Attempt #1 @ building a race track
After reading a lot on here about some fails and successes, along with following the basic template provided, I have built my first race track. It's been about a month in the making with completing little steps here and there. Last night, I finished the starting and finish line. As the video shows, it gets to debut tomorrow night at the Fort Wayne Hot Wheels Club meeting. I've asked the members to bring one or two cars with them.
I'm with racing this...
Here's a quick little video of the track set up in my garage, all ready for it's showcasing tomorrow.
So, what do you guys think? The finish line isn't exactly the most scientific, but, it works. I have to monitor the breaks in the track, but, if the car gets a clean start, it won't have any issue finishing on the track. After tomorrow's meeting, I'm going to start working on a catch box of sorts so that cars can go into something other than a sheet/towel.
Thanks for looking!
Tyler
Discussion
Thanks for the advice. I've thought about building a catch box and lining it with high density foam... would hate to hurt anyone's cars.
Great track, Tyler! It's great seeing all the little enhancements you've made. I really like the track holder on the back side and using a connector tongue as the starting line stoppers is awesome. Extending that finish line isn't too bad either, so long as it's reliable. Can't wait to hear how your race events goes...take photos!
And on the topic of catch boxes...I've been doodling out some plans to build one for my track and like Smitty said, try to avoid the stop boxes. Try to make an actual *catch* box. Something that the car can fall into without a hard stop. My plans have a sort of fabric net that will give and stretch when the cars hit it.
Here are a few pictures...
First is of the bracket, winning car, and the prize I donated. The guy that won, "Andrew", is a co-worker of mine that was intrigued when I was talking to him about this project. He came over last night and brought some new cars from Walmart to test out on the track. His fastest car ended up beating my car in the finals. That's okay though... I would hate to win my own race and it's great that he won, was excited, and will come back again.
Here is a 2nd round race, where Andrew faced off against John B. It was great watching the guys use the starting line themselves. This was the perfect example of how some cars got great starts but ended up losing in the straight away.
Andrew and I faced off in the championship round. Here's the starting line.
Here's Henry, who lost in the first round. His car didn't even make it to the finish line. There were two little girls, Zoe and Miranda that wanted to join in on the fun. They raced each other and the winner was given a bye to the next round. Andrew beat Miranda by about 6 car lengths.
Here's the starting line for Andrew and Miranda. She chose an off-brand Corn Flakes Ford Delivery car that must have come from a cereal box in the 90s. It was slower than molasses. But, she liked it because apparently, she had corn flakes for breakfast.
So there it is! We had a ton of fun. Unfortunately, I'll be on vacation for the July meeting, so we'll have to resume the races in August. I have a few minor tweaks that I want to add but have plenty of time to do it. Thanks for everyone's help and well wishes!
Tyler
hope it's ok to post this ?... ebay has a 50 foot track pac set w / 2 cars MIB...seller iuoe825 ends 3 days $10.66 shipping
That's a good 'gitterdone' track! The only thing that I would
keep an eye on is the angle of the transition between the slope
and the straight-away. It looks like you may have a sharp angle
which would cause racers with low-profile front ends to rub
their front end and cause them to slow down.
I.M.O. make the catch box removeable... you may need to go back to the towel... foam padded stop boxes can beat the front axles out of alignment.... [ modded cars ]