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Plexiglass Track - Anyone else seen one?
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:15 am
by rpcarpe
We held our District race this last weekend. Previous activity chair contracted with 'Timothy Ministries'.
They unpacked about 27' of black plexiglass track. Pretty smooth track. Optical timer with some home-grown software.
Track was made from 'scrap' plexiglass, center guide, felt on center guide for stop section. Poor stopping ability, I added the 50 grit 'brake' on the bottom of some cars.
Seemed to run fairly smooth, but there was some flex in the curve, and the start was manual with very low (1/2") start posts.
Re: Plexiglass Track - Anyone else seen one?
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:44 am
by Stan Pope
rpcarpe wrote:Seemed to run fairly smooth, but there was some flex in the curve, and the start was manual with very low (1/2") start posts.
Interesting! How were the "barge nose" cars run? Were they penalized by having to run backward? Or
penalized by being allowed to "hang over" the starting gate?
Re: Plexiglass Track - Anyone else seen one?
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:54 am
by gpraceman
Several years ago I saw photos of a clear plexiglas track. It was an awesome looking track! Too bad their website is no longer available.
http://www.derbytalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=111
Re: Plexiglass Track - Anyone else seen one?
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:13 am
by Darin McGrew
I got email from someone who used
my online plans to build a clear plexiglass track once. I can't find the email right now, but it sounded like it would be very cool. IIRC, they routed slots in the track where the center guide rail would be, and then placed a guide rail strip in the slot. The cross section would have looked something like this:
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________| |________
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The center guide rails weren't secured in the slot at all. They were removable, held in place by gravity during the race.
Re: Plexiglass Track - Anyone else seen one?
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:29 pm
by timtrain35
Curious from those that have seen it, how were the track sections attached?
Re: Plexiglass Track - Anyone else seen one?
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 2:38 pm
by rpcarpe
OKay, I'll try to remember the questions...
- Barge Nose, only one car had the problem. So the starter (I'm not making this up) HELD the car and then released it when he pulled the trigger with the other hand.
Did not make a completely fair start. He did the best he could. He should install HIGHER posts or something.
- Connectors, thank goodness they didn't use duct tape! It was a slightly tedious looking affair with more bolts than a Freedom track. Bolt heads where rounded, but not countersunk. So I actually worried about cars hitting them. None did, thank goodnes.
- Center guide, I didn't see if it was recessed or not. Looked like the standard height.
Personally, I'd rather have a well set-up Freedom Track over this center guide plexiglass. But the joints were smooth, I don't remember seeing any cars w/ problems at the joints. Mind you, I was busy wrangling cars, not watching. I did run my old 'demo' car down each lane, looked smooth.
Once again, we were previously obligated to run this guy's track... next year we'll be back on aluminum I'm sure.