[woodcote]

Alan - I don't think there's any better resource out there than Christ Frost's track building guide on the BSCRA website: www.bscra.org.uk/trackbuild - all the wiring info is contained in 'Part 5: Track Wiring and Power Supplies' and 'Part 6: Wiring resistance explained'.

How Chris Frost describes BSCRA wiring protocols is based on decades of collective experience and expertise within the BSCRA community and you'll find the vast majority (if not all) BSCRA tracks built and wired in exactly the same way. What type of connectors are used isn't too important - only that they should be rated to comfortably handle the current being drawn by the cars the club is running.

Power drops are dealt with well on the BSCRA site in parts 5 and 6. There's a pragmatic acceptance there will be power drops (ohms law), but careful siting of power taps ensures you get the power where you need it (straights) and making sure there are no sudden or intermittent drop-offs...

Certainly adequate power is needed all the way round, but less power is "adequate" in a bend where you cannot put your controller full down than on a straight where cars are accelerating on full power. As long as the power available on any particular part of the track is the same every lap, it just becomes part of learning the track... Drivers learn to deal with the different levels of power just as they learn to deal with different radii bends on different parts of the track.

The negative wires should be kept separate - ideally each driver station should be wired separately to the negative pole on the power supply, but certainly never joining between track and driver station! If racers are spending upwards of £250 on a controller, clubs do need to make sure they provide robust and safe wiring. And - of course - the BSCRA site is great guidance for building and wiring home tracks too.