Hi everyone, I have a 15' start to finish with a 5' slow down track / HO drag strip made of tyco track had fairly good luck with it. I want update it with
all new track, Would tomy track work better for this setup? I run 2 tyco
X2 power packs one per lane 21V. I think tomy power packs have 22V.
I just run t-jets with mean green stock arms so don't need a lot of volts.
Is tomy track a lot better then tyco track?
Thank You, for any info on this. Tom

Tom,
IMO, yes Tomy track is better.

Wizzard makes a nice routed dragstrip.There may be others.
After years of making tracks with T-jet and AFX,I have truly
been dissapointed with the newer plastic tracks.

To me, Tyco track is much smoother. I had a couple AW/JL cars (I fixed their problem now) that ran pretty smooth on some test track I'd lay down. But when I would run on Tomy track, it was like racing on a cobblestone road. Tomy track has more curve options, but since you run a drag strip, that doesn't apply to you.

But Tomy track does have a deeper slot, which may interest you.

Tomy's downside is uneven lane spacing and you have to do a little tweaking to make the track smoother. If you do switch to Tomy, look up the thread on tweaking Tomy track.

Wizzards Drag strip is $400

MaxTrax Drag strip is $563

Haven't raced on a Drag strip, but I did race on both Wizzard Track and MaxTrax this year, MaxTrax is hands down better, No comparison. Better Surface, better joints, better rail. MaxTrax does take longer to get though.

Tomy is alot better than Tyco track .Tomy slots deeper and a better plastic for the seams or joints. Had a Tyco road course and it was ok but not real good for magnet cars. Lots of gluing in rails:(
Tomy was much better and smoother. Glued rail once before install and good to go. Even neo. I siliconed Where the track met the table for a quiter track.
Wiz drag strip is super smooth as is max. Had wizzard track and run on alot of them and they was great:thumbsup:

Why not contract Joez. I heard he was a master router man.. LMAO
JK Joez..:p

Tyco's rail quality is way better then Tomy's,better steel.
You'll usually get way more life from a Tyco track then you will a Tomy track.
I've been running R/O cars and Neo cars on Tyco track for years with-out glued rails and i've had no problems with track rail pulling.
I've heard of this rail pulling problem from other guys,but i've never seen it happen,personally i think it's an old wives tail.

Well, I just built a huge Tomy track. Great fun, but I do have problems with the joints. It's frustrating to have everything lined out straight and it not fit together in some places. If you face the writing on the back in the same direction it helps, but the track just isn't perfectly straight. I have bowed pieces, places where the slots don't line up, and some that won't snap together. Some of it looks like it came from two different factories. Considering the expense, I would go routed if I had it to do again. But, it's still fun.

www.myspace.com/northtexasslotcars

This topic comes up often, and there are going to be proponents and opponents of both track systems. Let's face it, Tyco/Mattel and Tomy mass produced plastic track is not of very high quality, so you have to decide which characteristics are most important to you.

I have personally opted for Tyco/Mattel. My only complaint is the flares at the ends of the slot and possibly the 90 degree bend in the rail (although my opinion is still forming on that one). Other than that, it's been as good as could be expected.

My criteria for selection Tyco/Mattel was:

(a) The common pieces can be usually be bought fairly (or very) cheaply, allowing you to spend a little more to get the harder pieces and still come out ahead.

(b) Even lane spacing; a big one for me.

(c) The only piece I can't get in Tyco/Mattel that I would want is the 18" curve. All other pieces are available.

(d) Mattel made a few nice improvements to the locking tabs and eliminated that weakness.

(e) The slot is deep enough for all but the longest guide pins. The only pins I have found that may be too long are some Marchon pins.

Joe

TJETDRAGRACER, For what your doing Tyco is fine! To replace with Tomy would cost more $$$ plus you don't need 18",15",12",9" and 6" radius curves unless your putting in a turn around for your strip. Tomy has all those sizes, not Tyco.

TOMY ! I have never experinced any of the problems that some of the others have mentioned and mine is only semi permanent. I should have had some of those issues you would think. Not that I am minimizing anyhing that the other hobbyists here have told you. Did I mention you should use Tomy?

Tyco has it's good points. It is much straighter and flatter than Tomy. The biggest downside of Tyco is the passive electrical connections. But for a drag strip, soldering jumpers between each section would take care of that and wouldn't be a big job like a 4 lane road course. You'd have to get older "new" Tyco without the letters though or you're in for some serious smoothing work. So really, I think for a drag strip the issues boil down to slot depth and lane spacing.

For any road course though, I prefer Tomy. I had a Tyco setup and spent more time chasing open connections than racing.

If you want to use the 22V power packs just cut the plugs and swap, that way you can still run your Tyco track. More Volts = Speed!

A real dragstrip will need real power.I ran Tjet 15" staights,
ran 14 guage jumpers to every track piece,and 10 gauge
wire to 3 deep cycle 6 volt batteries.If you want to run
sub .4s or quicker it takes a good dragstrip.Set it up also
for bracket racing with breakouts,thats a blast.

You'd have to get older "new" Tyco without the letters though or you're in for some serious smoothing work.

While I think the molded letter in the track surface may be the stupiest thing anyone has ever done to track (the flares rank second), I have not seen them as causing a problem.

For any road course though, I prefer Tomy. I had a Tyco setup and spent more time chasing open connections than racing.

I set up a Mattel track over a year ago and have yet to experiance any open connections (once any initial open connections were corrected). Even with Tyco, a little bend of the rail before assembly to increase tension should resolve any issues.

Thanks...Joe