The FLY Panoz Roadster S follows the same FR layout as the real car. For a conventional front-engined slot car, it actually runs fairly well — as long as the magnet is left in place. But compared with Slot.it Group C and LMP cars, its performance is honestly nowhere near competitive.
That felt too sad for a car which, in the real world, had managed to defeat machines like the Audi R8 LMP and BMW V12 LMR from time to time.
So over the years I tried all kinds of things ― eventually even relocating the rear motor support while retaining the original front-motor inline layout in order to install a Slot.it Flat-6 motor.
But the stock spring-type driveshaft joint kept failing under torsional load. I lost three of them, all eventually twisting themselves apart under power.
Then I ran into another problem: genuine replacement joints had become extremely difficult to obtain. So, with no other choice, I had no choice but to commission custom-made stainless-steel replacements from a spring manufacturer, built to my exact specifications. Even so, four out of the five one-off pieces eventually twisted themselves apart as well.
At that point, I finally gave up on the idea of a high-powered FR-layout slot car.
Then, after leaving the project untouched for almost ten years, I recently decided to revisit it as part of my “lighten the burdens of my heart before I die” campaign.
Once I fully understood that the real weak point of a high-powered front-engined car was the driveshaft joint itself, I remembered that I had actually purchased two Olifer 3DP chassis for the Panoz back in 2018.
There were two versions available: one for Slot.it mounts and another for ThunderSlot mounts. Choosing between them was difficult. I was already familiar with Slot.it motor mounts, while I had never used ThunderSlot mounts before.
But by that point ThunderSlot had already been around for about three years, and the worldwide consensus was becoming clear: ThunderSlot was simply on another level.
So I bought the Olifer chassis designed for the ThunderSlot motor mount, along with a ThunderSlot anglewinder mount… and then let them sit unused for eight years.
Eventually I abandoned my attachment to the FR layout and rebuilt the car as an anglewinder.
The result was astonishing.
The car suddenly developed unbelievable road holding, almost like it had magnets installed. I even checked it on a setup plate because I suspected magnetic downforce, but there was proper ground clearance everywhere. So rather than motor magnetism, I think it’s simply the characteristic of the ThunderSlot mount itself.
Man… this thing is seriously impressive. I was completely prejudiced against it for no reason.
Incidentally, for the suspension I used foam rather than metal springs.
And during setup, the following video from the NorCal Slot Car Scene YouTube channel was extremely helpful:
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