Who has the longest track?

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Rainman
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Who has the longest track?

Post by Rainman »

Just curious what is the longest track being used out there. What are the Pro's and Con's to a long track? We've been thinking about either building or purchasing a track to stretch the entire length of the school gym.


I just think a 6 to 10 lane, 100 ft long, 10 ft drop at the starting gate track would be a real cool track to run on.


Thanks

Jeff
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by HookedOnPine »

I think around 42' is about the longest I've heard of. Sounds like you're gonna have to custom build that one yourself! That high a drop would present some challenges such as having the scouts have to climb a ladder or stairs or in the event the cars were staged for them, getting the cars up there. I would also bet there would be alot more derailments with the added velocity. Be fun to watch though!!! :shock:
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by Humvderby »

We have raced on a 51 ft aluminum district track and I have heard of some districts having 60 ft aluminum tracks. Personally I think longer tracks can make for a more exciting race. Each race lasts longer and usually the car in the lead at the bottom of the slope is not necessarily the car in the lead at the finish. The longer tracks definitely change the physics behind building a fast car vs shorter tracks.

A problem with the track you are talking about building other than how do they get 10 ft up to stage their cars is some of your boys who may only get help from their Moms may not make it to the end of the track. That would not be good.
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by oldfordsrule »

I have to agree with Humvderby-

A long track such as you describe would be very exciting to watch. However, the embarrassment factor for not finishing a race would be way high! This year we only had one that did not reach the end of the track, but it came close. The boy was really bummed. We had a few cars that may not have reached the end of a longer track. Also as mentioned derailing will be more likely, thus the track surface would have to be near perfect.

Despite measures to prevent a 'DNF' (did not finish)- it happens. The race coordinator distributed 2 full pages of my tips, and I provided a seminar that was only attended by two families. You can lead a horse to water... I like tracks under 40' so that almost everyone can finish.

Might be fun for district!
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Stan Pope
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by Stan Pope »

I disagree with the use of exotic tracks for district/council races IF participation must be earned by good performance in pack races. The reason is that car setup is usually different for these tracks.

I am still trying to get my act together to construct some alternative tracks for use as "activity areas" during our district races. Maybe some recognition for performance on these tracks, but not as the "premier" event!
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by rdeis »

I'm told out pack track is near 60 ft, and that 5oz cars are often passed by lighter cars near the finish.

It's 6 lanes and aluminum. We'll see how it races next month.
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by Packdude »

I'm glad I came across this topic. I purchased a 48' long Freedom track from Piantedosi and had high hopes of using at this years District derby which was this weekend. I was concerned however, about using a longer track and the possibility of the cars not finishing. During our testing, we had a block with wheels that would not finish, even at 32'. The other cars didn't seem to have any problems and all were around 5oz. In the end it didn't matter because we couldn't get the new timer to work and even if we had, the start cable wouldn't have been long enough to use all 48' of track. :cry:
We wound up using our packs very old 28' wooden track. It got the job done, but we were still disappointed that we couldn't use the new track.
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Mike Parrish
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by Mike Parrish »

Our Awana regional is ran on this beast!

Image

110 ft in length, 10 ft start gate height, 6 lanes. The fast cars run in the 5.2 second range.

It is the largest track I have seen so far. :shock:

BTW Jeff, it is very cool to run on :D
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by PWD »

I love this 110 foot track. You can really see who has skill in building the car and who does not. It also takes away some of the advantages of having a track at home. Well probably only a little. I would think a car that ran fast on a 49' track would also run fast on a 110' track.

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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by gpraceman »

Rainman wrote:I just think a 6 to 10 lane, 100 ft long, 10 ft drop at the starting gate track would be a real cool track to run on.
I would keep it to 8 lanes or less. Over 8 lanes, you will have trouble finding timers and software to use with it. Also, the more lanes, the more time it takes to stage each race. Personally, I wouldn't have a track over 6 lanes.

That long of a track has a lot of other issues like cost, storage, more section joints to align, a car dropping from that height :cry:, etc.

I think it would be better to stick to something shorter.
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Cory
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by Cory »

We've used both a 32-foot 3-laner and a 48-foot 4-laner. I've done setup, takedown, transport, and storage for both. It was roughly double the amount of work and trouble dealing with the 48-footer. YMMV...

If your boys stage the cars, keep in mind that this is most time-consuming part of each heat.

Suppose you currently run your Derby by giving each boy one run on each lane of a 4-lane track, and the whole event lasts four hours. Using the same once-per-lane format will take you nearly six hours on a 6-lane track, assuming you fill all six lanes. And you will have longer periods of "dead time" between heats.

The track length will not make that much of a difference. However, accessibility to the starting gate for boys to stage cars could make a big difference. If your starting gate is 10 feet off the floor, that creates problems -- solvable problems, but problems nonetheless.

One last thought is that tracks tend to hang around for a while. Pretty easy to change racing formats or software. Not so easy to build or buy a new track. Whatever decisions you make will affect people you haven't even met for years to come.
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by Mike Doyle »

That 110 foot track is insane!! :shock:

I remember seeing that pic before and would love to know the story behind the track. Who built it, how old it is, what operation is like, ect.

It looks like a very active (and hence successful) program.
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by Packdude »

Cory wrote: Suppose you currently run your Derby by giving each boy one run on each lane of a 4-lane track, and the whole event lasts four hours. Using the same once-per-lane format will take you nearly six hours on a 6-lane track, assuming you fill all six lanes. And you will have longer periods of "dead time" between heats.
As far as number of lanes go, I have found that with our current method, you can run every car in every lane and average about 1 minute per car (ie, 50 cars = about 50 minutes of racing). Of course this depends on how energetic your staff is in getting the cars from finish line to starting gate and how quickly they can get the cars put back in place and the announcer can tell them to start the next race. One of the biggest slowdowns I've seen is when the announcer tries to over dramatize the start.
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Cory
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by Cory »

Packdude wrote:...about 1 minute per car...
This is a very achievable number for a 3 or 4 lane track, once per lane.

We could go at about the same pace, but we ran twice per lane and we ran at the Den level with two or three Dens per Rank, plus Rank level finals, and with brief intermissions in-between sets of heats for awards for the previous group, introductions for the incoming group, printing charts for the starters, etc. The more you break kids into subgroups up, the longer it will take is what we learned.

Packdude is also correct about slow announcers, slow starters, things like that. It's a good idea to get out a stopwatch and time heat-start to heat-start, then start figuring out where you're using up seconds.
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Mike Parrish
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Re: Who has the longest track?

Post by Mike Parrish »

Mike Doyle wrote:...would love to know the story behind the track. Who built it, how old it is, what operation is like, ect.

It looks like a very active (and hence successful) program.
It is a Piantedosi custom track. The track in the pic is at least 4 years old. Since that time, the owner left the church and took his track. The Grand Prix team there had another one built the same year.

The program appears to be very successful as they conduct several races per year at their facility.
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