magnatraction class

I've become a big fan of racing on 13.8 volts after running the Nostalgia Funny Cars at the NTRA Finals. It's very cool to actually be able to see the races develop. We could see which car had the better RT or launch, watch them trade the lead going down the track, and see if one car could drive around the other with a better top end charge. NF/C was very "realistic" racing and got the most giggles, grins, high-fives, and "Wow, great race!" comments.

The Gassers and MM/PS cars are so ballistic at 18 and 27 volts that it's really difficult to appreciate the race, especially from the driver's perspective standing behind the starting line. Many of the Stockers were spinning their skinny tires on 18 volts, and that also adversely affected racing in that class. I think I'm going to follow Matt's lead and make 13.8 volts the standard at Lions Drag Strip.

I'm in awe of the performance of the cars on a lot of juice, but I think that lower voltage makes for better racing. I'll certainly support a Magnatraction-based class, whatever you guys decide on the final rules. I've also become a big fan of the four-gear chassis because the longer wheelbase allows for some very realistic-looking bodies from our great resin casters.

Thanks,
Rick V.

13.8v seems to be about right. We run everything at 13.8 here. The only time that we bump up the voltage is when we are tuning cars to be sent away. On 13.8 my red stocker was running 1.6's with no lead and on stock rear tires. Rick is right, you can see the race develop at 13.8v.

Matt

PS. another nice thing about 13.8v is you don't need sili-foam tires. That will save you $8-$10 per car.

Why not make it truley a entry level class and only allow Auto World X-Tractions, no after market brushes, pick up shoes or gears. Only allow a rear silicone tire swap, untouched stock front tires and allow some of the old Aurora wheels that Matt mentioned for a personal touch? A guy could start racing for about $13. I like the Muscle car idea but would like to see nothing but bodies from the 60's.

.02

I like where you are going with this Sam except for the body. '60's only is too limiting. For the Mopar guys the 69 charger is the only choice. We would loose the 70 challengers, 71 cudas and the 71GTXs. I could go '60 - '74. By '74 the first round of the factory horsepower race was dead (thanks EPA and OPEC). If only "stock" brushes are allowed, every car will have to be opened up to check the brushes. When the brushes wear out you will have to buy more AW brushes instead of using the t-jet brushes (wizzard/thunderbrushes) that you have in your box.

I so agree with droping the voltage to 13.8 volts,it does make for alot better racing and like rick said you can see a car drive around another,and that why i suggested the 4 gear funny car class,because stock they are pretty quick,and iam all for any AFX class,i too think the bodies should be 1960-1975,and if you want to make it to where you dont have to open up every car to check brushes ,then just keep everything stock except for silicon slips on tires,and any brushes,everything else has to be stock.
and i really like the AFX cars,and AW is making the chassis just as good if not better than the old ones,and these chassis are also very inexpensive $15 average.
i would like to see a Econo nostalgia Pro stock class with this same chassis and maybe get hairycarney to make some cool prostock bodies for them,... 1975-1989.
just another thought Guys.and it could be another class to add to some Nostalgia Events as well.

I was thinking that giving a few tuning options with the shoes and brushes would be a good thing. The only way for a brand new racer to learn anything is to experiment with different setups. With the race format that I proposed, you can run them right out of the box and still have a chance of winning your race or maybe even Top Eliminator. If you want to tinker and tune them and shoot for the quick 8, you can go for the Top Eliminator win. There is something for everybody. If we keep running this class and more cars get faster and become more even, we could move up to a quick 16 and the rest run in pairs.

As far as the x-traction only, I don't know. I'm sure almost everybody has a couple Magnatractions in their box. Even if it was from 30 years ago when they were a kid. They could clean and lube them and slap in some new brushes and tires go. I will say that of the 20 plus cars that I have that fit these rules, my X-tractions are the faster cars. The stronger magnets and the 3 lam arms seem to be better than the AFX stuff.

I just thought of something else. How about this. At the races that we allow 2 entries, if you qualify for the quick 8, only your quickest qualifier is allowed to race. That would keep 4 people from possibly taking all 8 spots and would guarantee 8 people in the quick 8. Everybody else would be allowed to race both cars.

Please, let me know what you think about this class. We have had a lot of ideas tossed around the last couple of days and I would like to get the rules tied down this weekend. Like I said before, I think that this class has something for everybody, veterans and rookies.

Right now I'm looking at possibly holding a race for this class thanksgiving weekend. I'm not going to have an official test and tune but if you don't have a track or if you just want me to test them here, you could send them to me at any time. I could test them, record any observations and send them back with the test info. I'm pretty sure that I can ship them anywhere first class for about $3-$4.

All input is welcome

Matt