Oval Track, Inside Lanes or Outside Lanes, or Black Lanes Matter
By Chuck Hendricks
Am I the only one who sees how much shorter
distance the inside lanes are on a slot car oval? Let’s just use simple
math to find out just how much difference there is in distance traveled
on the black lane on the inside versus the red lane on the outside. Of
course I promised my somewhat slow brother that I would not make this
too complicated so that he might understand. Rather than measure the
distance of each lane, we will compare the difference in the distance
traveled. Tim, I will summarize this near the end so that you can see
the results. Just skip down to the next to last paragraph where the
numbers and words are much smaller and easier to understand. The overall
length of the straight is not in question as the length for each is the
same no matter what lane.
For
simplicity sake, let’s say the inside black lane has a 6 foot diameter
average turn. The circumference of the turn is 6 ft times 3.1416 *(pi)
resulting in a distance of 19 ft. The track should have 4 ½ inch lanes
resulting in the Red lane having a 3 ft. larger radius or 6 foot larger
diameter. Red has a 12 ft diameter multiplied by 3.1416 resulting in a
38 ft circumference that equals to a 19 ft greater distance to travel.
Now you can see the greater distance traveled each lap and if multiplied
by an average of 50 laps on red is an astonishing 950 ft or the same as
an extra 12 laps of distance on the 75’ tri oval. You will have to go
pretty fast on the outside lanes to make up the extra distance traveled.
This extra distance is not really where I want to end this. There is
also an “average” of ¼ second difference in the laps times from the
black lane to the red lane by the fastest racers. These times are
usually consistent and do not jump all over the place like some of the
less experienced racers. Using the time as the measurement, ¼ second per
lap results in the car on black lapping the car on red every 9.2 laps
or 5. 6 laps in a race.. Hmm, I think something is afoot here and now
the theorizing begins.
I
have accumulated tons of data on a spread sheet that I keep from every
race we have run for over a year. I was warned not to bore everyone to
tears with “data” so I will just hit the most important information.
Tim. If you didn’t skip to the next to last paragraph, this lack of
“boring data” was written for you. I will relate the figures for each
lane result of 8 racers in the Super Modified class at Charlie’s Garage
in Pearl, MS. In this case I threw out the overall best lap on each lane
and used the balance for my calculation. The list below shows the
difference in best lap results taken off the mysterious, super
secretive, boring data filled, racing spread sheet.
Black 4 laps, Purple 3 laps, Yellow 4 laps, Blue 4 laps, Orange 3 laps, Green 3 laps, White 1 lap, Red 2 laps
Tim.
This is the next to last paragraph, so start reading here as there are
no big numbers or words. Add up the 4 inside lanes and you get 15 laps.
Do the same with the 4 outside lanes and the answer is 9 laps. Here we
have the possibility to make up 6 laps on the inside lanes versus the
outside lanes. This matches the lap time variation resulting in a 5.6
lap difference from lap times. So, racers, where would you put your
emphasis? I have been told that all lanes should have the same emphasis
and that the inside or outside lanes should not matter. Also, I have
heard the races are won on the outside lanes and that races are lost on
the outside lanes. The following is my opinion of this topic based on my
experience and not following my brothers rather simplistic guidelines.
There
is a saying that goes “Make hay while the sun shines” and this is my
thought every time I hit the inside lanes. I will give you the outside
if I can stay within a couple laps because I know as soon as I get to
the inside, I can make those back up and move ahead by even more laps.
My favorite scenario is to start on orange, which means I run all 4
outside lanes first. The person on the inside lanes may take the lead
and get cautious resulting in a few less inside laps run. Go ahead and
do it next time too! I love it when that happens as I will not have to
push it so hard when I get to the inside lanes. If I happen to start on
the inside lanes, I will push it, “making hay” sort of, since I know the
bigger lead gained on the inside lanes will result in less stress on me
trying to keep up on the outside lanes but will put more stress on the
other racers trying to make up the laps. At a recent race, racer “B” ran
the inside 3 lanes first and had a 14 lap lead after the three
rotations. At the end of the race his lead was 16 laps meaning there was
a net gain of two laps on the other 5 lanes. The better racers will
have an advantage on the inside as they seem to be harder to drive, or
are they? The outside lanes are ran with the not as accomplished racers
keeping within a couple laps of the faster racers, meaning they are
easier. Are they? Are all the lanes equally as important? Listen up,
work on the inside lanes and become a better racer. As soon as you can
master these “tough” lanes, you will find yourself competing with the
best racers. I will not tell you this is the absolute correct theory,
but use your own judgment and maybe keep track of the results yourself. I
firmly believe that oval races are won or lost on the inside lanes,
where you can “make hay”!
Footnotes: *Tim, you can’t eat this pi.
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