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Well hello all! After a 5 year hiatus I'm ready to get back to racing. I'm building another track in the garage and want some feedback from y'all. I live in Florida so heat and humidity are a factor. I used to race on a 4' X 16' foot Ninco road course. The room I have available is about the same, give or take. I just started lurking around the forum again and have noticed an explosion in routed wood track racing. This is new to me, however, I wanted to know what the advanteges are over plastic as it appears a good many of you have switched over. Also, I've searched the forum for a 'primer' on building a wood track from start to finish in detail, but only came up with several articles assuming you've used a router. Building a wood track appears to be much more complicated than plastic, however, I want to research the idea before I spend hundreds of dollars in plastic track. I will add that i cann follow directions, but am not very good with woodworking. I thank you in advance for your insight!

Hey Bibbster, thanks for the quick reply! I'm right between Orlando and Daytona in a burb called Enterprise. I used to be a member of the forum until about 2008, it's great to see that this outstanding site is still here and that I see some of the usual suspects and some new folks too. I've still got all my cars and controllers and some Ninco track but not enough to make a difference in which way I go this time around.

Thanks Harry-I read the article on Ozark; thanks for the link to Luf.

Welcome back! My advice would be to buy some track and get the trigger finger back in shape. While you are in training, :-) research your options. You can always find someone selling their track or great deals from our vendors.

Building a track from wood is not a piece of cake. Too many people, who already have the necessary woodworking skills will tell you, "it's easy," but without proper experience, it is not. I know, I too was seduced a couple of years ago. I bought Luf's kit, watched the video, bought a router, practiced a little (after all, "it's easy.") Things didn't work out. I run Carrera track, and I am quite happy. Now, having said all that, I will say it is not brain surgery. If you want a challenge, give it a try. Obviously many have been successful, but you will have to practice with the router. One of the other considerations is how technical the track will be. I like a challenging, technical track to drive on. The more technical the layout, the more difficult it will be to rout smoothly. If you want a simple oval it will be far less challenging. Another consideration is, how soon do you want to start driving? After you do the woodwork, then you have to lay the tape and wiring. There is a lot to think about, good luck with your decision. I think Harry has given very solid advice (as usual). But best of all, you are back in the hobby, so no matter what your ultimate decision is, enjoy the drive.

I am not trying to offend anyone. I just think both sides should be considered. This is my opinion, based on my experience but YMMMV.

Welcome back to the fun!!If you run plastic or wood,the main thing is to have fun.I ran plastic for some years before mainly switching over to wood.Yes I had used a router before,but limited.After I finally did try to route a track,I made mistakes,but had one of the 1st routed tracks in our part of the country . We had a ton of fun on it..Some of the advantages of wood is the wide track path ,not being tied down to what ever track sizes are sold ,and lower cost..I still race on plastic some,but find you need to invest more money for boarders,or make your own.There is nothing wrong with either,wood or plastic.They both have their Limitations.Once you route your track you are pretty well stuck with your design,unless you want to patch and route some more.Which can be done.The plus side for plastic,you can experiment with several designs,take it apart and put it back together..If you race with magnets,most cars are set up to race on plastic.We run no mag and thus tune our cars for running on our wood track.This can also be done on plastic.If your ready to race now,right now,I would suggest Buy a set and have some fun.Carrera is some of the widest and smoothest track on the market..
The main thing,have fun!!

Rusty

Okay, everybody who has advised is more or less correct in all ways. The only thing I would add is that you need not be trepidacious about anything. HRW is loaded with good advice, and you pretty much can't go wrong.

It's ok if you haven't used a router. I had no real experience with power tools and didn't own any when I built my track 9 years ago. Total cost was 500 dollars, including tools, for a 70 foot 4-laner. An equivalent plastic track would have been 1500 dollars, not including the table. The track is still in use, and the guys threaten me with bodily harm when I mention that I might be tired of the track and want to get rid of it.

BUT because I was not experienced and had to research every little decision I made (there wasn't much information available at the time, and sourcing things like copper tape was much tougher then), it took three months to do. Knowing what I know now, it might take me a week to get all the materials together, and a couple good weekends to actually build the thing.

So if I had a recommendation for you, I'd say to buy yourself a basic set to get you started and to tide you over, then get busy on building your own track.

First off welcome back to the hobby. All good advise here and you will find a lot of people here willing to help you step by step if you decide to go wood. I am in the Tampa area and if you lived closer I would be more than willing to help you with building your own. I have routed several of my own tracks and the running joke used to be for me anyway was every year I tore one down and built another...lol I had never routed much either before I built my first one and although it wasnt perfect it was anything but hard to do. I would agree with the others if you want to get up and running quick is to buy some used plastic track and then research on routing your own, design, layout etc. This way it will get you up and running. Once you know that you want to stay back in the hobby then you can decide if building your own track is the way you want to go. Whichever way you decide, its a great hobby to be in and the people are some of the best I have met.

1) if you are interested in building a wood track, go for it

2) you do not need any routing or woodworking experience. i had zero and built a three lane 115 foot track.

3) get a good router bit. it will cut through the wood like butter.

4) the router fence MUST be on the left side of the router. if it is on the other side, the router will wander off the intended path no matter how strong you are.

Really, routing isn't that difficult if you follow all the good advice there is here.

You could build up your woodworking confidence by building a table to fill your space,as you'll need this whether you go for wood or plastic.

Then buy a modest complete set,which with luck you may get at a post-Christmas clearance price, and run cars to reinforce your motivation while you decide what to do next.

David.

You can do it! I did, twice...and will embark on my third track at some point this winter/spring!

Here's how I did it all: http://www.outriggercanoe.com/mypics/2005_1.html