The first of several large orders.

Like we talked about on the rally forum eventually we will be going sans magnets. A heavier car will have some advantage, cars with poor OEM magnet strength will be on a more even playing ground. I've never raced Yosh's AutoArt Subaru's but they are not "stock" by any means. They have Ninco wheels and tires, and I believe a Ninco NC-5 motor. The only thing that the Carrera Subaru has different is it has slick tires instead of grooved, but they are not silicones.

I set up some track last night and ran some laps with my Citreon, Lancer and Subaru's just to see which of those cars work the best. The Lancer and one of the Subaru's are much older SCX cars I got from Ed, but the Lancer was a great handler. I also liked the newer Subaru but the Citreon C4 was the best of the bunch. I have no track borders so I'm being very careful on the curves that don't have area to slide out on and I still was managing times in the 12.5 second range on a 30' lap. That's a completely stock car.

Yoshi's going to write the rules for 2010, not me. I'll make suggestions of course but I'm no longer a promoter, just a racer, and I'll race within whatever limits he decides will make the cars equal. Regardless of everything else I still believe our best bet is to remove the magnets and allow unlimited tire swaps. Weights will be decided but I'm asking for a 300 gram max and a 200 gram minumum.

Sort of had magnet shock today, removed the magnet from my SCX C4 and did some carpet racing in my (still) spare bedroom. I had a slight rise, I'd say about 3 1/2" over the course of a 350mm straight with a 350mm crest and then about a 700mm downhill on the other side. Well on the long climb it was OK, it crested well and sounded like it got a little air going down the short side. On the return however, I got serious air, I'd say almost the height of the car, cleared the crest and landed arse over ears on the other side rolling about a dozen times before stopping upside down. Citroens, at least scale one's, don't fly. After putting the magnet back in I still got some air on the short side but this time I stayed in the slot and kept the car under control.

I played with all sorts of elevation changes, I had enough track laid out to get about a full foot of elevation using old Encyclopedia's (I knew those things would come in handy someday) and old VCR tapes. Corners on downhills are tricky regardless of the camber, and jumping the crest only leads to a miserable crash most of the time. We're going to have to temper our rises carefully to avoid broken cars.

Yoshi spent some lathe time today truing up his wheels and tires, I played around with some neo dot's I had on hand trying to find places to put them to get close to spec. One magnet was OK, two put me over the limit so I spent the rest of the day moving it around trying to find a place it would work best. I finally gave up, it seemed to run better without it than with it in the wrong place.

Well the Imola Subaru doesn't come with an NC-6 or ball bearings as was listed (BRS has fixed the text on the website, no biggie) but it is probably the most balanced car in my stable. John Mears drove it and pretty much showed everyone that an older car, i.e. one without a fancy suspension, can do better anyway. And the tampo's on this car make it the second most attractive behind, of course, my Red Bull C4.

I'm a bit miffed by the belt drive and how loose the tension is to the front axle but the cars somehow get it done. Once I start switching over to the ProRace parts some of that slack will disappear to be sure but then the problem of excessive drag will creep in. John said to put a little STP in the belt and it sticky's it up just enough to get a good drive out of the corners. Never heard of that but I'm waiting to see if he does it to his own car first.

Of all the cars I got 4 have the suspensions, and interestingly enough the Focus "Wales Rally" and my Red Bull C4 had red (soft) shocks up front and yellow (hard) in the rear. We ran it like that yesterday, but today I switched it and they both runs a whole lot better, not diving into the corners so much.

Other Ninco car comments:

No lights, BRAVO!! I like the option of adding lights IF you want to. I have read that the LED lights don't draw any current but it's just one more thng that should be left off to make the cars simple.

Two screws to remove the body. YES!!! Fast, easy and especially when you have only 5 minutes out of impound to make whatever changes are needed.

All in all very happy with these cars and can't wait to get a few more in November.