Slotcar Racing - Slot Car Tracks For Competition

Slot Car Tracks For Competition

Many home racetracks are made from the injection molded-plastic snap together track sections found in race sets; these courses are known as "Plastic Tracks".

Shop and club tracks used for competition (especially in 1:32 and 1:24 scales) are usually hand built "Routed Tracks" in which the guide slots for the entire racecourse are routed into one or a few large pieces of sheet material (such as chipboard or Medium-density fibreboard) providing a smooth and consistent surface.

Competition tracks are usually laid out as road courses with many turns, though ovals and "tank tread" (trapezoidal) ovals are also fairly common. On a road course or oval, each car and each lane is generally marked with "lane tape" of a distinguishing color, allowing the corner marshals (officials) to return cars that have spun off the track to the proper lane.

Generally, tracks for formal competition may have banked corners and may bridge one section over another, but may not otherwise use "trick" configurations. Home tracks often include special features to increase the drama and/or challenge of racing, such as slots that wiggle or squeeze the lanes together, bumps, airborne jumps, or uneven surfaces, but these are typically called "toy" tracks and are not used for competition.

A different segment of the hobby is slot car drag racing on a long straight strip of track. In HO size, these dragstrips are often a scale quarter-mile.

1:24 Scale tracks used for competition are generally 6-8 lane routed tracks with either wooden or flexible plastic retaining walls. The tracks are usually located in commercial or purpose-built racing centres. Most of the tracks used in the USRA regional and national events are either original American Raceways (AMF) commercial tracks or variations of these designs made from original blueprints. Tracks used in other countries, including those used for the ISRA World Championships are often more recent designs. Generally tracks used for regional or national competition have an epoxy or polymer painted surface with recessed braided electrical contacts. In USRA Division 1, the use of traction-enhancing compounds on the racing surface ("glue" or "goop") may be applied to the racing surface by the competitors.

One type of 1:24 commercial track is the "Blue King" (155 foot lap length) which is the track that is recognized for world records in 1:24 racing. The 2007 world record qualifying lap is held by Paul Pedersen at 1.404 seconds, which computes to 75.2 mph. The "King" track segments are "named" starting from the main straight in an anti-clock wise direction: bank, chute, deadman (corner), finger, back straight, 90 (corner), donut (corner), lead-on, and top-turn. Generally the "King" tracks are used for wing-car racing, where un-banked "flat" tracks of various designs are used for scale racing. An example of a championship "flat" track is the Gary Gerding designed track installed in July 2007 at Mid-America Raceway and Hobbies near Aurora, IL (the site of the 2009 USRA Division 2 National Championships)and the 2010 ISRA world championships.

Another example of a 1:24 scale track is called the "Engleman Grandstand". It is 220 foot in lap length and eight lanes wide. It is a favorite for fast cars with its long straights and high deep bank. One can be found still in operation in Rock Hill, South Carolina at The Slot Car Cave.

1:32 Scale competition is generally run on the same routed tracks as 1:24, at least in the USA.

HO Scale competition tracks are typically between 60 and 100 ft in length and 4 to 6 lanes wide. Plastic tracks, often modified for improved performance, are more common in HO competition than in the larger scales, as is the use of large home courses for formal racing.

'Dirty' tracks - these tracks are mainly used for rally and raid.