justaguy
Green Lumber
"Why am I the only one that has that dream?!?" - Real Genius
Posts: 24
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Post by justaguy on Jun 30, 2004 15:00:58 GMT -6
Anyone used or heard of this track? I think it's a little high for plastic. Cheapest one is 4 lanes, 35', $425 + $70 for shipping. It almost looks like the track itself is soffit pieces for siding and roofing. If you want to check it out: www.supertimer.com/track/supertrack.htmlBut what do I know...I'm justaguy
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GILLS
Pine Head
Posts: 49
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Post by GILLS on Jun 30, 2004 20:32:28 GMT -6
I have'nt heard of or read about anyone on any forum that has used this track. I think there are better tracks on the market right now for the same dollars. I am working on a "better mouse trap" track design now. Hope to have a prototype out of fabrication soon.
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Post by Smokinjoesracing on Mar 17, 2006 15:57:37 GMT -6
Our pack now owns two. One big difference...no center rail. It requires a different setup on the car. The track is very fast. My son ran a 2.515 on a 35'10" pin to pin track. We also own the timers and softwares that go with these tracks. Each cub races once in each lane. After the 1st heat the software pairs you with like times. I.E. The slowest racers vs. the slowest racers. This gives every kid a chance to win a heat race. The track sets up very fast and has been very consistant on times. It's not a soffit track...I know because I built one. Don't knock it ...it was only $24 + the timer that I built. Not everyone can go out and pay $1000 for a test track. Only the very serious racers do that. It also sets up in less than 10 minutes. Great for testing during the week before you race.
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Post by kayjon on Mar 17, 2006 18:16:19 GMT -6
My post from a couple months ago: Now that my sons pinewood derby racing career has come to an end and I have been reflecting back on a fun 4 years I would like to share some thoughts on the track that our pack purchased 3 years ago. They bought a Supertrack www.supertimer.com/track/supertrack.html this is the plastic track with edge guides instead of a center rail. This is a neat track but not without flaws. In my opinion all the tracks should be center rail tracks for a few reasons. 1. Tradition 2. If you race on this track at the pack level and then if you move up to a district race or a council race you may have to modify your car or at least change your set up for a center lane track. Some of the problems we had with ours: 1. This track has an extremely steep starting hill and we had a starting gate that was hanging up causing the pin to drop only half way allowing cars to ramp over the pin and some cars would fall 4' and some landed directly on the gym floor. This happened to my sons car 4 times in the race 3 years ago resulting in a bent axle that needed to be repaired on race day. The gate has since been repaired. 2 .Lane jumping is a big time problem. I would guess that maybe 5-10% of all heat races had to be rerun due to lane jumping. This is not only on the cars with "messed up" alignment but 2 years in a row we had reruns in the finals for lane jumping. 3. The stopping system is HORRIBLE. At the finish line is a 6 bay foam garage. The fast cars will go in to the garage and bounce back so violently that they may wind up sitting sideways in the next lane and getting struck"T-Boned" by an oncoming car at full speed. This happened to my sons car this year in his 4th heat race,it took a wicked hit and It effected his times from that point on. pre-hit 3.432 3.428 3.438 3.413 post hit 3.466 3.520 3.445 3.449 If I had to purchase a track for my pack I would buy a traditional style center rail track with a quality stopping section.
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Post by Scoremaker on Mar 17, 2006 22:08:49 GMT -6
The software that goes with the track is good. But I do not like it when the slowest racer vs the slowest racer. Just to give the Scout a chance to win a race. If you look at it they race one time on each lane thats eight runs. Then the computer puts the racers into a bracket system. It should go like this 1vs16,8vs9,5vs12,4vs13,11vs6,14vs3,10vs7,15vs2. If you have alot of Scouts racing then make up four set of brackets. When my son was a Tiger he race on a track like that. It had eight lane each car race one time on each lane then where place into a Double elimination bracket system like you said. The slowest racer vs slowest racer if you look at the program that runs this race it's saying that the bottom half is better then the top. This track was really nice and fast but the program need to think different. It's like the what the guy told everyone you do not want to see the third rank car be out in the second. Everyone wants to see the two top cars go at it. Same thing about College Basketball Tournament you want to see the two top teams play each other. There will always be a Cinderella car that beats the top rank car out in this bracket system. I think that I might said to much but I really hope that I do not see this track at Council Level this year. I rather see the Center rail track instead. I hope that everyone has a great race this weekend
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Post by Smokinjoesracing on Mar 20, 2006 19:29:24 GMT -6
I see your point however the software does not use double elimination at all. It is strictly you racing in each lane one time. Then your overall time is used to determine the winner. The fastest car wins and that is simple. Let's face it...just about every pinewood derby race is won or lost before the car ever hits the track. It does however feel good to know that you can win a heat. As I stated before we used two tracks...one at a pack race. One at a "Sub-District" race (packs without tracks) and two at the District level. We had 2 heats re-ran out of all those hundreds of races. It sounds to me like the race coordinator needed to work with the track before bringing it to the race. Our race commitee spent countless hours working out the best possible set-up for the track. We also post results live via a laptop and projector. That way everyone knows what is happening...no secrets, no mystery, no false claims of cheating. We also let no official work a race that his kid is in. In the pack that of course means a heat race.
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Post by kcbcommando on Jan 14, 2008 20:56:02 GMT -6
We had one and it was pretty fast. the stopping garage was scrapped in favor of a piece of expensive memory foam. I found that it didn't stay together very well so I added velcro tabs on the bottom which helped. Also it is so light that I taped it to the floor to keep it from moving. Also you want to have a bounce sheet or two handy. It picks up a static charge after a few races. I also modded the curve so it wasn't so steep. Just get some longer pieces of pvc pipe and you are all set to make adjustments. We returned it in favor of a Freedom because the regional race didn't want to use it as "it's different and many cars aren't set up for it" since my brother is the regional director and I wanted to support him/the event. After having my Freedom for a year I prefer it. I'm not bashing the ST but for us the freedom is the better way to go. Incidentally, making cars for a ST is a lot easier. Make sure the wheels are smooth on the outside and give it a good alignment and you are set.
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tkp
Pine Head
Posts: 65
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Post by tkp on Mar 7, 2011 10:57:33 GMT -6
In general: Very fast track- my son run's 2.9's for 42 feet. Running straight on this track is key- avoid side to side collisions The edge of the track is smooth but the lip of the track goes directly into your wheel The end garage is deadly. Like a concrete wall- in fact at Pack this year- big bent axle Cars that do not have weight low or too aggressive on com will spin off or wobble
Things that have worked for my sons: very low and centered tungsten- 3.75 oz with 3/4 COM straight runner 3 wheeler canted rear axles- to keep weight low- as this track can produce the wobbles!! tight wheel spacing- ie 1/16 to 1/32 lightly sand the lettering on the outside of the wheel- very light can help with walls Hob e lube the heck out of the outside wheels, body, axles etc On the raised front wheel- he prep's it big time- axles, wheels etc- it's in great shape Win the flat not the hill
Things to still consider: RR on one rail/wall- have not tested this extensively.
Again- any wobble at all on this track kills your time- its key there is no wobble and the items listed above have dialed in on this track pretty well now.
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Post by djbird on Dec 22, 2016 0:37:35 GMT -6
Would you run straight axle (no cant) on the DFW? On Super track.
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