Piantedosi wood track

Commercial tracks.
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Speedster
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Piantedosi wood track

Post by Speedster »

We recently acquired a 6 year old wood Piantedosi track. Previous owners said it needs to be kept in controlled environment (whatever specifically that means). Micro Wizard says to keep it away from moisture. Cold will not hurt it. They no longer offer wood tracks.
Has anyone with a wood Piantedose track ever had their track damaged from where it was stored? Thank You.
rpcarpe
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Re: Piantedosi wood track

Post by rpcarpe »

Not a track, but lots of wood!
'controlled environment' usually means at room temperature and humidity. Not your attic, not your garage.
A large closet, where it can be stored flat would be best.

Good Luck!
My wife started a new support group... Widows of the Pinewood Derby.
Shawn Stebleton
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Re: Piantedosi wood track

Post by Shawn Stebleton »

I think our cubmaster has stored our pack's Piantedosi wood track in his garage. It's probably 12-15 years old and in great shape. It's used twice a year, but boy is it used those days! Since we are north of the Mason Dixon line, it does get cold here in the winters. We do have lots of humidity, too, but not continually like near the shore. I'll verify with him how it is stored. I don't think he does anything special. It's probably been treated worse than specs state it should be, and it has weathered the temperature and humidity changes just fine.
Shawn
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sporty
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Re: Piantedosi wood track

Post by sporty »

Sorry, slow to reply here.

Our local pack uses this track, three lane. and they got it new, its about 10 years old now.

The things I see, as its stored in a really good box and had dividers between the sections of the tracks. this is key in my view to prevent wood sagging or the shape or waves in the wood happening.

Prior to this pack, another pack we once were with had a wooden track in the beginning and they did not store it right and that track only was 4 years old before they replaced it, due to waves in the wood.
Just stacking the lanes ontop of one another is not good enough, sagging on the sides ? and ends can happen.

The other pack, that had the better storage, had like wood and foam to it for each section of track, it's designed to be all level inside of the box. and it works well.

The foam fills the lanes, gaps between the rails, to allow even load pressure. because after you get it all in the box and its laying ontop of one another, thats allot more weight, then you think.

The main piece, that is bent for the race, seems to be the tricky one tho. because after the race, it has some arch in it and it does not like to lay flat when put back away.

But the box, is a tight fit and when the lid goes on and latched. it forces the main, section, the first piece, to lay back flat. Which at first I wondered if this was a good idea or better for it to retain more of the shape for when its installed.
But I have seen no ill effect from makign it lay flat in storage. the weights they add on, bring it to the right arch shape and over the years.

From one race to the previous years or past 3 years race. all the times seem to be very close to where they should be. often I kept track of the times and sometimes would bring the car back to run in open class, with very littl rework to it and it was always pretty close to the same times, it had run the prior year.

They also made sure as close and best they could to place the track in the same area of the gym floor. I think this also helped ensure, the times from the prior year all stayed close.

They used alignment jigs also, in how they put the sections together. a piece that you mount over two sections with clamps. then screwed the sections together. this played a good part in things aswell.

The worst thing I see, if its very hard to keep these tracks clean, they often used pledge before and after the race and rags to try and get it all up.

It does not work very well, but thats what they go with. the key issue one year, they did the pledge 1 hour before the race and did not get it wiped off good enough.

Thus the first three rounds were off in times, before it started to be like it usually was. which I felt bad because the track times got faster for everyone, but those first 3 rounds, hurt those racers. because they run so many times and there times are what is used to determine the winners.

They run 9 times. but 6 of there runs were slower, then there last three and this was for a large portion of the people in those first three runs.

They felt bad, and were awhare of it after the race started, but did not do anything.

I know added tid bits, but I thought, this is a example of be carefull when cleaing the track and how soon you will run on it, it can effect times, if its not all removed.

Sporty
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FatSebastian
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Re: Piantedosi wood track

Post by FatSebastian »

Here are the original storage instructions for the Piantedosi Pinewood Derby track:
STORAGE: The track should be stored in it's original shipping carton. It is not necessary to remove the support legs from section I, they will fold flat. It is necessary to remove the starting gate. Take care when tightening and loosening these four wood screws. The carton should be stored flat and level. If placed on a rack it should be supported in the middle as well as each end. If storage is to be on a cement floor it would be necessary to block it up at least six inches; cardboard and wood will draw moisture right through concrete.
The "original shipping carton" is nothing special; it is just a long cardboard box with some extra packaging in the ends to protect the track edges. We store our sections stacked flat in a case built similar to Microwizard's plans.
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