Mini-Z, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer, MR-03, MR-02, MA-010, Forums, News, Pictures, Parts, and Shop - Mini-ZRacer.com
Forums, Mini-Z, MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z, Kyosho MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, MiniZ Hop-Ups, MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Kyosho Mini-Z Parts, Kyosho MiniZ Hop-Ups, Kyosho MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer Hop-Ups, Racer Kyosho Mini-Z Parts
Old 2004.10.27, 07:01 AM   #1
Zrc
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne, FL
Posts: 207
Lakeshore Concepts track ???

Looking into getting a track for our club. I've seen plenty of feedback about the RCP system but does anybody have any experience with Lakeshore Concepts?? They are selling quite well on Ebay and the specs don't look bad. www.lakeshorerc.com.
Zrc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.27, 05:24 PM   #2
Zrc
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne, FL
Posts: 207
No info on this company ???
Zrc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.27, 06:02 PM   #3
Breeze
Mini-Z Pro
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Indian Trail, NC
Posts: 725
The lane widths of this track is listed as 2 ft. It has been my expierience for serious racing, you need at least 2.5 ft. The extra 6 in. makes a big difference. These cars can go pretty fast and beginners need the extra room. We have 4 ft lane widths @ our track in NC. If you want to go with a foam mat type of track- get the RCP.
__________________


ck out my website
SpiceyCajun.com
Breeze is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.27, 08:42 PM   #4
Twenty-Se7en
Rockin Da Z
 
Twenty-Se7en's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NL, Canada
Posts: 3,112
Send a message via MSN to Twenty-Se7en
Looking at those tracks it looks like the extremely slick side of those rubber foam mats from walmart and pepboys... not a good racing surface. Also, with that 2ft radius you will have problems racing more than 4 cars at once... these races are pretty damn competitive.
__________________
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
||| There comes a time in every hobbist's life when they are forced to remorgage their house. |||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty-Se7en is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.27, 08:56 PM   #5
DogbreathRacing
MINI-Z MONSTER GARAGE
 
DogbreathRacing's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Sandy, Oregon
Posts: 1,761
Send a message via AIM to DogbreathRacing
Quote:
Looking at those tracks it looks like the extremely slick side of those rubber foam mats from walmart and pepboys... not a good racing surface. Also, with that 2ft radius you will have problems racing more than 4 cars at once...
It does look like the same foam mats as Walmart and using the slick side too, but what do you mean not a good racing surface? We use the Walmart mats and think that surface is very very good, of course you do have to find the right tire combo, but you have to do that with any track surface! Once you find it the foam is very hooked up for traction. And the Walmart mats are available at a fraction of the cost of any of the commecially available tracks.

Quote:
The lane widths of this track is listed as 2 ft. It has been my expierience for serious racing, you need at least 2.5 ft. The extra 6 in. makes a big difference. These cars can go pretty fast and beginners need the extra room. We have 4 ft lane widths @ our track in NC
We run some 2ft lanes and 4ft lanes combined, the 2ft is tight with several cars, the 4ft is almost too wide but we sometimes put coner dots down to restrict some of that width. And the dots can also add some turns and twists you don't get get with standard lane layouts.

All I know for sure is that Lakeshores Basic Starter track costs $90.00 plus $20.00 shipping and you can pick up more foam mats than come in that set at Walmart for about $36.00.............so, do you want fancy corners and colored side barriers? Or do you want more track and more money (more money=more extra parts, maybe even a new car!) left in your pocket?
__________________
I can't be in trouble again! I'm still in trouble from last time...


MR02RM, MR02MM, MZM,
Pro-Pulse Pro T-100 1/18 4X4,
Associated Team Factory RC18B with MAMBA 56K

DogBreath's Magical Mystery Album
DogbreathRacing is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.27, 09:13 PM   #6
Twenty-Se7en
Rockin Da Z
 
Twenty-Se7en's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NL, Canada
Posts: 3,112
Send a message via MSN to Twenty-Se7en
the slick side of the walmart mats are horrilbe, the soft side is great... well, not compared to an RCP but you know what you mean... just mean that the textured sides of those mats are very slippery...
__________________
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
||| There comes a time in every hobbist's life when they are forced to remorgage their house. |||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty-Se7en is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.28, 09:53 AM   #7
DogbreathRacing
MINI-Z MONSTER GARAGE
 
DogbreathRacing's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Sandy, Oregon
Posts: 1,761
Send a message via AIM to DogbreathRacing
Yeah, thats what I meant, we run the slick textured side DOWN, and run on the soft smooth side (sorry I don't usually refer to something as both slick and textured at the same time) I meant that the soft side was slick as in flat and without texture.



anyway...we really like the Walmat mats, we have never run on RCP and probably never will so we can't compare to those, but compared to bare concrete or wood floors, linoleum, and short carpet the foam anti-fatigue mats (smooth side UP) is an excellent choice and very affordable. Our track now consists of 22 2ft tiles with 12-18 more being added this weekend. After several hours of testing we have found an "Optimal" track condition and tire combo that works very well with all 6 cars that run on this track.

Sometimes we run on-road and others we run oval, either way it's a blast!
__________________
I can't be in trouble again! I'm still in trouble from last time...


MR02RM, MR02MM, MZM,
Pro-Pulse Pro T-100 1/18 4X4,
Associated Team Factory RC18B with MAMBA 56K

DogBreath's Magical Mystery Album
DogbreathRacing is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.28, 12:08 PM   #8
Calgary_Racer
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada
Posts: 45
Those Lakeshore tracks look really nice, in my opinion, much nicer than the RCP with all its "only square turns". Of course the RCP are the "Official" tracks but I think that a little of competition is always welcome.

By the way, I still do not understand that "need for grip". I have run on some surfaces that have so much grip that you can go almost at full throttle all the time. This means that instead of having to be skillful with both throttle and steering wheel (as with “real cars” ) you are pretty much limited to use only one hand (the steering one). I find much more challenging, and again real, tracks with a limited amount of grip.
Calgary_Racer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.28, 12:50 PM   #9
Twenty-Se7en
Rockin Da Z
 
Twenty-Se7en's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NL, Canada
Posts: 3,112
Send a message via MSN to Twenty-Se7en
The lakeshore tracks after taking a good look at them are pretty easy to make yourself.

They took the mats that you can buy at walmart and a million other locations and cut them for the turns and such. The areas on the outside of the track they have cut off and used that for the guard rail. You can see this in one of their close up shots. They took the grid-lock and cut it off, faced the grid part downward and painted the upper part either yellow or red. Very interesting... I actually like how innovative that is.

For those of you familiar with the mats look closely at this picture to see what I mean, very nice. http://www.lakeshorerc.com/images/carsclose400x188.jpg

The interest in a grip surface is for easier driving in my opinion... these little cars can go quite fast and you really don't want to go 30kmh into a barrier. But, too grippy is a problem too... remember that RCP has two sides, one that is grippy and one that is less so.
__________________
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
||| There comes a time in every hobbist's life when they are forced to remorgage their house. |||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty-Se7en is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.28, 02:11 PM   #10
TNB
Pet Human
 
TNB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,873
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zrc
Looking into getting a track for our club. I've seen plenty of feedback about the RCP system but does anybody have any experience with Lakeshore Concepts?? They are selling quite well on Ebay and the specs don't look bad. www.lakeshorerc.com.
What is "quite well"? I just checked ebay and saw "three" total sales. One bidder on another track has zero purchases. I also noticed that you only own one stock Mini-Z or at least that is what is listed on your profile. If you ever decide to do something with it, i.e. hop it up, you would be better off considering a larger track since the quick glance I took at the Lakeshore website makes that track appear pretty darn small to run Mini-Zs. After all, have you seen the photos of my tracks? Even my Mini-Tile looks larger and I wouldn't ever consider that a club track!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary_Racer
Those Lakeshore tracks look really nice, in my opinion, much nicer than the RCP with all its "only square turns". Of course the RCP are the "Official" tracks but I think that a little of competition is always welcome.

By the way, I still do not understand that "need for grip". I have run on some surfaces that have so much grip that you can go almost at full throttle all the time. This means that instead of having to be skillful with both throttle and steering wheel (as with “real cars” ) you are pretty much limited to use only one hand (the steering one). I find much more challenging, and again real, tracks with a limited amount of grip.
What surfaces are you running on? Is it on a track or not? I have yet to ever run on any track where I could go full throttle other than in a full-size car on a 1/4 mile straight. Oh, I take that back. I let my batteries die so much one time that I could drive around a track full throttle. Regarding grip, it's easier to set-up a car to match a track and one's handling preference to a track that has grip than it is to run on a track with no grip at all. Ever run on ice? Ever ski on ice without metal edges? Ever drive a real car on ice? How much grip did you have on ice?

I don't know about anyone else, but it makes me wonder why "new" members also pop up on this forum and than start asking about non-Mini-Z products and other tracks besides RCP Tracks. To me, it makes me wonder if people are just promoting their products here under disguise of asking questions of other members in an attempt to promote their own products.
__________________
Gallery TNB
TNB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.28, 02:55 PM   #11
TNB
Pet Human
 
TNB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,873
After going back and looking at the track a little closer, the barrier rails remind me of something off of a slot car track. Does anyone know how they are fastened? I was thinking that if the rails snap in place like on some of the slot car tracks, does that also mean they'll pop off just like a slot car track. If they are glued on, I then wonder how much of an impact they can sustain since they are not very thick.

The lanes also don't look like they can be expanded, which may limit the track not only in configuration but to the type of cars and number of cars. In other words, an RCP Track lane width can be expanded for 1/18th scale cars or even larger depending on the number of blanks inserted.

Myself, RCP Tracks gets a thumbs up. This track, well...
__________________
Gallery TNB
TNB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.28, 03:09 PM   #12
arch2b
Moderator
 
arch2b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 35,480
Send a message via AIM to arch2b
it looks like edge strips turned up on edge. byebye did this with his fatigue mats. you ahve to glue the peices together to keep them from pulling apart.
arch2b is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.28, 04:14 PM   #13
Twenty-Se7en
Rockin Da Z
 
Twenty-Se7en's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NL, Canada
Posts: 3,112
Send a message via MSN to Twenty-Se7en
I think that asking questions about a new track on this forum is a dumb idea... I love this forum but some of you are the most bias and ignorant mother f...s i've ever met... i'm not talking about anyone who posted here by the way... it's just in the past if something isn't what they are use to then they shoot it down... how about a little pro and con thing before you blast a product... RCP wouldn't be anywhere near what they are now if they wouldn't have gotten support, there wouldn't be lane expansion or any of that... and if I remember, even RCP got flammed by some of the heavy hitters here on the site...

give things a chance before you tear them to shreds... small companies don't need reasons from biased people to kill their potential sales as well.
__________________
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
||| There comes a time in every hobbist's life when they are forced to remorgage their house. |||
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twenty-Se7en is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.28, 04:17 PM   #14
RCPMini-z
rcptracks.com
 
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 1,279
Wink

QUOTE=Calgary_Racer]Those Lakeshore tracks look really nice, in my opinion, much nicer than the RCP with all its "only square turns". Of course the RCP are the "Official" tracks but I think that a little of competition is always welcome.

By the way, I still do not understand that "need for grip". I have run on some surfaces that have so much grip that you can go almost at full throttle all the time. This means that instead of having to be skillful with both throttle and steering wheel (as with “real cars” ) you are pretty much limited to use only one hand (the steering one). I find much more challenging, and again real, tracks with a limited amount of grip.[/QUOTE]




OK, are you saying what I think your saying. "I don't understand the need for grip!" I know you are new to this forum, but have you read any of the other thousands of posts by members about this very topic. Almost every post at this forum talks about handling of the Mini-Z's in some form or another. Just because someone says their track has great grip, does not mean you can run full throttle around the track, only having to turn left or right when needed. What surface did you run on that displayed these characteristics? I would be interested in testing it myself.

I have personally tested the EVA foam tiles found at thousands of home stores across the US. I was not impressed by them at all. The textured side was absolutely awful and the smooth side, did offer some grip characteristics, only when foams where introduced. The smooth side also had to be wiped down constantly in order to retain its grip characteristics. If this is the sort of track surface you are looking for, I would recommend going to your local home store and picking up some of these tiles. They are very cheap and you can build your own track for half the cost of other pre-manufactured tracks using these identical tiles.

If you want others opinions, this topic has already been discused many times on previous threads. You can do a search and find plenty of reading material on the home store textured tiles.

When you are ready to upgrade your home store EVA foam track to the next level, RCP will be there for you.

Last edited by RCPMini-z; 2004.10.28 at 04:29 PM.
RCPMini-z is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2004.10.28, 04:24 PM   #15
arch2b
Moderator
 
arch2b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 35,480
Send a message via AIM to arch2b
Quote:
Originally Posted by Twenty-Se7en
I think that asking questions about a new track on this forum is a dumb idea... I love this forum but some of you are the most bias and ignorant mother f...s i've ever met... i'm not talking about anyone who posted here by the way... it's just in the past if something isn't what they are use to then they shoot it down... how about a little pro and con thing before you blast a product... RCP wouldn't be anywhere near what they are now if they wouldn't have gotten support, there wouldn't be lane expansion or any of that... and if I remember, even RCP got flammed by some of the heavy hitters here on the site...

give things a chance before you tear them to shreds... small companies don't need reasons from biased people to kill their potential sales as well.
you do have a point... remember lorne it seemed anytime he posted if got turned into a porta trac/rcp war. it's not necessary.

the one thing i like about it is the novelty factor of having a street painted onto the tiles. i looks neat but i'm sure it would get just as boring after awhile as a plain jane tile would.
arch2b is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
RCP-Tracks FAQ's RCPMini-z Tracks and GTGs 149 2011.11.28 08:56 AM
Track Change pick High Speed Hobbies, NC 38 2010.04.22 06:31 PM
RCP Track Review briankstan RCP Support Forum 5 2005.06.07 06:55 PM
NEW Indoor track !! FenDer BenDer Tracks and GTGs 21 2003.10.13 09:50 AM
Overlands on the RCX Overland track! BLiND Mini-Z Overland MV-01 6 2003.06.11 02:23 PM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:15 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2011 Mini-ZRacer.com
Mini Inferno Sale - Up to $85 Instant Savings!
Micro-T Hop-Ups
RC18R, M18, Micro RS4, Mini-LST, TamTech-Gear, Minizilla, RC18T, RC18B, RC18MT
shop.tinyrc.com Products

more»
Tiny RC Community News
[03/22/17] MZR was on vacation, didn't... : All kidding aside, the host experienced a bit of a server meltdown last week and efforts to restore the site to a new server took longer than anticipated. The current server is temporary until - more»
[11/25/15] Did You Hear? Our Black... : Hey Racers,
We're getting started a bit early with our Black Friday sale this year.  Generally we're not supporters of retailers opening early on Thanksgiving, but in our case, we're - more»
[06/30/15] shop.tinyrc.com: Have You... : Hey All! Just a quick reminder to everyone that we post all of our shop.tinyrc.com Newletters here on the MZR Forum. If for some reason you miss them in your email inbox, you can always see the - more»
Mini-Z, Mini-Z Racer, MR-02, MA-010
M18, M18T, RC18T, Mini-LST, Mini-T, Micro RS4, XRay, 1/18, 18th scale
XMODS, XMOD, Micro Flight, ZipZaps, ZipZaps SE, Bit Char-G, MicroSizers, TTTT, Plantraco Desktop Rover, SuperSlicks, Digi Q
Mini Inferno, Mini Inferno ST, half EIGHT, 1/16, 16th scale
Epoch, Indoor Racer, 1/43, 43rd scale
E-Savage, eSavage, eZilla, e-Zilla, HPI
Robots, Bots, Bipeds, Wheeled, Manoi, Roomba, NXT, Lego, Hacking
Crawling, Crawlers, Micro, RC, Losi Mini-Rock Crawler, Duratrax Cliff Climber
Kyosho Minium, Caliber 120, Minium Forums
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, Mini Inferno Hop-Ups, Mini Inferno Parts, M18 Hop-Ups, M18 Parts