New Pack Track

[Gauge]

My son's pack is going to raise money to buy a new track. Which track and timer would everyone recommend, and how long of track is best.
Thanks—Gauge

[Stan Pope]

My son's pack is going to raise money to buy a new track. Which track and timer would everyone recommend, and how long of track is best.
Thanks—Gauge

You should aim toward the type of track usually used at district and council races. This will give your boys the best shot there!

Two Lane types: Center rail vs. edge guide

Two profiles: short 4' radius curve vs. gradual Cub Scout book curve (as implemented in Piantedosi, et.al.

Two materials: wood vs. aluminum

Multiple lengths: Nominal 32', 40', 48'.

I'd try to match all. If I had to compromise, I'd compromise on material first, profile second and length third and lane type last. Restated in terms of "priority": Lane type (highest priority), length, profile, material (lowest priority). A good argument can be made to swap priorities of length and profile.

[psycaz]

Piggybacking on what Stan said, keep in mind storage options.

Wood needs more concern about storage than metal. Aluminum will not have much of an issue being outside in a garage if necessary as long as it is in a good case and protected from bends and scratches.

Wood make react to drastic changes in humidity and temperature over time.

[Teeeman]

If you have the best track in the District and volunteer it for use (with helpers who know how to set it up, run the timer, take it down and store it)...

it is such a sweet deal for the District they'll use your track from now on


That means you can have a huge advantage in return for your extra work (for your Pack).





It is win win !







If the District feels it is unfair advantage, then they will have to setup their own track (sheepish grin!).


-T

[Gauge]

We have no district races. I know it is a shame but the derby is not a very popular event in the area. I am trying to make it more popular and I feel by having a nice track would help spark some interest.

We use a very old 3 lane wooden track with a center rail. I want to purchase a aluminum track with a quality timer.

Do you think a 3 lane, 42' Aluminum Best Track with a K3 Microwizard timer is a good choice?

What are the advantages/disadvantages of the 35', 42', and 49' track lengths?

[Randy and Son]

We have no district races. I know it is a shame but the derby is not a very popular event in the area. I am trying to make it more popular and I feel by having a nice track would help spark some interest.

We use a very old 3 lane wooden track with a center rail. I want to purchase a aluminum track with a quality timer.

Do you think a 3 lane, 42' Aluminum Best Track with a K3 Microwizard timer is a good choice?

What are the advantages/disadvantages of the 35', 42', and 49' track lengths?

Assuming you are on a budget of some sort, purchase something of reasonable quality that will easily allow you to add more lanes and length later as PWD demand grows. I wouldn't scrimp on the timer though. Buy a good one up front. The track can grow with you though. A 3 lane, 35 foot track ought to be fine to start with.

Sorry to hear PWD is not as popular in Iowa City. We used to live in nearby Cedar Rapids but moved here before sons were scouting age.

Randy

[gpraceman]

What are the advantages/disadvantages of the 35', 42', and 49' track lengths?

Too short of a track and the faster cars will do more crashing to a stop than slowing to a stop. That can mess with alignment or worse, break a car. Too long of a track significantly ups the odds that the slower cars will not finish at all.

I like the middle ground, a 40 or 42 footer, depending on which brand you look at.

This year we have been running our 48ft track as a 40 footer and have seen far fewer cars not finish. We run multiple races on the track each year.

[pack529holycross]

We have no district races. I know it is a shame but the derby is not a very popular event in the area. I am trying to make it more popular and I feel by having a nice track would help spark some interest.

We use a very old 3 lane wooden track with a center rail. I want to purchase a aluminum track with a quality timer.

Do you think a 3 lane, 42' Aluminum Best Track with a K3 Microwizard timer is a good choice?

What are the advantages/disadvantages of the 35', 42', and 49' track lengths?

This is the process by which we made our decision as a Unit:

Expandability for future use
Durability
Reliability
Dependability of Manufacturer

In the end aluminum made more sense for future expandability, FastTrack / Microwizard made the most sense for durability and features, and BESTTRACK was the only manufacturer that had the added availability of a riser kit to keep the track off the ground and away from trampling feet ( it also greatly increases visibility for the audience ).

Our previous track was a 3lane Pand Oars, and the MOST important thing all of last years attendees stated as the WORST part of that event was that it took too long ( 3 lanes x 50 scouts ). No siblings or adults could race because it took so long. That lead me to believe that going from 3 to 6 lanes made sense. Having a 6 lane track also opens up opportunities to "rent" out your services to BSA and non-BSA entities, further reducing the expense and creating a profit center for your UNIT.

When we compared the cost of all 4 major track providers, the added cost of BESTRACK + riser kit was only a few hundred dollars. For that added expense, I have found that I trust BESTRACK to deliver exactly what they advertise, with ZERO dissappointment in the quality of what we recieved. everything went together perfectly, all the pieces were there, and building the storage cases for the track insures that it will not end up like our last track.

We went with the combination of K3 package and GPRM, simply because Microwizard's customer service was as great as BESTRACK, and why wouldn't you pick GPRM when you can come here and ask the creator of the software a technical question? money well spent, in my opinion.

Nicholas


PS. I do NOT recommend buying anything less than a 6 lane TIMER, even if you don't buy a 6 lane track this time around. Why, you ask? because you can take a 6 lane timer ( Microwizard specifically ), and de-select unused lanes to match your 3 lane track. Expand your track, and your timer is ready to go. If you Don't buy a bigger timer than your track, and you expand your track later, you will have to replace your timer entirely.

[gpraceman]

I personally would not recommend a track over 4 lanes. I've had so many of my software customers with tracks over 4 lanes asking me how to run with fewer lanes. Their complaint was that it takes too long to run a race on a 6 or more lanes. There are more cars to stage, load and retrieve for each heat, so it can slow the pace of the race down significantly.

All that added expense (track and timer wise) for those extra lanes ends up going to waste if lanes go unused.

To me, a 4 lane track is ideal. If you can only afford a 3 lane track, I would at least get a 4 lane timer so you could add a lane in the future.

[Gauge]

I really appreciate the info guys. I thought about going with a 3 lane track simply because we only had 22 cars in our last pack race. However, one of my goals as assistant cub master is to try to grow our pack and I could easily see more cub scouts in the future needing a bigger lane track. i would hate to see our pack in the future needing to buy a larger timer to accomidate a track with more lanes so I will be sure to buy a timer that will accomidate at least four lanes.

[TAL]

My suggestion :

- 32' 4 lane anodized Piantdseia (micro wizard) with a 4 lane K-1 micro wizard timer with serial port option.

If you are using the GPRM software that will display the times for you.

As Randy stated above a shorter track will need more stopping room but an exstention can be easily prepaired or made from wood or aluminum.

We went the route of adding extra lanes and have regretted it ever since .

Adding another lane to your existing track to me is BULL!

In our experience we found that the added lanes are generally not equal to the existing lanes in performance and colorization due to the aged medal of the existing track.

We had unequal mounting holes in the new lane compared to the existing track and it has caused problems ever since.

So I do suggest skip the 3 lanes and jump to 4 and personnally I too would'nt go over 4 lanes.