New and need help
Hi Redline Community,
I am completely new here to the forums and to diecast racing as well. My desire is to now build a track. I plan on doing racing with three lane fat track. It will be a road course with two downhill sections and two turns. I bought a set of Augmoto for the turns, got some coroplast for straight and am now needing to get material to build the support of the track. This is the part that has me stumped. Is there a specific guide out the to help wit this sort of thing? I've done some searches and can't seem to find what I am looking for. Any and all help will be much appreciated. Thanks!
Discussion
There is no set rule...the track you want to build comes before your track base...decide how long the track will be first and foremost...then you know the materials you'll need
- My biggest problem is know what angle the hills should be. I know how wide the track will be and how long it can be. I don't want something too steep that creates a ton of speed, but I also want to make sure the cars have enough momentum to finish the race. I need to find something in the middle ground. — M_Power
Check out Tail of Dragon in the Track Directory and the Build Journal in the Tracks tab
I hand built my entire track so my process was a bit different but the fat tracks I have seen all tend to have about a 35 degree angle into the first corner so the cars can carry enough speed. Check out Hot Car Track on YouTube and his behind the scenes builds, he talks about heights, dimensions etc and he has a 3 straight, 2 turn fat track. From memory the start gate is up around 1.2m high (approx 4') then the heights halve from there - first corner at 600mm (2'), last corner at 300mm (1').
For me, I started with orange track (all I had as I was building during our nationwide lockdown) and found an approx angle that worked to the first corner. Then worked on the next section and so on, till I had something where the cars could get from the top to bottom fairly consistently without running out of go on any corners or having so much speed they got thrown off the track.
I'd suggest lay out your track where you think it needs to be on the ground and then put some temporary supports (boxes, tables whatever you have that works - I had masking tape from my shed roof for my initial testing) for your highest area and work down from there. You'll find a sweet spot that works for what you're looking for, then you can start to make things more permanent.
- Gee, I don't know what happened to my comment I created for this, but suffice to say I also agree with going to Hot Car Tracks youtube site and going thru his build videos. Anyone can throw a track together, but few tune it properly such that you get a high percentage of good runs, rather than cars just "washing" around the track. Cheers — CutRock_R_Marc_D
- This is very helpful, thank you. I actually found and watched Hot Car Track's build videos today. There is a lot of good information there. — M_Power
3 words: trial and error
There is a lot of trial-and-error but there are plenty of examples to explore. I suggest looking through our Track Directory to get all sorts of ideas for the various track layouts. Also check out Duke's Pass, a recent build that used some cheap IKEA table for supports.
But you're right about the drop angle, too steep and you'll either have more crashes, or as I found out with my straight track, the cars will move so fast that the action happens too fast, making it hard to follow and watch (if that's what you're worried about too).
Eitherway, build to your space and just start with what you have at home to prototype. And don't forget to share your photos and build progress here for everyone to see. :)
A good rule of thumb is a inch of drop per foot...for instance...the drop between the curves Widowmaker and Soultaker on Bootleg Run is 6" in 6'
So I have seen a lot of tracks ending on the floor, instead of the whole track being lifted up some. Is there a performance reason for this, or is it simply to bring the start of the track down a bit? I have a bad back and plan on doing some videos of the racing. So I'm not sure if it will be a good idea for me to sit the track on the floor.
- Mine finishes at bench height as I don’t have room in my shed to go any further out but I expect the main reason for going to the floor is to give you a maximum drop and therefore a longer track. The big thing though is it’s all up to you how you design it. If you want a shirt drag track go for it, you want a mega elaborate track that Criss crosses and has an underwater tunnel fantastic! (Actually can someone make that one, would be awesome to see lol) it’s about what brings you joy ???? — Chaos_Canyon
- My shelf track is shelf-ish height, so about 4-feet up the wall and I made it that way because I don't want to bend over all the time. Not everyone can keep their track setup all the time so I think the floor is just a result of the track needing to be mobile. — redlinederby
- Thank you for the responses. It is all starting to make more sense. The help is certainly appreciated. — M_Power
Many track builders wish to make their track as long as possible in their allocated space, hence it usually ends up on the floor.
But you have to build whatever works for you!
It just may mean starting the track up higher and using a step stool to load races. My quarter mile track finishes on waist level, why, so I don't have to get on the floor!
Good luck
Get a 6 foot long grabber tool. I got one on Home Depot website...perfect for picking up hot wheels off the floor.
Here: https://www.homedepot.com/p/E-Z-Reacher-72-In-PRO-Folding-Series-Black-Pick-Up-Tool-72PF/203221304
MDF or primed fingerjoint boards are the way to go...check out Tracks here at RLD in the Build Journals