Hard or Soft chassis for wooden routed tracks ?

[r377]

I personally always ran hard chassis with a strengthened, hard motor pod on my cars for wooden routed tracks, but now have heard a few people getting success with the softer, more flexible chassis ? Thunderslot chassis are super soft and flexible, they seem to run great

[HO RacePro]

Flex in a chassis helps in two directions. The first, keeping all four wheels on the track. The second, shock absorption.

Routed tracks commonly have some banking and twist to them. A rigid chassis cannot keep all four wheels in contact on those twists and banks, which makes the car unstable. Of equal importance, if the front axle and the guide are solidly connected but able to twist independent of the rear of the car, that flex will allow the front wheels to keep the guide square versus the walls of the slot. You don't want the guide to tilt in the slot. That makes it easier to deslot.

As for shock absorption, flex in a chassis helps isolate shocks and also absorb the energy of shocks. The faster a chassis can recover from a shock the better it can keep its tires in firm contact with the track.

A rigid motor pod transmits power efficiently. But flex can be a good thing elsewhere.

[Aptosc6]

All well and true but....most hobby cars are built to run on plastic track. If your cars are not hooking up correctly on your surface maybe you should experiment. Buy "soft" and "x-hard" see if one works or if it even makes a difference.
Maybe more critical is to make sure the motor can't flex in the pod. Hot glue works really good!

[Kevan]

Hot glue isn't allowed anywhere near my cars.

[Brumos RSR]

I say it depends and for the record, I have no clue what I’m doing. I use theory, magnet racing and what I read here to build. I’m poor at finding grip in proxies with most cars I build, so I use which ever chassis for THAT model that gives me the best handling. With my NSRs, I have a 917 on a white chassis another on a blue chassis that is faster than the white chassis on wood. Same motor, gearing etc, mild difference in weight and rear track width. I’m building a black 917 chassis now. As for my Thunderslots both are proxy cars on medium chassis and I have one which has done well in past testing on a extra hard chassis. I’m looking for grip and forgiveness when driving the car near the edge. My C6 Vette in the GT3 proxy was an experiment tuning the yellow chassis, again for flex, grip and hope 3 years ago. We will see what it can do soon.

[Fast Co.]

Tony, I couldn't get my NSR C6R to run well with the yellow chassis. I don't know if it was the chassis or some other factor. There are so many variables in slot car racing.

One thing I've learned is that even the slightest of adjustments - a 1/4 turn of a body screw, for instance - can cause dramatic changes in performance. Slight variations in motor torque and rpm, gear mesh, alignment of rear axle bushings, track width, front axle height, tire compounds and preparations, even minor braid adjustments - which I think often plays a role in proxy racing - it all plays a significant role.

It's difficult even to compare two cars that seem to be "identically" set up.

[Brumos RSR]

The C6 is a complete anomaly, maybe. But if you recall, Sir CourtneyS also ran a C7 on a yellow chassis 3 years ago and finished 10th in the GT3 proxy. My C6 outperformed my NSR C7 on a medium chassis, hard pod with all other bits being equal, during this same time. The C6 was my 1st build to make up for my deficiencies in ability to get what I felt were the right driving characteristics for proxy racing. And Fast Co, you’re 100% right a turn of a screw here, a mm more or less, moving adding or subtracting a piece of weight can make a huge difference. Or just one more look at the car while sitting on a setup block canne huge when it comes to getting ANY car right regardless of chassis.

[Kevan]

I have an old evo 3 SW Mosler, the chassis is so soft it touches the track if your put ballast in the pod so I glued piano wire alongside the pod from the front of the chassis to the rear wheel cut outs...it's the overall track record holder on our wood track.

[HO RacePro]

My most successful car to date, with a custom printed chassis, has been described as having "more hinges than Ace Hardware". Raced exclusively on custom-built MDF tracks.
Ed Bianchi

[JCIS4ME]

As for me and my little 4X8 mdf routed track, Heavy or light stiff or flexible the two I most run are my 4 NSR's and 5 Revoslots. The Heavier Revo handles pretty good, using full braking and trigger functions, the NSR cars are lighter and require lighter brake and acceleration. Tried the NSR suspension as I commented in another thread, I really do not notice any difference in handling.
Again it is a short track in which I run 14,000 rpm motors, the NSR's scream and the Revos right behind it. My Nincos are older cars with factory gearing and handle like crap, im thinking the stiff chassis, NO FLEX what so ever.
Any way off my soapbox! Have A Great and Safe Day!
Marty
T.R.Raceway
Toms River NJ

[Kevan]

Solid chassis with no floating motor/axle mount will handle rubbish in comparison, the body, front axle, rear axle/motor all need to move independently to create a nice handling race car. A separate chassis/pod will work just fine even made of metal but a solid slab of metal will be much poorer handling.

[JCIS4ME]

I say it depends and for the record, I have no clue what I’m doing. I use theory, magnet racing and what I read here to build. I’m poor at finding grip in proxies with most cars I build, so I use which ever chassis for THAT model which I believe gives me the best handling. With my NSRs, I have a 917 on a white chassis another on a blue chassis that is faster than the white chassis on wood. Same motor, gearing etc, mild difference in weight and rear track width. I’m building a black 917 chassis now. As for my Thunderslots both are proxy cars on medium chassis and I have one which has done well in past testing on a extra hard chassis. I’m looking for grip and forgiveness when driving the car near the edge. My C6 Vette in the GT3 proxy was an experiment tuning the yellow chassis, again for flex, grip and hope 3 years ago. We will see what it can do soon.

I'm with ya an old hacker racing myself and trying anything to go faster, have no clue on these little cars! But the number one thing is HAVING FUN!!!!!

[Bal r 14]

I have several cars with very soft chassis. They required some stiffening, or they rubbed on the track or tires hit the fenders. On my first track, which was also 4 x 8 with lots of turns, the cars that handled best were the ones that weighed the least... less mass to slow down with limited space. As my tracks have grown, heavier cars work better. Chassis stiffness didn't seem to make much difference, except on short wheelbase cars with very little tail overhang.