Track Question - Revell or Carrera?

[Quickcars]

Looking to get some 1/24 scale track or at least have the ability to run a couple of 1/24 scale cars on a plastic layout. The choices are a nice clean vintage Revell 4 lane track (Americana) or an older Carrera Excusiv (Le Mans Champs) track.

I've owned Revell track before and once it's cleaned up, it's great stuff and provide good grip for rubber, silicon or urethane tires. I've raced on Carrera plenty of times but never owned any. From my experience rubber doesn't do that well so silicone or urethane would be the way to go on Carrera. Both sets would run me about $200 so the only other consideration is that Revell track is pretty cheap to acquire. Carrera is not.

The Revell track is pretty wide and I could probably run 3 1/24 scale cars at a time on it. The Exclusiv set would be limited to two cars but that would be okay too.

Penny for your thoughts fellas.

QC

[mikeinclover]

Not really a plastic track guy with that being said. We have a Carrera track at the store and we run both 1/32 and 1/24 it is wide enough for both no problem. Never raced Revell myself I know people that have it. I think the biggest advantage Carrera has is that it is still being made not a problem getting new parts.
Mike

[mattb]

I've had them all and if you want to do anything with 1/24, go with the Carrera. It is wide enough for 1/24 with no compromises. You can always find extra track reasonable. That extra 1/2 inch between lanes is a big plus. I ran 1/24 on Monogram with aprons for a long time and it isn't so good., Monogram has the same dimensions as Revell.

[chappy]

QC , as for grip on Carrera track, , you should be fine.
Secret is to paint it with regular latex paint just like a wood track , and it is great to tun on and takes the paint well, unlike electric .
As for width required that is going to be a personal preference for you.
Cost is a consideration I agree, however availability is also important.
Good luck and let us see where you go.
Bob

[RazorJon]

I can tell you that Rubber works well on Carrera track, Urethane is better, Silicone is great if you have a very clean track, for me cleaning 175 feet of 4 lane track takes a while, so I run PG tires on all my build cars but a bunch of my out of the box cars have stock rubber and they hook up well

I had a Revell track before replacing with wood and the one big downfall for me was the guide slot on revel is about 1\8th shallower and that was the only bad thing I can say about it.

what ever you choose no matter the size, the brand or the tire, it will be fun, and that's the most important

[4380r]

PM sent. Under the right circumstances I might be convinced to part with what may be the largest cache of rare Scalextric 1/24 THREE lane plastic track in the US. Certainly one of the top two stashes stateside. It was never sold/imported in/into the U.S.

It's true 1/24 with 4" lane centers, and very deep slots: almost 3/8". Stainless steel rails, no rust ever. Grip is as good, if not better, than Carrera.

The layout in the pic is about 80' lap length, with the bridge sections. I also have two of the full banked turns and enough outer curves to make two full curves (in the pic, the sweeper at the far end is a 180 using the outers, going into decreasing radius with the inner curve section). In addition to what's in the pic, I have another 70 or so sections in boxes.

Not a fire sale, it's not cheap, but it's unique, collectible, offers the home fun of three lanes over 2, can truly run 1/24, and 50 years later it compares favorably with anything you can buy today.

AND...with about 150 sections plus, you needn't worry about availability. With this cache someone can build just about any layout they want, any size.

[chappy]

Nice set up 4380r, in my eyes just about as perfect as you can get. Wish they still did 3 lane track , especially the 3 lane Scaley like you have.
An excellent option for sure.
Just wondering of you don't mind, how deep is the slot from rail top down.
Cheers
Bob

[4380r]

[mattb]

Quick question about the slot depth in Revell track. I never had a Revell setup at home, just bought and s old it over the years. I thought the slot was deep enough for a commercial track guide, just like Monogram. What is the guide depth, is really 1/8 shallower than Carrera? It is more like Strom or Eldon?

[chappy]

Thanks Todd, that is certainly deep enough for anything I run. It is truly amazing that one of the big manufacturers hasn't redone a 3 lane track. It really means a lot of us have gone routed to get the third lane. I dare say that in most home racers setups 4 lanes is too ma y and 2 lanes sometimes nor enough for total involvement.
I am really impressed with your layout. And although your return may not meet your out lay, you did get what you wanted . Kudos to you.
Bob

[Quickcars]

Yes Todd, that 3 lane track would be ideal but probably more than I can spend. I'm going to go with the 4 lane Revell. The set is complete and will provide me with enough space to run anything I want. I've have a crapload of Monogram back in NY that I need to have shipped to Cali at some point. It's enough for an enormous 4 lane. For now I just need something big enough to run more than 2 cars (I really miss my little 3 lane routed track) at a time so I can introduce the youngin's in the family to the hobby.

I have raced on Revell and Monogram and found both to be vastly superior to strombecker, Eldon and Ninco for the type of racing I like. The lane depth was NEVER an issue on either one.

Revell is plentiful and pretty cheap on Ebay...

QC

[BIG E]

Didn't read through all the posts but here's something else to consider: I know for a fact that if you want to use a commercial type guide flag (Jet Flag or similar) on the REVELL track you'll have to remove about a sixteenth inch or so of material. I'm not sure about the CARRERA, but I'm under the impression that the slot may be deeper. I do know that with inner and outer aprons on the REVELL track we were able to run our 1/24 commercial track cars, four wide, with the axle width set at 3" maximum. It was tight, but not dissimilar to running the newer type (A/FX, TYCO, ect.) HO cars on the standard set sectional tracks. If it were me building the track, I'd definitely go with the CARRERA product. Just my two cents worth. Enjoy! -- Ernie :>)

[Quickcars]

That's awesome! I plan on driving out early on Saturday to pick up the Revell set. I'm hoping to have it running on Sunday during our Memorial day get together. I have some younger nephews and nieces I want to introduce to the hobby and having four lanes to get them all involved will be great. I've collected some older Ninco DTM cars for the occasion as they are virtually indestructible! Any track you can spare will be great and aprons are the icing on the cake so lets work something out for sure!

[4380r]

[Quickcars]

Thanks for the tips. I sourced some NOS controllers. Should be ok for awhile at least.