Questions about track braiding

[Barc 1]

I will be ordering some track braid from SCC sometime this week, and have a question on magnetic braid. Seems to me tracks with this would give some cars an edge as the low slung motors have a magnetic traction effect. As a no magnet guy, I am thinking of staying away from this braid. What do others think? Currently my Carrera track offers this magnetic assist and perhaps it is getting in the way of my proxy car set ups. This will be a big investment of my time and I want to try and get it right the first time. I have only used tape in the past and this will be my first try at braided track. My thinking is that non magnetic braid will offer the best testing for proxy car set ups.

Thoughts?

[modernslots]

All our SCANC tracks are non-magnetic braid or copper tape. I don’t think I’ve ever raced on braid with magnetic effect , so maybe it’s not fair for me to say, but I would agree with your thinking and go with non-magnetic.
Rob

[RichD]

People have weighed in on this issue in another thread. One of the Shoreline tracks does have magnetic braid. One of the guys in the club rightly pointed out that he might not have stayed in the hobby if we had been only running on wood tracks with copper tape or regular tinned braid when he started out. It is certainly more difficult to build cars that would be competitive without using traction magnets.
Be aware that magnetic braid is not just steel, it also includes copper, either as a thick plating or as separate strands, so you get roughly 70% of the downforce that you would with Scalextric track.