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Oakland Raceway V2


SlotsNZ

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First rough draft of a 4 laner. I have gone the opposite way to my existing track, and am making every turn pretty different, and a lot of them "tricky", so a more technical driver's track.

Drives anti-clockwise in the main, but as with my existing track, will have a set of reverse switches, so it can be driven as a VERY different track in the other direction.

CADdrawing.jpg

I also wanted to ensure it could be marshaled from 3 positions, these being at turn 10, which will have the outside following the track line,. so that marshal can reach into turn 2

One inside the "L". who will also cover the esses, and one at the left hand end.

Driver stations 1.2 metres apart on the home straight, so no views are obstructed by marshals or the overpass.

So all thoughts, comments, suggestions invited - except my local guys who will be going "oh no, he's getting worse, shutting off passing spots deliberately" smile.gifsmile.gif

 

I am leaning the way of many of Luf's tracks, and ones like the White Lake F1 Ring, and the constructions of Farley Slotmods that I highlighted on forum recently as "interesting" tracks.

 

I am also dispensing with standardised lane spacings, preferring to optimise the appearance and the racing flow and lines.

One tight "monaco" hairpin is no passing on adjacent lanes, but lanes 1 apart will pass apart from excessive tail action - which oughtn't be with good drivers.

Other turns have varying spacing of lanes, wich we'll tweak a bit, bt the idea is that each lane has to be learnt, and passing spots have to be chosen.

 

Actual track "flow" and racing lines will need tweaking, my drawing ability with Google Sketch-up was hopeless, and hand drawn not much better.

 

Notes attached give some idea.

But basically

T1, elliptical turn, fairly symetrical, tightening at apex, flowing entry and exit.

Straight 1, - isn't straight as you can see, rising 150mm up into

T2, highly eliptical, opening out at both ends though.

Straight 2 retains the elevation, and will have a "swallow" up and down effect viewed from the side.

T3 a sort of "hook turn entry", leading onto

T4, typical Monaco hairpin, narrow lane spacing, constant radius

T5 through T7 are the esses, but the lane spacing is not constant. Lane1, and to lesser extent, lane 2 will drive faster, natural advantage here.

T8, tightens slightly at apex, but nothing exciting, opens into

T9 which is a double apex curve, opening in the centre. This is like the evil entry to the main straight on Taupo for anyone who has driven it. A tiny "blip" will be possible for the brave, OR, it will serve to fix an over driven car into the corner, creating a save from excessive tail action. - either being possible.

Onto short straight 3, also not straight, and also having some increasing elevation from base level to the front (bottom of picture); onto

Onto T10 which is mis-drawn, but will be a fast flowing sweeper, leading onto

Front straight, dipping down to base level, and which will have the pits sitting inside it, with part of the pit buildings underneath Straight 2 at the right hand end.

Recovering Lapsed Slot Addict :ph34r:  *  Custodian of many used screws (mostly loose :rolleyes:)  *  Total kidder  *  Companion of other delusional slot addicts :lol:  

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Ok - I'd make a sweeper from turn one to turn 2 & make turn 2 a left hander then a hard straight from 2 - 3. it may bugger up your plan of the one guy doing 2 & ten but the person in the Lwill be able to do 2 & 8.

 

That may allow you to move them slightly 'south' and make the Esses Essier..

 

 

I'd like to suggest you call turn 8 "Hungry" corner as those last three are reminiscent of the last 3 at Lakeside in Qld..

Captain's log: We are enroute to some planet whose name I cannot pronounce to do something really complicated that I don't understand.

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Hi Mark. Always good to see a new track being developed and I presume this makes your exisiting track available for some newcomer.

 

Note a bit bigger than your current track so will it still go against wall. Probably not.

 

Have to sympathise with your Napier colleagues as I do not like squeezes either but it is your track.

 

Like general flow of track (some sections a bit New Plymouth like), but even with cross-over, corners are almost all the one way so lanes will not be even if that was the intention. While you can take turns on lanes to even out my personal preference is for reasonably even lanes. Our new New Plymouth track is within 13mm of even and they also appear to drive very similarly although timing gear installation will be the real test.

 

Suggest you turn T10 down towards squeeze then back towards and around current T1 back under aforementioned straight to current T2 and back to squeeze. If you wanted T1 curve type could be swapped for T2 and vice versa. This would change from current 1 left and 5 righthanders apart from squiggles to 3 of each without greatly changing you marshalling goal.

 

Regards

 

Chas Le Breton

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Is this one going to have a "Proper depth" slot?

 

Just thought I would mention it before Munter!

 

I wasn't going to say anything....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The track plan looks wrong to me....too many corners!.... but if you insist I will drive on it.

John Warren

Slotcars are my preferred reality

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Sorry Munter but there are only 6 corners and a couple of wiggles. Did not know you were into drag racing. Is this an omen for the new track you are about to build (so I have heard) or is it just a reaction to last round of Aussy Rally series that had about 30 corners.

 

Regards

 

Chas Le Breton

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Would have to agree with SJ on this one... the wiggles before turn 4 would frustrate.

I think it would be a quick track without them and also, if I may, I'd suggest a reworking of the inside lanes of turn 4 so that you come out with more flow, rather than a direction change before the bridge... just smooth it out more as you'll end up with lots of fishtailing.

 

Good marshalling oportunities with this table though Mark and I'll watch closely as... you know why!

My 2c

 

Dick

Cheers,

Dick

 

SCMR build thread

Woodbrook Valley build thread

 

"A Man's home is his castle, but his garage is his sanctuary!"

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Okay, thanks to those who already picked over the bones of V1.

Phil - yes, sigh, proper depth slot.

Munter, - I absolutely insist smile.gif

Knoath, remember what I said . . chrissy card list, capital crimes and all that....... ph34r.gif

Charles only slightly larger footprint -

150mm longer - most of which takes up a spot of space at garage door end.

50mm wider in the main, plus filling in the back corner where my saw horses etc sit. So the overall track will appear to fit in the same area barring 50mm each way as the existing track.

BTW, track will sit at least 100mm lower than my current track, probably baseline height of just 700mm (desk height). which will help with visual perspective at distance, and marshalling "reach" from the hips pivot point for those of us built to fit economy class seats on airlines........

Mike - the thing with esses is that you have to think through the physical geometry of them carefully so they flow with expected throttle, and are nice to drive, this usually means them being more open than we think on paper. I will probably have something a bit more "essey" than V2 below, but will wait till we CAD it up, and then I can blow an image of the track at full size onto a screen with my projector, and fine tune it in real scale.

I also plan to install 1:32nd scale "pop-up" posts, like they use to close off car parks, we'll give each driver competing against you a switch, and they get to pop up the posts once on whichever lane you're driving on - per race . . . each . . . . biggrin.gifbiggrin.gifbiggrin.gif

 

new version follows.

\

Turn 1 - Assymetrical opening out from apex when driven anti-clockwise. Run-out on top of turn will be under the elevated Monaco, giving plenty of tail space if needed.

Turn 2, very gentle sweep, may morph with following straight into something a little more "Essey"

Turn 3 shown assymetrical, but may reverse that symmetry, or make it more constant radius in the middle, with equal lead in graduations. Am a little concerned that running ACW, it may cause too many deslots under bridge in the configuration shown.

Straight 2, boring straight, rising from baseline to 150mm from part way along

Turn 4 Monaco, no more need be said.

Straight 3 Mirrors straight 2 declining elevation for half way, then rises again to 150mm at bridge

Turn 5 bridge gentle sweeper continuing rise intoo turn 6 with peak elevation at exit 350mm.

Straight 4, dropping to baseline by entry to

Turn 7 Gentle sweeper onto front straight, with graduated entry and exit

 

The squeezes at turn 4 and 6 each result in obstruction between one lane and on adjacent to it, but not the other 2 lanes. A wee challenge. This also aids in creating enough radius to get two sets of turns of 4 lanes into my limited space.

I plan to have a CAD "layer" which will perform "undercuts" on the MDF to make it easier to form the elevations.

 

I actually think it is a bit boring as drawn, like Phil said, 4 straights connected by some corners . . . so now it needs some clever ways to tart it up, but I am a lot happier with this design than Version 1.

There is 20.3 metres (67ft) of racing, with mostly 100mm (4") lane spacing, potential to create some interesting flow and appearance using the elevation changes, and with some tweaking, I should be able to make all corners unique, driveable, but with some technical challenges which reward "learning"

I THINK the visibility from the drivers stations will be okay coming out of turn 3 into straight 2 heading for Monaco, as the length the cars are obscured should be fairly short, and at a less critical/managable point for throttle control - but again, if this looks familiar to anyone, and their track had "personality issues", welcome your comments and assistance.

Recovering Lapsed Slot Addict :ph34r:  *  Custodian of many used screws (mostly loose :rolleyes:)  *  Total kidder  *  Companion of other delusional slot addicts :lol:  

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Looks to have a bit of everything Mark. Conventional wisdom has it that a curve/corner that is leading/going underpass should have 2-3 car lengths to recover before that underpass, else it becomes a headache for all to share in the future. This could be achieved by pulling corner3 back towards corner7(?) with necessry room recovered by using a pinch/squeeeze near Marshall X.

Chris

H.M.C.C

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Haystack has a valid point ...overpass on a corner???

 

My other comment is about turn 4 which is really three corners or ....the cars have to make three changes of direction.

I suggest removing the last part of the change and have a smooth/straightline exit to the turn.

It also looks like you could open it up a tad and have a slightly increasing radius on the exit.

 

regards

John Warren

Slotcars are my preferred reality

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Go with the original concept. Keep fiddling with it and you will end up with what everyone else thinks your track should be like. If it ends up being not quite right lessons will have been learnt for the next one. No track will please everyone, I just enjoy driving any track perfect or not. Thanks for letting me have my two bob's worth. Cheers.

Gort, Klaatu barada nikto.

 

My poor Krell!

After a million years of shining sanity...

they could hardly have understood what power was destroying them.

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I like the first one better - even WITH the double loop..

 

Bring back the Wiggles - get the fab four to sponsor the corners!! Make four bends you can name them Greg Wiggle, Anthony Wiggle, Murray Wiggle & Jeff Wiggle.. laugh.gif

Captain's log: We are enroute to some planet whose name I cannot pronounce to do something really complicated that I don't understand.

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Haystack has a valid point ...overpass on a corner???

 

My other comment is about turn 4 which is really three corners or ....the cars have to make three changes of direction.

I suggest removing the last part of the change and have a smooth/straightline exit to the turn.

It also looks like you could open it up a tad and have a slightly increasing radius on the exit.

 

regards

 

Munter's idea mirrors one of our local tracks, where the entry is as shown on your plan, but the exit is out plain, with a small kink before a one "dab" sprint strait, then a 180' uphill. Not too intricate, but requires some skill/planning to extract maximum flow for conservation of momentum and acceleration up the hill.

 

Seriously Mark, what colour/surface do you have in mind for it?

Edited by haystack

Chris

H.M.C.C

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Seriously Mark, what colour/surface do you have in mind for it?

 

blood red . . . . . . . ;)

 

oh sorry, you said seriously :P

I am thinking a much darker grey than I have used before, and "patched tarmac effect" if I can do it successfully.

 

As for surface, I would have kind of liked to go for a mildly textured surface to rubber up and for appearance, but that procludes silicons, and I have a lot of silicon shod cars still lying about which get usued casually, are not worth (and too expensive) to change over to rubber, especially with so many odd size wheels amongst them; PLUS, it would be a different surface to all our other local tracks, so I would be worried about it cutting out tyres, AND about the results of interaction between tyre compund types if we get a lot of doped tyres used with different formulations....... so in short, it will probably be a gloss surface like most of ours around here and run "clean" - we generally give our tracks a solvent clean occasionally, and dust or vacuum more often.

I have a sledge thing I tow behind a FLY truck. It's just a rag attached to an aluminium bar, hooked to the towrig of the truck by two wires. I wet the rag, and drag it round the track 2 or 3 laps, pretty much deals to the dust in about a minute flat.

 

We don't have too much problem with dust, and my garage is a newish house, so dust can be managed.

Recovering Lapsed Slot Addict :ph34r:  *  Custodian of many used screws (mostly loose :rolleyes:)  *  Total kidder  *  Companion of other delusional slot addicts :lol:  

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  • 4 months later...

After a fair bit of pondering, two trips/ 5 weeks overseas since January, and the recruitment of a professional CAD guy who developed a rather sad, intense, incurable, and fortunate biggrin.gif slot-addiction in the past few months [ta Rod] here is the final version of Oakland V2. It doesn't REALLY have 11 turns, 3 of them are just identifying the slight inverse meander of a straight.

 

CADdrawing.jpg

 

 

Rod ( the owner of said 3rd track being built for the New Plymouth club ) is just tidying up the joining of lines, then carving plan into the 5 sheets of MDF required, all with ,0,0 datums

[we will trim the sheets first to an exact 1,200 x 2,400mm. before starting the process of cutting the lanes.]

 

Cutting the slots and roadway is probably Friday if the plans come through in time. In a couple of weeks, one of the guys from club is spending a day with me to get the table made, and a start at least on fixing down the roadway.

 

I think we have it fairly flowing now to drive well in both directions. Space limitations also meant design limitations, overall it is about 150mm wider and 250mm longer than my current 3 lane track. - plus the extension at top right.

Table size

 

Length 4750mm

width 2260mm

Running length...... unsure until we join everything, probably 65 - 70 feet

Recovering Lapsed Slot Addict :ph34r:  *  Custodian of many used screws (mostly loose :rolleyes:)  *  Total kidder  *  Companion of other delusional slot addicts :lol:  

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No Phil the design is finalised, we're cutting tomorrow.

 

Actually the entire fit within the space I have available is based around each corner radius and turn in and out amounts being inter-woven to make the track fit work, so it wouldn't be possible to move a squeeze. The squeezes are there for fit, not just effect. No two turns on any lane of the track have the same radii or turn in/turn out amounts.

 

If someone can't pass for a 1/4 lap it is no big deal really, but if there is any reasonable speed differential between two cars on adjacent lanes 1/2 or 3/4, then passing should be possible because inside lane becomes outside lane in the left to right switch between the squeezes.

 

The actual layout is very good,could be a Tasie designed track!

 

I'l take that for a compliment :)

Recovering Lapsed Slot Addict :ph34r:  *  Custodian of many used screws (mostly loose :rolleyes:)  *  Total kidder  *  Companion of other delusional slot addicts :lol:  

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  • 2 weeks later...

Day One

 

GWH-NZ on forum, - AKA Grant from our club, has been busily toiling away today on my track.

Thankfully all the sections lined up off the CNC machine.

It's good to finally see how the layout looks in real size. I LOOKS a lot bigger than the original Oakland Raceway, but is only 250mm longer, 200mm wider, plus the small extension at back.

I gain a 4th lane, and 70cm in running length.

 

Rod my CAD guy - AKA the CAD gun for hire, will eventually get around to showing up here. He is part of the Taranaki/New Plymouth club, and builder of their 3rd track which CharlesX was showcasing recently.

routed%20on%20frame1.jpg

 

routed%20on%20frame2.jpg

Recovering Lapsed Slot Addict :ph34r:  *  Custodian of many used screws (mostly loose :rolleyes:)  *  Total kidder  *  Companion of other delusional slot addicts :lol:  

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