Track consistency?
Lately we've been working on a new track and just can't get 4 cars down it consistently, either a crash or cars flying off track. How does everyone keep their track racing consistently? All input is appreciated
Discussion
Spydude is spot on, you dont want your angle too steep but also need to make sure cars get to the other end of the track.. Also, you will most likely need to add a shim prior to the corner to assist the cars in finding the right line , otherwise these will hit the corner and not take the corner..
I had to add a hill or two to my track after about 6 months of racing to remove some speed... As my track is Sizzler Fat track its very hard to get it right ... Too fast and cars will spin, too slow and the slide down the corner lol... I think I have it pretty good now. definitely less accidents than before..
Keep us up to date with your build :) - Macey - AUSSIE DIECAST RACING LEAGUE
- Will do . Yeah not being anchored well enough well enough I believe was part of the inconsistency now I'm just working on the speed in the corner angles you know nothing much LOL — nuckinfutts77
The problem we've found at the canyon, is that every car is different. Some are blazing fast, some are slow and lots in between. If you build it for slower cars, you'll have faster cars flying off track. Build it for the fastest cars and a lot of medium to slower cars won't make it through the turns or to the end of the track.
We designed and 3D printed connectors for CR tracks and these can be screwed to your base, and that holds the track in place (as the others have said, cars running the track will move it around a lot), which does remove some of the issues.
The other thing is once you release the cars, there is no way to actually control them. If you get a couple of cars that are very even in speed, you'll often find they will cause one of the cars to go sideways and crash, or get stuck in front of the others. Lines/grooves/ridges in the track can only do so much. For us, if we can get 4 cars down the track 80-90% of the time, then that's fine. If we're only getting 1 car down the track consistently, then we try to tweak it more.
- I agree with CC - the tricky part for me is the different speeds of the cars. I want as many of my cars to make it down consistently as possible, so I built and tested the track that way. Using graphite on the ones that are too slow helps a lot. Also, I have found that sometimes problem spots can be fixed with a very minor adjustment - a little more height here, a little less here. I also have created "guard rails" on a few of the curves with just some gaffer's tape to reduce fly-offs. My goal is a 25% DNF rate or less (but no less than 10%). — SteveAdore
- I totally understand the part about not having any control over the cars after you release them after two kids running quarter midgets for about 5 years you get uncomfortably comfortable watching your cars go out of the track with no control I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing — nuckinfutts77
Also I was having a hard time with my connections between pieces of track. I'm not lucky enough to have a 3D printer but I do have a large workshop and am pretty handy at fabricating things so I've made me some track connectors out of old vinyl siding this seem to be working pretty good. Other thing is I'm trying not to have just back and forth switchbacks I'd like to have a little bit of uniqueness to the tracks and bumps some slight inconsistencies for more realistic racing so that always throws a wrench into it you know
Questions to consider:
How steep is your track? Too steep of a run, and the cars build up too much speed and fly off the track. Someone on here mentioned something like a 2" drop per foot is a decent slope to use.
Transitions from straights to turns and turns to straights? Those are going to always need tweaking until you get it set at the right angle for entry and exit, The best I can say is to experiment with a test group of cars to tune the track, then start trying with your other cars until most of them consistently make it down the track. Do singles, groups of two's and four's until you get it working. This is the longest part.
Is the track anchored down? Sometimes the track will shift back and forth and cause those problems. VELCRO !!! Velcro strips here and there generally keep the track from drifting too far out of alignment.