Thank you Redline!
Hello everyone! I just joined the site today as I had no idea a community like this existed! I've been racing Hotwheels cars on my track for almost 10 years now and recording results and such. Hadn't realized people were as crazy as me!
Anyway, quick story time! After racing a tournament on my track, I had gotten a little annoyed at my starting system. It was simply a long piece of wood which I manually lifted up. Problem is, it was incredibly unfair, especially in 4 car races. There were times when i'd unconsciously lift it on an angle so that one end started before the other and in a race with cars that are REALLY similar - it made a world of difference.
So! After going online, I happened to stumble across this site and lo-and-behold I find an article on how to make a good starting line. Today I broke out my tools and made one based off of v2 of the design. I am quite happy with the results! Next up is a finish line! I'd also like to start customizing cars too.
Here is a picture of my Track. I've noticed that its quite a bit different from those that have one here. It's made so that it can support both hotwheels as well as pinewood derby. The slant is much less sharp and there isn't much of a flat area. I purposely don't extend the orange track all the way down so that the cars go 'off road' for a little bit. It keeps the races interesting and also adds in a nice random factor (Cars that can stay straight are the best, but it doesn't always work like that! Consistency is key)!
(Site cuts this image off, here is the full picture: http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j308/ ... icture.jpg)
Anyway, now that i'm talking about my track I'll also list the 10 best cars on it. I've never been able to figure out just what was best on this track as there is such a wide range of cars that perform well - light ones, heavy ones, small ones, big ones, hotwheels, matchbox, metal, plastic, etc. Anyway, according to points, these are the top cars:
-Shredster
-Audi TT (Matchbox)
-'71 Camero Z-28 (Matchbox)
-IROC Firebird
-'56 Chevy
-Mercades-Benz C-Class
-Fandango
-Lamborghini Diablo (Matchbox)
-Monoposto
-Ferrari F50 (Matchbox)
With my new starting line, I do plan to go back and start the points from scratch (It's time anyway, been almost 10 years since i've done so). So this may all change now that it is a bit more fair!
Discussion
The track is 17.4 feet long from the very top to the start of the padded zone. The drop is a curve which is not very sharp at all, only at an angle of about 10° at the top and ending at a little over 1°. It starts at 2.8ft high. This means the cars are a bit slower, but the races last longer too! A slow time is around 6sec while the faster ones are under 5.
Welcome, Worpex! I'm glad you found us and am happy to see our designs have helped you improve your track.
My only suggestion regarding your starting gate in the photos is to add another bar across the back (where you push down) connecting the two arms. I had to add that to my starting gate because I was finding that when I would only push on one arm, that side of the stopper would raise a little sooner than the other side. Especially since your start bar crosses four lanes it'll be a little more flimsy. I just took some cardboard and glued it across to each arm...makes it easier to push too. I'll try to put up some newer photos and show you.
And did I read that right that your track does double duty as a diecast AND pinewood derby track?! Very impressive. And it looks like your track is all drop and no real straight away, yes? Interesting...that gives me some ideas...
And off the topic of tracks...if you haven't yet, check out the Fantasy League we have here are Redline Derby too. It's an online game that has you picking cars in 16-car bracket tournaments. I race each weekend and you get points for every win you picked correctly...kind of like March Madness but for Hot Wheels
You can learn and sign-up here: http://www.redlinederby.com/fantasy/
I hope you also take some time to cruise around the forum here and the blog, as you'll find lots of stuff on racing and tracks. We got a great group of passionate racers here and we're all willing to help and share ideas. If you have any specific questions about Redline Derby or have any problems, feel free to PM me or mail werace@redlinederby.com
And off the topic of tracks...if you haven't yet, check out the Fantasy League we have here are Redline Derby too. It's an online game that has you picking cars in 16-car bracket tournaments. I race each weekend and you get points for every win you picked correctly...kind of like March Madness but for Hot Wheels
I have checked it out, although I'm not sure if I'm going to join just yet. I really liked your idea though of ranking the cars by using an ELO system, so since I decided to restart my points anyway, I went all out and have been building a simple php site to keep track of them!
Since I'd likely be the only one using it, It wont be anything too fancy looking. Right now, all the main features are implemented. I'm currently working on getting the bugs out of it and adding in a few more features. Take a look at what I have so far! WorpeX Raceway (For the record, about half of those match results are bogus due to testing purposes. I plan to completely wipe the database when its finished).
I have a bunch of features that you don't have on yours, so perhaps this can give you some inspiration to make the fantasy league even better!
Checking out your stats app right now, pretty cool. I like the chart. What's CRMS stand for?
The Elo system has worked out great in the fantasy league. In the first season of racing we didn't do bracket picking and the ratings were used to seed the match-ups and it never failed.
I have a lot of updates planned for the fantasy league next year. There's a lot of data I have but aren't displaying right now...but yes, your stuff is giving me ideas! Even beyond the web stuff, your downhilll-only track has me thinking I'll make one and work it into the league next year.
The fantasy league has been running for a little over a year so it's taken that long to figure out what's good to have and what's not. I never expected the league to get much interest so I didn't put much into it at first and now I'm catching up. Even though you have your own league, I hope you give the fantasy league a try. You got nothing to lose!
I have a lot of updates planned for the fantasy league next year. There's a lot of data I have but aren't displaying right now...but yes, your stuff is giving me ideas! Even beyond the web stuff, your downhilll-only track has me thinking I'll make one and work it into the league next year.The fantasy league has been running for a little over a year so it's taken that long to figure out what's good to have and what's not. I never expected the league to get much interest so I didn't put much into it at first and now I'm catching up. Even though you have your own league, I hope you give the fantasy league a try. You got nothing to lose!
Very cool! Can't wait to see what you come up with! I'll definitely give the fantasy league a try in the future since I wont have access to my track for long.
Here's a recent pic of my starting line. Simple lever. I added the cardboard to the back as a push point so both arms of the gate raise at the same time. Without that crossbar I noticed that the side I pushed on raised a bit before the other.
So far I haven't really noticed any problem with one side starting before the other. I'm using a heavier wood which might help that though. Nice idea though, I'll still probably add that when I get the chance, need to find some good cardboard though. hmm..
Anyway, my site is in working order now! Still have a lot of things I want add to make it look nice and also easier to navigate and find what's new. I have all of my main cars added into the database now (~200) and i'm working on a huge double elimination tournament with all of them. All of the results displayed are now official and come from this tournament: http://wcolympics.com/CRMS/eventresults ... LL%20DRAFT (Only have round 1 and losers bracket round 1 finished so far. Winners bracket will be tomorrow)
Just finished...
- All cars added and all results are official
- Ranking system finished
- 'Car Type' page. Clicking on the car type will bring a list of all cars of that type.
- 'Event' page added. Clicking on an event in the car information page will bring you to a full list of matches from that event.
Still to come...
- Images of all cars
- Better Navigation
- Tournament tab on the main page with current, upcoming and previous tournament links.
- Better sorting options for the huge ranking list
- Making the site not obnoxiously white. O_o
Heres a link to the site again for those who are interested in checking it out.
http://wcolympics.com/CRMS/index.php
Cool...welcome to the forum! So how long, how much drop does your track have?