Hi All, Cars and batteries on order. Track designs and technical questions spinning in my brain. How much of an incline can the cars climb? After seeing Mikes post on reusing an existing track, could I resurface this? 4' 6" elevation change, would the cars climb it? Has anyone tried different paint to see how it affects traction?
Paul, Very nice track! I don't know the answer to your question. At present, Wes is likely the only one with enough experience in these cars to answer it.
I would think that one way you can test it out might be to tape or glue a piece of wire to a large piece of corrugated card board roughly cut out to fit the incline section of your track. Then build up the road area with some drywall taping compound or plaster and then try a car on it. It doesn't have to be fancy since it is only a test.
So it looks like about 10 degrees is about the maximum that I can go. I refinished the oval test track with grey latex paint and was very happy as I could get about a 15 degree angle. But it seems that the traction has gone down as the paint has harden or something has changed. So I am going to do another test with latex chalk board paint. I'll keep you posted. P.S. this is with electrical tape on the tires.
I applied some latex caulk board paint to see if it would improve the traction. It seems nice to drive on but it hasn't improved the incline you can climb, still about 10 degrees.
Vance22 was looking for a video of more cars on this track, so here you go. Lots of wipe outs because of the off camber corners. The cars have the Grease Monkey rubber tires on them, one of the drivers was a complete novice. Not bad for the first time out.
Paul