by slothead » Mon Apr 18, 2016 11:02 am
I bought a 2'x4' hardboard handy panel and left it out on the deck for a few days, one of which was rainy. Since it was a 1/8" sheet, it became a little more pliable when wet, but showed none of the distortion you'd get if it had been MDF. The slick surface seems impervious to moisture, and even though the back and sides got wet, there was no 'bubble up' or obvious damage. So, for the time being I'm thinking hardboard will be the way to go for an ideal 'dirt track' racing surface that could withstand small amounts of moisture in a sudden shower. As suggested by ShotgunDave I'm designing a wheeled table to mount it on for easy movement in and out of the barn.
The big news is I'm now thinking about making it a 2 sided affair, with an oval on one side and a road course on the other. I created my own drawing of DrumPhil's 4'x8' road course so I could share thoughts with him about it, and like it so much I'm thinking about making one of my own to be on the flip side of an oval track. My current thoughts are to make a sandwich out of 2 pieces of 1/8" hardboard and a sheet of 3/4" insulating form. This would seem to mean each track has to be flat without an backing or elevations, but I'm still thinking about options.
Any thoughts about a 2 sided track? I've promoted the idea of a foam core track surface before, but never actually done it.
Slothead