Issue with Scalextric Tyrrell Elf P34 and 001

[Bal r 14]

I love the old 6 wheel Tyrrell Elf. I bought 2 of them and added the Jackie Stewart 001 4 wheeler so I could have 3 F1 cars to race together. The problem is they are impossible to drive, they skate around like they are on ice. I can sand the tires on the 001 Elf, but that works for about 2 laps. The tires on the P34 Elfs don't sand at all. There's no room to add weights. I don't know what to do to get these cars to work. Is it just the nature of these models?

[Rastas]

Without seeing what each car is doing up close it's hard to tell! The first step is to true the wheels, take the tires off the wheels tape some sandpaper to a flat part of your track and lightly sand the plastic wheels till true once your happy with the wheels glue your tires on let dry, now sand tires till true, clean with tape or lighter fluid, and try that you will find that will help with all new cars with plastic wheels.

[Billy boy]

do the tires feel soft and pliable, or are they hard, stiff feeling. If your unable to sand the tires im thinking theres a problem with them. are these the new scalextric cars? hold off on glueing things for a bit. see if someone makes replacement tires for them. your track is clean and other cars drive without sliding around ?

[mopargreg]

Get some Paul Gage urethane tires.

[Bal r 14]

I did just order some Paul Gage tires for the P34 cars. I hope it helps. I can't find a size that fits the 001 car. I ordered some sets of Paul Gage tires for some other cars, as well.

The tires on the Tyrrell cars don't feel like rubber and they don't sand. They are somewhat pliable, but I would not call them soft. Whatever they are made of it isn't what the tires of other cars feel like.

All of my cars slide around some on my track. It is hand routed MDF painted with primer sealer, so the surface is flat. I sometimes wonder if a coat of gloss paint would improve traction, but I don't want to make thing worse.

I have trued the tires of most cars, never considered truing the wheels. It did help somewhat. I have noticed that when the tires are not true the cars seem to vibrate or shudder on hard acceleration and they don't do that when the tires are trued. The Tyrrell cars are perfectly smooth and quiet. They just slide around like they are on ice.

The traction of my 4 other Scalextric cars seems to degrade fairly quickly, while the traction of my 3 Carrera cars seems to hold up better. I also have 1 NSR car and it is clearly superior in all respects, but the tires wear out quickly. I may have to buy more NSR cars.

[Billy boy]

What area of the country are you from. Maybe there’s a club near you with someone who might be able to help you.

[chrisguyw]

Hello Bal r 14,..........I would not touch the surface of your track just yet,........flat latex paint provides very good grip with urethane (Paul Gage) and rubber (NSR) tires, whereas most of the stock tires on Scalextric, Carrera,Slotit, are less than ideal when racing without traction magnets...which you are obviously doing on a copper tape track.

Truing the tires helps a ton, as it removes the "bounce", and therefore keeps the tires on the track surface, which is certainly a good thing when looking for traction.

You should be able to find a tire from Paul Gage that will fit most any wheel, and an email to him will help if you are uncertain.

With proper "round" tires, you will have plenty of grip.

Keep us posted

Cheers
Chris Walker

[Billy boy]

most no mag tracks keep the voltage at around 10 volts.if running higher, try dropping the voltage. might help a little

[Brad_T]

I have the 6 wheeled Tyrell, the M23 McLaren and 312T Ferrari all running the same Paul Gage tire on wood track with flat latex and well rubbered in at 10.2 volts.
I do find the Tyrell twitchy compared to the Ferrari and McLaren due to the guide location in relation to the rears but no less grip running the urethane tires. The stock tire on my track was not good, trued or not, I didn't need to true the front tires

[Bal r 14]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I have been running at 14.5 volts. I will dial it back. I still haven't found a Paul Gage tire for my Tyrrell 001. They are bigger and wider and the wheel is a little bigger than the Elf 6 wheeler. I definitely notice the difference in handling due to the blade location.

[Bal r 14]

Just a follow-up: I did dial the voltage back to about 10.5 and the Paul Gage tires work great on my P34 6 wheelers. Still haven't found anything for Tyrrell 001. Another question: some people have mentioned using a drop of glue to hold the tires on. What sort of glue would that be?

[Billy boy]

super glue

[kirbs50]

I had/have the same issue with my Scalextric Tyrrell P34's and Lotus 72. Like you, I have an MDF circuit painted with MDF primer. Because I had a hand controller die, I wired up a really, really old one. It gave more control at low revs. Also, I cleaned the track surface with a dry microfibre cloth and removed a layer of dust that didn't seem to trouble other cars. Both Tyrrells and the Lotus still skate around. I've just been gifted a Lotus 49, Eagle Weslake and Brabham BT26. Although they're on different (grooved) tyres, they too go skating.
There may not seem much point in this response, but at least you know you're not alone and know what someone else with the same set-up has tried. For me, the biggest improvement was the improved control at low speed with the old hand controller.
Let us know how you get on.

[WB2]

Try cleaning them with lighter fluid.
I’ve had a number of cars that act like this and it was always dirty tires.

[RichD]

I would avoid using lighter fluid (naphtha) to clean urethane tires. According to the Cole-Palmer database urethane only has a fair resistance to naphtha. Wiping the tires down with a good surface cleaner should get them clean without damaging them.