I Have a Question - What Would You Build?

[Florida_Slotter]

Some of the most FUN I have ever had racing slot cars is on an oval of some sort.

Big, small or in-between, oval racing is something that is just so, well . . . . intense.

One of the fastest tracks is in Holly Hill, Florida. There is a 110 foot per lap tri-oval that is a 'replica' of Daytona International Speedway. If you have any car setup skills, it is a 'run flat out' all the way around, except for the "kink" or Tri-Oval area. Here you must brake, then accelerate - hopefully with the least amount of time between those two operations - in a manner to stay in the lead. We were racing the FCR National Championship Series there last year and the class where you had to run the same motor, body, chassis, tires, gear ratio - spec racing - was one of the most exciting. You had to time your passes as if you tried in the wrong spot, you wrecked. If timed just right, then you could pass, but it would take a few laps to set it up the right way. What a blast.

Then there is the small tri-oval we raced on for years. It is a 56 foot "Phoenix" track. Slight banking at the big end, not banking at the small end and you really had to drive the car. It was a blast.

I raced on a track that looked like Martinsville, long straights and tight turns. I thought it was awesome, but after running it several times, once you got your timing down, each half lap was exactly the same.

Some tracks out there in NASCAR land are rather unique. Darlington being one of them, Pocono being another. I am looking for an all flat left hand turn only track and am getting the urge to knock the dust off the router and start building one.

My question to you oval owners is this: If you were to build another oval and you could fit just about anything into the area you have for the track, exactly what type of configuration would you build?

Thanks in advance for your input.

[HomeRacingWorld]

"My question to you oval owners is this: If you were to build another oval and you could fit just about anything into the area you have for the track, exactly what type of configuration would you build?"

Exactly what I have.

We have built longer, and wider. I had a very large oval and after 6 months realized it was not much fun.

When you start getting into the very long and super wide tracks then it mostly boils down to motor.

NO matter what motor you use, there is always going to be small variances in RPM. Nothing really noticeable on a 16 or 18 footer.

But on longer it is and takes away from the fun.

We like to keep things close. Where the handling means something a little more.

After all, the CURVES are where the action is for us. Door handle to door handle racing into the corners and trying to time your entry and exit right without sending the car next to you into Curly's Salvage yard.

Even if I had a race room the size of a Wal-Mart, I would make the same track I have today.

[RazorJon]

I would like to do a bow-tie with live crossing and reversing switches on the drivers station so you could run cars in opposite directions :auto-crash:

[Florida_Slotter]

Harry,

I totally agree with the "motor equalizing effect" that a shorter track has.

When you say "16 to 18 feet" are you talking about the length of the table?

[HomeRacingWorld]

Yes sir, total length.

[dreinecke]

My "plan" at some point is to build another oval. Probably not real soon, but it is in the planning stage. Why? Well, because I'm hoping to entice the Boss out to play ;)

I would like to do a tri-oval. Why? I like the corner in the middle of one straight. That makes perfect sense to put a squeeze in at that point, further forcing some real driving and thought. I've been kicking the idea around for awhile, I just have to figure out where to do it. It would have to be portable or at least be able to fold so I can store it when not in use since I don't have enough space for another permanent track. I'm thinking about 12'-16' in length. Due to my space, probably no wider than 4', and probably only 3 lanes as well. I figure the two ends would be about 3 1/4' wide, allowing the "bump" for the tri-corner. I'd want real banking too...might as well get the whole enchilada if I'm going to do it.

Again, not on the immediate horizon, but something I'll eventually do.

[HomeRacingWorld]

My table is that high because of my old basement. They poured a "cap" around it back in the 70's to strengthen it. Since it sits about 4 feet off the ground, I had to build the tables on top of it.

Is it ideal? Not at all. Just had to make it work with what I had. Most guys like it though, a truly different perspective.

As with most anything, personal preference makes the difference. Some folks like squeeze chicanes, high banks and long straights. Some don't.

The thing is that it will be fun, regardless of how you build it. With the right group of friends you will enjoy it no matter what.

[Nor Cal Mike]

I guess that I'm a big fan of D ovals as I actually have two. The Big Travelin' D is 4 lanes on a 7-6" X 16 ft footprint and the little D is a 3 lane 4X8 bullring. I like the D because driving into each end is a totally different experience. Going into turn 1 from the D section is dicey under braking because the tail of the car has a tendency to kick out at high speed into either a roll or a spin depending on how the car is set up. It takes a little time learning to drive it. There is nothing like a car going a bit tail out at full speed that gets to my gettyup. The little D is similar but the action is much tighter. My nephew and I have had many hours of thrills and laughs while trading paint on that little track. Both my tracks have just a slight amount of banking.

I guess the most important thing to me is that both ends driving different so that the trank doesn't get too rhythmic. You can do that with a conventional oval by making one end a smaller radius or have more or less banking on one end.

That was wild at the end with Kurt Busch going up in flames against the wall. A maximum points day for Jimmy. Danica did pretty good. Joey showed that he isn't going to be cowed. Too bad for JR.

[Nor Cal Mike]

Yup, we think alike Jeremy. Another method is to route compound radius on both ends but with one end spiraling in while the other end spirals out. I especially like spiraling in. It make's a conventional oval kinda like the D where your car is already into a slide under braking before it actually gets to the corner. It looks way cool with dirt style cars, especially sprints or midgets.

Which reminds me, if a person plans to run open wheelers you need to leave plenty of lane spacing. For closed wheelers, I prefer the door banging that close spacing supplies. My Little D is set up at 3" spacing so there is lots of contact. Too tight for open wheelers. The Big D is set up at 3 3/4" but with the spacing spreading out to 4" heading into the corners. The Big D has barely enough space.

[Florida_Slotter]

Well Nor Cal Mike has certainly opened things up with lane spacing.

I am in a quandry about lane spacing. My present MDF track uses 3 1/2 inch lane spacing, which seems very adequate for what we run on the track. HOWEVER, I am looking to stretch it out to 3 7/8 between lanes with a 1/8 inch wide slot.

That would yield 4 lanes in 12 inches of width.

I noticed that Harry uses wider spacing on outside lanes then inside lanes.

Any recommendations from those that have built an oval?

[Nor Cal Mike]

Marty, If you mentioned it before, I missed it. What are you planning to run? It makes quite a bit of difference. The spacing that you mentioned should work with about everything if you limit width on the sprint cars. Closed fendered 1/24 should be no problem. For me lane width is a trade off. I run mostly 1/32 Nascar and some home builds based around pony cars. I don't care for having huge lane spacing with those cars. I don't run any open wheelers here wider than 3" in width. Care still must be taken when passing open wheel cars in the D section of my track or they'll tangle their tires up and then start cartwheeling. If I were primarily interested in racing a lot of those kinds of cars, I would opt for wider spacing.

[Florida_Slotter]

Nor Cal Mike,

The answer to your question is simple: "Everything I possibly can!"

Seriously though, I can do with the 3 1/2 inch spacing like my other MDF track. It works well. We've been running some 1/24 "Jaildoor Car" with 2.75 inch spacing. Yes, passing is tough, but it's just like it is in 1:1 when you run open wheel.

I've been toying with the idea of running some Retro Stock Cars - 1/24th with 3.00 max width. Hey, it should be a challenge, but so is racing at Martinsville.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Mine is between 3 1/2 and 3 7/8. I did it because any wider and we lost that "close combat" effect in the corners.

When that table was Carrera ir was cool...but it made it too easy through there. Now you have get your timing right.

Just like the big boys :)

[Florida_Slotter]

All information is greatly appreciated.

The more information I have, the better informed I am when I make my decision.

Thanks for posting.

[Nor Cal Mike]

Jeremy's posting of gutter widths reminds me of another rule of thumb that I have learned after building 3 ovals. When determining the outer gutter width, I take into account the length of cars I expect to run. I don't try to necessarily make the rail impossible to touch by the bumper of a extra long car (Think H&R chassis with a big mid 60's Galaxy or Charger body). I just want to make it so the the angle of the slide when the cars bumper when it meets the wall is steep enough that it isn't an efficient way for the driver in the outside lane to simply ride the wall as a cushion. My first track which is no longer didn't have enough outside gutter. My nephew always chose the outside lane so that he could use the wall as a cushion. He was hard to beat while driving that wall. My Big D has a 6" outside gutter. The Little D has 5".