Three in one track

[historiceng]

I am a little pushed for space, I have about 11 to 12' by 4 to 5' available.
My priority is to have an oval, preferably three lanes, and so I am making an oval to suit that space. However, Tusco Todd has fired me up about vintage dragsters and so I need a track for them.. simple enough, I made a temporary 8' copper taped strip for the moment. But then I have some friends quite a way north of me who have a good group for circuit race cars, it would be cool to invite them for a weekend session of all forms of racing like Harry's spring event, so I need a road circuit too.

Has anyone incorporated different circuits by careful routing to allow the selection of a diiferent route by fitting a form of slot blank to redirect the guide to a gently diverging slot? Does that make sense?

Then the oval can be the maint configuration, but provision could be made for a transition to a small infield curve for road circuit and finally the oval straight could have extension slots either end to give an 11 to 12' drag strip?

Any thoughts please! :think:

[RichD]

If your track was modular you could use the straights from the oval to make a ~16 foot drag strip. Your space is a little narrow, so having an infield road course would probably be out.



This is a way to squeeze more track into a narrow space, but it would be difficult to convert to an oval and drag strip.

[mattb]

Keep thinking and I bet you can come up with a suitable plan. I think what you want is doable, but the road course would have to be pretty limited. Best bet for the dragstrip would be to have 1/2 of a corner as a separate piece you can lift out and replace with a piece that ties the main straight to a straight that is the end of the dragstrip

Not sure that 12 foot will be very satisfying for a 1/32 dragstrip. Why not make a oval/roadcourse for your room and a separate dragstrip of at lease 16-24 foot. Make it in 3 - 8 foot sections. Use a circular saw and copper tape. Simple slots, simple conductor, assemble outside or a garage or where ever you can borrow space. This really would be a pretty simple project. If hauling an 8 foot piece to a friends garage or an empty space you can use is a problem, made the pieces 6 foot long.

[chappyman66]

Several folks have done the Daytona style infield with a drop in section on the front straight. It's a tight infield with that size oval, but it can be done.
One sheet of MDF makes a great modular drag strip......

[lancelotalove]

We have a 16ft x 4ft routed MDF wood road coarse that has a piece that pops out and converts the road coarse into a oval. I will try to post picture little later. the piece that pops out has connectors to the power supply so no problem with the optional part getting power. We only went with 4ft wide as that was our first try. it is good, but it would give the infield more room if it were wider like 5ft.

An option is having tracks on top of each other. Have 1 track against the wall. The track on top of that is hinged on the wall and folds up against the wall so you can use the bottom track. Be sure to securly hold it there so it will fall down. Lance

[historiceng]

Thank you to every one for their ideas and help, I really appreciate so much help, these are some good thoughts that I hadn't considered.

I'm not sure if I made sense and even if worth considering, given the good ideas that have come up. But here is a sketch of what I would consider as small blanking inserts, perhaps pegged in position to redirect a guide down the appropriate slot. There would be a short power interruption in the diverging section.

IMG_0859.JPG

[mattb]

You might take a look at the track Chappyman recently built. Paul came up with an interesting road course in a small space. I think you might take away some ideas from his design.

Paul, can you bring back the thread on your track?

[slothead]

This is from a search that led me to a thread on SlotCar Illustrated.


A hole through the back (left) end of the red flipper would allow a pin or screw to go through it and into the mdf as its pivot point. The key would be to choose a hard material for the flipper that can be filed to shape and have a fine point that won't break off. Lexan plastic from a sheet that's the same thickness as your slots might work. It would also be helpful to be able to get a file into the slot at the front edge to create little notches or nooks on each side that the tip of the flipper would fit into to make sure a guide can't collide with it.

In your case since these would be static flippers during a race, maybe make two of them for each lane and press whichever one is needed into the slot to make the cars go as desired. They could be triangular with the butt end going up against the green section to lock it in place. Actually, you might be able to file a single flipper so it's flat on one side and slightly curved on the other so it could do both jobs depending on how you insert it in the slot(s).

This is something you can easily test out by routing the diverging slots on a piece of scrap wood and then try making a flipper that guides can pass by and be directed as desired. Your craftsmanship on the router and with a very small chisel & file will let you know how doable it is.

[buspor63]

I did this years ago. It was 4X12 in 4X4 sections that nested together. The inserts allowed it to convert oval to road course in a matter of minutes. If doing it again, I would have made a better transition for the inside lane on the tight end.

[chappyman66]

[mattb]

I'm thinking of some sort of double loop design like you have Paul. Much more than a regular oval, but could easily be converted to an oval.

[historiceng]

Thank you all very much for the ideas,Slothead, that is along the lines I was thinking of but there are so many ideas that I hadn't thought of , thank you!