MY understanding is this...
If you assume
1. Mile turf course
2. both straights are 1/4 mile and both turns are 1/4 mile
That's 2640 ft of turns in a 1 mile race. Radius of one turn = 2640 / 3.14 /2 = 420 ft
Move the rail out 20 feet, circ = 440(new radius) * 3.14 *2 = 2765 ft. So on a "20 ft out rail" they run 125 ft more on the turns than on a "Hedge rail" track. 125 ft is how far the starting gate is placed for the start of a '20 ft out' rail start past the start of a 'hedge rail' mile.
My understainding is:
1. Starting gate is moved.
2. Poles don't move.
3. Timers are not connected to poles, they're clipped to the rail.
4. They do move the timers.
1/8 mile is 660 ft. 125 feet is about 1/5 or so of 1/8 mile or about 2.5 seconds. That's roughly how much longer in a mile race timewise they run on the turns in a 20 ft out rail vs a hedge rail.
I got a C- in Chemistry so I could be very very wrong.
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