In the process of obtaining enough track pieces to build the TSR track, I bought many old Carrera home sets and obviously also ended up with a fair number of Carrera cars. It followed that these were going to form part of the TSR rental fleet. It soon also became clear that these cars had horrible handling and needed sorting out, but then I had close on a year to work on it and what follows is the result of this! Very much like the tuning stages for a full scale car I have also classed my improvements in a similar progression so that Stages 1-2 can be applied to the TSR Touring class, and Stages 1-4 to the other classes. My project car in this case was a used Carrera Ferrari 575 which can purchased for about R250 (new they are quite expensive and is available from about R500 upwards). In standard form it weighed in at 102g, measured a track-to-roof height of 38mm and managed a fastest lap of 12.1 seconds. Lubricating the gears, axles and motor took the lap time down to 10.6 seconds, so that was easy power going for cheap. Time to go hunting.
Stage 1:
Carrera cars carry a fair amount of electronics and no matter how many amps are available, once I remove all the circuitry and wiring for lights and digital capabilities they invariably gain speed. I don't add or remove magnets but I may reposition them if required. The bulk of the electronics sits higher than the engine so taking that out lowers the center of gravity. Both the removal of electronics and the repositioning of magnets leave excess chassis and body material which can also be cut away to add to the weight loss programme. All this work drops the weight down to 88g giving an overall reduction of 13g. With the fewer grammes and the better center of gravity the Ferrari now managed a fastest lap of 9.6 seconds, a full second better than in standard form. Cost for the first stage; zero dollars.Stage 2:
So, time to start spending a bit of money and that also opens up the magic world silicone tires. I prefer Indy Grip but there's other big names out there that should also be able to deliver the goods. Fitting silicones to the standard plastic Carrera wheels gained me a huge 1.6 seconds, taking the Ferrari's best lap down to 8.0 seconds. Some of these aftermarket tires come with straight edges, so these must be rounded to prevent early break away under hard cornering. I have no idea if you can get these in SA, but expect to pay about R70 ex-US for a set. Of course the cheap option here will be to give the standard Carrera tires an oil treatment but I have yet to reach the stage where oiled rubber matches silicone.Stage 3:
Progressing to the next stage we explore the wonderful world of center of gravity, or to be more precise, the lowering of COG. I tackled this in 3 ways; the first of which is to go for smaller diameter wheels, in this particular case the replacement units are Sloting magnesium alloys weighing about 1g each. I may lose some top end speed here but the immediate gain of quicker response seems to negate this, in fact to such an extent that on the straights of the TSR track the car gets both closer to max speed and in a shorter time than one would expect, out-accellerating identical cars with standard wheel set-ups. Compared to standard plastic wheels I believe that manufacturing precision plays a significant role here and Sloting runs in the upper ranks, but unfortunately I could not specifically test for that. So smaller diameter wheels drops the ride height but they also make for a bigger gap in the wheel wells. This again allows for shortening the body posts, dropping the ride height even further, including the shedding of an additional few grammes. The third exercise to lower COG is to replace the standard Carrera interior with a much lighter lexan version, 2g instead of 8g. These normally require a bit of paint but you can also get fully painted versions. Final specifications now show a weight of 83g (down by 19g), and a car height of 35mm (down by 3mm). In terms of performance this translates to a very cool 6.7 seconds, going hand in hand with excellent roadholding. Cost is as follows; wheels R220, tires R70, interior R70; a total of R360. Worth it? You decide.Stage 4:
The final stage is no more difficult than Stage 1 and simply addresses the speed at which the wheels can turn, so let's install a faster motor. What works for the TSR track? The standard Carrera E200 motor (Mabuchi FC-130RA 10300) is no conversation piece and it's at best just adequate for beginners; spec'd by Mabuchi as 18000 rpm @ 12v. Having said that I am of the opinion that the whole Carrera package is very receptive to the modifications of Stages 1-3, enabling the full exploitation of the FC-130 motor. Other home set cars like Ninco and Scalextric naturally matches the Carrera offering, presenting the same ease of tuning and pound for pound delivering the same punch. So this setup is adequate but while it rattles down the TSR straights you have enough time to blow your nose or scratch an ear. At R200 a 25000 rpm motor is a regulation substitute and the car can be on the track in minutes. Performance now jumps into the sphere of wingless jets with the Ferrari blitzing round the circuit in 6.1 seconds.General:
To put the project and its costs in perspective I compared the modified Carrera's performance with that of a NSR Porsche GT3. NSR cars are fully manufactured in Italy and therefore rather expensive but of course also very fast. The notorious NSR Mosler in particular is reputed to be the fastest straight-out-of-the-box car and is still banned by many clubs the world over because of a perceived unfair advantage. Greased, oiled and running on silicones with a 21400 rpm King Evo motor in anglewinder configuration, the Porsche managed a splendid 6.0 second lap. So that is just about on par with the Ferrari's 6.1. As for cost, they're also in the same bracket; Ferrari R810, NSR R820. So, you can buy a quick car, or you can "build" one, the only difference is that you'll have a lot more fun playing it the DIY way.Rex, TSR
Updated 12/03/18
