Help needed! 1/32 Slot car track [Archive]

Slotcarjames

06-09-2008, 03:39 PM

My business has a 71’ HO Maxtrax road coarse and 1/24 Scale 85’ Trioval.

I was looking at adding a 1/32 scale track to the place. I would like some recommendations since I don’t know very much about 1/32 scale other than the cars, they look great!!!

Here is what I was thinking about. I wasn’t looking at digital due to that limiting which cars. Any thoughts here would be fine.

I was at first think about plastic 4 lane road coarse layout but I like the idea of MDF with Steel braid too.

I thought that I should make a MDF track with steel braid which would allow either magnet or none magnet cars to run. I would keep the surface dry so that you could use only silicone or hard rubber tires with no glue which would be good for magnet and none magnet cars. That was my thoughts on it, but I don’t know it all.

I do know that I want it to be fun and something that would cover most of the cars out there but at the same time allow for faster cars if people wish to. Not to hard to drive, just fast and fun!

Things that I don’t know:
Does the steel braid allow the cars to stick to the track just as good as plastic track?
Is plastic track so good now that it is best just to go ahead with all plastic?
I know that I would want deep slots and wide spacing, which plastic track would you recommend?

I also thought about buy a good used 1/24 track and converting it to 1/32 scale by cleaning all the spray glue off the surface and re-braiding it with steel braid. In thoughts here? Pros and Cons?

What is a good straightaway footage?

I would like to hear from you on this subject, several heads are better than one. Please give me you thoughts with the Pros and Cons.

If you wish, you can send it to me via private e-mail, it’s up to you.

Thank you again!!!

PD2

06-10-2008, 06:58 AM

Hi Slotcarjames!

Glad you posted up! Let me see if I can take a crack at this and help you out:

Here is what I was thinking about. I wasn’t looking at digital due to that limiting which cars. Any thoughts here would be fine.

Yes, you are correct that going digital means your racers must buy digital compatible cars and more specifically, only the digitals cars from that manufacturer - not all digitals are compatible with one another so it does quickly limit you. Plus, the cost of digital cars is MUCH higher.

I was at first think about plastic 4 lane road coarse layout but I like the idea of MDF with Steel braid too.

I thought that I should make a MDF track with steel braid which would allow either magnet or none magnet cars to run. I would keep the surface dry so that you could use only silicone or hard rubber tires with no glue which would be good for magnet and none magnet cars. That was my thoughts on it, but I don’t know it all.

There are several pros and cons with this. MDF/Wood tracks are very nice surfaces and you can get VERY creative in creating various tracks and creations. But once you create something, you are pretty much left with only that layout, unless you get extra creative and have sections you can swap in and out to change the various areas up - it just means you must store MDF sections some place until they are used. If you got plastic, now you have a layout that can change from week to week, month to month, or how ever often you want. The downside is that its plastic and does have the potential to break and wear out, but because its sectional pieces, you can always replace those pieces should anything wear out or break.

My personal suggestion would be to start with a plastic set and try various layouts and designs. As you start finding the design that is technical, challenging, and keeps the racers coming back to try and conquerer it, start thinking about it being your permanent MDF/Wood routed track and then just replace the plastic for MDF - of course, this assumes that the popularity of 1/32 racing catches on at your location.

I do know that I want it to be fun and something that would cover most of the cars out there but at the same time allow for faster cars if people wish to. Not to hard to drive, just fast and fun!

Things that I don’t know:
Does the steel braid allow the cars to stick to the track just as good as plastic track?

As tjettim pointed out, yes, the cars will stick to the track just as good, but unless you figure out how to get the braid stuck down to the wood extrememly good, the braid will have the tendency to pull up and get separated from the MDF/Wood track.

Is plastic track so good now that it is best just to go ahead with all plastic?

See my suggestion above. Plastic is good enough to race on. In fact, NINCO holds a World Cup Championship race every year and they use their plastic track setup to race that race. So I'd say it is definitely just as good.

I know that I would want deep slots and wide spacing, which plastic track would you recommend?

Most people I've seen setup plastic tracks use the Scalextric track sets and spacing. They are one of the tightest in the industry. Plus the surface is just ideal for about medium to medium-low traction. But, if you are looking for wide spacing (potentially 1/24, hard plastic body cars like BRM's and Carrera's) then you are probably going to want to go with a Carrera track setup. Plus, due to Carreras extra large, deep guides, that track will give you the deep slots as you are asking for.

I also thought about buy a good used 1/24 track and converting it to 1/32 scale by cleaning all the spray glue off the surface and re-braiding it with steel braid. In thoughts here? Pros and Cons?

Great idea too. We have used out commerical track's 1/24 spacing MDF/Wood track before to race 1/32 as well. You just need to make sure the glue is completely off and that no glue is used as these plastic cars are not like the metal stamped chassis cars - they will not take kindly to the glue. But again, see my comments above on MDF/Wood vs. plastic.

What is a good straightaway footage?

Straightaway footage can be any length, but, the longer the better. We race on a 122' long road course at my local shop and, if I'm not mistaken, the straightaway is about 20-30' - maybe less.

I would like to hear from you on this subject, several heads are better than one. Please give me you thoughts with the Pros and Cons.

If you wish, you can send it to me via private e-mail, it’s up to you.

Thank you again!!!

I definitely think that starting out in 1/32 just takes some time, planning, and thought given to the racers experience. Like, how much room do you have to dedicate to a track right now? If you have plenty of space, then its just a matter of finding the layout that the racers will enjoy and find challenging. For instance, like I stated, our local shop had a Scalextric plastic track setup in the same way our MDF/Wood road course is today - except it was flat/non-banked curved. When they built the MDF/Wood layout we now have, they installed the bankings in the turns which totally makes the track more challenging if you have been used to racing without them. Non-magnet racing calls for weights to be placed different on this type of track and definitely require the car to be setup differently too. I just think starting out slowly on vs. investing a ton of money into MDF/Wood will give you and your racers what they want and ensure that 1/32 survives at your track.

My two cents worth!
PD2:thumbsup: