14 replies to this topic

[Yngwie]

Hey guys, I have a few Slot.it cars with which I was thinking of trying the sidewinder conversion kit. Has anyone tried this and noticed an appreciable difference to the speed, drivability and handling of the car? I seem to think that the weight at the rear might help some of these cars a little but am only speculating. Your thoughts and opinions most welcome.

PS. Not sure if this topic has been raised before but searched and could not find it!

Regards

John

Edited by Yngwie, 09 June 2010 - 08:21 AM.

[SlotsNZ]

It depends! . . . and the jury is still out, but I like the sidewinder setup for stability, I find them easier to "drive out of corners" with a bit of controllable fishtail, if I overcook the punch a bit.

I think they do benefit from a sprung rear suspension in the sidewinder configuration, and I found a bit of weight on the front of the motor pod itself settles them down well on my wood track, and improves the front/rear balance a bit, while enabling the benefit of some weight over the rears to bite on the track surface.

I used sprung suspension on the rear end only of my HRS chassis for my Revell Lola in the NZPR, (picture in my avatar at left) - and likewise on my Porsche 956 in the Slot.it Shootout.

Also, I either shave the chassis to make the pod float freely, or place a pair of spacers between the underside of the pod and the chassis (held by the front screws), to create a bit of "angle" in how the pod sits at rest, to avoid it catching the edges of the pod on the chassis - only just thought of this spacer trick, which I used with my entry for the Slot.it Shootout in the States, as they didn't allow any visible chassis sanding, but didn't limit HOW/where you used any "unmodified" Slot.it parts.

[FLY in the wall]

I asked a similar question about AW vs inline when NSR introduced their Punto Abarth (no SW)

I was told by NSR that AW was the preferred setup and that they only made inline because some European classes specify that.

[jazzbell]

Side winder any day over inline. With the side winder the weight transfer is better near the rear.
In my opinion the rear end does not let go as much with side winder set up compared to inline.

Better again is anglewider Club racing we all race anglewinder,bar the little Alfa.


John, check out alot of the slot.it proxy racers in the states ,i'm sure every car is either sidewinder or angle wind.


regards shane a

team thunderbird

[first corner crash]

Sidewinder is a great setup as it has the most direct gear contact of any. All types have their pros and cons but if it comes to a choice a sidewinder car has the motor torque transferred directly onto the gear pushing the gear forward. The pinion and gear are directly opposed whereas an inline has a contact where the pinion and gear are at right angles. Anglewinders have the advantage of using a smaller radius gear which allows the rear of the car to sit closer to the track. Also in unweighted racing the use of a heavier long can motor sitting across the rear of the car is a decided advantage.

[rick1776]

I think Dennis has his open inline working rather well FCC, after Monday nights results. I just need to find 3 laps worth of pace in the next week and I'll be right. Or if you keep ya big hands off my lane I just need to find another two laps worth of pace after 4 lane rotations.

[gazza]

You'll get a good idea Saturday night in the sports sedans Vince's falcon is sidewinder and mine is inline

[Yngwie]

Shane, I too prefer the Anglewinder setup. Its just the the wheels need to narrower to accomodate. Not sure which wheels the 956 would need if I were to change to AW. Also, does this need the Ninco bracing method applied to it or has Slot.it thought about this sufficiently?

Gazza, will be interesting to see who wins that contest!



Regards

John

[gazza]

Sorry Vince's is an anglewinder not sidewinder

[Vinno]

gazza, on Jun 9 2010, 05:51 PM, said:

You'll get a good idea Saturday night in the sports sedans Vince's falcon is sidewinder and mine is inline

No mine is anglwinder with Boxer 2 motor. Bo runs sidewinder in his Sideways Riley and you all saw how fast that was. Until then my Riley with standard inline seemed to be the quickest but he picked up a heap of time so Sidewinder looks the goods now at least for that car.

[peter m]

Yngwie, on Jun 9 2010, 05:32 PM, said:

Shane, I too prefer the Anglewinder setup. Its just the the wheels need to narrower to accomodate. Not sure which wheels the 956 would need if I were to change to AW. Also, does this need the Ninco bracing method applied to it or has Slot.it thought about this sufficiently?

Gazza, will be interesting to see who wins that contest!



Regards

John

Buy the sound of it you are doing up a slot it porsche 956. I have just done some testing of my own with a slot it 956kh and a 962c.

956 set up....

sidewinder offset pod,
nsr shark25 motor
nsr 19x10 super grip tires
standard slot it rims
nsr 12t pinion, slot it 32t crown


962c set up...

Angle winder offset pod
slot it flat 6R motor 22000rpm
nsr supergrips 19x10 tires
New ninco prorace rim (air system)
nsr 13t pinion, slot it 32t crown.

I have done all my usual setup tricks such as gluing the motor or screws, making sure pod floats freely by filing the pod or chassis which ever is needed. shaved the chassis so body floats freely. setup a low front ride height (1mm). Glued and trued wheels etc etc.

after testing them at our club, thunderbirds! I found that the 956 with the sidewinder was by far the better car that suited my driving style (if i have one...lol). It is now equal to my fastest car in my collection (nsr mosler).
I found that i could push the sidewinder config really hard and it would not come unstuck! I could go deeper into corners and accelerate earlier out of them!

The angle winder is a very nice setup and drove really well but i could not push it as hard as the SW setup. It was just as quick in a straight line but it came unstuck alot easier in corners therefore i could not push it as hard. I tried swapping the wheels over to see if that was the difference but it was still the same.

So in my opinion for a porsche i would use the sidewinder setup because it suits my style of driving alot better. That my not be so for other people!


Ps. for the AW setup you have to use a short hub rim to keep the wheels inside the body line! I have never use any bracing method for any of my slot it cars and they all run very smooth and quiet!

peter

[kalbfellp]

The set up will vary from track to track. The angle winder set up is the way to go on many tracks,BUT on some tight twisting tracks the inline setup gives a better overall balance. This is very evident on track with some very slow corners,the sidewinder setup in particular has just too much weight to the rear.
So IMO if you run a tight twist track try both inline and anglewinder setups and see just which one not only suits the track but you driving style.
I have three pods setup in different configurations and when I get a new car I try all three, some times with surprising results.

[Yngwie]

After playing with various setups yesterday, I have decided that the sidewinder setup works best on my track for my style. Seems to be much more drivable than any other configuration. Having said that, I experimented with a Lancia LC2, Boxer 2 inline configuration and smashed my track record! This will probably not work as well at Bo's this Saturday night but the experiment forced me to learn something! Thanks for the input guys and I guess in the end, it really comes down to more variables than just Inline / SW / AW configurations.

Regards

John

[SlotsNZ]

Yngwie, on Jun 10 2010, 09:20 AM, said:

......and I guess in the end, it really comes down to more variables than just Inline / SW / AW configurations.

Regards

John

I think so, just look at the variability in the results already for the Slot.it Shootout for Group C cars.
One of the stated goals for that series is to determine what sort of setups work best.... I don't think they'll be able to reach any conclusion, there are too many other variables of builder skill/finesse, the tracks, the proxy drivers, let alone their hand-out wheels/tyres. A single compound, on a variety of tracks.....

I think you already worked this out with your Porsche and Lancia at home after a bit of tweaking, versus what you think will work at Bo's.... and may learn differently when you get there LOL.

[Yngwie]

True Mark, and whilst it is competitive and everyone wants to do their best, it is after all a hobby and meant to be fun first and foremost. Once that goes there really isnt much point to spending your time setting up toy cars! :)