226 foot 4 lane

A long time ago I wondered what a 100 foot 4 lane would be like.
Then came 122, 154, 168, 173, 180, 191, 199, 202, and here I am
at 226. Each time I set my eyes on a short term goal like 100, 150,
and of course 200. Just wanted to see if I could do it without taking
up a ton of space. 200 was the tough one. Spent weeks visualizing
a layout and trying to figure out how to do the bridges. The last 27
feet was actually pretty easy. Mostly straights. I was going to put
a small train layout inside of the track, but axed that idea. This is a
racetrack. Trains are cool but way, way too slow. I don't have a
picture yet, I'll try to post one later. Some bridges are temporary so
I can get the contour of the track dialed in.

Just added a 4' by 4' table to support the track on. So the total floor-
space taken up is 168 + 16 = 184 square feet. This will let me add
14 feet of nothin' but straights. Might have to use some chicanes and
x-overs temporarily. That will put me at 240. Beyond that, I have
absolutely no idea where I can get any more in there. Got to try tho.
250 is a really cool number.

Rev

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Rev

This should be the fastest car.



For sure it has the most motor. It's a 1/32nd scale UOP Shadow with a
100,000 rpm Koford / Pro-Slot hybrid motor in it. Russell Sheldon built this
car (I think) for the 1999 Marconi Proxy race which was going to be held on
Revell track. They wouldn't let him race it because of the serarium (is that
spelled right?) magnets inside the motor. Russell gave it to me to see if it
could run with the Fly Rotor Motor cars I built.

The car was set up to run on a fairly flat track and there was just no way it would make it around my layout. Got taller rear tires but still need some taller fronts and / or to shim the guide. Just haven't spent enough time with it.
There is a lot of changes in elevation in this track and you just plain need
some ground clearance. Need to change the gearing and spend some time
with it. When I got the car it had 5 traction magnets in it. I added 4 more
for a total of 9 and it was still not enough. Car de-slots pretty easy still. It's
BLAZING FAST in a straight line tho.... Magnets are just not in the right place yet.

The Fly Rotor Motor cars haven't been running for a while now. Need new 1"
wide 7/8" dia. slicks and I've got to order them. They need a new set of gears too but I may go to 64 pitch instead of 48. The modified Fly cars use a Parma #499 Super 16D Rotor Motor w/ adjustable timing. They have 3 traction magnets.

The front one is adjustable in height with the turn of an allen screw.
They have 1/8" rear axles (for strength and durability), 1/24th scale Parma
"The Blade" guides, and of course Pro-Track chassis underneath.

The fastest I've ever got them to run was an AVERAGE of 18.5 feet per second.
That was back when the track was at 154 feet. I've added nothing but straights
so I think I can get them to run near that speed again.

The fastest car so far is this orange one.

It is a lexan bodied Pro-Track Mercedes CLK
with a Pro-Track chassis, carbon fiber axles, and ball bearing bushings. It AVERAGES about 16.63 feet per sec. It weighs 64.2 grams with 3 traction magnets.

Track record so far is 13.583 seconds.

The three fastest cars on this track use a Pro-Track chassis.

c-ya

Rev

The carbon-fiber axles are made by Pro-Track. If you get some they
recommend that you use ball bearing bushings with them. Rear axle is about 10 or 12 bucks, front is about 8, and ball bearing bushings are about $20 per pair.

I really tried to push the envelope so to speak, to find the limits of flexing and twisting plastic track. The Pro-Track Spider chassis works really well in that the tires stay planted on the ground at all times -even when the track has a lot of twist in it. At the moment, I don't have the 1/16" carbon fiber front axle in the car. Need to find better bushings. For now it's got a 3/32" drill blank front axle and a
3/32" carbon fiber rear.

I'm starting to realize that to go fast with a hot-rod magnet car you need to be LIGHT in weight. When the car crashes it doesn't destroy itself as bad. When the Rotor Motor Fly cars crash it's usually a really, really, bad thing. They have a unique sound as they fly past you.

In a heads up drag race down a 24 foot straight, the Rotor Motor Fly cars will beat
Russell's 100,000 rpm rocketship by about a foot. But the gearing isn't right on that car. To be honest, I haven't spent much time on cars lately. Just the track.

I want to see if I can get it up to 250.

That's a nice round number eh?

Rev

Double barrel refers to dual resistors, and wet wound is in reference
to the epoxy coating on the resistors.

Soon as I can find an extra 500 bucks I'll get 3 more #2052 Prof.
Motor controllers.

The $2000 - $2500 figure also includes all the wood for the tables to
support the track and all the wire used to make it run. So far there
is over 650 feet of 16 guage wire soldered to 18 different power supply
tracks per lane. 1 lane is a little down on power, but 3 lanes ROCK.
I'll fix it....

Now that the track is up to 240 feet, I find myself thinking about taking
vacation days off from work just to come home and practice. It is such
a blast driving around a layout that's this long. It's hard to describe.

It takes a lot of concentration to make it around just one time. One
of the Monza banked curves is set at an angle of 57.5 degrees. Don't
think I've ever had one that steep before. You've got to keep your
momentum up or you won't make it around. I may have to adjust that curve
so it's not so steep. Newbies won't like it. But they'll eventually learn....

Rev