2011 Poly Magna-Lite Limited Edition Cars by SLUGGOSLOTS
The Limited Edition RiggenHO Magna-Lite build constructed by Master Builder Terry Flynn in 2009 was my first opportunity to supply tires to Ron Bernstein’s efforts at RiggenHO and the inspiration for this project. I was very excited to contribute to the project and in the process get my tires "out there". The Magna-Lite reminded me of my early HOPRA days trying to squeeze every bit of performance out of these cars so that I could compete with the Big Boys, so naturally I just had to have one of these newly made cars! After receiving my superbly constructed #4 Ford MK IV in beautiful Gulf colors a road test was definitely in order. I was completely amazed, this was not your average Manga-Traction circa 1982 but a car more akin to the Original Aurora G+ with super quick acceleration and superb handling, had to pull it off the track and check to make sure it was indeed a Magna-Traction! After a few weeks of on and off playing with my new gem, it went back in the display case for safe keeping. Returning to building my cookie cutter cars for eBay, the Magna-Lite all too soon faded from my short term memory. One afternoon in one of those “let’s run some old cars” moods, I pulled out my Magna-Lite.Again, I was amazed at how a car with 30 year old technology could run so well.And, after that day I began building a few Magna-Tractions for myself. On one of the builds I tried a set of BSRT's polymer motor magnets to see if I could squeeze just a tad more performance from the antique car.To my complete surprise I got a ton more - not just a tad more - and that is when I decided to build the Poly Magna-Lite. After consulting numerous times with Terry, I began to purchase the necessary parts for the project.I wanted to keep the cars as close to the originals as possible for comparison of performance. I wanted to use the 4 OHM arm from DC HO Motors that were used in the original cars.But unfortunately their motor shop was closed for the summer.So I went with American Line Mean Green Armatures. Stock 15 tooth crown gears were used in place of the 19 tooth super II version due to clearance issues during the build. Parts List: ·NOS Magna-Traction rolling chassis ·Beautiful period racing skins provided by William Swaney "Mr. Bill's Lexan Bodies" ·BSRT #265 Polymer motor magnets ·BSRT Threaded Aluminum body posts ·American Line Mean Green 6 OHM armatures statically balance as needed ·Wizzard splined rear axles ·Quicker .059" bronze bushings"for rear axle" ·American Line motor brushes, springs and PU shoe springs ·JW's Speed parts .400" Aluminum Independent front axle assembly ·Sluggo's .468" orange and blue silicone sponge rears The goal of this project was to push the performance envelope beyond that of the original Riggen Magna-Lite. I’ve built a lot of cars over the years.But building this many at one time - while trying to maintain the same level of performance between units - proved to be a very slow and challenging experience. As a result numerous consultations with Terry were required throughout the build.The project could not have been completed without his help and inspiration. For testing I used my original #4 Magna-Lite, #1 Ford MKIV Poly Magna-Lite, a stock BSRT G-Jet with jag body and a BSRT 911 Pro Super stock with a Can Am. All were run on my 60' TKO road course with a Trackmate power supply set at 18 volts.Timing software is Trackmate with IR hardware. The Magna-lite was up first.After numerous laps a best time of 6.38 seconds was achieved.Next up was the #1 Poly Magna-Lite.It was able to best that by just a tic over a full second per lap at 5.26. After that it was time to see how they both faired against the G-Jet.Surprisingly the G-Jet was only able to best the Magna-Lite by half a second at 5.77.That was half a second slower than the Poly Magna-Lite. Finally it was time for the BSRT 911 Pro Super Stock to see how all the others compared to a modern magnet car.After a few warm up laps I was able to push the 911 to a lap time of 3.28. Although I was surprised the Poly Magna-Lite was able to best the original car by more than a full second, I was really amazed that it out performed the G-Jet. While the Poly Magna-Lite was a full 2 seconds off of the 911 time it exhibited magnet car like performance.Truly, this IS a fun car to drive! And, who knows, it could be a great alternative to the G-Jet class of racing. If you missed out on the Original Magna-Lite build from RiggenHO, this is your opportunity to obtain a truly fun car to drive or collect!
The cars are priced at $140 each with $6 for Priority U.S. Mail shipping. Cars will be sold on a first come first served basis. Interested parties can contact me by email sladeb@comcast.net
Thanks, Slade Brown
Units Sold
#1 Red Ford GT-40 MK IV - #2 Yellow Ford GT-40 MK IV - #9 Gulf Ford GT-40 MK IV - #5 Yellow Lola T-70 - #25 Yellow & Black Ferrari - #4 Black Ford GT 40 MK VI - #2 Red Lola T-70 - #8 Blue Lola T-70 - #29 Red Ferrari - #6 Sunoco Ferrari
