Petrified front tires help

[Jim Norton]

If have two Fly/GB 917s whith tires so hard they had to be removed with a cutting disc! Easily found rear tire replacements which worked great but the cars were still very noisy. By removing the front wheels the cars ran quiet and smooth as silk! This proved the rock hard front tires have to go. Can anybody recommend a source for front replacements? Thanks.

Jim Norton
Huntsville, AL

[Wobble]

Scalextric W8204 - the smaller of the 2 sizes in these packs is a nice fit on the 917 front hubs. Also a Scaley Caterham tyres will fit but are a lower profile.

[tracyridge]

Hey jim
..you might wanna keep those hardened front tires on... 5 of my Fly's have rock hard fronts.. And it improve my lap times with those cars... The less friction at the front the better
.if u can stand the noise!
Just my 2 cents
John

[Brumos RSR]

[slothead]

I bought a used Sloter Ferrari 312S here on HRW a few weeks ago - good car but makes a real racket on the track due to rock hard front tires. I prefer realism to all out speed and am not a fan of a car that sounds like it's mixing paint while on the track. To me this is one of those tuning practices that are unnecessary. Lets just agree to run stock tires on the front and well all be equal and that's that.

This reminds me of when guys starting putting tire goop on commercial tracks decades ago. Yes, you can carry a ton of speed into a corner if you have a tacky substance in your lane to grab the tires and slow you down like a parachute. OR, we can just learn to drive a car to get the most out of it as is. God forbid we as home races get to the point we start chasing speed the way things went at the commercial track back in the day. I vote for less speed and having more fun.

Slothead

[Jim Norton]

Thanks everybody. A little history: I bought two Fly/GB Racer 917s. When I opened the case I was amazed how much oil was in it. My reaction was that somebody grossly over oiled the car at the factory. I cleaned it out and sat it back on the shelf not thinking anything about. Pulled it back out a few months later and the floor of the case was covered in oil again! I soon realized the tires were bleeding off the petroleum base making them as close to ceramic as I have ever seen!

Anyway....went the Scalextrix tire route and the two 917's have urethane on the rear and rubber on the front. Once I did a little tweaking and took a razor saw to cut the original tires off both cars are smooth as silk. Surprisingly I am very impressed with these GB Racer cars! Thanks again.

Jim Norton
Huntsville, AL