New track too long?

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firstplaceloser
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New track too long?

Post by firstplaceloser »

We recently purchased a new track for our pack. It's a new MW Freedom Aluminum with a K2 timer. We bought an extra 8' section so that would

be a "50 foot" track (It measured 46.5' with a soft tape, pin-to-FL).......For perspective, our top time in our actual race was 3.7352 (see top-10

min times from GPRM file below). We don't have any experience with this length of track (District race is the more common 42'). If we set our cars

up to run at this length will there be any major setup changes necessary to run at a shorter length. Are we in left field running this extended

length?

Car# Avg Min Max Std Dev
29 3.76805 3.7352 3.817 0.02915611
14 3.78135 3.7552 3.7952 0.01643213
39 3.782883 3.7673 3.801 0.01199023
22 3.825567 3.7978 3.8668 0.02496563
16 3.874833 3.8116 3.9818 0.06673113
24 3.877067 3.8172 3.9364 0.0459473
7 3.858717 3.8223 3.8931 0.0263619
1 3.856917 3.8232 3.8932 0.02246904
25 3.886767 3.8379 3.9406 0.03884784

Thanks for any advice!!
picard1963
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Re: New track too long?

Post by picard1963 »

Chiming in here with FPL since I erroneously conveyed "50 feet" earlier.

It is a Freedom Series. 48 ft.

And, BTW, seems like everyone talks about a 42' length, so I am confused. :?

And another correction (maybe related to my confusion): Our district race was the same track, just one less section. MicroWizard calls that a 40' track.

So FPL and I are interested if anyone else "runs an extra section", and of course would like to hear thoughts fromthe forum on track length selection in general

p.
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Re: New track too long?

Post by gpraceman »

Do you have a highly competitive pack? If so, a longer track can help reduce really tight finishes. That is the only real advantage that I see for a longer track.

If your district race is running on a 40ft track, then it would help your racers be more competitive at districts to setup using the same length.

To me, the biggest reason in favor of running a shorter track is that it increases the odds of the slower cars crossing the finish line. Nothing is more disheartening than having their car not finish. :cry:
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MaxV
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Re: New track too long?

Post by MaxV »

It is a Freedom Series. 48 ft.

And, BTW, seems like everyone talks about a 42' length, so I am confused.
There are two main manufacturers of aluminum tracks.

The Freedom Track comes in 8 foot sections, so they are 32, 40, 48, etc.

The BestTrack comes in 7 foot sections, so they are 35, 42, 49, etc.
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Re: New track too long?

Post by gpraceman »

picard1963 wrote:And, BTW, seems like everyone talks about a 42' length, so I am confused. :?
They must be including the length of the stop section. The track sections themselves are just shy of 8ft in length.
Randy Lisano
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Awana Grand Prix and Pinewood Derby racing - Where a child, an adult and a small block of wood combine for a lot of fun and memories.
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firstplaceloser
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Re: New track too long?

Post by firstplaceloser »

Thanks everyone.

Our pack is really competitive. We also have a great cubmaster that holds work shops and practice days to avoid anyone from not finishing. Although he is stepping down next year :( so we will see what happens then.
gpraceman wrote:If your district race is running on a 40ft track, then it would help your racers be more competitive at districts to setup using the same length.
I think I agree with you. I may ask to shorten the new track by one length in order to be a closer length to the district track.
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Re: New track too long?

Post by picard1963 »

Thanks guys.....now knowing that the Freedom come in 8' sections and BestTrack comes is 7' sections answers the question I had.

So I guess we "overkilled it" by ordering that extra 8' section............it was interesting to see how the places were affected in our pack race making the cars go that "extra mile"........truly we were finding the "best cars".

P63
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