Carrera Go 1/43 Police Chase and Nascar Combined
Posted by John on November 3, 2008
Ok, here are some pics of the pool table layout I had up for the last couple of weeks.
It was a combination of the original Carrera Go Police Chase set that I bought along with the Carrera Go Nascar set I picked up at Toys R Us a couple of weeks ago.
Here’s the plan:
I didn’t think I would like the loop before I bought it (one of the reasons I bought the police chase set to start - no toy pieces), but it carried some novelty for a while. It basically acts to lengthen the straight, which I like because I’m pretty space-limited at the moment, especially in my build space for these Carrera Go layouts - my bar-size pool table.
But after running this layout for a while, it is a bit gimmicky. I’d prefer they included some different radius turns instead. More on that in a few.
Here’s a shot of the assembled layout:
The track actually ends up being fairly technical. The banked crossovers can be a real challenge at speed and the significant elevation changes make for some interesting and varied racing. If you have this pair of sets or similar, I’d give it a try. You will need some books or something to support the turn on the backside of the loop, unless you’re also building on a pool table 
Further impressions on the Carrera Go track system
After spending a couple of weeks messing with it, I’m still pretty happy with Carrera Go track. I’ve had a couple of the little track connectors break, but the sets come with a dozen or so extra so it’s not too big of a deal. But, I’d prefer it were engineered to not break at all, and it does seem sometimes that on the joints where they’re needed most they pop out.
The only other issue I’ve seen is some cars having minor issues with the inside lane of the banked turn, but usually tweaking the braids a bit will get over this (as long as you carry a little momentum through them).
The lack of turn variety is the biggest thing that will keep me from really getting into this scale. Yeah, it seems that there is ONE larger turn radius, but they are hard to come by. There are a few sets that have 180 degrees worth, but I haven’t seen them in the US, and I’ve only found one or two places that stock add-on packs of them (and I don’t know the vendors).
I’ve also looked a bit at the SCX product (but haven’t bought any of their track … yet!). They seem to be taking an approach that will please the enthusiasts a bit more, with no loops or wall-climb pieces. And they have a set that features more of the larger radius turns, but they have the same problem - 2 sizes of turns and that’s it.
I haven’t tried no magnet on this scale yet, but I’ll probably dump the magnets on the Nascars at some point and see how they slide.
You sure can’t beat the price. For less than $150 bucks, I’ve got enough track to create a bunch of different layouts and a few new cars to play with. It’s definitely a smaller investment than 1/32 and 1/24 and still can provide a ton of fun.
set!