Cars slowing down on their own

[JT_Rippa]

Hi,

My brother and i have gotten into scalextric... a neighbor moved and had 3-4 older tracks and gave them to my brother ( we are in our 50's) the sets were analog so we started to learn and read and went to the digital conversion.

we have finally gotten to building the track as we have a room we have a 4 foot wide thats L shaped and 8 foot long and 12 foot long.. with A LOT of track we seem have an issue at a certain part of the track we slow dow for the turn and the cars WILL NOT pick up speed even at full throttle, and in some areas if you go too slow the car will stop.

we plan on taking a voltmeter to the track and test it. we have cleaned it as well.

any other suggestions?

[Andy P.]

Hi There and welcome.

Digital racing sends not only power through the rails but also data and impulses.

Electrical conductivity must be absolutely perfect at all points.

Track lengths over 10 meters (30 feet) are particularly prone to power drops.

First and foremost check all the connections:

https://uk.scalextric.com/community/advice/track-maintenance (see Power drops etc.)

You can also use booster cables from the power base to the farthest points to also help alleviate this.

Older Scalextric track, particularly if it uses the "spoon" or "loop" connectors are made of varying types of steel that can have very different levels of electrical resistance and magnetic adhesion. I had some of this older track and the magnets were attracted so much to the track the cars also could not move.

Older track can also have the rails squeeze the guide blade. Sclaetxric track has always used the rails as the edges for the slot which means they are prone to bending and pinching.

If all else fails make the smallest track possible and keep adding pieces until the problems arise. Then you know which track sections are "bad". Sometimes pieces of track are simply "bad"...

Let us know if this helps...