Great prospective there mate
@@thatslotcarguy , we used to run a magnet class at my local plastic car slot car club. The cars were so fast, they went round on full power without needing to brake for a whole 3 minute race!
No magnet is funner but harder
Always a controversial topic. For non magnet cars silicon rear tyres (for plastic track) and some tuning with weight tungsten or lead.
Its no magnets for me.