DRAG RACE THEIR HOT WHEELS! Or JL cars, what ever. I still have my track from childhood. I scored some vintage redline track a few years ago to add on. Me and my friends still set it up a few times a year and square off.


-- Elliot

Groovy. What's the quickest an fastest car ya use?


:dude:

Kmart sells 50 foot rolls of the orange track. bout 25 bucks if I remember right.

Still need to score some track. Hard to do when you keep spending money on cars!

I bought some of those K-mart exclusive track pieces, I always wanted the finish line. I have a 1992 issue Hot Wheels drag strip/case. We dont have any timing equipment, so we really dont know our ET's.

When I was working at Riders Hobby we had an Expert Racers brand drag strip. It had a full working christmass tree. The clock started when the lights turned green, not when you pressed the petal to let your car go. But you could still red light. Those are still in production. I have one with broken foot pedals.

When I was in middle school we would custom paint our own cars, restore cars, take the JL cars with rubber tires and put plastic tires on them.

-- Elliot

Every Saturday at the local hobby shop we still have races! We started off with the Hot Wheels setup with the loop, then moved to a Snake and Mongoose reproduction set, and finally (about 3 weeks ago) moved to the Expert Racers' setup (www.expertracers.com). We use our hands to launch rather than our feet. It saves wear and tear on the mechanics, although they could be replaced by a custom made button laucher with a few Radio Shack parts. It's really a great expirience! All cars have to be bought in the shop to qualify for the race. It is setup in a tournament style with successive rounds until one car is the top winner. Prizes are given out for 1st and 2nd. People can do all the "grudge match" and "pinks" races they want after the race. Lots of people there too. Little kids to adults. Everyone has fun and its one of the highlights of my week. :D

Sorry, I get a little carried away sometimes. I would recommend it to anyone though. The JLs seem to be faster in general, but the HWs are cheaper and there are more of them. Good luck with your cars! :wave:

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I use an expert racers track too. I like to have my younger cousins and neices over to race from time to time. I plan on creating a larger track that we can setup outside during the warmer months. I've been increasing my collection of Spoilers to use as racers on the track. I have found certain JL cars to be the quickest. Some quick cars I have used include a JL 70 Mach 1 and a JL 68 Firebird (Black with Blue Flames). I have tried the FTE Hotwheels cars and the two cars mentioned above beat them almost every time. I have also tried a Tiger Wheels '69 Camaro. It is one of the slower cars that I have tried. I was surprised at this as the TW cars have a reputation for being gravity racers.

This is a good topic. I'd like to get everyone's opinion on what makes a good gravity racer? Is it weight? Type of wheels? How true (straight) the wheels turn? I would imagine increassed weight may have an advantage to a degree, however, I think the most important is to keep the car off the sides of the track as much as possible.

What do you all think?

For a good gravity racer, I have far more theories than actual proof. We've run a LOT of vehicles down the track and some have been pretty surprising. One of the things I am still trying to figure out is if open wheel cars are as fast as regular vehicles. The thought is that the open wheels might very well rub on the sides on the way down whereas the body protects the wheels on a normal vehicle. We have also had some surprises with weight. Some of the fastest cars have weighed nearly nothing. It seems that more weight up front helps though. For example, spoilers with the larger metal engines up front. Also, (and this seems to hold mostly true but not always) vehicles with metal bases tend to go faster than those with plastic. One big thing I have noticed is that HWs seem to be relatively consistent on manufacturing with two vehicles of the same model and series running almost identical. Jls on the other hand seem to have giant gaps between cars of the same model and series. I've mostly raced older JLs from the PM era, so this may have changed, but it really seems like there is a difference between a Wednesday car and a Friday car. Then there is the matter of the tires. The hard plastic ones run faster, but some of the harder rubber ones seem to be almost as fast.

I could go on forever with my thoughts on the subject, but I won't. :D I really enjoy sharing with others about this and hearing their opinions and theories. Thanks for the great thread. :thumbsup:

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just my 2 cents... also had a surprise with a light car... the new Super fast Matchbox series lime green 68 Cougar with the old style wheels... super light, plastic bottom..but also super fast! beat many a heavy car.
also have a HW Faster than Ever Mini Cooper that can't be beat, metal body and base with the FTE wheels...

What are the details on making your own start switch for the expert racers track? Do you just use a toggle switch.

I see on ebay they now list this system for slot cars, in ALL scales.

-- Elliot

What are the details on making your own start switch for the expert racers track? Do you just use a toggle switch.

I haven't looked up any specs but it is wired via a standard RJ11 plug (phone plug) with two wires (red and green I believe). All you would really need is a spare phone cord you can cut in half and two momentary switches from Radio Shack. The little red-buttoned buzzer type or even the kind from a push-button start car (although those tend to be a little heavier duty and would be harder to press). I would imagine a little solder, some heat shrink, and about 5 minutes and you would have a nice, new set of starters. I've been thinking about making some since we use the foot launchers by hand anyways. Hope that helps.

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As far as the toggle switch goes, I would think it would be a little awkward to get a good reaction time with. I would also wonder about keeping the circuit closed for more than just the brief time a momentary, button-based switch would. Just some thoughts.

That sounds good! I think I can handel that, its a good start. I might buy the slot car drag strip this weekend.


-- Elliot