BluTrack review, the orange track alternative

redlinederby Saturday, 4/26/2014
Site manager

Unfortunately, I didn’t discover BluTrack until after I had already spent time, effort, and money collecting classic Hot Wheels orange track. Had I come across BluTrack prior, it might have changed some things…and I would of had a few more projects to work on too. Fortunately, the gracious people over at BluTrack sent me a starter kit to try out and see how it stacks up for diecast derby racing.

Out of the box

The kit I received was the starter kit, which consists of an 18-foot piece of BluTrack, a straightener bar, a suction cup, and some foam and velcro. The bar, suction cup, and other parts are really only needed when you’re using the track in your house and/or bending the track for loops, jumps, and so on. Since I had a derby track base already made, I just laid the track on that and tried it out. Naturally, the key thing about BluTrack is that it is made as a single piece. Unlike orange track, there are no pieces to connect and thus no joint gaps and no little plastic connectors to manage (and lose).

BluTrack is extremely flexible, which is an asset as much as it is a disadvantage. Since the track is all one giant piece of plastic, the BluTrack lives and dies by the temperature in which you’re racing. The BluTrack comes coiled up, which is great for easy storage, but that also means you have to give the whole thing a hot water bath in a bucket before you can start racing. The heat helps the plastic straighten out. The directions say to let it sit in the hot water for two minutes, which I did, but then had to put it back in for another five minutes before it would even come close to laying flat on the track.


Even then when the track was finally laying somewhat flat, there were spots in the track that were still some bumps from being coiled up. They were minor but in the downhill style racing like we’re doing, you need the track to be flat. I dropped a few cars down the track with the bumps and they jumped off the track spectacularly. I decided to let the track sit overnight and see if gravity could help out a little…which it did.

The next day the BluTrack was pretty much as flat, shy of one little curl at the end. The best spot with BluTrack is the hill-to-flat transition. Orange track is not known for bending well, but the BluTrack turns this little hazard into smooth sailing. With the track finally flat I was able to start some test races and then I realized something unfortunate…BluTrack is not Hot Wheels compatible.


And I’m not talking about the cars. You can’t connect Hot Wheels brand track or parts to BluTrack. For me this was unfortunate because the finish line I use is one from a Hot Wheels playset. Without a tab connector I couldn’t even try to attach the playset to the BluTrack. BluTrack is also wider than classic orange track, so even if there was a connecting option, the tracks wouldn’t line up well together. The same would go if you have a Hot Wheels brand starting gate or other add-on. My starting gate is homemade so it was custom built for my orange track.

I don’t have a lane timer for fancy finish line, but it seems like BluTrack is faster. This makes some sense since there are no joints and a smoother transition, so the cars aren’t losing any energy that way. However, because the BluTrack is wider than the orange track – by a good 1/4 inch – it means the cars do bounce from side to side more, which adds more friction and more distance traveled compared to the orange track. I can’t say for sure, but I’m inclined to say that the advantage of no joints and ease of transition is offset by the width of the track. Of course, this extra width makes it great if you want to race larger scale cars.

What I liked

  • Smooth with no joints. Easily BluTrack’s greatest advantage is its single-piece construction. There are no track joints to worry about which translates into more speed, not to mention it makes the downhill transition a non-issue. It also means there aren’t any track pieces to lose and there’s no need for track connectors.
  • Easy storage. The BluTrack coils up wonderfully so you can just throw it back in the box when you’re done playing.
  • It’s wonderfully flexible. You can twist, bend, and loop BluTrack with ease. If you like running race track down your stairs, through your chairs, and under the dog, you’re not going to find a better track.
  • Wider lanes. Wider lanes means you can run larger scale cars without any problems.

What I didn't like

  • It’s hard to get flat. Unless you’re willing to nail the BluTrack down to a board, getting it to lay flat all the time is a concern. Since it stores coiled up and is quite susceptible to temperature, it’s hard to get it as flat as you want easily. The only solution I found was time…just let it sit for a while, maybe overnight, and it’ll probably run fine – you just have to account for that.
  • Not Hot Wheels compatible. BluTrack does not play well with others, namely Hot Wheels brand parts. If you’re looking to add BluTrack to extend your orange track and playset parts, you’re out of luck.
  • Wider lanes. If you’re not racing larger scale cars then the wider lanes can be a problem. The 1:64 Hot Wheels scale cars bump from side to side a bit too much.

The final verdict

Here’s the deal…if you’re looking for a track to casually play with at home making loops, jumps, twists and turns, then BluTrack can’t be beat. It’s a hell of a lot of fun to play with around the house. But if you’re wanting a track to make your derby racing  better then BluTrack will require a lot of extra investment. Working with the BluTrack becomes secondary when you realize you’ll have to buy (or build) a custom starting gate and finish line to get a complete racing setup. If you don’t mind that, then BluTrack is probably the best option for racing. So unless I get a BluTrack compatible finish line, I’ll continue to use my orange track for derby races and keep the BluTrack for other fun and games.

I want to thank the guys at BluTrack for sending me the kit and letting me race with it. The BluTrack has given me some new goals and new projects to work on when it comes to derby racing. It’s a top quality product, there’s no question there. BluTrack will last and provide many hours (and years) of race track fun.

You can buy your own BluTrack starter kit for $40 at BluTrack.com along with other accessories and more fun race track ideas.



Discussion

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jrdiecast 7/29/15

Hello! I recently got into diecast cars and have been doing a lot of research on tracks so I can start doing my own drag races. Really happy I found this site! :)

I wanted to add one thing about the Blutrack. I saw a video from Blutrack on their YouTube channel comparing the blutrack to the hot wheels track. They said the wider lanes actually make the cars faster, since they won't be bumping into the walls as frequently. They demonstrated this by doing races with the same two cards on both an orange track and blutrack, and each time whichever car was on the blutrack won the race even if it was a slower car.

Just thought I'd add that to the discussion, has anyone else been able to do a side-by-side comparison test to see which track is faster?

Thanks!

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redlinederby 7/29/15
Site manager

Good point...to say my review is scientific would be a lie, but even in my review I mention the cars seemed faster on the BluTrack.

In one way, the narrower orange track could be slower because cars have no choice but to rub the walls, even if they're relatively straight rollers. However, if your car serves (which most do), then a wider track would let that car travel a further distance over the same amount of track. Also, the BluTrack is one piece so there are no joints or segment bumps to slow cars down.

I'm not sure what the material difference is between tracks. Maybe BluTrack is made of a better plastic that creates less friction or something, in which case that would allow cars to roll faster too.

I don't use my BluTrack for site racing, I mainly use BluTrack with my kid when she wants jumps and loops and stuff. I think my biggest beef with BluTrack at the time was that it was not compatible with orange track or HW accessories. When I wrote this review, I already had a good investment in HW parts and I didn't want to throw them all away.

If you're starting from scratch then making a BluTrack tournament track would be a good choice. It many ways it's easier to deal with and might mean faster racing, but you'll hard pressed for retail accessories...but around here that isn't a issue.

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redlinederby 7/29/15
Site manager

Should also mention to check out the collection of BluTrack posts here on the site. Not a lot but some interesting "research" to review.

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jrdiecast 7/29/15

Awesome I will check that out, thanks! :)


  • need any sloppy stuff, speak-up... — fordman
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gtaman 3/4/16

So we have been using 25ft of BluTrack 6 lanes wide at a local event.  I have to say it makes a big difference which cars are the fastest.  Because the track is wider I see a lot of jump track scenarios on 1:64 scale cars. Lighter cars with thinner wheels like High Speed Racing wheels often jump track because of the extreme slosh of the cars.  I have seen cars completely winning the race only to go off track near the finish line.  Because of this, the faster cars on these tracks are low and wide.  The lowered Silverados/vans/long dragster (way 2 fast, madfast) do an amazing job because they are wider and longer (less slosh back and forth) and heavy enough not to jump track.  But when I run thin wheels on a lighter car (Ballistik with high speed racing wheels) they often jump track.  


  • way 2 fast is fast ? ... have to get some ! — fordman
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DDRacer 2/12/18

First of all, good review! Made me decide to get myself some BluTrack and build a track. Photo's can be found in another topic, but that's another story. I wanted to add some of my findings to this topic. 

First thing is about flattening the track. As RLD says, the track isn't really flat when taking it out of the box. And to be honest, to get a bucket of warm water and dry the whole thing is a pretty annoying job to do. Waiting is also not an option (no need to explain right?), so i thought of another solution:


As you can see, BluTrack has a tiny "rim" on the outside of the track. Just put a piece of wood or plastic, or whatever is in hand over the rim and tighten it. I Use bolts with wing nuts, so it's easy to take the whole thing apart again for storage.


KEEP IN MIND Blutrack has really low track barriers, so if you use thick pieces of wood that raise above the barriers, you will probably get some wrecks due to mirrors hitting the wall. USE THIN MATERIAL!



The second thing has to do with the low track barriers mentioned above. BluTrack comes with 2 connected tracks, separated by this tiny barrier. Because it's so tiny, you will probably have some "wheel banging" between the two tracks with certain cars. I have no hard evidence for the influence on racing, but i do have an opinion about it. 

Most important, i don't feel like i'm getting more wrecks with an occasional hit. It also doesn't really harm the speed (because they're moving in the same direction). Hitting the trackbarrier an extra time by pure coincidence costs more time.

Still, if you want to rule out the wheel banging, it's possible. BluTrack has released a new version called BluTrack 2.0 PS. This track has extra space between the 2 lanes, so problem solved! I don't have it myself but if you want to see it, you can find it on Blutrack.com

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