Fiberglass Track
Let me run something by you guys. I am in the process of trying to put together a track. I am at baseball practice tonight talking to one of the other dads. He us a buddy if mine and he and his father own a business that makes things out of fiberglass. They make signs and entry ways for Chevrolet down to ski boat parts. I showed a couple pics of tracks pictured on here showing him what I was looking to build. I know nothing about fiberglass so I was picking his brain to see if it would be possible to build a 6 foot ramp with a starters box on one end. He said it would be simple. He started coming up with all kinds of ideas. I was thinking a flat ramp but he said he would have to put sides on it to make it rigid. If you are looking at the very front it would have this general shape.
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He also said he could build it like this and each track would have a "groove" to lay in.
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What kind of problems do you see with this? Any ideas I can run by him? He said this would cost me about $10 and I want to make sure I think this through and get it right the first time. He will be doing this as a favor so I want to make sure I think this through correctly. My plan is to just set it up against a table or something else and use it.
Discussion
Just thinking fiberglass could be great for an open road course too. Mold out some modular curves and straights, thatd be awesome and very reliable. Better than converted slot tracks or something like that. Hmmmm
I think the thickness (flex) is important if you are going to lean it against other things.
You also need to consider the angel of your transition area.
The most important thing will be the finished surface of the track bed and side walls. Do you know how it will turn out?
straight track is fairly easy but a fiberglass transition would be a great invention...make hot wheels connectors on each end of the transfer... racers could alter from the hot wheels track connectors to what they have..
make sure the side rails are angled out not vertical...ALSO...flange the outer edges to help anchor the track...
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i made fiberglass canoes in high school for myself and for my dad...later made the molds and the '30 ford roadster doors, rear quarters and the panel above the decklid...eventually settled for building a '30 roadster pick-up...
you can do almost anything with fiberglass... GO FISHDADDY GO !
Maybe it's not worth the trouble or maybe fiberglass can't get too detailed...but it might be worth seeing if you could get a orange track "ridge" in the middle of each lane???
The main channel itself would probably be enough but maybe on the transition or every few feet a little alignment bump could help. Worth a thought.
I wouldn't use track at all. Just run the cars down fiberglass lanes. As for the transition between track sections, they should be the same thickness so butt them together. If the sending track is thinner than the receiving end and there is a bump, just put a thin item to make sure that it's even or maybe even a tiny drop.
I thought he was going to race on the fiberglass, not laying track on it... that was why I suggested making a transition with H W connectors molded in...sorry
My thought was to build a ramp and lay the track down in the grooves to race. Once the ramp hit the floor, the track would just lay on the floor to the finish line.
sounds like a winner, will he mold in a smooth surface transfer ? ... or will he make the incline and transfer in 2 sections ?
I thought he was going to race on the fiberglass, not laying track on it... that was why I suggested making a transition with H W connectors molded in...sorry
I thought the same thing 
Not sure of the transition. When we talked at baseball practice and I was running all this by him, I didn't think about making a transition. I am sure he can do it. If you make a transition for a ramp at a certain height, what happens if you change the height? For instance, this week I want the ramp 3 feet high and next week I want it steeper at 4 feet high.
I would go with the two-lane. Just have it molded so it hugs the orange tracks nicely and give it a try. Anything designed for track will be better than planks or boards. Especially for the transition the rigidness would be quite beneficial.
I never thought about fiberglass either. If that works out then theres a whole new consideration for everyone.
Please keep posting your build notes and take some photos.