I thought I would share some rather unfortunate news, and hopefully shed some light on a don't when building a routed track. As some of you know, I built a 16x6 4 lane routed oval early this year. It had some pretty heavy banking all around, probably more than I needed. I have my track in an outside building that is not climate controlled, but it is in a dry (for Georgia) area. I had been noticing some shifting of the track sections (4x6) and I would have uneven joints from day to day, depending on the humidity. I was able to correct this by tightening or loosening the screws closest to the joints. a pain, but it worked. Lesson one: don't leave track section joints be unsupported at the seams, back them and glue them. Lesson two: don't heavily bank your track without FULL underneath support. My guide slot had started closing up to a point where they would pinch a parma guide till I sanded them a little. My track was becoming bowl shaped in the corners. this causes tire contact to be really strange, and can actually lift the guide out of the slot if it gets bad enough. lesson three: and this is the bad news! Last night while changing a bulb on the overhead lighting, I put my knee down in a place I shouldn't have. I usually pay very close attention when on the table, so as not to be on a seam, or step directly on a routed slot. This time however, it was hot, and I was in a bit of a hurry to get down off the table, I put to much weight on that knee, and cracked three lanes of turns 1 and 2. This section will have to be removed and re replaced. Since its a still in the upper 90's with high humidity here, it will be fall before the oval is repaired. at that time, I hope to correct all the things I did wrong the first time. Moral of this story, do it right the first time. an age old proverb that holds true still. hope this helps anyone about to build any routed track. Its not the wasted time or money that bothers me about this, its the fact that I knew better, and got in to big of a hurry to have a wood oval. Lesson learned.
Bob