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Mini-Z Racing Surfaces Across the World

Posted 10-03-2009 at 06:06 PM by color0
Updated 03-08-2011 at 09:33 AM by color0
Since the introduction of the Mini-Z, well over half a million cars have been sold -- that's a lot of Mini-Z. And while many may serve out their lives as shelf queens or office toys, many are also actively raced, either at sanctioned events or informal gatherings between friends and acquaintances. But where and on what? Due to space constraints, cost constraints, materials availability, etc., Mini-Z tracks across the world have been constructed using many different surfaces. In this article, we'll take a look at the various prepared and unprepared surfaces that have been used for racing our tiny 1/28 toys.

Up first -- RCP, the material of choice for nearly all USA Mini-Z racing.

RCP is a foam racing surface, with tracks made of interlocking tiles made of the stuff. The material itself resembles EVA foam (exercise mats), however it is textured on one side with what seems to be a roughing bit. This texture provides a pretty high amount of grip, and makes for good high-speed racing action on large layouts. The downside, however, is that there are gaps between the tiles, which can unsettle the cars at high speed and requires the setup to be perfect to absorb those bumps without being too soft to corner quickly. Grip can be inconsistent between tiles too, depending on the amount of use and sometimes the orientation of the "grain" roughed into the tiles. If the floor underneath the tiles is bumpy, the track itself can feel like an off-road track, and requires high ride heights to compensate. RCP tiles are also easily affected by temperature and humidity changes -- during the course of a day the grip can go from very high to barely there, giving more novice drivers a hard time setting up and driving their cars. Nevertheless, the easily rearrangeable tiles make creating new layouts a breeze, keeping the racing action fresh. The high amount of grip brought about by the RCP tiles as well as newer, sticky rubber tires gives RWD Mini-Z platforms a performance advantage vs. AWD platforms. All current PN Racing World Cup events are run on RCP tracks.

Next: Ozite carpet, the material for almost all Asian Mini-Z racing.

Ozite is a low-pile carpet racing surface, with relatively stiff fibers such that to the cars it behaves more like a road than a fluffy carpet. It is usually laid out in rolls, which makes the racing surface very flat and smooth so long as the underlying floor is smooth too. Grip is more consistent than RCP, and not as easily affected by temperature or humidity; that said, Ozite has lower grip than RCP foam tiles, and to keep the cars moving fast, Ozite tracks for Mini-Z's are typically smaller in area than RCP tracks of equivalent lap times. Because of this grip and layout size difference, Ozite favors AWD cars more than RWD cars, since absolute traction is more important than carrying huge corner speed. To my knowledge, the Atomic Mini-Z World Cup, based around Hong Kong, is run primarily on Ozite tracks.

Regupol, the surface of choice for European Mini-Z racing:

Regupol is made of recycled rubber -- if you can imagine, this spells "insane grip". This stuff, like Ozite, is sold in rolls; after laying it out the surface is smooth and substantial, making for an excellent on-road racing surface. But back to the grip. Regupol has such amazing grip that AWD drifting is impossible -- the cars will understeer straight into the wall. It has such amazing grip that box-stock 50-degree Kyosho rubber tires are completely usable (on RCP or Ozite, don't even think about it). Nowadays, the fastest tires on Regupol are mid-range hardness rubbers; anything that's too soft quickly overheats and loses grip. And of course, this surface is straight rubber, so temperature and humidity changes don't do much to the absolutely ridiculous amounts of grip attainable. Tracks vary greatly in size due to the grip, with tabletop tracks on one end of the spectrum, and warehouse-sized layouts on the other end. The grip also renders AWD cars wholly uncompetitive, since RWD already gets more than enough. Spanish, Swedish, and other European Mini-Z events are based on Regupol tracks.


Lastly, for fun, here's the one track material that is ubiquitously available, nearly free to setup a track on, but your Mini-Z's may be crushed by stray flying objects:

Tennis courts. Smooth concrete provides reasonably consistent grip, as long as you've got foam tires with lots of traction compound. It's already laid out, it's normally smooth (there might be cracks here and there depending on your local court), and the layout possibilities are infinite when you have so much space to work with. Tennis courts are the only racing surface where you could potentially make use of a 35mph Mini-Z -- and it's dang fun, too! AWD or RWD won't matter, when you've got the momentum of the cars going, you can hold four-wheel drifts effortlessly and all that really matters is that you can control a slide. Though not serious and no good for sanctioned racing, tennis court Mini-Z racing is nonetheless one of the best forms of on-road Mini-Z racing at its best. You can tell I'm a fan.
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