[Harleridr]

Hi guys,
Getting back into the hobby after a 45yr. layoff. The last set I had was a 1/32 Strombecker oval from Sears. I could really use some advice. I think a two set would be fine for a starter. Just need to know what brands to look for. My present hobbies include r/c aircraft, boats,and tanks since 1995. Also Harley Davidsons since 1957.
Harleridr

 

[Ember]

Hi Harleridr.

If you're looking at 1/32 scale track there are 5 basic brands.

Scalextric: Arguably the most popular brand for track in Britain. The track is divided into two distinct types: Classic track (pre 2002) and Sports track (post 2002).

Classic track is a little more textured than the current track. The plastic is a little harder, some would argue it can be brittle. The slot is slightly shallower and the rails are a little raised from the track surface.

Sport track is less textured with a slightly deeper slot. It has a different connector system to the Classic. The plastic is softer and more flexible which can be seen as a plus because it can be tempted into all sorts of bumps and twists by the devious track builder (eg. ME

)

Scalextric track has 4 difference radius corners available allowing for the (theoretical) building of 8 lane race track.

SCX: The Spanish version of Scalextric. SCX until recently were using the same track system as was formerly available as Scalextric Classic. They have recently changed their analogue track format to be compatible with their digital track.

SCX offer some interesting specialty tracks including off-road/raid, ice and snow. SCX offer 4 different radius corners.

Artin: A hard plastic track of a relatively inexpensive nature. Medium texture. Apparently no longer directly available in the US, but still available in Australia and other countries. This track system does have specific 4 lane packs available.

Ninco: A Spanish brand, Ninco track is considerably wider than the previously mentioned track systems. The track is very heavily textured which means good grip to some people or too much grip to others. Ninco offer track only packs specifically aimed at Club racing. Ninco also offers 5 different corner radii allowing up to 10 lane track builds.

Ninco track is available in a variety of specialty colours for asphalt, dirt and snow surfaces.

Carrera: The largest of all track classes available in 1:32 scale. This track, from Germany, is a hard plastic with a medium texture. Carrera track has stainless steel rails which is an advantage to those building tracks in humid areas. As the largest of all tracks it is not suitable for tight, twisty track builds. Carrera claims its track system is wide enough to allow for 1:24 scale cars to run on it (many would argue the feasibility of this claim).

Another oddity with Carrera is that their corners are based, not on 4 or 8 pieces to the circle, but 6 or 12 for a full circle. Again, this can be seen as either good or bad, depending on whether or not you are a Carrera fan.

I think that about covers the track basics. Other that any brand of 1:32 car will run on any brand of 1:32 track (nb: some adjustment may be required to Carrera cars due to the large 'guide' on their cars).

Welcome to the madness that is the forum and back to the addiction that is Slotting.

Embs

 

[80eightmph]

Hi there, thanks to Harleridr for making this topic and to Ember for a very informative post. I'm a complete noob to slot cars so it was very helpful!

I hope you don't mind me hijacking the thread a little, but I have a quick couple of questions that probably aren't worth starting a new thread over!

I've decided on going with Scalextric as it's the most well known and widely available brand in the UK. The starter set I'm most interested is the Full Throttle Set. As I understand it, this comes with the newer 'sport' track, which means I can use it with a digital powerbase set in the future? Obviously the cars in this set would also then need to be chipped.

Also this set comes with a lap counter and timer (awesome!) but I'd like to add to the track to make it more interesting (i.e not symmetrical, meaning one lane is quicker than the other). Surely a limitation of an analogue set is that if you do not have an equal number of crossing sections, it would mean the lap times for every other lap would be reversed? Can you get around this? Does the lap counter have settings you can change? (Stupid noob question I know!).

Nice to meet you all!

Cheers

Mike

 

[Julian_Boolean]

If you run an analogue set with an odd number of crossovers you will end up with a single lane setup that will only run one car - hope this helps.

 

[80eightmph]

Great! So it really was a stupid question!

So when you're designing tracks you need to think about how one lane will have an advantage and where to place your crossovers.

OK thanks for that Julian! I'll get back to lurking on the boards and finding out more.

 

[300SLR]

When designing a track an important question to ask is do you want cross overs?
There are differance of opinion on that.
A layout including bridges is an alternative way of rminimising the lane differance.

 

[Julian_Boolean]

Personally I dislike crossovers and prefer a bridge, but with either I think it's difficult to get 2 lanes with equal lap times - better to race on each lane for a set time, add the number of laps completed on each lane together and the winner is the racer with the most laps, or race against the clock on a single lane track.

 

[Ember]

I'm afraid I'm with the others on the crossovers. They do nothing but cause carnage, particularly where children and novice racers are concerned. For a permanent track they're a no no in my book.

The 'lap counter timer' that is included in that Scalex set is more lap counter than timer. I had one with my initial set (Top Gear Power Laps). Unless they have changed it, which I doubt, it only holds best lap time and then only to a tenth of a second. I offloaded mine when I upgraded power supply. I wanted to get the two big lumps out of the scenery. Of course, the intention was to add in a computer timing system. I have all the bits, but haven't done it yet. It's only 2 years on. But my track is more used for casual, social and destress laps.

Embs