Magnetic Braking System

I agree that you would need a long series of magnets to slow down at car at speed.

I have re-purposed my micro fiber towels into being a part of my stop box cushion system! Will take some pics and post them up later of the latest version...

Magnetic braking system.......I have been working on an idea to embed permanent magnets in the track after the finish line to stop the cars without having them to run into anything. The couple of magnets I have at the moment are attracted to the axles, but I'm not sure if it would stop a car travelling at race speed..............

Youd need some pretty serious magnets I think.

But then the joke'd be on us. By the time its perfected, HWs will be all plastic.

Here is the current configuration of my stop box.

The black bags are "tights" filled with uncooked rice grains. They are my arm lifting weights. They are somewhat mold-able.

Under them is a folded up micro fiber towel. I have it looser and bigger right now so that the bounce back doesnt take them back to the finish gate.

I added the cardboard dividers to keep cars from jumping out of their lane and into each other. This doesnt happen as much since I loosened up the towel configuration.

Planning to add other microfiber towels on each side - as lane 1 and 6 occasionally still fall over the edge.

I would think, that for a magnet to be able to slow and stop a car at race speed it would have to be a vey strong electromagnet. There is very little surface area for a magnet to draw on, and what area there is, is shielded by plastic or non magnetic metal. A magnet that strong would probably wipe out all the cards in your wallet. The idea is good though.....it's great to see ideas that come from outside the box.

Now I'm thinking that if the magnet is strong enough to stop the car it's probably strong enough to bend the axles.....

The electro-magnet idea is pretty cool and would probably be more 'realistic' if it soft plastic bristles) horizonally suspended in succession over top of the 2 lanes inside of a catchbox. It will still use foam padding for the final stop but I think the brushes might slow the impact speeds a bit.

interesting idea, but when trying to add weight quickly for testing, I had tried to use a magnet to stick on a car. From what I have seen, the diecast metal that is used is not magnetic.