I'll be doing my second HPDE at Thunderhill this Sunday Aug 12. At my first track day I used duck (no, not ducT, ducK) tape over waxed paint for numbers ('05 Silverstone with the ragged #13). Didn't like the ghetto look, so this time I got two sets of 10" #13 on magnetic sheet for the doors plus a 6" for the rear. For the hood I'll be using the same color and style numbers on clear label paper. I'll tape the leading edges of the doors. I'm kinda doing a "Pepsi challenge" on how each type looks and survives the speeds. Total cost was ~$60 for magentics (local sign shop) plus ~$17 for 25 sheet pack of Office Depot brand Avery 8165 clear sheets (and probably $1 in ink). If you're there, let me know what you think, I'll let you know how each survived.

 

I was going to suggest that. I lost an untaped magnetic number at THill.

 

I used this company with some very good results, the north tx group did a group buy not too long ago. I think a basic set of track magnetics would cost you 40-50 total.

http://www.izoomgraphics.com/

 

Did you have the leading edges trimmed? I got some 8" magnetic #'s from solotime and I trimmed the 90* angle off to a knife like edge.To hopefully prevent them from blowing off without tape. I won't know if this prevents them from blowing off for a few weeks still.

Eric B.

 

The number I lost was a "1". I think it just had too much leading edge compared to the total amount of magnetic stick.

 

Magnetic numbers blow off unless you tape them down. They come off due to air pressure peeling them up. Air moving over them causes low pressure over the numbers and sucks them right off at speed. Even full number boards will probably come off eventually.

 

I heard 1's were most likely to come off first.Did you have any problems with any other number by chance?

Thanks Eric B.

 

I also had 6 and 0. Neither came off.

 

The magnetic numbers on the doors ended up just fine. I taped the leading edge with no evidence the numbers tried to lift up. My #13 was on one sheet of ~11"x11" magnetic sheet. I also had no problems with the ~6"x6" magnetic sheet on the rear, but it's pretty well out of the wind so I wasn't expecting any difficulties. The clear label on the hood survived no problem, but didn't look nearly as good as I'd hoped. It was too dull for it to be visible from afar (for those across-track vanity photos). I'll try white labels next time, the number should stand out better. I'll post pics when I can.

I started this thread to help track newbs (like myself) with options on inexpensive numbers beyone masking/duct/electrical tape. I've gotten tremendous amount of insights from this board on my s2k and wanted to give a little back (seeings as I have more toes than posts). Hope it helps someone...