Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
This page contains common questions from track builders around the world.
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How do the marshals get inside the track to put the cars back on the Legends Track?
Jimmy: Unlike my Northline Raceway, right from the start we designed Dave's Legends track to be set up to use 2 foot gripper tools. I began using them for the kids to use when marshaling at my track. Grippers are 24 inch long wands with hand controlled clamping abilities used to reach high shelves or install light bulbs in high places. They are sold under different names at hardware stores. They have rubber claws that hold a race car firmly, yet gently. We did design in an access point in the middle of Dave’s track, but it will only be used for construction purposes and may be covered with a lift off removable scenery panel. There were about 5 places on Legends that I thought would only be accessible using a Gripper, but as it turns out three of those marshaling points can be reached by most adults. By extending a marshal's reach another 2 feet, we were able to design in far more track to race on. If had to design my track over again, I'd worry less about accessibility and add more linear feet of track into the space. The AC2Car form of racing is more disciplined than magnetic "rhythm" racing. Cars on AC2Car tracks do need marshaling, but the models are not flashing around in a blur, flying off all the time. However I have to admit, that when the kids race here we have more than out share of fetching downed cars. But, the Gripper type tools work well.
Do I have to use a model railway transformer or will any AC transformer work?
Bryan: No need to specifically use a train transformer, but we just thought it would be easiest to point guys to those. They have good adjustable voltage range and are easy to wire up and available on ebay for not too much money.
For your lane changer, we know that you use a 12 volt solenoid and return spring connected to a bent 1/8 steel rod to guide the shoe from one lane to the other. But when you run two cars ("A" and "B") in a lane, both run very fast and near one another. Say car "A" is first, and "B" goes through second. But, both cars run nose to tail. How do the drivers of car A or B put on the switch and not disturb the other car? How the does the switch "know" who wants to change the lane and who does not want to do it? Can the A driver send a different signal to the switch than the B driver?
Jimmy: The problem of a driver holding his lane change button down too long sounds worse than it is. Yes, both A and B driver's buttons are wired in parallel to the same switch. No fancy electronics are really needed. The decisions are totally up to the driver. If driver A wants to be kicked off my track, he can just keep holding the button down as driver B goes through the hairpin turn where the lane change switches are. There must be discipline in any form of racing. The decisions are totally up to the drivers. If they just change lanes blindly, they are going to ruin the race. Anyone model racing with two or more cars per lane must adhere to the same common sense rules that apply to all forms of racing, or be black flagged. We are not just watching toy cars zip around here! We are miniature racing. We are replicating an actual car race of a period with the finest scale models that we can build or buy. On digital race tracks the cars seem to be flying around like magnetized bumble bees stuck to the track. The track's electronics on these sets, does the thinking for the drivers. The only time the cars look like real race cars is when they get picked up off the floor after they bash together at the switches! The secret to a good AC2Car routed track, which allows two cars to run in the same slot, is that the track needs to have it's lane changing area designed just past a chicane, or hairpin. Just before the switches, the track necks down to force the field of cars to go through a tight roadway more slowly, and in single file. This not only minimizes shunts that occur as cars cross other lanes, but it allows the time to make a decision as to whether to stay in the regular lane or cross to the passing lane. Something that digital cannot provide. Again, holding the lane change button down as the other car goes over the lane change switch does accidentally happen, but it's rare. The way we race, if a slower car is blocking, 1) The slow driver will let the faster car pass. No different than what is expected in real racing! 2) The faster car that needs to get by will drop back as he comes to the switch, because he not only has to negotiate the hairpin turn, or chicane slowly in single file, but he needs to see which side of the track the car in front decides to choose to race on. No one can pass you because the whole field of cars behind your car are forced into single file as they go through the tight hairpin or chicane. Just like real racing, a driver sees which side of the roadway the slower car chooses as it exits the turn and he takes the opposite side. This careful planning allows him the whole next lap, to beat the other car back to the lane switching area. Each time the cars slow and regroup at the hairpin, or a chicane, that decision is made again. No different than what Mario Andretti needed to do at narrow chicanes and hairpin turns on every lap, of every race, he ever ran in. If a driver on a track with two cars in one lane, does not race as the real cars do, than he deserves not to race on tracks such as these. He should go and spend triple digits on a digital set that does the thinking for him. That way he can watch cars fly around mindlessly, at least until one or two of them end up side swiped off the track.
Legends seems like such an advanced track, why is your lane changing area still so low tech?
David: For the sake of simplicity, and because I suck immensely at wiring. Yes, the AC2Car lane changing system on www.ac2car.com is simple and "low tech". You, or the other driver sharing your slot, could push his Lane Change button too soon, or hold it too long and guide the other car into the slot on the other side of the track. However, it's not as bad as that sentence sounds. Here are 3 points we have proved out after 7 years of lane changing this way... 1) Racing on AC2Car tracks is not the rock'm sock'm kind of racing you get with lane changing on other manufactured sets. You may be racing so fast today, that you can't envision lane changing with out the switching being fool proofed for you. Understand that our AC2Car tracks always have a chicane designed in that brings all the slots 3/4" apart at a tight section of roadway. Just as in real racing, they can not go through two abreast. By designing this feature in just ahead of the Lane Change Area, it eliminates side swiping during a lane change. (Which eventually always happens on digital race tracks) This chicane also slows the cars down to gives each driver the time to think. 2) If you were designing and routing a track for public use, I can see that any form of manual lane changing would be chaos. But with a group of friends who appreciate their model cars as well as you do, entering the narrow lane change area adds to the fun. The discipline of separating your car a bit to insure that you do not get accidentally switched by the other driver sharing your slot is way easier than you think. Again, this is not 4 second per lap racing here. There is a long way to run before returning to the Lane Change Area. The act of dropping back by a foot or so to reduce the risk of an errant lane change is never an issue since we get very long laps on AC2Car tracks. After exiting the Lane Change Area the driver that had to drop back has a 140'lap, (Legends is a 169'lap) to pass his opponent. In fact AC2Car tracks are so big that rarely do two cars that might be misdirected go through the Lane Change Area nose to tail. And when they do, we have become so efficient at manual lane changing that we can change with cars as close as a few car lengths. 3) The few times a night that there is an errant lane change nothing stops. The guys just keep on racing! It's never a big deal. This "low tech" style of manually disciplining your lane changing is well worth the many linear feet of racing you will gain because of the narrower track. Plus it's more fun than you know. I wish you could visit for a run here. Also, I'm positive that I could design independently triggered solenoids to activate the same lane change switch, but it would not be worth the trouble. We have too much fun the way it is, Thanks for your input and I hope this long winded note helps you understand how we do it. If we can help you in any way please write again.
I am really worried about a car changing Inadvertently, what do I do?
Bryan: First, Relax! This is not as big of problem as you think. You may be used to digital racing in which everything is happening so fast. AC2Car lets racers be more respectful to one another. Here is a solution to something that is not a problem: If one wanted to upgrade a typical AC2Car lane change area to protect against errant lane changes, I would use "dead strips" to determine which car, A or B passes a spot on the track. The circuit on the website can detect an A or B car with a small 1 inch "dead strip" section. I put the dead strips in "" because they actually have full track power on them so you won't stop on them ever. Basically when an A car goes over the section it excites one of the optos (4N33) and if a B car goes over the same section it excites another opto. You need one of the circuits for each set of cars if you place it in the passing and driving lanes. If you only have one set of lanes at the finish line then this can handle two pairs of cars. There is a slot timer out there that can use a USB based board that has 16 inputs into it instead of 5 like on the parallel port and you can use this. It runs about $100 but it works very well. So again you could use this in front of the lane changers that go into the pits and stop a B car from going into the A cars pit by gating the lane changer with the circuit and this would only allow the A or B car to enter into the pit.
What are you folks using for a power source to operate the solenoids? Is it separate 12vdc source or rectified ac from the Lionel transformer?
Jimmy: I use old 12 to 14 Volt DC Strombecker transformers that I had left over from vintage plastic track sets to power my switches. I found one of these transformers powerful enough to run two lane change switches and two pit enter switches. These DC transformers supply one amp which is enough power to fire two switches at once. If you think about it, rarely will two of those switches be asked to come into service at the same time.
I'm moving along on my new bullring oval. I will pick up a quart of oil based brown primer paint today to paint the surface of what will be my "dirt" oval. (In the past you recommended Rustoleum on wood, right?)
Jimmy: New information on painting. We see by the traction improvements on Legends vs Northline that latex paint straight on to MDF, no primer, and a very fine roller, gives better traction to regular box stock tires than oil base paint. I think that this is the way Luf Linkert recommends painting track surfaces on his sight. The Rustoleum flat paint that I used on my Northline track has a hard durable surface and good traction to silicone tires, but the Latex surface on Legends gives the same adhesion to silicones, but even better traction to box stock rubber tires. Though less durable, the latex is undoubtedly the better easier way to go! For durability, we did detail the surface speckling, pavement cracks, tar strips, and road striping with oil base paint. (You can paint oil base on to latex, but not latex onto oil.)
I will soon be ready to lay the copper tape which brings me to my question for the day. Since the copper tape will stop and start up at every interruption of a lane crossing, how have you dealt with the ends of the copper tape? It seems to me that it would peel up with use if I were to simply stick and go without some sort of over lapping piece on the edge.
Jimmy: A dab of 5 min epoxy over the tape’s leading edge, sanded down to a hair above the copper the next day, allows the car's brushes to ride up and over the edge. This way it does’nt start to turn up the copper. I’ve used several coats of clear finger nail polish in a pinch.