Old Yeller Soars
Ninco Jordan Peugeot Sets the Absolute Non-magnet Record
At Fastlane Hobbies and Raceways
PART 1: Flying Brian Sets The Record Straight
PART 2: Choosing Our Weapon, Buying Parts, & Doing the Initial Build
PART 3: Balancing the Car
Part 1: Flying Brian Sets The Record Straight
People have been trying for months now to go sub 10 seconds at Fastlane Hobbies and Raceways with a non-magnet car and it finally happened. Brian McNay did it with my car. When I got to the track on Friday October 21, I tested my Ninco Jordan Peugeot early and got a 10.35 second lap with ease. At that point Brian and I knew the record of 10.02 seconds would fall. After a hand injury two years ago I use Brian McNay as my driver. This sounds like a big time racing operation doesn't it? I can't drive consistently but love to tune cars. Originally I wanted to be a race car engineer, but got sidelined into being a college professor in Biblical studies. Slot cars fill that engineering and racing niche in my life.
There is a reason I use Brian as my driver. He is usually about a half second faster than the old professor. Personally I get as big a thrill out of watching him set the record as he is able to make the car dance. His driving style is like watching Alex Zanardi back in the heyday of CART.
We waited to set the record until business was slow. We chose lane 3 which is considered to be the second fastest lane at the track, but this car likes it better than lane 2. Within a short time Brian was quickly ripping off sub 10.20 laps. In utter horror we saw a new record, but it was not what we wanted. He turned a 10.00!
A few laps later a shout ripped through the air, "That's it!" And then a "The car's retired!" He had just turned a 9.996. When you go sub 10 seconds the DS timer gains a decimal point. What is the difference between a 10.00 and a 9.996? About a half an inch. It may not be much faster, but it was sub 10 seconds. Nobody has ever done that before. The ironic thing is that Brian did it with the oldest slot car I own. It was one of the cars from the Ninco set that started me back into slot car racing after a 35 year hiatus.
Over the years it has gone through five front end assemblies, two chassis, at least eight motors, many rear wheels and tires, and at innumerable gear changes. It held the unlimited magnet record at Fastlane Hobbies for a while with Shawn Smith driving but suffered a horrendous crash that made me give up unlimited magnet cars.
The Ninco Jordan is one great car. In their tenth anniversary book, Ninco says that this was the best car they have made. I agree as this car is clearly faster without a magnet than any car in my stable and I work on several of their newer open wheel cars, but have not been able to match this car. Too bad Ninco no longer makes them. The only car that is close in speed and it is real close is the SCX Visteon Lola.
The record will be beaten, but it is cool getting there first. Hopefully we will be the ones to do it.
The question this series of articles is going to deal with is that of how the car can be replicated. This is difficult because, as I have stated before, it is no longer made. What we will do is describe the car and then try to replicate it using a currently available Ninco open wheel car.
PART 2: Choosing Our Weapon, Buying Parts, & Doing the Initial Build
Ninco Bob, the U.S. Ninco representative has assured us that there are currently two Ninco F1 cars available, the Stewart Ford (50186) and the two Orange Arrows (50280 & 50281). It is interesting that these F1 cars no longer exist in 1:1 but still live in 1:32. There are also the Champ Cars that use a very similar setup to the F1 cars. I have both a Stewart F1 car and the Gigante Champ car. I am going to set them both up as closely as possible to the Jordan.
Parts List: Tool and Materials List 1. Ninco F1 car - If you can find an extra chassis (the motor pod with rear axle supports) then get one or two. If you want to test an alternate engine or drive train it is easier to swap the pod then to remove the glued in parts while you are at the track. I use two pods. 1. All Electronics Scales: This is a strongly recommended option as balance is a very delicate matter. 2. Professor Motor Silicone Lead wires. The wires are cut to length. Only the amount needed for the free operation of the guide is used. Less wire equals more power to the motor. 2. File: This is to file off plastic, if the tire rubs anywhere. 3. Slot Car Heroes SS10 motor. This is a boomer. I call it the reactor. The MRRC red motor has not been tried but this motor is every bit the equal in my opinion and is about 60% the price. 3. Razor Knife: multiple uses, but mainly to lathe the wheels and crown gear. 4. Old Credit Card. This is going to be used to lengthen the guide blade. Credit cards are very durable plastic and respond to super glue very well. 4. Super Glue: I use this to glue the guide blade extender on the guide. It is also is used to attach the brass plate to the chassis. Shoe Glue can be used for the latter operation. 5. 8 Tooth Pinion: A small pinion allows the use of a smaller crown gear. Our car works best with a 3.5/1 ratio. 28 divided by 8 equals a 3.5 to 1 ratio. If you have a 9 tooth pinion then you would have to have a 32 tooth crown gear to get the same effect but then the crown gear would need more clearance. SlotIt does not make an Inline 32 tooth crown gear. 5. Sticky Tack: This is for temporary weight adjustment 6. 28 Tooth Crown Gear. See number 5. 6. Car Polish: We are going to polish the front tires to remove grip. Which brand? Get an old car put what you have on the rear and see if the tires spin. Ninco front tires are the same compound as their rears and provide way too much grip. 7. Machined Axle: At high RPMs you want precision movement or vibration sets in and upsets the car. 7. Dremel Tool with Cut Off Wheel. 8. Roller Bearings or Slot It precision bearings. The bearings on a Ninco rear axle are closely positioned together and axle slop is increased. With a high speed motor vibrations become more apparent. 8. Hot Glue Gun: I got mine at the dollar store for a dollar. We are going to glue the motor (reactor) in place. It is not advisable to go to 110% on the reactor without the motor being glued down 9. SlotIt F1 Rear Wheels/VMG McLaren Wheels/Spirit Aluminum Wheels - we have used all three and they are within few thousands of each other. Physically the VMG wheels and tires have the largest contact patch, which is a function of height width and tire deformation under load. 9. Light oil or automatic transmission fluid (synthetic) 10. Indy Grip tires for the chosen wheels. 10. Tire Cleaner: Silicones pick up the crud that is on the track and this needs to be constantly removed. The lane gets faster as the buildup comes up. 11. MRRC Steel Braids. I like these on this car. 12. Brass Plate: A piece of x brass is needed to convert the chassis into a pan chassis. 13. Ninco Motor Adapter for NC-1 motors to an NC-2 engine mount. Ninco Part # 80608 Step#1: Tear your car down and make it a pile of parts. Thoroughly clean the plastic chassis to remove any oil or grease. This can be accomplished by taking the wife's toothbrush to it in soapy water. Next, when you wake up in the hospital . . . let's do that over. Using an old toothbrush clean the chassis thoroughly with dish soap because it cut grease. Now is a good time to put reinforcing collars around the body posts. I use brass or copper tubing that fits snugly around the post.
Step #2: Inside the body at the rear is a cavity that the gear goes up into. Fit the new crown gear onto the new axle, add the bearing, and snap it into the chassis without the wheals and tires. Snap the old motor back in and hook some power to it. I use an old 6 volt power pack. What you are going to do is lathe the crown gear using the sharp carving/razor knife. The SlotIt gears are very durable because they have way too much plastic in them. What you want to do is take off some of that back edge that is square and round it off. The reason for this is if you look inside the body there is a groove the crown gear runs in. With the edge on it the gear hits the body. You can also enlarge this groove by scrapping with the edge of the sharp knife. Every so often you should put some black grease on the outside of the tire. Put the chassis in and turn the rear axle by hand. If it feels like it is scraping take either some more off the gear or out of the groove or even both. If the axle is turned slowly and the gear leaves a black mark on the body then you can see where it is scraping. Clean the black off and try more. One time my car was dog slow on the straight but had fabulous brakes. It did not feel like it was scraping but it was. I took a little more plastic off the gear and suddenly my straight line speed was back to normal and I had to turn brakes back on.
Step#3: Put the eight tooth pinion on the shaft of the motor. First do a dry run of this procedure without the Loctite in the next sentence to figure out where to position the gear. When you know where the gear is going put a little permanent Loctite inside the gear before doing this. This is a 33,000 RPM motor. About 40% more than stock! Put the Ninco adapters on the motor and snap it into the engine bay. Next put the wheels on the axles with super glue or if you are using set screw wheels use mom-permanent Loctite and turn the screw down. Now solder the lead wires to the motor and put the eyelets on the lead wires. Finally get have the hot glue gun ready which means nice and hot and run a generous bead or two down each side of the motor to hold it in place.
Step#4: Assemble the car and test it to see if it runs or anything rubs. We will do the fine tuning in the next installment. If the tires rub then slowly trim away the offending piece. One thing to remember is that Indy Grips grow at high speeds on some wheels and actually hit the chassis or the body, but only when running. We still have a lot of things to do but you now have a running car. After this point, each change is made and tested individually. Hopefully you can test the car at Fastlane hobbies to get a sense of the workings of the car. When I started tuning the car I was in the 12s, but those next two seconds were like pulling teeth without a pain killer.
Final Thought for the Day: Each track is different and balancing must be done for each. Some weight has to be left moveable to fine tune the car at the track.
This is a short study. A car needs balanced to get optimum roll center (i.e. a lower center of gravity) and enough weight on the nose to make that bridge in a respectable time. The car runs a 40/60 front to rear weight distribution and weighs in just at 3.0 oz. I made a 1/16" plate that is shaped like the bottom of the Ninco chassis that supplies most of the weight. Where the screws go through I drilled oversized holes. The plate is tacked on using glue. I then played with clay on the nose until the balance I liked was achieved. The car was then weighed and a piece of lead added the inside of the car to make a permanent fix. The reason I referred to the CG as roll center is because the body does roll because I loosen a body until it feels right. This car actually likes a very loose body.
Dan