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Slot forum test track....

48902 Views 329 Replies 55 Participants Last post by  MrFlippant, 
hankscorpio
2
After finally getty my own track up and running and tuning some of my own cars GregK had a good suggestion about a way to compare models we don't own against the one we do...

The idea was simple we develop a "test track design" from commonly available parts that any of us could build on the "Rug" for a test session.. By only using times to 1/10 th of a second even the analogue lap counter timer can be used and removes the competitive element! hopefully
...

The idea is to see not who is the fastest racer but what are the fastest cars and by how much on a "standard" track then by timing cars with "Mods" we can see which ones worked best etc.... as long as we are all honest of course... which of course we would be!

All we would need is a "track design" to begin with to start to build up a table of the best cars... Any ideas, designs etc for the track appreciated.

So who is up for doing some testing of their cars.... if we can find a dozen or so people who would like to play could make for some intersting results...

I'm game... digital or analogue it doesn't matter all are welcome.

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This has turned out to be a very successful (and long) thread. It's been requested that the final test track layout be
replicated here at the beginning where it's easy to find for reference. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge, hope this helps...
John

Rectangle Slope Font Terrestrial plant Pattern


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hankscorpio
Nice to have you on board guys...

Yeah definately agree we need to ensure that the design uses an "inside lane" for timings in the main to allow NO MAG running without needing loads of borders...

We do need to test the handling as well as the raw speed... In my pinion the following corners would give the following effects

Would be good to use R3's within a combination of straights to test for high speed cornering...

Would be good to use R1's to give a low speed handling and acceleration test into the longest straight... maybe the chicaine curve set?

Using a flat crossover would help make the design more compact but not sure how many have some... obviously us argos shoppers have loads!.

Must admit though it wasn't my original idea... © Gregk but the more of us that play the better it will be.

Diegu I know what you mean about timing accuracy but analoge scalextric users only have 1/10 lap timing as standard...
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hankscorpio
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all good points so i tried to develop something using standard parts...

The blue lane would be used for running so a minimum of borders were required even for magless testing

the running direction is right to left on the top straight i.e. out of the hairpin and onto the straight...


any thoughts appreciated should give about a 34ft running length and therefore an average car would give a 4 to 5 second lap timed to 1/10th would be enough to put cars into equal catagorries...

Will finally put paid to the myths about whether a carrera version is worse or an HPI doesn't handle at all


what do we think... anybody else got any ideas... MrKiwi track while although being easy to build would only be a 2 second lap not sure if thats big enough to say anything... however mine may be to big at 9x5 but should fit into an average living room...

all input welcomed... also who is gonna sign up to play along
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hankscorpio
QUOTE (diegu @ 1 May 2010, 13:32) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Following the feedback of the others, it seems that there will only be a Scaley version, so I am out of the game with my Ninco thing. If someone was interested in setting this up as Ninco the crossing has to be left out.

If we all think a "bridge" wuld be better than a crossing to allow other makes its a fair comment... perhaps somebody can suggest another twist without using a flat crossing to keep a car on the iside lane for as long as possible...

I think a switch to R3's on the straight is a good idea... was trying to keep the track parts as simple as possible... will modify and return tomorrow with another version...

Come on Greg if you are reading..... we could do with a Mr flippant signiture moment of inspiration here!

(be warned i'm back on the p[ain killers today and my touch typing is all over the place)
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hankscorpio
This crossover thing has me bugged...

bridges are tough to compare...

flat crossings brand dependant...

Scalextric has curved lane crossovers...

Other brands have straight ones...

I think reducing borders to a minimum and innner lane running is a good idea for no mag...

No wonder this has never reached fruition... so if we rule those pieces out anybody want to mod their own track designs and else want to drop one in...
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hankscorpio
Twist on tracks already suggested... All R2's for what its worth...
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hankscorpio
Nice track michael really nice... just those curved crossovers are not available in Ninco or carerra..... but it works really well but at 12x6 i'm out not got a floorspace big enough...

Trev like the number 2 design... a little bit of ironing and maybe something close to what we need...
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hankscorpio
Twist on Stefan/trevor's tracks for simplicity but adding some "braking" and a longer straight... so the lap is at lest 3 seconds... this will give 1% differential on a 1/10th second timing... enough to catagorise cars into groups...


So with a few ideas now in the mix anybody like to comment on what we have?

anybody have a preference...

any ideas of what to put into a "poll" for collecting ideas..?
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hankscorpio
Ok poll tomorrow... just have to figure if i can post pictures in a poll or if somebody wants to do an tracks all in one post labled a b c etc... a plea goes out especially those who have just got up hint hint hint... as i'm now off to bed
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hankscorpio
Cheers trevor you are a star...

Option E/F gets my vote...

As greg says its a mid range figure 8 set plus the haipin kit... or with standard R1's as per diegu... will work out the difference in lane length between Ninco and scalextric because of the track size and then just apply a size "factor" to Ninco timings for the % increase because of the wider lanes...

so if we all chose from trevs post we can see what we are voting for... alll post comments... many thanks
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hankscorpio
Your wish is my command...

i have a large box of classic with enough to build it.... well actually my brother stole it but he is only a few miles away and we can answer that question and decide on a "fudge factor" to align the two times... wahey!!!!! another scalextric mystery to knock off the list!

With diegu on board as long as somebody has a similar batch of cars for comparison on scaley we can also work out a "fudge factor" to ensure that the two align as well... it will also tell us what sort of speed imrovement we could get by switching brands... oh my god the list is endless...

Do we have any carrera boys willing to play? i'd love to be able to be all inclusive...
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hankscorpio
Wahey we are getting somewhere.... just have to rescue my box of track from my brothers house...

OH ONE BIG DECISION.... Straight into the hairpin (Clockwise) is a much tougher direction than Hairpin into the straight (Anticlockwise) we really need to decide on that before testing begins... straight into an R1 is always a nightmare...

Now if you are "IN" how about a list of cars you are willing to test...

and the timing.... I will be analogue 1/10 sec with digital and analogue... Any club racers do against the clock stuff got any format suggestions?.... I suggest fastest lap time from 10 laps. maximum of 3 sets of 10 laps per car... to get the best time.

JL-F! The brand difference is in the size of the curve radius anyway and the track surface.... please no more designs... E if you have the scaley track F if you have Ninco... I will work out a fudge factor shortly to even things up... Will PM Diegu for advice later.
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hankscorpio
2
Ok live pic of the slot forum test track in the flesh...


err it somehow seems bigger in the flesh! so the shopping list is....

1 x Hairpin Kit (or 4x R1 & 2x std straight if that is your track system)
1 x Powerbase
1 x Lapcounter
1 x Half Straight
8 x Standard Straights
10 x R2 Curves

Will work out the variances between Ninco & Scaley but my copy of "Ultimate Racer" is playing up since i tried to switch it into metric..... grrrr

i just noticed something familair about this layout.... rotate the image below 180deg anti clockwise.... ooops!


entirely accidental... i think... unless the years of playing in the arcades have affected my brain!
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hankscorpio
And the first timing runnning anticlockwise....

21.69ft or 6.51m with the actual length from NINCO track pieces we can work out the "fudge factor" to ensure we get a comparartive for that...

box standard Super resisant F430... 3.0 seconds.... Scaley F1 Standard car but silicone tyres... 2.6 seconds....

So we are away... have tested a few more cars with other setups but the track needs a good cleaning session before anything meaningful can be drawn...

Who is gonna be next?

I will try a classic setup at the weekend unless someone else gets there first...
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hankscorpio
Ditto Trev...

One thing i have to say is err my god its hard to drive that track really fast! it really punishes you for pushing too hard... 2.4 seconds is really quick... i take it that was with a magnet? and whats is Sticky track TM?

Lap times last night demonstrated allarmingly how dust affects the performance of sport track (been laying in a box for months) however after a few laps I could see a clean line appearing on the track going from greyish to black... but it was far too late to spend an hour or so cleaning track to get the times to something more realistic... Not to mention my other half moaning about the "Beeeping" from the bloody analogue lap counter!

AWSCC... honestly never planned it to go around the furniture! crawling on the floor is a no no for me with my broken rib... so all planning done on the PC... The design was a compromise between what Mrkiwi and Stefan had suggested but included a hairpin as well as the esses and a long straight... seems to work though!
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hankscorpio
QUOTE (MrFlippant @ 6 May 2010, 00:24) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>As for NINCO, according to TrackPower, the inside lane is 739cm, or 24' 3"
TrackPower says the Scaley version (with hairpin rather than R1) is 662cm, or 22' 9".
Scaley with R1 instead of hairpin says 650cm, or 21' 4"

Thanks for that greg all the track designers seem to give different answers to the length... i don't trust scaley one 6.58m...UR3 said 6.61m track power 6.62m how but thinking that we should use track power as are "standard" track designer for track measurements and conversion factors as it has all track systems available... any thoughts? (i don't have a copy installed) but it seems the most popular choice with slotters.

739cm on Ninco compared to 662cm on scaley is 11.4% bigger so to convert times on ninco to match if we multiply the time by "89.6" i.e 3.0 sec becomes 2.68 (2.7) we have the size differential taken into account.... anybody got any thoughts? or can we agree on that?

Track surface differentials will have to be worked out separately based on timings as they come in...

Nothing wrong with any "tweak" to a car as long as its announced alongside the times.... Trevs lazy approach to tyre cleaning is innovative... but cleaning tyres beforehand is ok... maybe not on the track though mrkiwi sir!

we also need to agree the position of the timer and the direction of travel...
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hankscorpio
Err the age old problem... Always somebody will be excluded... But i have managed to get a poll up and running with pictures of the tracj so you can vote for your favourite or none at all... Link to voting page

I feel that you need more than one type of corner to test a car... All r2's is not really a fair test... With the cost of R3's at £10 for 2 seemed a bit steep and less seem to have them and they are rare on the secondhand market. the R1's or haiprin depending on your preference is a better choice £22 list price or less than £10 on ebay... thats hardly excluding people... Yeah R2's are more readily available but we are already using 10... to get the same track using r2's would make it even bigger space wise!

Life is full of compromise... we do not even know if this idea will yield anything usefull yet... have your voice heard make a vote.. on the thread!
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hankscorpio
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QUOTE (distantkiwi @ 6 May 2010, 11:50) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>It's on the outside lane not the inside. I have to do a full outside lap before I can clean the wheels. Please don't make me do something manually.


you are forgiven... great idea though.... using duck tape you may put enough stick on the tyres for a fast "glue lap" on lap 1
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hankscorpio
QUOTE (richardtheforth @ 6 May 2010, 19:03) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>All this makes me think how good Sport World could have been...

Nice to have ya on board richard... but you have one... i had to sell mine to fund my chipping needs... you still have the best pace car system on earth in that unit...

Could be intersting to see how the pace car time comes up against the "driven lap" just to show those that bemoaned the sportworld just how great it really could have been!
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hankscorpio
QUOTE (ronMcRain @ 6 May 2010, 18:35) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>This could be a second step to SFTT, 2.0. To everyone who like *doodling* track plans? [Not only me, is it!] How many different track configurations can we come up with, with the parts at hand as in reply #62? I'd guess at least 20 .. Prove me wrong.

Absolutely ron we are definately just trying to see how we can all pull together to make the idea work...

If we can get a track together... then some comparative data from people that "means something useful" we will be ready to say the idea works...

Ultimately i would like to see a "forum slotbox" with a set number of pieces to make tracks from...

Then from time to time we can have a track design compo... then spend a weekend all trying to set times on it... posting our findings... even run a league...

but lets not run before we can walk... lets see if we can get a track agreed first... and see what happens.
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