How to rate a motor, or create a class of motors which can compete against each other on an even footing? Do you use RPM, torque, or some kind of combination of the two?
After lengthy pondering, much staring into space, and a mercifully short session of calculations, the Slot Car News Motor List has been upgraded with the power output in Watts, for every motor for which we have both RPM and torque data. Power is the product of RPM and torque. The exact formula for maximum power is given in the Intro to the list. Watts were chosen due to ease of calculation, and because they are universal units of power. All you have to do to convert Watts to Horsepower is divide Watts by 746; the most powerful motor on the List puts out a whopping 35.7 Watts, or .048 HP! That is forty-eight thousandths of a HP, a number with which you can impress your friends. It is also about half of what a normal light bulb produces. So, click on the link at the head of the page ("click here to see updates") and amuse yourself by reading numbers.
In the photo above, motors are (counter-clockwise from upper right) Slot.It Boxer 2 (FK-180), Scalextric Moto Bike (FF-050), Plafit Fox (FK-130), Slot.It V12/3 21.5k (FC-130), Fly standard "black stripe" (FC-130), Cox TTX-250 (FT-36D), and Pittman DC-195A.
