27 replies to this topic

[nvmyre]

Hi All

Hoping to start building a four lane routed wood track over the winter. My must haves are:

A 6m straight
Fast flowing sections
Slow technical sections
A bridge.
Easy to marshall if I host club nights
Fun and easy enough to drive for casual nights with mates
Approx 30m per lane in length
Modular layout for easy storage and to allow for different track layouts

After numerous pencil and paper creations, I came up with a few that I thought worthy of redrawing using the track editor in Ultimate Racer. The total space I have available for the track is about 9mx5m. Lane spacing will be roughly 90mm on the straights and some extra width on the corners. Anyway, below is my current favourite. Your thoughts and comments would be appreciated.



So far I have the powersupply and have ordered 8 sheets of 12mm MDF. There is only a couple of firms with CNC routers near where I live so hopefully they won't be too expensive.

Regards
Craig

Edited by nvmyre, 26 April 2010 - 07:07 PM.

[munter]

Wow Craig !
You have real project on there.

Good on you mate!

regards

[nvmyre]

Thanks John. Here's my second idea. I think it's gonna be out of these two. Can anybody see any cause for alarm regarding marshalling or complexity/simplicity with either of these layouts. I'm at the opposite end of the veteran scale so there could be issues I have overlooked. Any comments good or bad welcome.



Craig

[munter]

Craig,

That is a lot of track.You might find once you have determined the width of the track piece(4 lanes 600mm approx) that there is too much going on and
simplify your layout.
Alternatively you might want to drop a lane and narrow things back to three lanes.

9 X 5 metres is a whopping space.....great fun!

Lots to think about

regards

[SlotsNZ]

Hi Craig

either of those layuts could create a great track - or a lot of regrets.
With so much space to play with, you have the freedom to create individual corners with may possible permutations.

Maybe if you bring the plan to club with some notes ont he corner radii, various of us can throw some thoughts at you.

One thing to consider. The bigger the track, the more potential distance between drivers. That can mean some "lonely driving" when you are all situated on differnet parts of the track, and traveling at similar speeds.
The interaction between drivers is the best part.

So another idea, since you're going modular
Do a "Hampton Downs" type thing - have a shorter version and a longer version, {club circuit and full circuit} with one exchangeable module that is "quick-swap" ie, a couple of minutes to extract with cam-locaks, and plug and play electricals.

[nvmyre]

munter, on Apr 26 2010, 06:36 AM, said:

Craig,

That is a lot of track.You might find once you have determined the width of the track piece(4 lanes 600mm approx) that there is too much going on and
simplify your layout.
Alternatively you might want to drop a lane and narrow things back to three lanes.

9 X 5 metres is a whopping space.....great fun!

Lots to think about

regards

Thanks John, I was hoping to get away with a max width of 450mm (3 x 90mm lane spacing plus 60mm inside and 120mm outside on corners). Does that sound doable? 3 lanes is an option but since the space is there 4 lanes would add some fun/redundancy and wont add too much extra cost to the project. Indeed there is lots to think about!

[nvmyre]

SlotsNZ, on Apr 26 2010, 07:37 AM, said:

Hi Craig

either of those layuts could create a great track - or a lot of regrets.
With so much space to play with, you have the freedom to create individual corners with may possible permutations.

Maybe if you bring the plan to club with some notes ont he corner radii, various of us can throw some thoughts at you.

One thing to consider. The bigger the track, the more potential distance between drivers. That can mean some "lonely driving" when you are all situated on differnet parts of the track, and traveling at similar speeds.
The interaction between drivers is the best part.

So another idea, since you're going modular
Do a "Hampton Downs" type thing - have a shorter version and a longer version, {club circuit and full circuit} with one exchangeable module that is "quick-swap" ie, a couple of minutes to extract with cam-locaks, and plug and play electricals.

Hi Mark,

I hadn't really considered "loneliness" on the track. I guess may way of thinking would be, if you are trailing on a large track, youre probably prone to getting lapped on a shorter track. Possibly with a larger track you can have the feeling of still being on the lead lap, and having to pull in the leaders?? Thoughts on that?

Your modular idea is a good one. I had been thinking a 4 piece modular track that could be laid out in different configurations, but never thought about the ability to add or subtract pieces to shorten or lengthen respectively. I think you might have come up with a winner there.

Will you be near the shop phone tomm? Would like to talk to you regarding purchasing a controller.

[gzminiz]

While ur are getting lapped u are still side by side racing which is more fun then constanly trying to catch up.

[charlesx]

The tracks look great but lots of marshalling positions required. Imagine probably 5-6 positions min. With 4 racing that gets to be quite a big group. You should think of marshal comfort and them obscuring views as well. Appears to be potential for that to happen. How high do you intend to make track?

Space available must be great also but if you are looking at club scene does this still leave room for circulation without obscuring views. Note that there are quite large areas within track space that would need to be kept clear. Perhaps some of these need to be closed up a bit.

Agree Ultimate Racer is good tool for putting together such proposals. Like range of curves you have in second option. Was that drawn same way? I have only used Scalextric 4 lane option as that about equates to 3 lane wooden. What track type have you used?

My brother and I are currently going thru a similar process although space constraints far less than yours. We are also considering using CNC service. CNC appears to have done a great job with one Napier track I have seen recently at Hard bodied Nationals but yet to find out if any constraints on design from CNC process.

Best of luck with your design process. Will look forward to your future progress

Regards

Chas Le Breton

[charlesx]

Hi Craig.

Another thought.

If you are looking at modular layout are you not best to start with fewer modules and then add others as you learn. Perhaps this is what you intended anyway.

Both tracks would appear to accommodate such a scenario fairly well. You could just leave out the centre section.

Regards

Chas Le Breton
New Plymouth

[nvmyre]

charlesx, on Apr 30 2010, 12:50 PM, said:

The tracks look great but lots of marshalling positions required. Imagine probably 5-6 positions min. With 4 racing that gets to be quite a big group. You should think of marshal comfort and them obscuring views as well. Appears to be potential for that to happen. How high do you intend to make track?

Space available must be great also but if you are looking at club scene does this still leave room for circulation without obscuring views. Note that there are quite large areas within track space that would need to be kept clear. Perhaps some of these need to be closed up a bit.

Agree Ultimate Racer is good tool for putting together such proposals. Like range of curves you have in second option. Was that drawn same way? I have only used Scalextric 4 lane option as that about equates to 3 lane wooden. What track type have you used?

My brother and I are currently going thru a similar process although space constraints far less than yours. We are also considering using CNC service. CNC appears to have done a great job with one Napier track I have seen recently at Hard bodied Nationals but yet to find out if any constraints on design from CNC process.

Best of luck with your design process. Will look forward to your future progress

Regards

Chas Le Breton

Hi Chas,

Interesting point, I hadn't thought about number of marshalling positons, only the ease of marhsalls getting to deslotted cars. Table height will be 750-800mm. Its bloody hard to design an interesting and challenging track while thinking of the logistics of club racing.

Space is the one thing I have plenty of, perhaps thats why i'm getting carried away with large track layouts.

Both tracks were drawn in Ultimate Racer using Scalextrics + SCX multilane. Some of the curves I have designed myself by editing the text files in the library directory of UR. However, since drawing these layouts I have created my own library of track pieces based on a width of 550mm with lane spacing of 100mm.

I think you are talking of Chris' track in Napier. I'll be racing on it this wednesday and checking out the design at the same time. By all accounts its a very well made track that is great to race on. Hopefully soon i'll have my layout finalised and ready to take to the CNC shop. My 8 sheets of 12mm turn up next week and i'm keen to get cracking.

Good luck with your track. I'll post my experience with CNC as I get further along.

Craig

Edited by nvmyre, 02 May 2010 - 05:48 PM.

[nvmyre]

charlesx, on May 1 2010, 02:31 PM, said:

Hi Craig.

Another thought.

If you are looking at modular layout are you not best to start with fewer modules and then add others as you learn. Perhaps this is what you intended anyway.

Both tracks would appear to accommodate such a scenario fairly well. You could just leave out the centre section.

Regards

Chas Le Breton
New Plymouth

Hi again,

Yes that was my intention, which is why I designed the track to run parallel in 2/3 places. The modular design was to aid storage, but as you also mentioned, to allow for multiple track configurations, and for increasing/reducing length and complexity.

Appreciate your comments
Craig

[charlesx]

How is progress. Nothing heard for a while.

See my new topic under same heading too. Any comments on track designs most welcome.

Regards

Chas Le Breton

[nvmyre]

Hi Chas

Slowly collecting all the material needed to start building. I havent quite finalised the track layout yet, so not in a huge hurry. I have bought a Ninco set and have been experimenting with layouts to see what works. I will check out your thread soon, always good to hear of another track being built.

Regards
Craig

[nvmyre]

After driving most of the tracks in the local area, I have decided to scale back on some of my initial requirements. Hence I came up with the following layout. Its pretty close to what I want.



The track will be run in a clockwise direction. I am still thinking about the placement of driver stations so that marshalls will not obscure the track when marshalling.

[SLOTJOCKEY]

nvmyre, on Jun 13 2010, 10:55 PM, said:

After driving most of the tracks in the local area, I have decided to scale back on some of my initial requirements. Hence I came up with the following layout. Its pretty close to what I want.



The track will be run in a clockwise direction. I am still thinking about the placement of driver stations so that marshalls will not obscure the track when marshalling.

Thats more like it Craig. A track can look awesome on paper but not work too well once a reality. This design is spot on, fast and flowing. Driver stations would all be on the outside straight so that views are not obstructed when marshalling the infield. I suggest though that 2 of the lanes have an extra station around the track so that if it's just you and your mates it can be self marshalled but on race nights when marshalls are plenty all drivers would be on the straight.

[munter]

Craig,get rid of the kink in the inside straight.

[charlesx]

Hi Craig.

Like your layout. How big now? Agree with John/Munter take out that wiggle. Mike Wilson had a longer one in his Napier layout (see Hawkes Bay members tracks) but he says he has now taken it out.

Like variety of curves you have in particular. I assume the gap in the middle is for future expansion and marshalling. Drivers positions at bottom??? I thought but Munters suggestions also good.

When you build in wood presume you will graduate some of the corners.

Regards

Chas Le Breton

[SlotsNZ]

yeah, I reckon lose the wiggle too. I think it would get annoying, just breaks the flow.

BUT, for interest, you could make the entire inside straight gently curved, or wavy, LUF (oldslotracer) tends to do that on his designs
If you check out www.oldslotracer.com you'll see some cracker stuff.

[nvmyre]

SLOTJOCKEY, on Jun 14 2010, 07:11 PM, said:

Thats more like it Craig. A track can look awesome on paper but not work too well once a reality. This design is spot on, fast and flowing. Driver stations would all be on the outside straight so that views are not obstructed when marshalling the infield. I suggest though that 2 of the lanes have an extra station around the track so that if it's just you and your mates it can be self marshalled but on race nights when marshalls are plenty all drivers would be on the straight.

Hi Mike. I will try to add in driver stations on the other side, although I cant see my competitive mates stopping what they are doing to pick up someone elses car If I put the main drivers stations on the outside straight im worried that the guy standing at the far right might not get a good view of the far left corner because of the bridge. Any thoughts?

munter, on Jun 14 2010, 09:04 PM, said:

Craig,get rid of the kink in the inside straight.

John, thats my favourite part!! Actually I designed the whole track around that little wiggle. I really wanted a section of track that rewarded a well set up car and some bravery. I intend the kink to be a gradual curve that can be taken at full speed.

charlesx, on Jun 15 2010, 04:09 PM, said:

Hi Craig.

Like your layout. How big now? Agree with John/Munter take out that wiggle. Mike Wilson had a longer one in his Napier layout (see Hawkes Bay members tracks) but he says he has now taken it out.

Like variety of curves you have in particular. I assume the gap in the middle is for future expansion and marshalling. Drivers positions at bottom??? I thought but Munters suggestions also good.

When you build in wood presume you will graduate some of the corners.

Regards

Chas Le Breton

Hi Chas, lane size 22 metres, approx 7m x 2.8m in area. See comment to John re the wiggle. I believe Mikes wiggle was alot more severe. Im hoping mine will not impede speed too much. The wiggle is 1.5m long and turns at 5 degrees. Might look worse on the screen than what i envisaged. Ironically the gap was for marshalling of any cars that fall off through the wiggle. I still predict cars will deslot there, just want to introduce some uncertainty as to whether the wiggle can be taken at full speed or not. Yes drivers stations will be at the bottom.

SlotsNZ, on Jun 15 2010, 04:16 PM, said:

yeah, I reckon lose the wiggle too. I think it would get annoying, just breaks the flow.

BUT, for interest, you could make the entire inside straight gently curved, or wavy, LUF (oldslotracer) tends to do that on his designs
If you check out www.oldslotracer.com you'll see some cracker stuff.

Hi Mark, see comments re the wiggle. Checked out oldslotracer.com. Has given me some ideas (probably the last thing I needed) so a redesign may be in order. Hope to finalise design by 2015

Appreciate everyones comments

Regards
Craig

ps Go the All Whites!!!

Edited by nvmyre, 15 June 2010 - 06:06 PM.