Pancake

The pancake motor, as used in slot cars, is a type of electric motor, which has a flat commutator and vertical shaft. It was a feature of the highly successful Aurora HO slot cars of the 1960s and 1970s. The motor was not a separate unit; instead, its individual elements - magnets, armature, commutator and brushes - fit into recesses in the blocky chassis. The power was carried by a chain of spur gears along the top of the chassis, to a pinion which drove a crown gear at the axle. Like most slot car motors, the Aurora pancakes ran on low voltage direct current.