Showing posts with label Jel Claws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jel Claws. Show all posts
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sunday, January 18, 2009
New JelClaws for SCX Compact Nascars!
JelClaws will be making Compact Nascar tires within the next month!!! I just talked with Joe from JelClaws and he says they're in the final stages of making molds and I'd expect to see prototypes within the next few weeks to a month, with production starting VERY soon after that.
http://www.jelclaws.com/start.php
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Jel Claws meet BWA
Jel Claws now makes stunning white wall tires for 1950's rods, customs, boulevard cruisers, and maybe even sports cars. The white rubber is a thin layer fused to the basic black rubber, with clean edges and durability. The other side is black. These tires fit the narrowest BWA 5mm rims, as on the front of the '32 Ford shown in the photos. These wheels were developed for vintage racers, and may be had with 1/8" threaded hubs, standard 3/32" holes with set screw, or 1/16" holes with set screw. They fit Scalextric classic F1 tires. Inserts are BWA 32214, a wide bolt-circle '37 Ford style standard for modified stock cars in the 1950's through 1970's.
Jel Claws ST-1135-W tires are intended for "Early Revell, Ferrari GTO, Marx and Strombecker Hot Rods, Marx Two piece Wheels & Others with Aluminum Chassis. Inner Diameter 1/2" 12.7mm" according to the package. The rubber is the same compound we have come to expect from Jel Claws, a soft, grippy EPDM rubber. They sure look fine on the front of this 1/25 scale AMT '32 Ford!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
New Jel Claws
The new 1/32 whitewall that fits Marx two piece wheel cars (above) and tires for the 1/24 Vintage Cox Rear Wheel (below).
Link to Jel Claws.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Jel Claws exclusive news
Jel Claws have just developed two tires for Johnny Lightning HO slot cars, small and large slicks. The part numbers are ST 2010 and ST 2020. They will sell 5 pairs for $7.99. And these will be listed on Ebay and the Jel Claws web site by 6/25/07.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Tire Test: Urethane vs. Silicone
Much discussion has been had about the relative merits of Ortmanns vs. Super Tires, or urethane tires vs. silicone tires, particularly in the US and Canada, where these two types of tires are popular. Ortmann tires have a reputation for gripping regardless of dust, while silicone tires are said to grip best on dustless track. This test was designed to measure relative track speeds of these tires in clean and dusty conditions.
All tires were run on the same car (Fly Racing Porsche GT1-98), with the same wheels (Slot.It 17x10mm). This car was selected because it is very stable, and is easy to drive consistently. Testing was done on the same lane of East New York Raceway, a 61’, wood track surfaced with interior flat latex paint. For the first test, the track was cleaned by running a car with Super Tires, cleaning the tires every few laps with a sticky label, until no more dust was picked up. As a result, the track was very clean and dust free. Tires were then tested one after the other, for 50 laps each.
The second round of testing was done several days later, after a moderate coating of atmospheric dust had accumulated. Ortmann and rubber tire cars had been run in the interim. No track or tire cleaning was done at any time for the second test. Dust was apparent, adhering to the tires, after each pair had been run.
All tires fit the Slot.It rims very well, with a flat tread. All tires were very true as run. We rounded the outer tire shoulder slightly, if it were square cornered. Each pair of tires was run for 50 laps; best lap times are shown below:
Clean track:
Super Tires Silicone 4.922 sec.
Ortmann Urethane 4.935
Slot.It S2 Silicone 4.981
Slot.It S1 Silicone 5.058
Tru Grip Urethane 5.137
Jel Claws Rubber 5.148
Moderately dusty track:
Slot.It S2 Silicone 4.977 sec.
Super Tires Silicone 4.979
Ortmann Urethane 4.987
Slot.It S1 Silicone 5.048
Tru Grip Urethane 5.176
Jel Claws Rubber 5.176
On a very clean track, the Super Tires were fastest. On a moderately dusty track, the Slot.It S2’s were slightly faster than the Super Tires and the Ortmann tires, and both Slot.It tires were slightly faster than they had been on a clean track. However, a difference of .003, or even .010 seconds may be attributable to chance, or uneven driving (an insignificant difference).
Only the Slot.It tires appeared to be unaffected by the presence or absence of dust. All the other tires were significantly slower on the dusty track. Ortmann tires were .052 sec slower, which is a significant difference. These tests show results which differ from what we expected, so expect more tests to follow!
All tires were run on the same car (Fly Racing Porsche GT1-98), with the same wheels (Slot.It 17x10mm). This car was selected because it is very stable, and is easy to drive consistently. Testing was done on the same lane of East New York Raceway, a 61’, wood track surfaced with interior flat latex paint. For the first test, the track was cleaned by running a car with Super Tires, cleaning the tires every few laps with a sticky label, until no more dust was picked up. As a result, the track was very clean and dust free. Tires were then tested one after the other, for 50 laps each.
The second round of testing was done several days later, after a moderate coating of atmospheric dust had accumulated. Ortmann and rubber tire cars had been run in the interim. No track or tire cleaning was done at any time for the second test. Dust was apparent, adhering to the tires, after each pair had been run.
All tires fit the Slot.It rims very well, with a flat tread. All tires were very true as run. We rounded the outer tire shoulder slightly, if it were square cornered. Each pair of tires was run for 50 laps; best lap times are shown below:
Clean track:
Super Tires Silicone 4.922 sec.
Ortmann Urethane 4.935
Slot.It S2 Silicone 4.981
Slot.It S1 Silicone 5.058
Tru Grip Urethane 5.137
Jel Claws Rubber 5.148
Moderately dusty track:
Slot.It S2 Silicone 4.977 sec.
Super Tires Silicone 4.979
Ortmann Urethane 4.987
Slot.It S1 Silicone 5.048
Tru Grip Urethane 5.176
Jel Claws Rubber 5.176
On a very clean track, the Super Tires were fastest. On a moderately dusty track, the Slot.It S2’s were slightly faster than the Super Tires and the Ortmann tires, and both Slot.It tires were slightly faster than they had been on a clean track. However, a difference of .003, or even .010 seconds may be attributable to chance, or uneven driving (an insignificant difference).
Only the Slot.It tires appeared to be unaffected by the presence or absence of dust. All the other tires were significantly slower on the dusty track. Ortmann tires were .052 sec slower, which is a significant difference. These tests show results which differ from what we expected, so expect more tests to follow!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Jel Claws tires
Jel Claws are soft tires which provide a wide variety of shapes and sizes for many cars. The tires are nicely molded, very true, and grip well on many surfaces. We have found they stick better and better the more you run them, as the tires seem to soften as they heat up, due to sliding friction. For certain cars, they may be superior to other brands. Experimentation will show which tires work optimally on which cars.
Jel Claws for "Aston Martin DBR1" are a good fit on Scalextric Classic F1 wheels, providing the correct size, and better traction than the original tires. These Jel Claws are a valuable addition to the range of tire options for vintage slot car racers.
Jel Claws for "Early Revell" scale a huge 31" in diameter, which explains the perplexed look on face of the vintage Revell driver. Actual Revell tires are on the front, and Ortmann repro Monogram on the rear; these are the correct sizes for this car. These Jel Claws fit center-rib wheels, not found on early Revell slot cars, which used a drop-center rim.
Jel Claws "Ninco Classics" (on the right), softer than Ninco tires (on the left), and a slightly lower side wall. A great fit on the Ninco Classics rim.
A rebuilt Scalextric Ferrari 330 P4 with scale sized Slot.It 15x8mm wheels on the rear, MMK on the front. Jel Claws tires for "Fly GT40 and Ferrari 365" fit perfectly, just a little tighter than the MRRC Chaparral tires shown in the picture below. Note the realistic curve to the sidewall. On the front, Jel Claws for Ninco Classics on the MMK narrow rims. Again, note the rounded sidewall.
Jel Claws for "MRRC Chaparral, Cobra, Slot.It & BWA Wheels" do indeed fit Slot.It 15x8mm rims, a standard size for late 1960's through current-era race cars. Here a tire mechanic smiles on the good fit of these Jel Claws mounted on a Slot.It Sauber Mercedes rim.
Jel Claws tires can be sanded for perfect trueness and optimal profile, with light pressure and a medium grit paper.
Jel Claws are currently available from the e-bay store, at
this link.
Jel Claws for "Aston Martin DBR1" are a good fit on Scalextric Classic F1 wheels, providing the correct size, and better traction than the original tires. These Jel Claws are a valuable addition to the range of tire options for vintage slot car racers.
Jel Claws for "Early Revell" scale a huge 31" in diameter, which explains the perplexed look on face of the vintage Revell driver. Actual Revell tires are on the front, and Ortmann repro Monogram on the rear; these are the correct sizes for this car. These Jel Claws fit center-rib wheels, not found on early Revell slot cars, which used a drop-center rim.
Jel Claws "Ninco Classics" (on the right), softer than Ninco tires (on the left), and a slightly lower side wall. A great fit on the Ninco Classics rim.
A rebuilt Scalextric Ferrari 330 P4 with scale sized Slot.It 15x8mm wheels on the rear, MMK on the front. Jel Claws tires for "Fly GT40 and Ferrari 365" fit perfectly, just a little tighter than the MRRC Chaparral tires shown in the picture below. Note the realistic curve to the sidewall. On the front, Jel Claws for Ninco Classics on the MMK narrow rims. Again, note the rounded sidewall.
Jel Claws for "MRRC Chaparral, Cobra, Slot.It & BWA Wheels" do indeed fit Slot.It 15x8mm rims, a standard size for late 1960's through current-era race cars. Here a tire mechanic smiles on the good fit of these Jel Claws mounted on a Slot.It Sauber Mercedes rim.
Jel Claws tires can be sanded for perfect trueness and optimal profile, with light pressure and a medium grit paper.
Jel Claws are currently available from the e-bay store, at
this link.
Monday, October 2, 2006
JelClaws tires
From the JEL CLAWS website...I hope they don't get mad for me lifting the entirety of their ad copy here...
"JEL CLAWS are simply the most high tech scale tires available. Made in our own factory by engineers and craftsman, who care about quality. Unlike other manufacturers, JEL CLAW is a real company and not a basement industry casting silicone tires out of resin molds. JEL CLAWS utilizes precision and modern molding equipment with the latest technology to bring you the roundest, flattest, and accurate tires available. JEL CLAWS are better than Silicone on plastic or wood tracks that can turn even the best silicone tires to slippery banana peels.
Along with never before seen accuracy our special tire compounds are formulated to be the best gripping tires ever. There performance will not fade during a race and will run their best until the checkered flag. JEL CLAW tires are tested and raced by us for each application and alwaysare much better than stock tires. Because our molds are CNC machined out of metal and designed on a CAD system you can be assured of consistent quality in each and every scale tire. JEL CLAWS makes and will make tires for all slot cars with a ever growing line. If there is a tire you need that is not available drop us a line.
From slicks to treaded designs JEL CLAWS can and will make it!"
Rob's had several sets of these tires for some time now. At first I was as skeptical as I usually am about a new compound of tires. He's used one set of the Jel Claws on his Sauber Mercedes Slot.It car and he's gotten that car to go pretty fast, especially since the Ortmann's that we normally favor hadn't worked any better than the Jel Claws. Ortmann's are the only tire that we consider serious tires on his track. So tonight, slot car in hand, I tried a set of these Jel Claw tires on my car and settled in for some serious testing.
I'm not sure of the model of the tires but they're a perfect fit for the medium size of Slot It wheel (the 15x10's I think they are). At first, nothing to write home about..."you have to give them about 50 laps to wear in" Rob says as I try and push the slot car faster than the tires will allow. And around 75 laps later, almost at once, the tires started to really, really grip. The times went from a first lap time of 5.9 seconds to around 5.79 seconds. Then more and more laps piled up and the tires really started to hook up even more. 5.79 was an easy lap time to get to, now I was having to overdrive the car less and the tires were doing the rest... now 5.69....then low 5.6's...now upper 5.5's...HOLY CRAP....now a fastest lap of 5.513!!! What was most impressive about these times were the consistancy that I could get. These weren't times that I hit once in a while and then I couldn't hit them again. I turned lap after lap around 5.20's without deslotting at all. The tires would slide nicely but still grip and not a hint of hop from over-grip.
Something else about these tires. Not only did it take many laps for them to start to hook up but we noticed that after a brief break between the 200+ laps I did the first test and the second stretch of 300+ laps I did that the tires didn't work as well after the break. They evidently cooled down. The wood track and the Jel Claws have so much friction that the tires actually get so tacky that they get very gummy and that's why they stick so well. Once they heat up...you're golden! Amazing...now all we need are little 1/32 tire warmers link in F1!
Something else we noticed is the tires get an odd kind of pilling effect on the surface. They also tend to clump up those little marbles into larger ones...here's the picture of that and notice the way the surface of the tire is pilled up, you can see the direction I was travelling from the way the tires have warm.
Something else was odd that one tire appeared to be doing most of the "work", I think that there may be more corners in that direction so one tire was doing the heavy cornering while the other tire didn't seem to have the heavy wear. Seen below.
The tires are concentric and fit on the tires well with little tugging to get them to seat properly. They also feel quite strong so you don't have to worry about thinking you're going to rip them trying to put them on the tires.
A word about Ortmann's tires for the record here. Ortmann's were faster on the car tested, a fastest lap of 5.35. But they were very difficult to drive at that speed and in fact Rob found them entirely undriveable on this particular test car. So while you could do a fast lap once in a while, the overall speed of the car wasn't that much faster, and in fact the car was nearly impossible to drive consistantly with the Ortmann's as opposed to the Jel Claws, when comparing them head-to-head on this car. BTW, I know I'm not saying the car because it will be reviewed tomorrow...so tune in to find out the mystery test mule from tonight.
Based on our testing tonight of at least 500 laps of a brand new set of these tires I have to say they work very well. I think these tires would be best suited to endurance racing or on high grip tracks like Ninco or on wood tracks. And would do very well during a long race over several hours I think these tires would have excellent grip and would really shine after prolonged use during a single race.
I have no official rating system here at SCNews but if I did they'd be at the top...a recomended buy.
DaveK
Publisher, Slot Car News
"JEL CLAWS are simply the most high tech scale tires available. Made in our own factory by engineers and craftsman, who care about quality. Unlike other manufacturers, JEL CLAW is a real company and not a basement industry casting silicone tires out of resin molds. JEL CLAWS utilizes precision and modern molding equipment with the latest technology to bring you the roundest, flattest, and accurate tires available. JEL CLAWS are better than Silicone on plastic or wood tracks that can turn even the best silicone tires to slippery banana peels.
Along with never before seen accuracy our special tire compounds are formulated to be the best gripping tires ever. There performance will not fade during a race and will run their best until the checkered flag. JEL CLAW tires are tested and raced by us for each application and alwaysare much better than stock tires. Because our molds are CNC machined out of metal and designed on a CAD system you can be assured of consistent quality in each and every scale tire. JEL CLAWS makes and will make tires for all slot cars with a ever growing line. If there is a tire you need that is not available drop us a line.
From slicks to treaded designs JEL CLAWS can and will make it!"
Rob's had several sets of these tires for some time now. At first I was as skeptical as I usually am about a new compound of tires. He's used one set of the Jel Claws on his Sauber Mercedes Slot.It car and he's gotten that car to go pretty fast, especially since the Ortmann's that we normally favor hadn't worked any better than the Jel Claws. Ortmann's are the only tire that we consider serious tires on his track. So tonight, slot car in hand, I tried a set of these Jel Claw tires on my car and settled in for some serious testing.
I'm not sure of the model of the tires but they're a perfect fit for the medium size of Slot It wheel (the 15x10's I think they are). At first, nothing to write home about..."you have to give them about 50 laps to wear in" Rob says as I try and push the slot car faster than the tires will allow. And around 75 laps later, almost at once, the tires started to really, really grip. The times went from a first lap time of 5.9 seconds to around 5.79 seconds. Then more and more laps piled up and the tires really started to hook up even more. 5.79 was an easy lap time to get to, now I was having to overdrive the car less and the tires were doing the rest... now 5.69....then low 5.6's...now upper 5.5's...HOLY CRAP....now a fastest lap of 5.513!!! What was most impressive about these times were the consistancy that I could get. These weren't times that I hit once in a while and then I couldn't hit them again. I turned lap after lap around 5.20's without deslotting at all. The tires would slide nicely but still grip and not a hint of hop from over-grip.
Something else about these tires. Not only did it take many laps for them to start to hook up but we noticed that after a brief break between the 200+ laps I did the first test and the second stretch of 300+ laps I did that the tires didn't work as well after the break. They evidently cooled down. The wood track and the Jel Claws have so much friction that the tires actually get so tacky that they get very gummy and that's why they stick so well. Once they heat up...you're golden! Amazing...now all we need are little 1/32 tire warmers link in F1!
Something else we noticed is the tires get an odd kind of pilling effect on the surface. They also tend to clump up those little marbles into larger ones...here's the picture of that and notice the way the surface of the tire is pilled up, you can see the direction I was travelling from the way the tires have warm.
Something else was odd that one tire appeared to be doing most of the "work", I think that there may be more corners in that direction so one tire was doing the heavy cornering while the other tire didn't seem to have the heavy wear. Seen below.
The tires are concentric and fit on the tires well with little tugging to get them to seat properly. They also feel quite strong so you don't have to worry about thinking you're going to rip them trying to put them on the tires.
A word about Ortmann's tires for the record here. Ortmann's were faster on the car tested, a fastest lap of 5.35. But they were very difficult to drive at that speed and in fact Rob found them entirely undriveable on this particular test car. So while you could do a fast lap once in a while, the overall speed of the car wasn't that much faster, and in fact the car was nearly impossible to drive consistantly with the Ortmann's as opposed to the Jel Claws, when comparing them head-to-head on this car. BTW, I know I'm not saying the car because it will be reviewed tomorrow...so tune in to find out the mystery test mule from tonight.
Based on our testing tonight of at least 500 laps of a brand new set of these tires I have to say they work very well. I think these tires would be best suited to endurance racing or on high grip tracks like Ninco or on wood tracks. And would do very well during a long race over several hours I think these tires would have excellent grip and would really shine after prolonged use during a single race.
I have no official rating system here at SCNews but if I did they'd be at the top...a recomended buy.
DaveK
Publisher, Slot Car News
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