Presenting: The CSB slot track!

The CSB slot track is my next presentation in respect to the slot tracks in Braga. CSB stands for "Clube Slot de Braga" - Braga Slot Club, and has been in activity from late 70's, which makes this club older than me! I joined the club only recently as a member, but I've raced on their actual and previous tracks before joining.

The current CSB track has been placed in April, after a change in the location of the CSB headquarters. Basically, the previous shape was kept largely unchanged, with additions made to the lenght of some straights and a change of the final turn. The track consists of a 40 meter 6 lanes Carrera 1:24 track, holding a total of 8 turns. Voltage is set to 15 V, and power comes from 6 individual DS power supply. Timing and lap counting are the "responsability of a DS-300 system.

Like I did previously for the GT Team track, here's the diagram of the CSB track:

(click image for larger resolution)

A lap around the CSB track:

The CSB holds the longest straight section from all tracks in Braga, with the main straight being 9.25 meter in length. Cars are usually fitted with a somewhat long gear ratio to take advantage of the long straight, specially since the track's braking strength is high.

Drivers are met with Turn 1 after the main straight, where speeds are at their highest. It's a simple 90 degrees left turn with tight radius on the left sided lanes. Cars running on the external white and black lanes need only slight braking, depending on the magnetic downforce - some hard-tuned beasts only need "flash braking". The left sided blue and yellow lanes require more solid braking.

Turn 1

Exiting Turn 1, drivers enter the pits straight, a short 2 meter section, until they reach the most important section of the track, in terms of laptime. Turn 2 and Turn 3 form the "Esses". These are two wide radius turns. Turn 2 is a 240 degrees left turn, attached to a 150 degrees right turn. The middle lanes can be done at consistent speed, but the outside lanes are quite a challenge, changing from wide to narrow angle - the wider angle sections need high speeds, and correctly balancing the speed through the "Esses" can make a difference in laptime.

The "Esses", coming after the pits straight.

After leaving the Esses, cars go through the back straight, parallel to the main straight, but run on the opposite direction. This is the second longest straight section of the track, with almost 4 meter in length. This makes the approach to Turn 4 needing more attention, since this is a tricky narrow right turn, with 120 degrees radius. While not being demanding in terms of technique, it needs a stable car and solid braking, specially on the tighter black and white lanes.

Turn 4

After dealing with Turn 4, drivers take on another short launch through a 2 meter straight until reaching Turn 5, the only 180 degrees hairpin on this track. This is not a very complicated section - most de-slots are caused by exaggeration from drivers. The exit of this turn needs to be taken cleanly, as the only sloped section of the track awaits the drivers.

Turn 5

After climbing the slope, cars face other tricky section, Turn 6. This is set after the change from slope to plain section, which promotes tendency for lifting the front. This bend has a 120 degrees radius and is narrow for the black and white lanes - these are the ones requiring heavier braking. De-slotting here is very punishing in terms of lost time, since track assistants are placed a bit far away from this section, for the sake of the driver's visibility of the track.

The tricky Turn 6...

The next straight section leads to the more technically demanding section, Turn 7, or the "Big Curve". This is the only sloped turn, continuously descending through its 270 degree radius. The main issue to deal with in this section is the change in turn radius - it starts wide, then narrows sharply, to have a wider exit section. Cars not only feel the radius change to narrow, but also a "vertical" change in slope - it almost resembles descending a staircase.

Turn 7, the "Big Turn", as seen from the opposite direction from driver's point of view.

After Turn 7, cars go through a short tunnel and head to Turn 8, or "Final Turn" (the almost 3 meter long straight section allows great visibility of braking points after the tunnel). This turn has a variable radius, with a wider entrance and narrow exit. Aproaching from the outside lanes, cars need very sharp braking to enter the turn, and then a slight decrease in speed for the exit, without braking. The innermost lanes face quite a challenge, but since they are not very grippy, cars can "power slide" through the exit to achieve better laptimes (not sliding too much, though).

Tunnel exit section and Turn 8, the Final Turn

So, this concludes our tour of the CSB slot track. In sum-up, this is a somewhat long track in perimeter, with few bends, but each one has a nature of its own, and the key to achieve good laptimes is understanding each turn requirements. Cars need a longer gear ratio since straight sections demand for it. Balance is also important, specially with some curves changing direction or radius, and even height as in the case of Turn 7.


Hope you enjoyed the visit to the CSB track. Until next time, see you soon...

Presenting: The GTTeam slot track!

Since I already started posting some track tests, I think it would be helpful for reading analysis if I described the track first! Well, later as it may be, here is the presentation of the GT Team track.

The GT Team track is one of Braga's three permanent slot car tracks, but the only that also belongs to a slot shop (other are clubs). This configuration has been placed back in 2006 and left unchanged since. It replaced a Ninco 4 lane track.

The layout features a 34 meter Carrera 1:24 track with 6 lanes, with DS power systems and race controls. The track has a total of 9 turns and a single long straight. This is the track layout, with some detail much to the style you can see in the F1 website :)

(Click image for higher resolution)

One lap around the GT Team slot track:


The start/finish line is placed 2 meters into the 7 meter straight. It leads to Turn 1, a tight 90 degrees left hander. Since speeds are the highest at this point, it's the longest average braking distance for all lanes (inner lanes require heavy braking).

Turn 1

After Turn 1 there is a short straight (1 meter) that still requires going full throttle, with a slight braking into the "Grand Esses", a combination of a 150 degrees left turn with a 180 degrees right hander. Track parts forming these turns are the narrower ones, which makes going through these "Esses" a very technical challenge. The outside and inner lanes offer an interesting narrow to wide change, or the opposite, while going through the "Esses".

The Grand "Esses"

After the "Esses" there's a 3 meter straight heading into Turn 4, an 180 degrees narrow left turn, also known as the "Door hairpin" (it's the section of the track closest to the shop's door!). Inner tracks need heavy braking here, since they leave the previous "esses" on the wide side with higher exit speeds and reach Turn 4 on the narrow side. After Turn 4 there's a small slope to climb until Turn 5.

Turn 4 (also known as the "Door hairpin")

The small slope meets Turn 5 at its end, but Turn 5 is already on a plain section. This makes Turn 5 another highly technical section, although much more on the inner lanes (the ones that leave Turn 4 on the wider side). The small slope disappears just before the turn, which causes a tendency to lift the front of the cars, so caution must be taken here.

The dreaded Turn 5, a nightmare for the cars driving on the inside lanes.

Leaving Turn 5, there's a small descent into Turn 6 or the "Big Curve". It's the highest radius turn on the track and also the only sloped turn, it descends continuously. The exit parts are sharper than the rest of the curve, which causes complications to the nervous drivers, who hit the throttle before reaching the straight.

The Big Curve, the longest turn of the track

The straight section after the Big Curve is actually the second longest straight, after the start/finish straight. It goes through a tunnel into the Small "esses". Don't let the "Small" part elude you, because this is a complicated section that requires some practice to deal with. It's a combination of a narrow right hander with a very short straight into a wide left turn. Motion is brake - quick full throttle - brake again, and this is why most people have troubles here. Also, the entrance is very narrow on the inner side, cars have a "tail-happy" behavior here, many going sideways.

Tunnel exit and the technical small "Esses"...

After leaving the small "Esses", cars go through the pits straight (this is where cars needing repairs are taken from the track or replaced after mechanical intervention). This is a moderate straight, but since cars leave the esses on a wide turn they reach the Final Curve at quite high speeds. Also, the Final Curve is a wide 180 left turn, which is rather easy to take on, even on the inner lanes (these only require a somewhat heavier braking).

Final Curve, seen on a 90 degrees rotation.

Well, this is it... the tour of the track where I first contacted with the world of slot car racing. In the end, it's a very "start - stop" driving style, with some sections needing more atention, others needing fast trigger motion. After getting to grips with the track, it's quite a relaxed driving, even for endurance races.

In the future I'll present the other tracks in Braga. The track layout will also be placed on the bottom of this blog, for future reference.

Hope you enjoyed this tour. Until next time, see you soon...