Slotcar Driving Lights Review

Slot Car Driving Lights Review

“What do you want to see?”

A few weeks back Harry did an excellent review of the Ninco Light Kit, which he placed in a Ninco Classic 356. By coincidence, I had much the same project going in a 356 Ragtop and a D-Type Jaguar. I was waiting on the delivery of both a Slot-It Light Kit and a Ninco Light Kit for the purposed of seeing which was a better value. Although I will not replace lights in cars which include them stock, I was determined to have a few Classic Ninco and Carrera cars lit for night racing. For those of you who have not tried this twist in racing, better lights means more fun, when racing in the dark.

I was surprised by the difference in the performance of the two kits so I decided to share my discoveries with others, as sort of a follow up to Harry’s article. Although I have not tried other light kits on the market, I felt that the Slot-It and Ninco represented products from two progressive companies with high standards. The Slot-It product cost $5.00 USD more than the Ninco kit. I was curious to see if it was worth the extra money.

Both kits weigh in at about 4.5 grams and may or may not factor in the performance of the cars when installed. Racing in the dark probably reduces your speed anyways. The Slot-It kit has a much longer wiring harness, a larger circuit board mass and smaller LED lights. The Slot-It lights would need much less space to fit in a car than the Ninco LED lights, which have small circuit boards attached to each light.

I placed both light kits side by side at the same height, and supplied them with identical voltage. I was very surprised by the results. The Ninco lights projected at least THREE times the area of light that the Slot-It kit projected.

I know that the specs of LED light can vary dramatically, but it soon became apparent that the Ninco Kits were “driving” lights and the Slot-It kit was window dressing for those who require detail on their cars. The Ninco front lights faded 10 seconds after disconnection, while the rear lights blazed for almost a minute and a half (very handy for locating a de-slotted car in the dark. Both front and back Slot-It lights faded 15 seconds after the power was cut. I immediately fitted my Porsche 356 with the Ninco kit and drilled out the headlight lenses enough to seat the LED lights.

A few dabs of hot glue later, I twisted the LED power leads into the brush leads and checked the wiring for wheel clearance.

Two minutes later I powered up the car and WOW, I had functional headlights! Compared to any of my other “lit” cars, this 356 actually projected enough light to see two feet down the track. The bright brake lights were cute, but I found my self doing lap after lap in the dark, mesmerized, trying to gauge how fast I could push my non-magnet car without “over driving”my lights.

Although the effort of re-fitting lights is not for everyone, it does add another dimension to driving on an “all-too-familiar” track. I hope that as more lit cars and light kits are released, they will be geared to the function of illuminating the track, rather than just providing a bit of expensive, detailed twinkle.

GenXRacer