[Graham]

No, I've never tried that. I'd be concerned about melting the plastic, but I guess you could test it out on some spare track.

But if the joints are actually physically loose, then it's probably worth tightening up the lugs under the track, as that's your basic problem. A pair of pointy nosed pliers will allow you to push both lugs down and tighten them up simultaneously. A little squeeze on the vertical bits at the female end also helps to tighten up the connection.

I've found that cleaning the joints can also help to avoid power drops, which I'm assuming is the problem. The outside of the male joints can be cleaned with a fine steel wool, and the inside of the female  joints with a cotton bud doused in something that won't leave a residue (meths, IPA etc). A lot of gunk can accumulate inside those joints.

I have heard of people soldering jump leads between each track section, but it always sounded a bit over the top to me, and with proper maintenance it shouldn't be necessary. A power tap or two, maybe, but not between every track piece. My track is about 20m in lane length, and is made up of 15 year old Sport track, and much older Classic. I don't have any power taps, but there is just one small area on the track where there is a noticeable loss of power, so a power tap or two might be necessary, next time I get the track out.

I have a mixed track Hillclimb and Rally track made from Scalextric Sport and classic SCX/ Scalextric track. Always had poor connectivity problems with the Scalextric Sport track, and have resorted to replacing these sections with the new SCX style track. The connections are much better and the track locks together really firmly. The problem is you can only get it through Gaugemaster in this Country.