Minecraft wiki entry for Minecarts, associated text: A diagonal track is a track that consists of the pattern 'left corner' attached to a 'right corner' attached to a 'left corner' and so on. When minecarts travel on a diagonal track, the camera is held steady in the diagonal direction and the minecart visually travels diagonally along the track as well. The speed limit of minecarts is actually 8 m/s per cardinal axis, thus when traveling on 2D tracks, the cart travels 8 m/s in both cardinal directions of travel to result in a net vector of about 11.3 m/s or the square root of 128. With a 3D track, you travel as fast as 13.85 m/s or the square root of 192.