Car Crashes
I have built a 25ft board track and have two 25 ft continuous orange track pieces to make the race as smooth as possible. But my only problem is that I am having a number of crashes. The track is straight...I'm using 11/16 x 3/4 wooden strips to hold the track in place. But some of the cars flip or crash out in places where there is nothing to hit...it's got me a little confused. I had the drop set at about 45 degrees on a 6 1/2 foot board before making the transition to the straightaway....it really makes for a fast race, if there are no wrecks. But I've lowered the angle and it seems to have helped a lot. Anyway maybe I'm answering my own question. But these cars were making 25 ft in about 2.8 seconds...and for a 1/64 scale car that would put it doing about 380-400 mph in real scale speed. Hey at those speeds any little bump can cause major problems...so I've slowed it down some. Has anyone here had these problems with their cars wrecking? Also what kind of drop are most racers doing on a 25ft track?
Thanks,
Preacher
Discussion
I started out using a 5 foot drop and sometimes had the problem of cars wrecking at the speed produced by that drop height. Also, I got tired of having to go all the way to the ground to pick up the cars after racing, so I built some 2 foot supports to lift the track off the ground. Makes for easy post race pick up and the reduced drop height keeps the cars on the track while still maintaining a good paced drag race.
The transition was the culprit when I had a lot of wrecks. I lowered the angle a bit and even had to add a "kicker" to keep cars in place. It does sacrifice a little speed I suppose, but I'd rather have slightly slower cars and complete races.
I have a 37* angle on my track that goes into a kicker board. The kicker board drops from about 4-inches to 1/2" across the 6-foot length. So it goes down the 6-foot main drop, hits a slightly lesser drop, then into the flat. Here's a sort of diagram:
http://www.redlinederby.com/fantasy/tra ... e.php?id=1
Sometimes it just depends on the cars. Certain cars are a bit more likely to crash when they are bombing down from the starting gate.
I have a four foot high starting line. Eight foot downhill. Then the rest is straight away. Recently I've put in a two foot piece to help the transition from the downhill to straight away. I used to run a 24 ft. track. Recently I've extended it to 32 ft. I'll have to do more racing on the 32 footer, but I might even shorten it it a bit. I have all 2ft. pieces so sometimes it can take a while, switching out pieces, reversing, squeezing and adjusting. Everything usually gets smoothed out with time. I've considered lowering the the height of the starting gate as well. Sometimes I think backing off on the speed will solve a lot of other problems.
This morning I noticed something that I wasn't seeing last night. The board joints have slight differences where they meet causing very slight humps in the track. So when the cars are ripping down the track and hit this "slight" hump they go flipping off the track or just crash out. Last night the light wasn't good enough for me to see the little humps. Any ideas on how to join the board sections and keeping them perfectly level? Kinda thought about dowl pins in the track pieces but not sure if that would work.
Preacher
Hinges?
I had that same problem. Ended up switching around, flipping moving and finally getting different pieces of wood.
I got some particle board and ripped it into strips. That stuff seemed to lay flat pretty well.
I've found the single hinge method that I outline in my original post about building a plank track lends itself to warping over time. I mean, wood just warps on its own based on temperature and other conditions, so that's not surprising, but I've found the double-hinge method better for keeping things straight. Went I built my track I just got the basic boards at Home Depot but when I get around to rebuilding, I'll probably try to pick some higher quality wood to help prevent the warping...but for now, it's just something to deal with.
I've found the single hinge method that I outline in my original post about building a plank track lends itself to warping over time. I mean, wood just warps on its own based on temperature and other conditions, so that's not surprising, but I've found the double-hinge method better for keeping things straight. Went I built my track I just got the basic boards at Home Depot but when I get around to rebuilding, I'll probably try to pick some higher quality wood to help prevent the warping...but for now, it's just something to deal with.
Thats MDF I believe thats what it is called, the particle board that they make into base molding...is some good stuff, as long as it doesn't get wet. It super flat, hard, and will not warp...but just don't let it get wet! I'm thinking about this kind of material if my current board track doesn't work out. The boards that I'm using now, came from an old bunkbed. I just wanted to go a cheap route in building my first track. I'm still considering the dowl pens to help with the sections of track in keeping them level.
Preacher
I've seen that composite stuff at the store and always wondered how well it would work...I don't see why it wouldn't as long as you can drill and nail into it. It's just a normal board otherwise. I've used MDF for other projects and outside of the getting wet problem, I've found MDF to be extremely heavy in the thicknesses that work best for a track. Get the MDF too thin and it bends naturally. I think a higher grade/treated wood or the composite might be the best choice.
i use an EXPERT RACERS track, now called DRAG TRACKS ... 15' [optional 5' extention] of HORIZONTAL... 26" VERTICAL ... about 2.10 sec.
also stockers have more suspension than my altereds...i notice that just after the transition the compression is released and the cars tend to rise a bit... I.M.O. if that is where your cars revolt, try slightly less vertical or a little less angle by making a longer incline [experiment by putting spacers under the transition till you like it, then lower the start gate that amount, and remove the spacers ].