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Icy rain was forecast for central Maine this morning so I was working at home and planning to come into the office once things warmed up. Then, about 9:30 am I noticed a box on our porch - my two new cars from Carrera Slots had arrived. (I guess what they say about the mail service is true.)

The obvious dilemma was do I leave the box for tonight and scurry off to work or open the box and go try them out this morning?

I wish I could report my sense of duty and maturity won out, and that I promptly headed off to work, but I did not. I think it was the shiny red Cheetah even more than the Porsche 917 that begged for immediate attention. I also wish I could report the cars ran great on my routed wood road course and compared well with the Fly GT40 and MRRC Chaparral they will run against, but with the huge stock guide keel in place I couldn't even get them to complete a lap without getting stuck in my 1/8" slots. After several attempts I turned off the lights and finished preparing for work.

Once at work I logged into HRW and revisited Harry's Carrera 917 review and noticed he mentions there's a replacement guide in the case. If I'd seen the guides this morning I would have faced a separate choice - taking the time to install them or leaving it till after work. As is I have 2 new cars awaiting me to work on and am looking forward to recording some lap times tonight.

If there are any tips regarding the replacement guides let me know.

Slothead

The blades pop out easiest using a small needle nose pliers. Just pull down and it comes right out, and snap the new one in place.

Thanks Harry. I plan to post lap times tonight.

I bought the Cheetah and Porsche based on HRW comments and the value. I'd selected 2 similar cars at a different vendor's site with a total price of about $150, then deleted that and went to Carrera Slots to buy these for $80 including PG tires.

Slothead

Slothead,
I'm glad you ask the question and glad Harry responded. I have been wondering how to use the red guide for a long time. Just never took the time to ask. Replaced the guide with something else. Now I know.


Arrold

Ok, now I feel really stupid. How do you open the compartment at the back of the CARRERA case without breaking it.

I'm staying up late to watch 'Childhood's End' on SyFy tonight and intend to run some laps before bed.

Slothead

Push and slide it towards the outer edge of the case....

Some of those doors put up a pretty good fight - but as K9Havok mentioned - it slides to the side (verses being hinged).

Looking forward to hearing your impressions of the new additions! :D

Thanks for everyone's help.

Changing the guide keel is a snap (literally), and couldn't be easier. The Carrera cars ran very smoothly from the start. The adjustable power supply is set at 12.5 volts, which the Pioneer and Scalextric cars do okay with, but the Carrera cars seem under powered at that level. But, since that was what I used for the Fly GT40 and Chaparral 2F I left it there for the night.

Average of best 3 laps out of a 5 lap run:
1) MRRC Chaparral - 10.641 secs (stock tires)
2) Fly Ford GT40 - 10.904 (silicone tires?)
3) Carrera Cheeta - 11.137 (stock tires)
4) Carrera Porsche 917K - 11.472 (stock tires)
*) Pioneer Mustang notchback - 10.225 (silicone tires)

Favorite classic GT car so far - the MRRC Chaparral, which is a surprise. I was scared the Carrera cars might be unfair competition against the MRRC and Fly cars, but not at 12.5 volts. The short wheelbase Cheetah is really fun to drive.

If I'd done any of this in the morning it would have meant taking the day off. Next up: 3 Fly cars I bought off HRW are on the way and I need another MRRC Chaparral.

Slothead

Pappy - you're a good man and I stand corrected. Some people take a mental health day off to play golf, so why not for slot cars?

My slot car addiction is flourishing now that I've been buying classic Sebring/Daytona/Le Mans cars. With gas and heating oil around $2.00 a gallon at every fill up that's more $ for another car. I like to think I'm doing my part to bolster the holiday economy.

FYI - here's what's on my wish list now:

MRRC Chaparral


Fly Ferrari


Fly Lola T70


Slothead

Day 2 with the new Carrera cars:

I put PG tires on the cars and saw significant improvements in lap times.

Average of best 3 laps out of a 5 lap run:
Carrera Cheeta - 11.137 (stock tires), 10.223 (PG)
Carrera Porsche 917K - 11.472 (stock tires), 10.834 (PG)

With PG tires these cars are now faster than the MRRC Chaparral & Fly GT40 on my track. With practice you can thrash the Cheetah quite a bit and it remains stable. They ran much better on 12.5 volts tonight.

Slothead

The Carrera Cheetah impressed me so much I ordered another one today from Carrera Slots. Can't beat having that much fun for less than $40 with PG tires.

Slothead

slothead, with the Fly Ferrari 512 don't be put off by the 'cheaper' in-line Alpha series cars. They can be tuned to go quite well. I've put a Slot.It orange endbell in mine and easily won a race the other night racing against Slot.It cars. In saying that, I have had to replace the spur gear with a Scaley spur but the rest of the rear axle assembly is standard other than adding NSR tyres and truing them.

Wobble - I'm finding Fly to be the best source for 60's & 70's Sebring - Le Mans cars. Three more are due to arrive today and I'll do time trials to see what tuning might be needed. My goal will be to tune any slackers to the point I have an evenly matched field of cars. Most recent results had Fly GT40 even faster than Carrera Cheetah with PG tires. No clear favorite yet.

Slothead