Pre-built tracks, worth the finish line?

I took my 6ft 4lane downhill track and used it for my first 6ft of drop. Then hooked all of the orange track up to end. I bought a send 6ft track and turned the flags backwards and hooked the orange track up to it for the finish.

The Expert Racers track is a fun toy, but it truly is just a toy. I had a lot of hands on experience with a couple of them. Fun, yes durable, no.

Heavier and/or weighted cars will cause the starting tabs to jam.

Orange track probably could be adapted to fit it, but I don't think it would be worth the effort.

I received one of these for Christmas this year. My 4yo and I have had a blast playing with it. I did have the same problems mentioned above with the heavier cars. I also had another problem with the pins. They would not drop completely thus interfering with some of the cars. I called the manufacturer about this and he offered a solution. Apparently the spring that hold the pins up are too strong for the motors are will keep the pins from dropping all the way down. He suggested that I stretch the string down so that the motor doesn't have to work as hard and has a shorter distance to fall. I did this and it fixed both problems. My heaviest cars now launch just like the rest.

Now my only other problem is with tied races. If the cars finish with the exact same time, the race is automatically given to lane 1. I'll need to get some more track to hopefully spread the finishers out a little more.

I'll also be getting some orange banked turn track to create a return for the cars after their runs are completed. Its already a long walk down to the other end.

Thanks for the insight on that track and release. If I find one used for cheap I might pick it up, but the fact the the maker suggested a hack to make it work the way you wanted tells me it's like Jason state, "fun but not durable".

I'd like to return to thinking about how to make a DIY mechanic finish line this year.