These are just some ramblings from stuff that I have either read, been told or experienced. All tips are to be considered as-is and represent my current pool of knowledge on the subject at the time of writing, as little as that may be. Hopefully they will be of use to you and an aid to help you edge out the competition in your local area! I'm not gonna prune the tips so a tip further down the chain my contradict or just be better than a tip added earlier. If you would like to have a tip added, mail it to me.

Tip #1
In the days of old when the MachDash was the fastest motor, to gain speed one had to really consider every component of the car in regard to its weight. However, with a plasma or jet motor and a good set of fully charged batteries, speed will not be the first problem you will encounter. It will be stability.

Tip #2
If you have the standard set of stuff for your car and it keeps flipping off, go buy some spacers (found in Screw Set A) and use them to elevate whatever roller set you have in the front and back of your car. Be careful not to make them too high without proper support or if you do run into something, you can bend (if on aluminum) or break (if on plastic) the mounting bracket. This will lower your center of gravity and thus make your car more stable.

When addressing this type of problem, the rear should be placed higher (thus making it more stable) than the front because when the front contacts the wall it can, depending on the previous turn, slam the rear of the car into the wall and potentially flip out.

Tip #3
Sometimes messing with a single or group of weights from one of the weight sets can be a hassle. Next time try putting back on your rubber stock tires in place of those reston or sponge. The difference in weight may just be what you need to keep your car stable.

Tip #4
If you use the stabilizing poles with the white rollers on top and are still having problems with stability, put the grey rubber wrap around it (perfect fit). Some may say this creates friction, but that is the point. When this pole/roller set is actually touching the wall, that means your car is out of control and practically up on its side! At a time like that you want the friction to slow you down and put all four wheels back on the track.

Tip #5
If you use the stabilizing poles with the round ball on top, those need to be bent at a 45 degree angle and aligned so they just barely are NOT in contact with the wall on a straight. The closer the better but you don't want them to touch the wall. This is probably a better solution than Tip #3 because 1.) most rules don't have a limit on stabilizing poles but they do have on rollers, 2.) when bent and properly aligned, your car will wobble less than with an ordinary upright pole with or without the rollers, 3.) they look much cooler.

After one or two uses with this type of setting, your poles will no longer be secured in their bracket thus losing their effectiveness. You will need to get some glue or something to hold them in place.

Tip #6
The stabilizing poles are very versatile. If can bend one about 90 degrees you can put it on the middle of your rear stay, upside down. It should just be off the ground so that if the front of the car rises, the round end of the pole strikes the ground forcing the car back down. Cheap and easy wheelie bar.

Tip #7
I wasn't aware of this for a long time, so maybe there are others out there... but did you know that the round ball on top of the stabilizing pole set comes off? You can easily slip the ball off, put a roller on with some mechanism to hold it in place and then cap the round ball back on top. I have used a small aluminum spacer and some locktite to keep the roller from sliding up. Perfect for the front of a car if you don't have the extra cash to buy the short pole and roller set.

Tip #8
If your wheels don't stay on, the best long term solution is to buy new ones. The other short-term solutions such as glue, locktite, and tape will only get you through, as the name implies, for a very short time. Glue as the absolute last resort and then the tape. Never use the locktite as it should never be applied to any plastic component because, for lack of a better word, it eats it.

Tip #9
Those colored aluminum plates sure are slick to look at, but if you ever crash your car and have either an elevated roller or some sort of stabilizing pole setup, you had better check them before your next run because at the speeds these cars get, they bend easily and then they can really suck.

Tip #10
Not all stock motors are created equal. In turn, put each of your stock motors in the same car with the same batteries and just listen to the difference. So far, I have found 3 distinct speeds for my batch of 8 stock motors.

Tip #11
This may sound stupid, but if your car runs in the top 3, don't make any drastic changes or you may end up running in the bottom 3. At that level, subtle changes will make all the difference.

Tip #12
The Jet, Plasma and Ultra motors are real enticing, but unless you also plan on purchasing a good set of NiCd or NiMh batteries, buy the Mach Dash instead. The first 3 motors will kill normal batteries quickly whereas the Mach Dash will run quicker and much longer making it the motor of choice for Alkalines.

Tip #13
Another way to increase the stability of your car during curves (and who flies off in a straight!) is to use the Aluminum Down-Thrust add-on. If it still flies off after you put it on your car, try bending both swivel arms upward a bit so that it puts even more of a down-thrust on the front of the car.

Tip #14
From Paolo Doplon, if your car flies off the track over the cross-over lane change, try putting the rear-brake and sliding dampener on your car and make sure the brakes are just a hairline off the ground so they will grab the track as they hit the incline and will slow the car down.

Tip #15
6/22/2000 - Batteries are the life-line of your car. They must have enough capacity to last (hopefully) several races and have high voltage to turn the motor fast. Batteries Plus, a retailer in the U.S., have a set of NiMh batteries that are 1500 mah with a voltage of 1.25 (just like NiCd!). These batteries have the high capacity of a NiMh and the voltage of a NiCd. As of today, 6/22/2000, they rock.

Tip #16
6/22/2000 - Angle is an important factor for your rollers, especially the front rollers. There are several things you can do to increase the angle, but one that I found worth using was to get a large file, and file at an angle (obviously!) across both screw mounts on the front bumper. Another, not so permenant solution is to cut some of the plastic spacers you get with some of the upgrades at an angle and mount your roller or frp/alum plate on them.

Tip #17
6/23/2000 - Battery Life. In theor, two 1500 mah batteries could sustain a 4000 mah motor (plasma/jet/ultra) for at best, around 40 minutes. On the other hand, two 1500 mah batteries could sustain a 1900 mah motor (mach) for around 90 minutes. Big difference.

Tip #18
6/23/2000 - Motors! I'm not sure if I've mentioned this enough, but the Mach Dash motor is awesome and I use it much more often than the Jet/Ultra/Plasma. Everyone wants to know why so here it is! #17 supports why, but basically, the mach dash will run faster for a longer period of time than the other motors.

Tip #19
6/23/2000 - From Arnel Almaden: You can make your car run faster, but it has the tendency to fly off the track. One way to cure this is to use the FRP Mount Plate as front and rear brakes. You can mount them below the front screw mounts, it must be bearly touching the ground, as for the rear you can mount it on the rear plate, just like the rear skids.

Tip #20
6/23/2000 - Also from Arnel Almaden: Another way to increase the motors speed is by using WD 40. Make use of an old container and fill it with with WD 40, just enough to dip the engine. Dip the engine, clean it and wipe off the excess lubricant. It will run faster, but as with fast motors the brush tends to wear down faster. The best engine to do this is the Jet Dash engine.

Tip #21
6/28/2000 - People who are promoting the small wheel in front with large in back setups, including myself, are all wrong that it increase the acceleration. What it does is it makes your car appear 4 wheel drive to the race coordinator when in reality the rear, larger tires are ALWAYS pushing the front, smaller tires making it essentially 2 wheel drive.

Tip #22
7/14/2000 - Primarily use narrow tires instead of the wide tires on both the front and the back. They have less drag on your car thus making it go faster. The only reason to use a wide tire is if your car is unstable and just wont stay on the track. 

Tip #232
7/31/2000 - This tip only works for cars with the shorter wheel base (not Super-X), but if your wheels keep failing off and you don't want to use messy glue, drill a tiny hole through the hole where the axle fits. It must go completely through and be very small. Then instead of the normal length axles, use the Super-X style axles and push them through the normal axle fitted slot and into the new drilled hole. It will poke out some on the other side but it will create a very snug fit and the wheel will not come off.