by goosenapper » Tue Jul 22, 2014 10:13 am
If you run with magnets on Carrera track then the only thing that you might want to do is make sure that you are running like tires on them all.
The newer Carreras all sport nice, grippy tires. You could give them a sanding to form a flat contact patch and then round the edges. Aside from the standard lube-job, that's all I normally do. Some guys I race with don't even sand their newer stock tires.
But if you've got a few of the older cars that run on the tougher tire compound, switch to your favorite tire with a shore 40 rating and it will run as good as the newer models. For me, that means changing to standard Paul Gage tires, the PGT and not the more grippy shore 20 XPG. I use the the PGT for my 1/24 cars as they are really the only option available, but you've got more variety in 1/32. The Yellow Dog tires from slotcarcorner run as well as the PGT's.
The group I race with looks for parity when it comes to cars, seeking to make all of our beasts run around the same lap times so that the digital racing is more fun than just watching one or two cars drive away with the win. The trick is to not make a car run better than any of your others unless you want to spend a load of dough buying new treads for all of your cars. Since the standard shore 40 Carrera tires work great in my book, providing enough grip in conjunction with the magnets to ensure that the car stays on the track but also allows me to drive the thing, I'm not too eager to improve upon it. If you combine the XPG or other shore 20 tires with magnets, you might as well tape the plunger down on the controller. For me, that's not fun, but if you're wanting streaks of light on your course, there's your recipe.