No actual work on the track, though I've been cleaning out the area for the final addition. I've had to do some more planning than the norm as I have to keep things to where I can reach stuff. It will mean making it skinnier and that prevents me from putting in four track sections side by side. Instead, I'm going to elevate it like the real twisty bit, include some fast curves and add in a tunnel. It may also mean changing things around near the start finish area, but as sectional track allows one to actually set things up and race on it for a while, it is unknown how that will eventually look.
Here is a look at what I've
initially chosen for the extension. The drawn in line is where the current table
ends. Removing the large sweeper that is currently there will provide the other
two feet shown (each square is one foot). I've been slowly gathering up track
sections when I order new cars and other things on-line. Some of the pieces
needed will come from the old sweeper and what I already have. Planning is
nearly as much fun as playing!
On other subjects, for the last few months I've been racing with a group of people in St. Louis. Nearly all of these folks have routed home tracks of four lanes. There is a mixture of road courses and ovals. Of the ovals, one is rectangular link Indy, one is a small high banked one like Bristol and the third (which is now in storage as the owner's wife is remodeling their basement for her hobbies) is a tri-oval. Hopefully someone else will get this track.
We also were running on one plastic four lane track, but again, it is now put up to remodel the area. An infusion of new members should garner a new plastic track or two. Hosting an event means having about double the space of the track for 'pit' stations for the various entrants to work on cars. I don't have the space so am not hosting races in this series. Besides, I'd rather have a long two lane track than a short 4 lane version as I'm the one spending the bulk of the time on it.
Back to the racing, we run two classes of cars on the ovals and two on the road courses. Each season lasts 6 months and this season we are running Europlastic 1/32 cars on the road and brass chassis cars on the ovals.
The Europlastic are Scalextric Porsche 911s and Scalextric A1 GP racers. Basically we can change to a deeper guide for the wood tracks, add weight and change tires. We've all done just that as you can see from the pics below.
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You can see the longer guides, the mass of weight and the different rear tires (no lettering). Note also, that to cut back on friction, the front tires are coated with either superglue or clear gloss paint. Nail paint works well for this and it does need to be reapplied from time to time as it scrubs off.
The others are the oval track cars. These are on brass chassis with larger motors that require more current than is often available for Europlastic. Thankfully, people who operate these tracks are all running larger power supplies so we can run more powerful motors. This season the two cars are sprint plus and vintage modifieds. Both have clear lexan bodies which are painted on the inside using special paint designed to stick and not chip when the bodies flex.
The Sprint plus are 1/32 scale and run a variety of motors. The vintage modifieds run either an open or a closed top body. These two cars come as disassembled kits and require being put together. The modified require the builder to construct a front axle housing. These cars are quite heavy and so do not accelerate well, something that is further enhanced by the larger electric motor they use. Rules are quite strict on the modifieds, even to what gear ratios can be used. This is not a limitation on the sprint plus cars and they are wickedly fast, to the point of being quite squirrelly.
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So far, I have been doing quite well with the oval track cars, but not so well with the road course versions. There are about 9-10 events per season in each of the categories. In addition, the club runs an IROC series where the club provides the controllers and the cars. The cars stay with the lane and the drivers rotate through until all have been driven. This is VERY close racing with the difference between positions often in inches.
Just to give you an idea of what our last oval outing was like, here are shots of the cars and the track on which we ran. We'll be using the same one next outing but in the 'road course' configuration.
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If you have a racing club in your general area, I highly recommend joining it. Even if you are not the fastest around, it is great fun and a chance for camaraderie with people you might not normally meet. Like scale modelers, they are all quite friendly and helpful.
Finally, I have finally gotten all my Europlastic cars onto the specs chart and will update it with lap times as time permits. Here is a link to the chart.
Well, that is about it for this session. I hope you learned a bit and if you have any questions or wish to share your experiences or images of your track, I'd like to hear from you on the subject so please e-mail me at mmreaders@aol.com.
Scott
