Axles: We use and highly recommend the DRS-153 3/32, DRS-154 1/8, and DRS-155 Hollow Axles. Koford markets very nice .010 thick phosphor-bronze non-magnetic tight fitting axle spacers. We like the tight fit because it helps prevent power-robbing vibration and they do not fall off as easily when changing tires. There is one modification that we make to the axles: we grind small setscrew flats on the axle 120 degrees apart. We do this because when you drill a wheel or gear to install a setscrew you are adding material that is a lot heavier than you remove. There for, installing your wheels and gear 120 degrees apart you are distributing this added weight evenly. We also highly recommend the use of our DRS-120 hollow setscrews as these are lighter weight and further cut down vibration. The flats also allow you to tighten the setscrews down less tightly, causing less distortion of the axle bore.

Body: We have already recommended bodies but we do have some comments on them. First we do not cut the front wheel openings out because this will make the body weaker. We simply leave them clear. We also leave them clear on the rear if possible. On rear wings we use .007 lexan, as this material can either be glued or held on with double stick tape. This tip applies more to AA/Funny-Cars than others, but when the pin holes get loose in the body it allows the chassis to flex too much on take off and can cause wheelspin.

Braid: We use DRS Braid Exclusively. We like this braid for all applications because it is not as stiff as the other styles and allows the braid to conform to the track braid easily. When you use a stiff braid on a drag car it tends to keep the front of the car up causing two problems. First it does not provide good electrical contact. Second it tends to make the car sit up on the wheelie bar wheels, which in turn keeps the rear tires up off the track causing wheelspin. Something else to remember: the cars will get faster as the braid wears. This happens because the braid starts to form a slight groove in the center and this helps the braid to conform to the braid on the track. You will find that this will really help the miles per hour. On one of our test cars that exceeded 120 miles per hour the braid was so ragged and short most would have thrown it away. There is no way to shorten the braid it just has to wear down. We also have a preference for braid conditioner made by Speed Trick. It comes in a very nice bottle and is a lot thicker than the others. We comb the braid about 1/8" on the end and apply a little Speed Trick about every 10 passes. One last thing is to keep the braid clean on both the car and the track and do not forget the shutdown area. When the cars go through the glue in the shut-down area it causes it to cloud up under the car and reapply itself all over the track braid. When the cars pick up this glue in the shutdown area it is then carried to the starting line and will cause contact problems.

Controller: The technology from Cidex is unequaled. We know for sure that this controller was designed for drag racing by drag racers. We have even seen a production "drag controller" that had a brake wire! Cidex controllers are electronic and have some very interesting features. Therefore we highly recommend, and use the Cidex Omni drag electronic controller. Bob has the first production, and also the prototype controller. "These controllers have seen and been through the abuse of the many, many races and thousands of miles of traveling. They still work as good as new even though the LED lights are broken and the diodes bent!"

Gear Mesh: This is a tricky operation to get correct and can have profound effect on the performance. We like to have a little play in the mesh and we check it with the gear in different spots as sometimes the gears can be slightly out of round. This does not really have any effect just something to look for. Also the motor needs to be to be installed so it is square to the axle so the gears are properly meshed. While on the subject of gears we would like to bring up the subject of installing pinions: we install pinions by first checking to insure that the pinion will fit on the shaft easily, then slide a phenolic spacer on the armature shaft. This is done to prevent flux from spattering into the bearing, causing corrosion. Second we put a drop of stay-clean flux on the shaft and then we wipe off our iron on a clean sponge and melt a small amount of silver solder on the iron and pre-tin the shaft. We do this same procedure until the shaft is completely tinned. Then we apply flux to the shaft one last time and then set the pinion on the shaft, wipe your iron clean of any solder and put the flat side of the iron on the pinion and gently heat and push the pinion into place.

Track Gluing: At the finish line you will want to apply glue to stop the cars. This glue needs to be thin, not heavy. Imagine thin glue as a sand trap at the end of a full-scale drag strip that allows the car to sink into it. Now think of the heavy glue as a concrete run off area with speed bumps. The slot car will hit the hard glue, bounce, and in all likely hood get air under it and go airborne resulting in a spectacular (read expensive) crash. To apply the glue first, clean the shut down area. Then take the glue bottle and apply the glue in 5' to 15' strips on both sides of the slot. Then take your index finger and spread it around evenly in the area that the tires will contact or use a 4" wide paint roller with a short nap cover on it. When the cars cease to stop well take your roller down to the shutdown area and re-roll it. You will need to vary the length of the glue strips according to what type of cars you run. Usually the heavier cars need more glue than the lighter ones.