Track tweaking, hill too fast

Brian,

Try a 6" kicker under the transition. It eases the angle the cars have to make.

Four feet high at the start, ten feet of acceleration slope transitioning into a straight-away that is about ten inches off the ground. That is good enough to get racers down a forty foot track, maybe even fifty. You don't have to have the racers barring down the track to have fun races.

Yeah, just drop the starting gate down to 4 feet or so. That should shorten the angle because it won't have that much of a height to transition from.

I had the exact same dimensions as your track Brian when I first built mine. Yet, I thought the race was a bit too fast, you'd blink and it was over, so I shortened my start height considerably. It made for a much smoother race w/o any cars leaving the track, and more time to enjoy each race

I must have missed something Brian. Why did you begin to tweak your track. Were you starting to have more and more cars falling off?

Thanks for all the suggestions. The starting gate is already 4-feet high so I'll try reducing the angle and maybe try a kicker too.

I started tweaking my track because the transition curve was moving too much, too much give. Heavier cars would make it squish more and thus the cars didn't have as fair a fight. The bungie I added did a great job at fixing that problem, but exposed another one.

There's a happy medium somewhere, just gotta find it.

I've never understood why everyone is married to the drop/drag style tracks. Can't understand why they can't be more evenly sloping. Don't know 'cause I don't do drags.

I think it's all in the transition. Mixes it up. The quick drop transitioning into a run-out race to the finish is kinda exciting. Just my opinion.

@georgeb - Well, my first track was the drop/drag style because it was the easiest to make. Few boards and bam, done. When you get into more sloped tracks you're talking about a lot more investment in many ways. Of course, such investment usually pays off, as Jason's mega track shows. You can turn a hinged track into a more gradual style too, like Jobe does, and I think that's where I'm heading with the league track.

And I have to agree with JDC too, I think the drop/drag style is a lot of fun.

Are you guys actually complaining about the cars being too fast? You do realize we are racing, right?

I am very much against a high speed parade lap. The transition areas can be a bit finicky. Especially when you are running a 40* angle. Both of my tracks run at a 10* angle and there has never been anything that has bounced out of the transition.

The 40* angle can work as long as the transition is smooth and firm. Either way you go, slowing down the cars is not the answer in a race. If you really want to make everything slow and pretty you'll kill the competition side of it.

Here's what a race looks like on my track after the height reduction. It's not a blur and it's not slow either.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlson442/4806037133/in/photostream

It allows for a little jockeying which I like.

It allows for a little jockeying which I like.

I like the dimensions of that track very much .

I've never understood why everyone is married to the drop/drag style tracks. Can't understand why they can't be more evenly sloping. Don't know 'cause I don't do drags.

Because for most people, cost is a consideration. It is economical to have a plank for the drop and more planks for the straight- away. It is the transition that can be tricky or cause problems if the change in angles is severe.