Scalextric/Carrera track tune

[MikieG]

Recently switched tracks from Scalextric to Carrera. Most all of my cars are running like crappola. Seems like the Carerra rails are higher off the road surface than Scalextric so my cars are dragging. I also noticed my braids seem to be getting pulled into the slot. After a few turns, one of the braids will be inside the slot and the car stops. 
Have any of you experienced this?

[Czar]

Are you using magnets? That can cause the cars to drag.

[MikieG]

Magnets on both tracks. Cars ran smooth on scalextric track. Moved into Carerra track and it seems like the cars are too low and are scraping the power rails.

[Modlerbob]

You are probably going to have to put taller tires on all of your cars that will be running on the Carrera track. The rails are higher than the plastic track surface. That is one reason I never considered switching from Scaley Sport track to Carrera. The other reason was the unexpected acquisition of my 4 lane mdf track.

[frank9129]

Go wood and you will never go back.

[RvE]

I have a Scaley track and my brother has a Carrera track, and we both have a wide selection of STOCK, Scalextric cars that we run on both tracks. We have never had a problem running stock Scalextric cars on the Carrera track. Are you running heavily modified or tuned cars?

Cheers RvE

[HomeRacingWorld]

The rails on Carrera are only a .050 MM above flush of the track.

Typical Scalextic models have plenty of clearance.

What mods have you done to the cars? New lower profile tires?

Are you now using the Carrera bridge sections? They can be trouble. So can the R1 banked turns for some models...even some Carerra.

Only the first release of Porsche 911 and recent Javlein which has the bump under the chassis might cause an issue. They are close but clear my rails.

Take a section of track and put a car on it and look under it. See what is rubbing. Chassis bumps for the crown can be easily filed off.

If you have tires that have been sanded too much to reduce diameter or new tires that are too small, well then change them back.

We have only been racing on Carrera for 20 years plus with no issues. Some cars have low points like I mentioned and you will have to deal with that. Sanding filing.

Telling someone they have the wrong track or just go wood? Wrong answer IMHO.

Beginners are not routing anything and Carrera track is, and has always been a superior plastic surface.

[Half Fast Slotter]

I have a Carrera track and I use magnets on most cars.
I have never had any issues with the braid working it’s way into the slot. Not sure if something with the smaller Scaley braid or guide have anything to do with it, but not sure why it would.

The magnets will create resistance to forward movement and that is why the motors can heat up when magnets are used and especially if they are too strong. Since the magnets are contained in their positions molded into the chassis, they would not be dragging. The molded magnet holders might rub for the reasons Harry discussed.

I enjoy my Carrera track and you will too. There are always differences that arise with change - not always bad - just changes to be discovered and understood.
Jeff

[RichD]

My club only ran on wood tracks for many years, about a year ago we picked up a new (!) member and he had a six lane Carrera oval. We did a proxy race on that track with possibly a couple of the cars wanting to drag someplace. When we did a race with our own cars there were more clearance problems. When you run without traction magnets you tend to really slam your cars and a couple of mine were just too low. Carrera tracks have stainless steel rails and those will give you less magnetic downforce than you get with regular steel rails. I suppose that is why many Carrera cars have two traction magnets. If your cars are dragging you will have to use larger diameter tires. If you have any cars with adjustable front ends you can fiddle with those rather than change front tires. Cars with traction magnets usually work better if the front tires do not touch the track when the car is going straight. In that case if the car is dragging adjusting the front axle height or using bigger front tires is not the answer. You might be better off putting a spacer between the guide flag and the chassis.

[mattb]

I don't think you will find many/any guys that don't rate Carrera as the best track currently on the market. Not saying others are not good, but Carrera seems to be the gold standard. Again, that doesn't mean other stuff is junk. There are space considerations for Carrera, but if you have the room and the budget, it is a great track. The banked turns seem to be the only issue. The production banked turns are pretty worthless in my view. I've found that forcing slight banking into the flat curves is so much better and easier to set up. I wish Carrera would have made banked turns about half the current banking.

My wish for all plastic track manufacturers is to make straight tracks 5 foot long and curves that are 90 degrees. Using those sizes with the current sizes would allow a track setup to have half or less of the joints a track currently has. Just my wish. Not as good as routed, but the big plus to plastic is taking it apart, storing it or changing your design.