Slight correction to the video - at 1:18 the CORRECT formula is speed = distance/time … looks like I didn’t learn it at school! 😅 Thanks for watching the video and all the positive feedback. This one took a lot more work than I originally thought it would! Looking forward to starting on a fresh challenge involving jet engines next. 😊
1:18 The formula for speed is not distance x time, it's distance/time Don't want to mislead someone and especially don't want to hate, your videos are amazing keep it up😊😊😊
Okay, so now build a gearbox with bearings, do some aerodynamic tests in a DIY wind tunnel, get some slow-mo for analysis, and see if you can break 40mph! It's one thing to break a record, it's another entirely to set a whole new bar of performance.
No records were broken here, or anywhere on this channel. Ever. He doesn’t understand what ‘fastest’ means. He just tapes rockets to crap vehicles and claims them to be fastest. He strikes me as one of those RUclips thoroughbred dunces that use titles like “5 Things YOU DON’T KNOW About Rockets.” then makes a video of the most basic rocket information that children of 6 know.
@@Lewis-kf2pj mate you kinda right.....but its youtube. maybe hes a bit clickbait but hes having fun and im betting get kids hyped about RC stuff. i prefer a more deep video instead of just sticking a powerful drone motor and some 3d prinited gears and "fastest slot car!!!". but to be honest whocares. i do hope he tries more in-depth stuff. maybe the videos isnt made for you?
12:00 I have 2 tips to make the rocket car better. 1. Try to have the rocket engine Pointing to the center of mass so it doesn’t spin out of control.(this isn’t just for the car but for any rocket powered vehicle) 2. If you point the rocket engine down a bit it will push the slot car into the track and force it to stay on the ground.
also, since it doesnt have a nozzle, the thrust direction might not be consistent. both of your tips can be easily achieved by just tilting the rocket a bit downwards
the rocket is just way to big for the weight of the car. angling the nozzle wont do anything. its like a fire hose, just gonna whip around if you dont hold it down.
@@Project-AirI seem to remember you struggling to launch that solar plane. Have you heard of Zero Length Launch? Basically just a big solid rocket under a fighter jet to let it launch from a truck. Famously tested with an F-104
That puzzled me as well : Al this fine work on cars and power supply butchered by not straightening the tracks lay out (just a wire string as a guide would have been enough)
i think its because after he laid them out, he pushed the whole track in a little bit from the ends, for a better connection between tiles. doing so he kinked it a bit. also he may have been using the flatest line, not straightest.
Yeah just a simple laser level could have fixed that, I understand it's a lot of work to set up, but if you're going to go to that length to set it up you might as well do it 100% correctly@@vincentdesjardins1354
I hate commenting on youtube but i saw some negativity you dont deserve. It was a pleasure to watch and i love to see you gaining video and editing skills. I think its partly done by that beautiful woman. You 2 are a great team! Im so happy you keep doing what you want to do. There are not many youtubers pleasuring us they only think about their wallets. Man and women, thanks for the video. This is why i still got my premium account.
When I was a kid I worked at a place called Hot Laps that had 8 lane race tracks including a 12' loop on one track, and one track with a scale quarter mile with timing lights. It also had off-road and on-road RC race tracks, a 1/4 scale 1/4 mile drag strip/air strip, and a lake for RC boats. It was the greatest job.
I remember that Gadget Show episode well, and the fantastic episode of James May's Toy Stories on Scalextric! Great video, it reminded me of tinkering with these toys for hours as a kid.
6" wide plywood strip will probably warp quite a lot (especially in moist conditions) ... But the general idea is the right one: bed the tracks with a flat support surface. Just need to refine material choice.
When I was a kid, I hacksawed the back of an Aurora HO slot car & epoxied the motor from a HotWheels Sizzler rechargeable car on the back. It made an incredibly fast drag car, but flew off the track on corners.
When I was a kid I had a version that had a magnet on the bottom at the back of the car. With the help of bolts, its protrusion from the bottom and also its recession were adjusted, which caused the rear part of the car to be pressed against the road surface.
This brings me back. I remember my Scalextric days in my childhood. I got a car as a birthday present, but it wasn't really Scalextric kind. Instead my mother had gone to a hobby shop and bought the car they recommended. It was a slot car, but the kind used when competing. The first time I used it the Scalextric hand control started burning. So my mother went back and got a new control that could handle the current. That car was just insane to try to run at a standard Scalextric track. I have no idea how fast it was as even at half speed it would launch off the track like a missile when encountering the most careful attempt at building a corner. I also had a pair of minis and something else from Scalextric and they were just so simple and slow when compared. Getting the electricity to work over the entire track was always a problem. After plugging those tracks up enough times they started to glitch more and more. I wonder where it is now. I think my parents gave all of it to my sisters son when he was eight years old, but I don't know. But I do know that car I had was insanely fast, at least compared to the standard track cars. Oh and the chassis was interesting having several different parts that could articulate just slightly. Supposedly that was to optimize grip when racing for real. Many many decades later they built a track car racing track in the pub I spent way to much time in. Once a week there were competitions and boy did I suck! I could perhaps have something to do with the number of beers I'd inhale before the races, but I doubt it. A friend who were severely intoxicated beat me without trouble when I was just one beer in, so no, I just sucked at driving those slot cars. Again this wasn't using Scalextric cars, but real slot competition cars. They were fast...
Sorta covered it at the end, tbh trying to break the Scalextric record is probably the sane approach for a channel that isn't specialising in purely slot car speed challenges. It's tricky enough to achieve, without needing to become a masterclass in precision engineering and trying to outdo what some people have been working on since the '60's 😅
Plastic gears are overthinking. There are lots of proper metal gears for "not-for-kids" RC cars, you just had to visit online shop with parts and not kid toys. Rubber coming off the wheels is normal for cars up to 1/5 scale - just glue it on. What I would also try: to increase traction spray some kind of soft rubber over the track where wheels touch it, and put tiny li-po battery on a car, so track would only provide direction to the car with 0 voltage drop and jumping contact issues.
Watch a few more videos and you will soon find out that he often tends to go very easy on the specific research part... As for the LiPos, that would likely void the record attempt though.
that run @15:02 woulve been even faster if the wheels hadnt spun off before the end of the run......slow it down and you can see the rear axle come apart about 3/4 way down the track. Cheers!
The "official" record is pretty cute. There are high downforce racing slot cars that do over 100kph and I can't really tell how they are any different than a modified Scalextric
Different scale (size) different track Scalectrix is a specific brand and track gauge of slot car. Much like AFX is another (this is what I had as a kid and is even smaller than this closer to a hot wheel or matchbox size car.)
Great content, thank you! Glad to see that you got access to a facility that would sponsor your test with a level surface. For your home testing, maybe try laying your track on strips of Rigid Foam Board Insulation or something similar? It might help with leveling to keep the major bumps out of the track in addition to giving a reference to keep the track straight. Just a thought.
For the first time ever, ive seen a sponsored ad for something i might actually use. Finished my education 1 year ago and at school we got free CAD software (Inventor) which license soon runs out, and ive been looking for an alternative (preferrably free because CAD program usually cost thousands of dollars a year), but this subscription based model is nice for me, cause i was in an internship where i used SW a lot and fell in love with it over Inventor
I know you mentioned it briefly, but the whole time I kept thinking, the voltage drop across all those connections is going to be bad. You need power injection (which you did) and possibly multiple power sources to provide the current and voltage needed to get to top speed. Great video!
For electric slot cars one of the major limitations is keeping the braid pack in contact with the track. Magnets help but too many induces too much friction, while too few induces take off. I’ve been wanting to have another try at this for a while because I’m sure speeds even faster than your new record/target are possible, but a lot of work needs to go into overcoming the problems inherent in the road surface and power pickups.
For a drag car like this would it not make sense to build a long car, with multiple sets of brushes, with the hope that more brushes increases the chances of one brush from each side is in contact with its rail at any give time. Granted this approach relies on "Scalextric" being interpreted as "slot car" instead of "scalextric brand slot car". A longer car might be a good idea anyway, to increase stability.
My son and I were part of the James May record attempt (many years ago!). There were many cars running scale speeds of 1200 -1500mph scale, around 40mph. this was before brushless motors, and no rockets allowed! And we ran a full scale 1/4 mile so we couldn't see the car at both ends of the run. The problem was that timing required a constant electrical connection with the track, and at that speed it wasn't possible to get a run, so it fell to the fastest that recorded a time, a speed around 25mph. The problems you had with power, crashing etc, are exactly those we all experience. A magnet would help you, as you have ample power.
Kinda scary what happened there with that rocket motor. As a level 2 certified rocketeer, I'd caution a little restraint and more safety when working with controlled explosives. Love your vids tho! keep it up.
If you supply the track power from the center point rather than the end, it will cut the voltage drop by half. Placing the time gates just after the power connection means the car will see the highest voltage during measurement.
CVT are actually quite useful at this small scale. They're actually pretty easy to print, iterate, and repair/replace. They also don't require the late nights and brain cell expenditure that toothed gears do. Robert Murray Smith has a video (or two) on continuously variable transmissions (CVT). Just watch, copy, print, and play with it. I mean have as much fun as you can with it, its those moments when you're dinking around when the eureka moment hits.
Congratulations on the scale record! I laughed so hard when the rocket car launched into random directions. hahaha Keep up the awesome work you are doing. Looking forward to your next video.
When I was young I built a Revell funny car model (guessing 1/24 scale) and glued pennies (US 1 cent copper coins) inside it to add weight. I then added a Estes C sized model rocket motor that fit perfect in the wheelie bars, and ignited the thing on an outdoor basketball court. It worked great! sped all the way across the court, until it hit a basketball post on the other side of the court and blew to pieces! It was awesome! Cheers!
Advice: Instead of the wheels you have on the front, causing friction, and rotational gyro resistance. Have skinnier front wheels without rubber tires . Or make a spring sled in front just millimeters high to raise the front. Then with your drive system use the electric propulsion system as the same for electric skateboard. I can guarantee you will hit double the speed
I used to play around with slot cars for many years to get them faster. One thing that helped go faster and smoother was to spray silicon spray on the open gears and in the motor. Worked a charm.
Tips: 1. Level track and striaghten it. Maybe on flat turf grass. 2. Foam tyres. Glue on foam tyres to the. They'll be less likely to come away from the rim and less likely to expand the same way rubber ones do. 3. Add weights. Adding weights to the car will give it better traction, allowing the wheels to actually put down the power.
Growing up on the other side of the pond, I had AFX, not Scalextric. That said, I salute you for putting rocket motors on them. I did it on Cold Power cars (a 70s thing), but never scaled down that far. Well done!
The first rocket run you did shows exactly why the Cold Power cars were meant to be tethered by concrete nails at each end of the run and be guided by the string in between. Of course, we didn’t do that and had quite a long listen to a very red-faced officer. -thanks for bringing those memories back! 😊
Scaley and Carrera track all have power problems. Resistance over distance is the problem. Power taps every 10’ and an adjustable power supply and copper tape with conductive adhesive was my solution for a huge 75’ layout I had several years ago. Tires are also tweakable. Different compounds will also give you better grip. Glue the tires on the rims.
That look like so much fun. One of the things I was thinking for your outside testing is maybe just using some 2x4s or 4x4s to smooth out the path. Also if you could get milled aluminum body that would be really neat. 🙂 Thanks for all the effort you put into these
When I was a kid there was a small business with a bunch of high-end slot car tracks you could rent time on. I saw some truly insane cars there which would zip around these tracks in the blink of an eye.
You track has a curve that was kicking you car off. Try a string pilled tight for a guide. A laser and a wood block with a target or use a long straight edge like a level or bored. Doesn't look like much, but when scaled for speed. 16 becomes 512. Anyway I think the straighter the better.
Great vid, as always! For bit of extra push, I suggest some aggressive aero package or suction fan like in the maze solving robots competition - I saw it on Veritasium.
Had to scroll through a lot of comments to verify that I wasn't the only one, but it was worth it 🤣 To be fair though, Scalextric is a ridiculous name for a product when you think about it... it doesn't exactly roll of the tongue
I bet you can double maybe even triple that if set up properly. You’ll need to take a good look at downforce and constant track power, also wheel/tire construction. Very cool vid!
Get in touch with the people at Cardington, there are two extremely large hangers (airship sized) there. One is often used for films, not sure what is happening with the other as the company that had it, Hybrid Air Vehicles, have either moved or ceased trading.
neat, I was doing 1/25 slot drag racing for a while. we were running a scale 1/8 mile track. I had some theories I wanted to test. I read that aerodynamics start to come into play around 30mph. One of my cars was running a 1968 dodge charger body. I wanted to see if aero came into play as my cars were in the 25-almost 40mph range. So I bought a second 1969 Daytona body for the charger chassis. I got that car extra low to the ground taped all the glass smooth. I didn't run the big wing in the back because I didn't want the drag it would make. that car ran 2 mph faster in that configuration. Something else I found important was getting the weight over the brushes dialled in as it helped the brushes make better contact giving more power to the motor. Our track is now closed down but I always wanted to build and run a 1:25 scale mile in the back yard to see how fast I could get a car to run.
Great video, reminds me of a time many years ago when I strapped a "Jetex" motor to a Hornby model railway wagon, and laid out all the straight pieces of track that I had. The result was the same as your rocket car. Dave Nap in 1:24 scale slot drag racing has reached 140 actual miles per hour at the end of a scale 1/4 mile. eg 55 feet. , With an elapsed time of 0.391 seconds.
Great fun as always! Does it have to be a Scalextric car? If not, a 1/32 scale model of Thrust SSC might be fun! My old mate Kenny stuck a long-burn F-class on his RC cars in the late 1980's: he replaced the car body with a paper replica to save mass, which worked really well. I used a commercial distress flare motor on mine which didn't go so well - it launched off the takeoff ramp nicely, then went much higher than anticipated and didn't survive landing.
Hi James, I thoroughly enjoy your channel and videos; this video was no exception. Suggestion: What do you think about a four-wheel drive Scalextric car? Could it put down some faster times?
Does the track need to be straight and flat? Build a circular track with banked (or vertical) curves. It probably won't go flying off, you'll get extra traction from the centripetal force, and you can accelerate for as long as possible.
id have tried a 'bowl' track - with a large enough radius you could have it basically be a cylinder - extra tyre grip faster it goes, etc - no chance of it falling off, no need for magnets, etc
Horrible isn't it? Considering it comes from the words "Scalex" which was a toy car range made by mini models, and "electric." Seems easy to me too, and really annoys me.
if you try this again, might i recommend a basketball gym floor? it will be even flatter than the bmfa building floor, that might eek out a bit more mph. great video regardless
I would suggest putting down a snap-line and make that track as straight as the snap-line. Then open up the wheel-well so that when the tires expand out from the rpm's they don't rub.
Did you consider making a small loop with heavily banked turns? Something like a nascar circuit but with an even more extreme banking like Brooklands? You could then use a small space to loop the car up to speed and even let it slow down on the track to potentially keep it in one piece. You don't need to worry about g-force load on a driver 😉
I am very surprised the rocket car did not stay on the track. . . 😂 I'm just kidding. He clearly knew what to expect, I think he just did it for our entertainment. For that, I say thank you. 😊
Best place would be a gym/sports hall. Perfect floor and lots of space. Multiple power supplys linked throught the trac sections to keep power and ditch the magnets
Add a loop the loop next time. Just for the giggles of course. Excellent video btw, and as you say you could do with a much bigger/longer floor space. Surely someone out there could help.🤔
Good job! Considering the constraints cannot be changed, such as voltage, no external thrust (I'd consider the rocket was a cheat) and an imposed scale of an existing car (removing the body is definitely a cheat unless it's buggy-shaped), maybe you could work on the aerodynamics and add ailerons at the back and the front so your car is more efficient in transferring the power from the motor without shredding the tyres?
id love to see how well the rocket could work if done correctly I've seen a few comments already with good suggestions so I don't feel obligated to elaborate
I would love to see you take this even further. I wonder what effect reducing frontal area by making the "useless" front wheels and tyres very narrow would have?
Slight correction to the video - at 1:18 the CORRECT formula is speed = distance/time … looks like I didn’t learn it at school! 😅
Thanks for watching the video and all the positive feedback. This one took a lot more work than I originally thought it would! Looking forward to starting on a fresh challenge involving jet engines next. 😊
You need to run a string line down your slot if bet you could get a bit faster.laser might be easier lol.
Your results are in the unit ms. Not m/s as your formula is wrong. That’s a joke but study physics again.
Here's an idea make your cars more aerodynamic so it goes faster😶
I think you’re rocket car need a dragline
Thanks. Thought you might have fixed it.
1:18 The formula for speed is not distance x time, it's distance/time
Don't want to mislead someone and especially don't want to hate, your videos are amazing keep it up😊😊😊
Almost had a stroke there
typing error, later in the video, they have it right.
i was thinking that i was stupid lol
"... which you might have learned at school". Emphasis on "might" here :-)
that's impulse or something isn't it?
Okay, so now build a gearbox with bearings, do some aerodynamic tests in a DIY wind tunnel, get some slow-mo for analysis, and see if you can break 40mph! It's one thing to break a record, it's another entirely to set a whole new bar of performance.
No records were broken here, or anywhere on this channel. Ever. He doesn’t understand what ‘fastest’ means. He just tapes rockets to crap vehicles and claims them to be fastest. He strikes me as one of those RUclips thoroughbred dunces that use titles like “5 Things YOU DON’T KNOW About Rockets.” then makes a video of the most basic rocket information that children of 6 know.
@@Lewis-kf2pj mate you kinda right.....but its youtube. maybe hes a bit clickbait but hes having fun and im betting get kids hyped about RC stuff. i prefer a more deep video instead of just sticking a powerful drone motor and some 3d prinited gears and "fastest slot car!!!". but to be honest whocares. i do hope he tries more in-depth stuff. maybe the videos isnt made for you?
@@Lewis-kf2pj boohoohoo
@@Lewis-kf2pj Kindly shut your face. If you don't like it, don't watch it.
@@Pancada1223 how would you know if you like it before you watched it? rockets have nothing to do with slot car racing or the speed record
7:02 it’s just powered rail… nothing complicated about it, just put a redstone torch every so often…
That's funny
Thought the same thing, lol
@ great minds think alike 😂😂😂
How about going into experimental mode and using the minecart speed modifier
Or a furnace minecart. Just gotta go back a few versins
12:00
I have 2 tips to make the rocket car better.
1. Try to have the rocket engine Pointing to the center of mass so it doesn’t spin out of control.(this isn’t just for the car but for any rocket powered vehicle)
2. If you point the rocket engine down a bit it will push the slot car into the track and force it to stay on the ground.
also, since it doesnt have a nozzle, the thrust direction might not be consistent. both of your tips can be easily achieved by just tilting the rocket a bit downwards
the rocket is just way to big for the weight of the car. angling the nozzle wont do anything. its like a fire hose, just gonna whip around if you dont hold it down.
@@BarkerVancity a fire hose is not rigid, the car is.
projectair's solution to get anything going fast: slap a comically large rocket motor onto it and call it a day
If it works every time why change the recipe
I was tempted on the recent solar plane project tbf. 😉
Percicely 😅😂
@@Project-AirI seem to remember you struggling to launch that solar plane.
Have you heard of Zero Length Launch? Basically just a big solid rocket under a fighter jet to let it launch from a truck. Famously tested with an F-104
@@HALLish-jl5mo i looked it up and it is basically a VTOL JATO
I can't believe how crooked you laid out that track! 🤪
That puzzled me as well : Al this fine work on cars and power supply butchered by not straightening the tracks lay out (just a wire string as a guide would have been enough)
i think its because after he laid them out, he pushed the whole track in a little bit from the ends, for a better connection between tiles. doing so he kinked it a bit. also he may have been using the flatest line, not straightest.
It was surprisingly difficult with over 200 pieces!
My kid was born with cross eyes, he pointed out how crooked the track was.
Yeah just a simple laser level could have fixed that, I understand it's a lot of work to set up, but if you're going to go to that length to set it up you might as well do it 100% correctly@@vincentdesjardins1354
I hate commenting on youtube but i saw some negativity you dont deserve.
It was a pleasure to watch and i love to see you gaining video and editing skills. I think its partly done by that beautiful woman. You 2 are a great team!
Im so happy you keep doing what you want to do. There are not many youtubers pleasuring us they only think about their wallets.
Man and women, thanks for the video. This is why i still got my premium account.
The negativity is the formula he got wrong @dutchfpv9254 we were letting him know. He did agnovlage it so it’s all right
When I was a kid I worked at a place called Hot Laps that had 8 lane race tracks including a 12' loop on one track, and one track with a scale quarter mile with timing lights. It also had off-road and on-road RC race tracks, a 1/4 scale 1/4 mile drag strip/air strip, and a lake for RC boats. It was the greatest job.
why were you WORKING as a KID
@@raptorthegamer5524 Most likely to make some money.
@@NoiseMakerX yeah but isnt it illegal for children to work?
@raptorthegamer5524 Depends on where you're at, what kind of work, at what hours, and the age of the child.
@@raptorthegamer5524 Because I wanted money and stealing is wrong. I had had 4 jobs before I was 15 and I loved it.
I remember that Gadget Show episode well, and the fantastic episode of James May's Toy Stories on Scalextric! Great video, it reminded me of tinkering with these toys for hours as a kid.
Glad you enjoyed it - and same same!
I love the part of every Project Air video where he goes "This is going to be more difficult than we originally imagined"
You could bed the track on plywood ripped down to 6" wide strips. Each sheet will give you 64' of track surface.
6" wide plywood strip will probably warp quite a lot (especially in moist conditions) ...
But the general idea is the right one: bed the tracks with a flat support surface. Just need to refine material choice.
Agreed. Definitely need something to average the undulations of the ground surface as much as possible.
When I was a kid, I hacksawed the back of an Aurora HO slot car & epoxied the motor from a HotWheels Sizzler rechargeable car on the back. It made an incredibly fast drag car, but flew off the track on corners.
1:18 speed=distance/time.
Was about to comment this
Masturbation=Lotion/Shame
Did he pass physics in his school?(the content creator)
When I was a kid I had a version that had a magnet on the bottom at the back of the car.
With the help of bolts, its protrusion from the bottom and also its recession were adjusted, which caused the rear part of the car to be pressed against the road surface.
This brings me back. I remember my Scalextric days in my childhood. I got a car as a birthday present, but it wasn't really Scalextric kind. Instead my mother had gone to a hobby shop and bought the car they recommended. It was a slot car, but the kind used when competing. The first time I used it the Scalextric hand control started burning. So my mother went back and got a new control that could handle the current. That car was just insane to try to run at a standard Scalextric track. I have no idea how fast it was as even at half speed it would launch off the track like a missile when encountering the most careful attempt at building a corner. I also had a pair of minis and something else from Scalextric and they were just so simple and slow when compared. Getting the electricity to work over the entire track was always a problem. After plugging those tracks up enough times they started to glitch more and more. I wonder where it is now. I think my parents gave all of it to my sisters son when he was eight years old, but I don't know. But I do know that car I had was insanely fast, at least compared to the standard track cars. Oh and the chassis was interesting having several different parts that could articulate just slightly. Supposedly that was to optimize grip when racing for real.
Many many decades later they built a track car racing track in the pub I spent way to much time in. Once a week there were competitions and boy did I suck! I could perhaps have something to do with the number of beers I'd inhale before the races, but I doubt it. A friend who were severely intoxicated beat me without trouble when I was just one beer in, so no, I just sucked at driving those slot cars. Again this wasn't using Scalextric cars, but real slot competition cars. They were fast...
I’m very surprised he didn’t mention 1/24 scale slot car drag racing they go up to 100 mile an hour with a 50 foot track
Sorta covered it at the end, tbh trying to break the Scalextric record is probably the sane approach for a channel that isn't specialising in purely slot car speed challenges. It's tricky enough to achieve, without needing to become a masterclass in precision engineering and trying to outdo what some people have been working on since the '60's 😅
You guys never heard of a chalk line? It lets you put down a very long, easily seen line you could've used to keep your track straight.
Plastic gears are overthinking. There are lots of proper metal gears for "not-for-kids" RC cars, you just had to visit online shop with parts and not kid toys. Rubber coming off the wheels is normal for cars up to 1/5 scale - just glue it on. What I would also try: to increase traction spray some kind of soft rubber over the track where wheels touch it, and put tiny li-po battery on a car, so track would only provide direction to the car with 0 voltage drop and jumping contact issues.
Watch a few more videos and you will soon find out that he often tends to go very easy on the specific research part...
As for the LiPos, that would likely void the record attempt though.
DUDE. You are creative as hell and all your videos are bangers. Top work!!
THE REFERENCE BOARD! You are a mythbuster now, basically
that run @15:02 woulve been even faster if the wheels hadnt spun off before the end of the run......slow it down and you can see the rear axle come apart about 3/4 way down the track. Cheers!
The "official" record is pretty cute. There are high downforce racing slot cars that do over 100kph and I can't really tell how they are any different than a modified Scalextric
Different scale (size) different track
Scalectrix is a specific brand and track gauge of slot car. Much like AFX is another (this is what I had as a kid and is even smaller than this closer to a hot wheel or matchbox size car.)
8:38 it isn’t a slot car anymore tho
make a track that's an oval but with a steep camber
Now all you have to do is pay Guinness $100k and they might put you in their official records.
A mini cooper setting a scale model record on Scalextric. This video has hit record levels of british-ness in less than two minutes.
Great content, thank you! Glad to see that you got access to a facility that would sponsor your test with a level surface. For your home testing, maybe try laying your track on strips of Rigid Foam Board Insulation or something similar? It might help with leveling to keep the major bumps out of the track in addition to giving a reference to keep the track straight. Just a thought.
Nice Austin mini you got there I saw 1 of these at a car show park next to a big ram and it was like Twice as small as the ram
For the first time ever, ive seen a sponsored ad for something i might actually use. Finished my education 1 year ago and at school we got free CAD software (Inventor) which license soon runs out, and ive been looking for an alternative (preferrably free because CAD program usually cost thousands of dollars a year), but this subscription based model is nice for me, cause i was in an internship where i used SW a lot and fell in love with it over Inventor
I know you mentioned it briefly, but the whole time I kept thinking, the voltage drop across all those connections is going to be bad. You need power injection (which you did) and possibly multiple power sources to provide the current and voltage needed to get to top speed. Great video!
We used to roll the tires on the sticky side of packing tape. This would help them stick to the track and improve traction.
For electric slot cars one of the major limitations is keeping the braid pack in contact with the track. Magnets help but too many induces too much friction, while too few induces take off.
I’ve been wanting to have another try at this for a while because I’m sure speeds even faster than your new record/target are possible, but a lot of work needs to go into overcoming the problems inherent in the road surface and power pickups.
For a drag car like this would it not make sense to build a long car, with multiple sets of brushes, with the hope that more brushes increases the chances of one brush from each side is in contact with its rail at any give time. Granted this approach relies on "Scalextric" being interpreted as "slot car" instead of "scalextric brand slot car". A longer car might be a good idea anyway, to increase stability.
My son and I were part of the James May record attempt (many years ago!). There were many cars running scale speeds of 1200 -1500mph scale, around 40mph. this was before brushless motors, and no rockets allowed! And we ran a full scale 1/4 mile so we couldn't see the car at both ends of the run. The problem was that timing required a constant electrical connection with the track, and at that speed it wasn't possible to get a run, so it fell to the fastest that recorded a time, a speed around 25mph. The problems you had with power, crashing etc, are exactly those we all experience. A magnet would help you, as you have ample power.
8:21 the fastest is bloodhound SSC, not thrust SSC
Kinda scary what happened there with that rocket motor. As a level 2 certified rocketeer, I'd caution a little restraint and more safety when working with controlled explosives.
Love your vids tho! keep it up.
they tried to hold it on with Magnets... hahaha(no)
Isn't slot car record 140mph or are there different categories with different records.
If you supply the track power from the center point rather than the end, it will cut the voltage drop by half.
Placing the time gates just after the power connection means the car will see the highest voltage during measurement.
Emily is coming into her own. It’s brilliant seeing you both working together. :)
CVT are actually quite useful at this small scale.
They're actually pretty easy to print, iterate, and repair/replace. They also don't require the late nights and brain cell expenditure that toothed gears do.
Robert Murray Smith has a video (or two) on continuously variable transmissions (CVT). Just watch, copy, print, and play with it.
I mean have as much fun as you can with it, its those moments when you're dinking around when the eureka moment hits.
Congratulations on the scale record! I laughed so hard when the rocket car launched into random directions. hahaha
Keep up the awesome work you are doing. Looking forward to your next video.
Amazing projects! Great engineering. You never disapoint. Congratulations!
Should have painted them red. Everyone knows red ones go faster!
I made such an obvious mistake! 😆
@@Project-Air I don't think Failrace(Alex) agrees with you on that! ;-)
1:43 freaky axle lmao
*bonk*🦮
12:00
car :❌️
Rocket:✅️
When I was young I built a Revell funny car model (guessing 1/24 scale) and glued pennies (US 1 cent copper coins) inside it to add weight. I then added a Estes C sized model rocket motor that fit perfect in the wheelie bars, and ignited the thing on an outdoor basketball court. It worked great! sped all the way across the court, until it hit a basketball post on the other side of the court and blew to pieces! It was awesome!
Cheers!
Advice: Instead of the wheels you have on the front, causing friction, and rotational gyro resistance. Have skinnier front wheels without rubber tires . Or make a spring sled in front just millimeters high to raise the front. Then with your drive system use the electric propulsion system as the same for electric skateboard. I can guarantee you will hit double the speed
I used to play around with slot cars for many years to get them faster. One thing that helped go faster and smoother was to spray silicon spray on the open gears and in the motor. Worked a charm.
Tips:
1. Level track and striaghten it. Maybe on flat turf grass.
2. Foam tyres. Glue on foam tyres to the. They'll be less likely to come away from the rim and less likely to expand the same way rubber ones do.
3. Add weights. Adding weights to the car will give it better traction, allowing the wheels to actually put down the power.
The lack of adhesion to the track is his biggest problem.
Growing up on the other side of the pond, I had AFX, not Scalextric. That said, I salute you for putting rocket motors on them. I did it on Cold Power cars (a 70s thing), but never scaled down that far. Well done!
The first rocket run you did shows exactly why the Cold Power cars were meant to be tethered by concrete nails at each end of the run and be guided by the string in between. Of course, we didn’t do that and had quite a long listen to a very red-faced officer.
-thanks for bringing those memories back! 😊
15:15 I love how the wheel fell off before the car crossed the finish line. Laughed so hard
Another excellent video James! Thanks for sharing what you do! Looking forward to your next one.
Scaley and Carrera track all have power problems. Resistance over distance is the problem. Power taps every 10’ and an adjustable power supply and copper tape with conductive adhesive was my solution for a huge 75’ layout I had several years ago. Tires are also tweakable. Different compounds will also give you better grip. Glue the tires on the rims.
That look like so much fun. One of the things I was thinking for your outside testing is maybe just using some 2x4s or 4x4s to smooth out the path. Also if you could get milled aluminum body that would be really neat. 🙂 Thanks for all the effort you put into these
When I was a kid there was a small business with a bunch of high-end slot car tracks you could rent time on. I saw some truly insane cars there which would zip around these tracks in the blink of an eye.
Maybe you could build a tiny vacuum on the bottom for increased traction so you’d need less space for acceleration?
You track has a curve that was kicking you car off. Try a string pilled tight for a guide. A laser and a wood block with a target or use a long straight edge like a level or bored. Doesn't look like much, but when scaled for speed. 16 becomes 512. Anyway I think the straighter the better.
Great vid, as always!
For bit of extra push, I suggest some aggressive aero package or suction fan like in the maze solving robots competition - I saw it on Veritasium.
I think if I hear you say "Scalectrix" one more time my brain may explode!
Indeed - It’s Scalextric! Otherwise, I love the video.
Sorry about that 😂 A lifetime's habbit.
Had to scroll through a lot of comments to verify that I wasn't the only one, but it was worth it 🤣
To be fair though, Scalextric is a ridiculous name for a product when you think about it... it doesn't exactly roll of the tongue
I bet you can double maybe even triple that if set up properly. You’ll need to take a good look at downforce and constant track power, also wheel/tire construction. Very cool vid!
Get in touch with the people at Cardington, there are two extremely large hangers (airship sized) there. One is often used for films, not sure what is happening with the other as the company that had it, Hybrid Air Vehicles, have either moved or ceased trading.
neat, I was doing 1/25 slot drag racing for a while. we were running a scale 1/8 mile track. I had some theories I wanted to test. I read that aerodynamics start to come into play around 30mph. One of my cars was running a 1968 dodge charger body. I wanted to see if aero came into play as my cars were in the 25-almost 40mph range. So I bought a second 1969 Daytona body for the charger chassis. I got that car extra low to the ground taped all the glass smooth. I didn't run the big wing in the back because I didn't want the drag it would make. that car ran 2 mph faster in that configuration. Something else I found important was getting the weight over the brushes dialled in as it helped the brushes make better contact giving more power to the motor. Our track is now closed down but I always wanted to build and run a 1:25 scale mile in the back yard to see how fast I could get a car to run.
Great video, reminds me of a time many years ago when I strapped a "Jetex" motor to a Hornby model railway wagon, and laid out all the straight pieces of track that I had. The result was the same as your rocket car. Dave Nap in 1:24 scale slot drag racing has reached 140 actual miles per hour at the end of a scale 1/4 mile. eg 55 feet. , With an elapsed time of 0.391 seconds.
Congratulations! Well done. I cannot wait to see that longer track run! 😊👍👌
14:58 everybody sing along ... 'you picked a fine time to leave me , loose wheel,'
Great fun as always! Does it have to be a Scalextric car? If not, a 1/32 scale model of Thrust SSC might be fun! My old mate Kenny stuck a long-burn F-class on his RC cars in the late 1980's: he replaced the car body with a paper replica to save mass, which worked really well. I used a commercial distress flare motor on mine which didn't go so well - it launched off the takeoff ramp nicely, then went much higher than anticipated and didn't survive landing.
Hi James, I thoroughly enjoy your channel and videos; this video was no exception. Suggestion: What do you think about a four-wheel drive Scalextric car? Could it put down some faster times?
I wonder why you don't try this in a gym hall? Lots of flat surface, big enough for a indoor soccer match. And no rain either.
did you watch it till the end?
it *IS* a bit hard to buy a gym hall i think.
Maybe watch the entire video?
@@MSMFurcorn22
Maybe lent it for a couple of hours would do.
@@budgiefriend Of course,Why’d i never think of that?
Ha ha your projects are INSANE... but also fascinating and super entertaining! Keep them coming!
The little rocket engine slot car cracked me up. She gone! 😂
Wow, that BMFA facility is awesome complete with a control line airplane circle capable of speed flying....
Does the track need to be straight and flat?
Build a circular track with banked (or vertical) curves. It probably won't go flying off, you'll get extra traction from the centripetal force, and you can accelerate for as long as possible.
7:37 THE ONE PIECE IS REEEEAAAAALLL !
I couldn't help but break out laughing when the rocket car took off into space! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
id have tried a 'bowl' track - with a large enough radius you could have it basically be a cylinder - extra tyre grip faster it goes, etc - no chance of it falling off, no need for magnets, etc
12:42 very long plank will help the bumpy track problem
4:15
Weyy model train cameo 🎉
And another one 16:19
Why does everyone call it Scalectrix???
It's Scalextric!!
Horrible isn't it? Considering it comes from the words "Scalex" which was a toy car range made by mini models, and "electric."
Seems easy to me too, and really annoys me.
@Tigermoto worse when you correct someone about it and they argue with you!! 😅😅😅
Yeah, it's one of those weird words where more people get it wrong than right, and it really grates on me.
@@andybrowne7544 It greats on me too.
This was dope. Good work 👍
if you try this again, might i recommend a basketball gym floor? it will be even flatter than the bmfa building floor, that might eek out a bit more mph. great video regardless
I really like slot car experiments , this channel is awesome 👌
I see the main problem here. You didn't paint it red. Everyone knows that's how you get the ultimate speed
He should have put stripes, that guarantees more speed.
@nic.25 100٪
In slot car racing in the 1970s, we'd solder each section of track to high-current bus rails running beneath the track.
I would suggest putting down a snap-line and make that track as straight as the snap-line. Then open up the wheel-well so that when the tires expand out from the rpm's they don't rub.
Banger build as always 👍👍👍i kinda suspected the rocket car wont work but I didn't expect how much less it would be a car than a rocket
Did you consider making a small loop with heavily banked turns? Something like a nascar circuit but with an even more extreme banking like Brooklands? You could then use a small space to loop the car up to speed and even let it slow down on the track to potentially keep it in one piece. You don't need to worry about g-force load on a driver 😉
I am very surprised the rocket car did not stay on the track. . . 😂 I'm just kidding. He clearly knew what to expect, I think he just did it for our entertainment. For that, I say thank you. 😊
If you’re going to be printing loads of gears you should definitely invest in a 0.2mm nozzle. Makes a world of difference for small gears meshing!
Next: how fast can an rc car go with a raptor engine strapped to it.
11:55 That was worthy of a SPACEX performance badge :)
I remember when I was a kid, my dad took my to a slot car hobby store. There was a drag strip in there with some crazy fast cars
Best place would be a gym/sports hall. Perfect floor and lots of space. Multiple power supplys linked throught the trac sections to keep power and ditch the magnets
Make the track go down a slope
For the solar plane you might be able to have two propellers in the back and make a small 3D printed model then you can put in a wind tunnel.
Add a loop the loop next time. Just for the giggles of course. Excellent video btw, and as you say you could do with a much bigger/longer floor space. Surely someone out there could help.🤔
Good job!
Considering the constraints cannot be changed, such as voltage, no external thrust (I'd consider the rocket was a cheat) and an imposed scale of an existing car (removing the body is definitely a cheat unless it's buggy-shaped), maybe you could work on the aerodynamics and add ailerons at the back and the front so your car is more efficient in transferring the power from the motor without shredding the tyres?
id love to see how well the rocket could work if done correctly
I've seen a few comments already with good suggestions so I don't feel obligated to elaborate
I would love to see you take this even further. I wonder what effect reducing frontal area by making the "useless" front wheels and tyres very narrow would have?
For the rocket car, I’ll bet you could take advantage of the voltage in the track to ignite the engine.
Super glue the tires to the rim. Coat the tire contact patch with maple syrup for grip
But do not eat the tyres.
@ juuuusssttt lick ‘em !👅🤣🤣🤣