Help design my layout...Carrera

[BigMike]

Looking for help designing a layout, I know some of you are all visionaries and really enjoy tinkering with track planners etc, I lack the skills to seem to be able to create a layout that is anything other than...meh.

Room:
The room is roughly the shape of a long single car garage. 22 feet long by 13 ft wide. There is a sliding glass door on one narrow end on the west side, and the standard door opens into the room on the south side about 5 feet from the east wall.

Track supplies:
Go nuts, really I'm not limited by parts as much as I am by space. - Meaning pick any Carrera parts you need, not "I want 150ft of track"

Preferences:

Has to be fun.

Pit lane is a must, even better would be the ability to have 2 cars in pits at once.

Pace car would be really nice.

I'd like at least one high speed run where I can max a car out for longer than a blink.

[docdoom]

is these a analog track or digital set up that u want to run?????

[BigMike]

Sorry....digital :)

[downtowndeco]

The main thing I would tell you to keep in mind is to make sure that all of the track will be easy to marshall & maintain. Nothing kills teh fun faster than a poor running track that is hard to marshall. Hard to reach = hard to maintain & marshall.

[BigMike]

If I keep it 9x18 or so I can walk all the way around, or if I put it on the wall I don't mind using grabbers.

[mattb]

My ideas are a lot different than most guys, I say, leave room to get around all sides, forget grabbers if you can. That makes it much more user friendly and easier to build if you can get all the way around.

Track plans will be all over the place. After 30 some years this second time around the slot car hobby, I say keep the design simple and easy to race for everybody. Nothing takes away the fun like continually putting cars back in the slot instead of just racing side by side. Squeezing every foot of track possible on a table is not a very satisfactory track plan. Just my opinion.

[downtowndeco]

Mattb. 100% agree.

[BigMike]

Thanks Mattb and downtowndeco, I agree with the idea that more track doesn't equal more fun :)

My comment about Go nuts with the track was meant to be feel free to use any track parts you want as I am pretty decently stocked, not necessarily it has to be 150ft long.

I am really struggling for ideas, I'm just looking for inspiration from others, who have more experience and may be able to provide some ideas I haven't considered. Think of it as "layout block" as it were. I have spent hours upon hours looking at the forums, faebook, youtube, search engine images, track layout data-bases and just when I think "That's looking good
reality sets in and there is an issue that drives me to start all over again.

[proxieken]

Just a few things from my track that I like after several layouts.



Here is a double pit lane. I used the digital chicane to allow for high speed track exit and then the pit lane with an extra adapter. Both fueling stations work.

With the regular pit lane turn off it is pretty sharp. Located on the front straight it was not uncommon for someone to hit it too fast and deslot. What happened that was even worse was when one car hit the pits too fast but made it in OK. This sometimes meant it was leaning over when it entered and the return flap was not reset. The next car coming down the straight under full power would then hit the lane change unexpectedly and have a horrific crash. This fixed that problem and lets 2 cars refuel at once.

You can also see the sunken section. Instead of elevating the crossover I sunk the track in one area. I just used a circular saw to cut 2 lines in my plywood and then screwed it down to shorter legs in the middle. This created a dip in the middle of the track. One of the nice side effects is that a lot of the track is twisted and warped in all sorts of unpredictable ways. The sweeping curve is not a banked curve but placing it on the bent plywood makes it a slightly banked sweeping curve.



Here is my favorite part. Climbing out of the hole is this mess. It is made by combining a banked curve with the bridge section to create a S-hill. It looks so simple but it is amazing the crazy things that happen to cars as they lose weight and then gain weight and then lose it again. I have witnessed my own car getting tossed about in this seemingly harmless section of track more than once. It is even possible to get so light your car just lifts out of the slot and glides to a stop. There are 2, one going in to the hole and one coming out.

I would say play around with your design but throw in some surprises. :lol:

[BigMike]

Proxieken, that is AWESOME!

See it's things like this that make a huge difference in a layout. I bet coming out of the hole is a blast! Having tracked a few cars on road courses I can attest to how fun an elevation change can be and I didn't even think to experiment with that other than standard risers for an overpass...

Question for you, you mentioned using plywood and that it dipped down when you cut two lines, what thickness are you using? I am currently on 3/4 OSB, maybe I should consider something else?

[proxieken]

[FC47]

Looks like a lot of fun right there!! That’s a track to think on for me,
Thanks for posting the video

[BigMike]

Thank you again for sharing, that's some inspiration right there. :) great looking setup.

[slothead]

As you come up with the track design think about how to build the table beneath it so it's strong and efficient. From model railroading the L girder table design is a good option. I used it for my road course with a 6' x 14' surface on a 4' x 8' 4 leg base with casters.

I definitely recommend a table on casters so it can be moved as needed for maintenance and scenery.