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HR-Bob also brings up a serious issue- you guys have a magnet marshal???

I posted this in SlotForum yesterday concerning the Slot.it standard magnets. I assume the NINCO ones may well be as varied. Quote:

"Slot.it C-bar magnets vary on magnet marshalls from about 75 grams downforce in one case of a weak willie to one this weekend on a new car an IHSR racer just bought that went over 700 grams.

I pulled out 10 slot.it mags out of various pods and cars and went through mine one season to find out which one was the best and also to find out if all the things I heard about magnets differential was true or baloney.

Now here's the trick, folks. One does not need a Magnet marshall or expensive gauss meter to determine this kind of stuff. Anyone can do this test with a millimeter ruler and a hunk of steel. I used a slot.it axle as my test device.

Put the magnet on the zero spot of the stick, and take the axle and slide it towards the mag along the ruler and stop when the magnet jumps to the axle. I ran through the test 3 times for every magnet and the results were consistent. I did this to make sure my method was accurate. Those 2 and a half years as a Physics Major before I went into Music Education did not go to waste LOL.

The strongest magnet jumped at 10 mm. The weakest jumped at 4. Later on a magnet marshall we measured the 2 strongest, the one at 10mm, which measured about 240g, and the next strongest at 7-8mm, which went in at about 140-150. Needless to say, the strongest went in the box stock Slot.it Nissan and terrified everyone- until a friend came with a Sauber that had a mag later measured at 500+g downforce. But, I told everyone what I'd did, and why, to make a point. Finding the right mag was more important than any skill I might have when honking that ugly Nissan around.

That's why we established a 250g limit with the stock slot.it class to keep the freak-of nature mags out.

And yes- they are all the standard slot.it magnet out of the wrapper, installed in the pods, etc.

Scalextric mags aren't quite as extreme but they also vary as well, even the same shape mag. We found the F1 Hondas were weaker by about 30g downforce IIRC when measured versus the newer Ferraris. That's significant."

Unquote.

I've not seen the NINCO buttons subjected to the same scrutiny, but I'd bet there's a variance. Maybe not the 6-700 percent swing we saw with the slot.its but hey- any advantage is an advantage, yes!?

Oh, and another dirty trick I learned from a former HO National Champ (who now likes racing non-mag and beat me Saturday by 1/3 of a lap in one heck of a good race LOL!), and I found the strongest Slot.it mags also had this characteristic:

Make sure the South side of the magnet is towards the track. Gets way more downforce. If the magnet is one-way like some of the scaley mags and the Slot.it C-bar, make sure the one you have does that. All you need is a compass. If the compass needle points its north end towards the magnet bottom, you're set.

In all seriousness and I know this sounds funny and it kinda is, I have to wonder if racers South of the Equator, esp. in Oz., you'd want the mag to point North side down. I don't know the answer there, but I'd theorize that as likely.

Bob