What is the best angle for the hill?
I see alot of track set ups here and it has likely been covered ( i've looked and didnt see) but, my question is how long are you making your tracks and at what degree is the ramp set. I'm sure "to each is own" but I'd like a set up similar as to others to keep consistancy with race times and such. Thanks in adavance, great site!
2seven
Discussion
Couple of us use the Drag Tracks, and depending on how high your take of ramp is...I'd say these tracks are between 45 and 50 degrees...depending on where you measure
Yup, the slope of the hill is 40 degrees, like Smitty said!
And, for length, a scale quarter mile is 20'-7.5"..., but, the tracks are usually as long as you have room for...anywhere from 12' to 50'!
Having the different length tracks is the fun part of racing on different tracks...different cars do better on different tracks.
The Super Stock version of the Drag Tracks is a nice place to start...just my 2 cents!
Chris
Experiment to find the drop angle that works best for you. However, if increasing speed is your goal...you'll probably get better results by increasing the drop length rather than a drastic increase in the drop angle. Subjecting the cars to a lesser amount of energy with a longer duration will typically provide a more momentum over a longer distance than a short, steep drop. Also, shallow angles are conducive to smoother transitions....which means better racing consistency and no bent axles.
GspeedR
The angle on my old track was ~40 degrees, like the others. But I arrived at that angle by trial-and-error, making my angle as steep as I could so long as the cars didn't have trouble at the transition and fly off the track. Of course, I also had to have a "kicker" piece at the bottom of the hill on my track...the 40-degrees was probably too steep going from hill to flat, so I had to have a stretch that was less angled before the straight.
I had a second track that was 75% downhill with a very short straight and it's angle was only 20-degrees, so it ran cars very differently. It was fun to have a track that could convert into two different styles.
If you're building your own track from scratch and have the means, I'd highly recommend designing it so it can support various hills as that basically gives you extra tracks. I'm making a new track right now and while it won't be as long as my old track, it will allow me to have different hill lengths and angles.
Matt,
If you look under Fantasy League on this site there are quite a few tracks with all the dimensions that might give you a few ideas.
http://archive.redlinederby.com/fantasy/tracks.php
Keith