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I have been racing on my ninco track for about a year now and at first out of the box racing was ok and the last couple of months I have started to get in to the tuning side of it and I love it! But this brand has been tuff to get figured out. I have tried the basics but it sure seems to be a lot more left in the car! Any help would be great because I cant find anything online!

Well, what have you done so far?

You tried new tires? Played around with some lead here and there?

I am sure someone will come along who have messed with them. I had one but never did anything with it.

I used a set of max track silicones and did the basic adjustment and broke the car in on 6 volts. It just seems like the car has so much more in it I just don't know how to unleash it!

slotracin,

Well there is just so much more to tuning than slapping a pair of silicone tires on the rear. I have to assume that nothing has been done.

Personally, I've come to love either Yellow Dog or Paul Gage urethane tires. They grip almost as well on plastic as silicomes do, but they do not have the fall-off that is associated with dirt on them as the silicones do. Just my opinion however.

Another reason I like the urethanes is simple; I glue then true all my tires. There is nothing in the world like a slot car with round wheels and tires. It just 'glides' down the track. Do it once and you will see why so many folks take the time to do this.

Remember, the closer you get the mass of the car to the surface of the track will make a huge difference in how well the car handles. Just keep 1 mm of ground clearance to avoid any damage to the track's surface. Many slot cars are so tall, that I've been known to glue a piece of .064 x 1.000 brass strip to the bottom of the chassis to help in getting the weight lower. This works well on sidewinders as you have that big gear to contend with.

Bibbster had put together an article on getting all the play out of the bushings on your slot car. I've been doing this on all cars that have knurled axles. To allow for clearance when assembling the car, the bushing holes are larger than required. This will make a car "hop" under hard acceleration. I use a drop of oil, followed by a drop of CA Super Glue in the bushings to tighten them up. "Hop" is not there now. I found out that my friend, an A/C technician uses the same approach to compressors that have loose bushings. Small world, ain't it.

Finally, do not forget the guide flag. It should sit in the slot as far as it will go. I try to set my ride height so the front wheels just touch the track's surface.

I'm sure that if you do some of this, those cars will be unleashed.

Avant slots are kind of tricky to get right or at least I thought so. First there are several different versions of the chassis and many parts are not interchangeable. I had the early version and had to swap out the chassis for a newer model. Setting up the rear rear spring/torsion bars is kind of trial and error but in the end I just basically put enough tension on them to keep them from moving around, one guy I know completely removed them and it still handled ok, go figure. The single biggest help to mine was putting in one of the aluminum motor pods which really improved the handling. Unfortunately they are rather pricey and I probably wouldn't have spent the money on my own but I had one given to me by a fellow racer. Like others have said experiment with different tires. We were racing them on Scaley Sport and used NSR Supergrips with good success but most of my cars are now getting the Paul Gage urethane's.

Regards
Rico

Thanks again guys for all the great info. I am just starting to get to the tuning side of this and finding out how much I can really do to these cars! (and its very cool) :text-thankyouyellow:

if your racing on a home track without any looooong straights, the avant motor may be to much power with standard set controllers and power supplies . I believe they are 25000 RPM, a lot of power to get control of without mags on plastic.

My longest straight is 13 ft but I have upgraded my controllers with parma controllers. What kind of motor do I buy , I have swapped motors in other cars and 21,000 motors seem to do the best , but Im not sure what motor to buy for that car and where to start with a gear ratio? Changing the guide and setting the front axel height and adding the new tires made a world of difference ! Thanks for the awesome help guys!