Hello,

I am new to this game and bought a couple of turbo cars, they good, fast and cheap for the kids. I also bought a couple of X-traction cars and these are much slower, can someone tell me if they are designed to run on a different power source? I want to run something a bit faster and more challenging, hopefully someone can give me the rundown on what car suits what power supply and their diffenent speeds. I have a very large AFX four lane track.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Pancake motor cars X-Traction and Thunderjets need 20 volts,
so an AFX wall wart is the right voltage for that.

But if you're gonna venture into the area of high performance racing slot cars,
be ready to spend some $$$ on cars like BSRT G3R, Wizzard P3E & Storm.
A power supply with 10 amps and some lower ohm controllers other than your 70 ohm AFX controller.
Some Parma controllers in the 15 to 45 ohm range.
And it's good you are new and asking questions in this forum,
so you don't end up with too much crap.

BTW,
The kids are the ones that need the good high performance racing slot cars not the cheap ones.
To develop their skills into becoming champions.

__________________

http://www.sloganizer.net/en/style8,SuperFist.png

Try a Tomy Super G+ or any Tyco 440 chassis if you want fast at a reasonable price! Invest in some good Silicone tires as well!

There are basically two different types of HO slotcars; cars with traction magnets (magnet cars) and cars without (non-magnet cars). As a general rule, non-magnet cars have "pancake" motors (three gears along the top plate) while magnet cars have inline motors.

Pancake cars are designed to go slower than magnet (inline) cars. While all can run on the same voltage (around 18-20 volts), some adjustment is needed for personal tastes.

Pancake cars do not rely on heavy (or any) magnet attraction to the rails. Therefore, the speeds obtained by these cars are not designed to match that of magnet cars which have traction magnets. You have to decide for yourself what type of car is best suited to you. Do you like ultimate speed or do you like the car to slide around?

X-Tractions have some magnetic downforce, but not to the degree of the Tomy, Tyco or Lifelike cars. Pancake cars require more TLC to keep them running well. So there's probably nothing wrong with the XT, it's just the way it's supposed to be.

Joe

IMHO. for what that is worth, the best bang for your buck as a newbie is to buy 6 of the Mattel 440X2 chassis directly from Mattel. Less than $3 per chassis plus shipping will give you a fast car with a lot of aftermarket parts available. They do not come with bodies, but BadDawg on this site can take care of that.
The Tomy Super G-Plus is also a very fast car out of the box but needs to have the rear hubs replaced and slip on silicones at the least to bring the car to life. Don't overlook the Lifelike cars also.
I recommend you avoid any high dollar expenditures until you get some experience with what works best for your track along with your particular driving/racing interests. You might find the slower cars with the sliding action are more fun in the long run. Or you might find your need for speed takes you into the world of BSRT, Wizzard, etc., but be prepared to spend some money. Fast is never cheap.
Most of all, enjoy!! Find what you like and have fun!! I will be happy to help along with the rest of the hobby talk membership.

Gary
AKA LeeRoy98
www.marioncountyraceway.com

Great info!:thumbsup:

grandcheapsteak (I'm sorry, but I had to do this poor joke ^^ ) is right, you have to see what you prefer : magnet or non magnet. Or you can race the two types.

The 440x2 widepan 3USD chassis is a very good choice for both worlds :

great to race in stock form
can be deeply tuned with aftermarket "pro" parts, to make really good high end magnet racing

can be run without magnet too, because the armature is smooth, just replace the magnet with weight, add silicon rear tires and ski shoes, and go on.


But magnatractions and tjets are cool too, depands of the track. Some JL or AW repros are not very good out of box, perhaps the problem is there too.