Building my first track
First off, thanks for having me, gang! I'm just a dad clinging to my childhood and looking to share some hobbies with my son.
I'm excited to start building my first track and get a little racing club going in my area. I currently own the Hot Wheels 6 lane raceway and I also ordered a two-lane start gate from 3DBotMaker and have been looking at my track options.
I prefer the older style orange track but it seems the track joiner/connectors are hard to come by or very expensive. I'm curious what you all do to remedy this or is there a source for these that I have not discovered.
I own a house with an attached garage that is strangley very narrow but pretty long. It isn't very convenient for parking in but lucky for me, it is ideal for a long, downhill race track. I have a number of 8' folding tables so I want to build a sort of modular, length-adjustable track.
I have found the tracks I want on eBay, but like I said, the joiners are rare and expensive. Anybody have any leads or suggestions? As the kids say, "help a brother out?" Who am I kidding? I don't know what the kids are saying these days, I'm out of touch.
Anyway, thanks in advance.
Discussion
3DBotMaker has the track connectors too, side-by-side style. I haven't looked lately, but I'd think there would be no shortage of aftermarket track connectors available. A lot of people are just making/printing their own (I should do that myself).
Have fun with your build and share photos of your process when you can, everyone likes seeing how people create. And when it's all happy and done, add it to our Track Directory.
I found this when searching for track joiners. This person agrees, they are surprisingly rare and expensive.
Welcome to the site! I can't help you with the connectors other than to say in a pinch I've made my own buy cutting up pieces of track. Slice the guide rails off the bottom and cut the width just slightly wider so it fits snug and holds the two sections of track together. You could also look for the 50 ft rolls of track, also hard to find and expensive, but eliminates the connectors. You could cut it to the lengths you need to keep it modular and minimize the connectors.
I'm curious how you made out with the finish line because we've all been told it isn't available. Finish lines can be as hard to find as the connectors. I'm still trying to find something reliable for a couple of my tracks. If you come up with something I know quite a few of us here would be interested in seeing it. Also looking forward to seeing your set up when it's done. Check out the Tracks section to see what people are running, may give you some ideas. There's plenty of racing here that you could always send in a car or two for fun. Most include a basic stock car so if you aren't into modifying you can still participate.
Anyway, welcome to Red Line Derby!