QUOTE (keysandslots @ 15 Nov 2011, 03:17)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Many of the tracks around here use silicones and only silicones. The problem seems to be that as long as silicone is all you run on your track, eventually the track gets "rubbered in" and the tires work great. As soon as you run some other kind of tire, the silicone gets removed and the track needs to start over again.
I'll warn you that you should take what I say with a grain (or shaker) of salt because ...
Randy
Heya Randy,
I think your approach and thinking is very methodical, and it reminded me of our own journey as a club from keeping the neo magnet industry solvent, to keep NASA's surface coating and lubricant industry solvent . . . LOL
Fortunately we have settled a bit as we became more experienced.
But I would suggest that your comment re: silicons is a bit different to what we have experienced.
We run all wood tracks now, from semi-gloss acrylics, through high gloss to super high gloss "2 pot enamel" like is found on cars and kitchen joinery.
Our experience is that silicons mainly mop up/remove the rubbered up nature of a track, reducing their own grip with the coating, at the same time as reducing the grip for rubber tyres as they remove the rubbber build up.
if you run ONLY or nearly all silicons, you will eventually see slight scuff marks from them on a gloss surface, though this doesn't seem to have much effect on grip plus or minus.
I doubt there is any silicon deposit on a lower grip track like scaley sport as the silicon takes a fair bit of abuse before any compound disengages from the surface.
We run our several club tracks clean (no rubbering up), and have completely cob-washed the old wives tales about silicon and rubber being completely incompatible.
Certainly the old theory about silicons simply leaving a silicon slippery deposit on tracks is untrue, probably created by the inverse situation when tracks lose sticky rubber build up.
They ARE incompatible if you want to run "rubbered up" tracks, as the silicon lifts any gradual rubbering up from the surface and reduces grip for rubber tyres, and also for the silicons if there was any visible amount of rubber.
But for clean tracks, we run both compounds in same race, or for sequential classes, silicon then rubber or vice versa with no problems at all.
As example - for all - in our Slot.it Group C class, we have F22 and silicons as permitted compounds, and without using any "stickers" on the F22 they are maybe 1/10th a lap slower than silicon on a track with a 6 - 7 second lap, but close enough that some cars/drivers run on them for their forgiving, and easy drive style of handling, which can reduce "offs" and level the playing field. - Sillies are a bit more "on or off" and may shudder on uneven surfaces if the car isn't set up right, which F22s cope with better.
I have about 6 Grp C "runners" and have 4 on sillies and 2 on F22.
F15 would probably be quicker, but are that much hard to true perfectly, I don't bother just for club racing.
