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How long should a 1/24 drag strip be?(including the non powered shut down section?

Probably 70-75 feet depending on shut down type......

Wow!Longer than expected!

Now you know why most, if not all, of our tracks aren't built to actual scale. Very few of us have that much room. Imagine how long a 2.5 mile road course would be if 55ft is a quarter mile. (answer 550 feet, I don't know of a track that large anywhere).

Ventura Alfa

I have built a few and the standard is 80 feet. You could make it a little shorter but that is the standard.
Mike

Really up to you to decide how long you want to make it. 55 feet represents a "real" 1/4 mile. I would have thought that most slot cars would have well and truly topped out speed wise after about 25-30 feet. The run off length can be shorted out so that you have full brakes (small dead zone separating track power from the shorted section). Id say with full brakes that you wouldn't need more than 10 feet to pull up.

I race on a road course 33 metre track. Main straight is about 10m (or 30 feet). It is interesting to see some cars really accelerate hard onto the straight and max out by half distance. Then other cars that accelerate slower but go on to have a higher top speed and start to wind in that advantage. It then becomes a trade off of acceleration versus top end speed. Personally I think 55 feet would be too long. 30 feet would be about right. Or maybe make it 27.5 feet for a 1/8 mile. But that's just me, why not 220 feet and go for the flying mile record attempt. :lol:

If the rails for the shutdown area are electrically isolated from the rest of the track you can short the rails to automatically apply full brakes. You can reduce the shutdown length by applying a small negative voltage. It is a good idea to have some sort of padding at the end of the line.

I figure just not to apply the copper tape in the shutdown area.

All the tracks have the braid shorted in the shutdown section. They also use a lot of tire glue to stop the cars. Lot of glue meaning 3+ bottles of Champion medium glue.
The track I run at has 18 feet shutdown. Shorted braid, lots of glue, and about a 2 foot foam pillow.
Generally it is the heavier cars (125 grams +) with narrow tires (.285" wide) that go all the way to the end.

I guess a big foam pillow would be best to avoid damaging the cars.

It would have to be very soft foam to be of any use. With ordinary upholstery type foam the cars would get quite a jolt. Tire glue would be helpful if you use foam tires, but it is messy and you would have to fuss with your tires after every run.

i don't use foam tires prefer urethane.

Well then, make a 1/8 mile and have as long a shutdown space you have room for.
Shutdown at least as long as the timed area no matter how long you make the Strip.