For those who are interested in slotcar racing and are wondering what it takes to build a competitive racer, the following guide describes the best bang for your buck. This guide is inteded to identify the minimum entry requirements for various levels of competitiveness.
Startup Gear
| Parma controller | $29.00 |
| Aligator clips | $5.00 |
| Precision oiler | $5.00 |
| Packaging tape | $2.00 |
| Tweezers | $4.00 |
| Total | $45.00 |
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Rookie Car
This is a basic Super G+ car with a rear wheel and tire upgrade.
| Complete Super G+ Indy car | $39.00 |
| Double flnged Rims | $6.00 |
| Tires (3 pairs: gray, blue, white) | $5.00 |
| Total | $50.00 |
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Upgrade 1 - Handling
The best thing to start off with is to increase the cars ability to stay on the track. The following mods are the easiest to install and offer the best potential for getting the most time on the track.
| Traction mags | $12.00 |
| O-ring front end | $8.00 |
| Total | $20.00 |
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Upgrade 2 - Motor
Replacing an armature involves complete teardown of the car. It's not very complicated but the procedure can be intimidating to new racers. Obtaining proper armature endplay with shims requires repeated removal of the motor and care is required to install the gear straight on the axle.
| Hot stock armature | $10.00 |
| Shims (5 x .005") | $5.00 |
| 20T or 22T gear | $5.00 |
| Total | $20.00 |
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Upgrade 3 - Lexan Body
This is probably the best mod to do a car since it reduces the overall mass and lowers the center of gravity. This requires a complete transfer of parts to a new chassis as well as finicky masking, painting and trimming of a delicate lexan body. However tempting this mod is to do first thing, please try to get a few races in with the other mods before attempting this one.
| Drilled chassis | $15.00 |
| Body posts | $6.00 |
| Body pins | $3.00 |
| Lexan Body | $3.00 |
| Polycarbonate paint | $6.00 |
| Total | $33.00 |
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| Minimum Startup | $95.00 |
| Total upgrades | $73.00 |
| Total to be Competitive | $168.00 |
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