New member with questions
First off - wow - great site - way cool information all around!!!
I want to start a local downhill racing club - in the Tampa, Florida area (I live in Palm Harbor a little bit west of Tampa).
I have many assorted Hot Wheels track pieces to start with (approx 50 feet) and I have 2 sections of 25 foot long Race Grooves dual lane blue track.
I feel like I should use some kind of standards when setting up.
How long should the track be from start to finish?
What should the ramp length be?
At what angle should the ramp track be set up?
Should I race 2 lanes or 4?
I was thinking 10 feet of ramp (3-4-5 feet high) with 15 feet of flat straight away... any thoughts?
Discussion
WELCOME T.R.,
BUILD TO YOUR DOMAIN... SOMEWHERE AROUND 19 FEET IS THE 1/4 MILE SCALE...
THE AUSTIN D. D. 50 FOOTER IS WICKED GOOD, CC HAS A 40' ER, VJ RUNS A 25'ISH, I RUN A 19' TRACK...
THE VARIATIONS IN LENTH AND PITCH ARE WHAT IS MAKING THIS MAIL-IN RACING FUN, BUT, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO HIGHT AND WIDTH OF YOUR START AND FINISH LINES... CUSTOMS BUILDS CAN BE TALLER [ I USE A "DRAG TRACK", THE ENDS ARE LOW COMPARED TO MOST ...] , JUST OVER - 1.25"
I think most people have tracks set up according to the amount of room and amount of track they have. Mine started out 18 feet. Over time I lengthen it to 24 feet. My starting line is 4 feet high. I think if it was higher it would be uncomfortable or difficult putting the cars into the starting line. I have an 8 foot downhill ramp, only because I just happened to have and 8 foot board laying around. Then 16 feet straight away to the finish. I'm sure I'll play around with making it longer over time, but I'm pretty happy with 24 feet.
I race two lanes.
I tried to make both lanes as even as possible using the same lengths and numbers of pieces of track (each lane is a mirror of each other).
The variety in different peoples tracks makes thing interesting (with the mail in racing).
ThunderRoler Hello!
Here in Brazil built the track with 4 lines ... prefer to build it this way to make the race more exciting and faster too. In one hour we can do a full official step ... the rest of the time it can be used to distract the children who attend our events!
Our track is 7 meters long and 2 meters tall (do not know the extent to feet ...)! And we are planning to increase its length ...
The longer the track more exciting is the arrival, however, the size of the track influence the type of dream car for the race.
For example, a runway shorter and with a high fall, the heavier cars can stand out, while on a track with long straights and mild decrease in the light cars stand out ...
But as already stated, there is an official size ... everything depends on the space you have!
Seven meters is almost 23 feet. More specifically, 22.965879265091864 feet.
2 meters would be 6.562 feet. A six foot high starting line!
My little track is 43'. It has two lanes, 24' of downhill and a 5' start height. The big track is 53'. It has eight lanes, 24' downhill run and a 6' start height.
That's Brian's 25' track in the foreground. It was a lot of fun having them both out on the same day!
Seven meters is almost 23 feet. More specifically, 22.965879265091864 feet.2 meters would be 6.562 feet. A six foot high starting line!
Tanks Tastelikedirt!
In Brazil we do not use feet as a standard measure to specify the height ... but with these data, since I can calculate ... This makes it easy for you to understand me!
Well ... ThunderRoler now you know the data track in my feet too!
Welcome to the party, Thunder! Glad you found us here at Redline Derby Racing and hope you can have some fun and share what you're doing down there in Florida.
Track lengths are so dependent on space available that I don't think there can ever be a "standard" of sorts, but I think the 18-20 foot mark is about the length of a quarter-mile in scale, so probably a good place to start if you want to have some good racing data. The official Redline Derby track is just about 20-feet and it's held up well for a couple years and suffices for all the fantasy league racing we do here...no complaints. Would I like a 50-foot track like Jason and Jobe? Sure...but I don't have 50-feet of space to put it (hell, I barely have the 20)
The Redline Derby track has 4-feet of drop at an angle right around 37 degrees...however, the angle should change based on what you observe, which will depend on track too. I had to change my angle a bit and even at an extra decline in the track because the angle was too harsh and it caused cars to bounce.
Here's a blog post with the specs and how-to guide on making one like the Redline Derby track. It's not elaborate by any stretch but it's portable and easy to setup and take down.
http://www.redlinederby.com/build-your- ... ace-track/
I think you want a drop-straight ratio of at least 1:3 but that's just based on my experience and racing at home. I run 2-lanes but would love more. I'd say do as many lanes as you can since that will help cut down race time...but more lanes means bigger equipment to handle the start and finish lines.
Other than those tidbits, just troll around the forum for a bit and you'll get lots of info on tracks and setup. If you have any questions about Redline Derby, feel free to PM me or use a forum. Otherwise, you'll find a great group of racers here that really know their stuff, so don't be shy about asking anything. We're all here to have fun. Happy racing!
I dig two lanes, let's the racing last longer!
Ditto. I'm way more into drag racing as it is, so two lanes is just the natural choice.
Welcome ThunderRoller!! Glad that you found your way here.
There are no "official" standards for a diecast downhill track so most of us simply build what seems to work best in the space we have. Paying attention to little things, like mounting the track on a firm surface and making the angle transition as smooth as possible, can make a big difference. I'm sure there are many others here that can offer some insight to the prefered slope angle & run-off ratio.
GspeedR