New track build planning questions
Hello everyone,
Sunshine City Garage (Jim) here, I'm looking to do an old school track with more of a nostagia feel and physicality about it, using mostly orange track. I'm very new to the idea of track building but I know what I would like, per the list below. Any advice would be most appreciated!
- mostly old track
- some closed single lane (orange track).
- some "fat" open track (type not important as long as I can connect to orange
- Would like cars to run "true" no spinouts, even if this means not going as fast
- and this biggest consideration last: I have VERY limited space and the track would need to be able to be set up and taken down when not in use. This would lend itself to being modular in nature and have the possibility to be set up in different layouts.
I need to know the basics of everything from the ground up, what track is good (I thought Hot wheels sizzlers but head bad things about the connectors and feel that Adventure Force might be better), how to connect tracks of different types, and layout issues. Lastly I need to know all the things beyond what I have mentioned here that haven't occured to me yet in my noobness.
Thanks everyone!
Discussion
Okay, so.... questions to be asked:
1. What type of track are you looking at? Drag strip, or road course?
2. How much room do you have? Dimensions?
-Spinouts are going to happen no matter what you do, unless you run single lanes all the way down. It's part of racing.
-Wood can be gotten for free (or almost free) by picking up wooden pallets. Break them down, remove the nails, you have a reasonable sourcee of lumber at low cost.
-HW Sizzxlers track is OLD school, VERY old. You're better off using Crash Racers track and coroplast (corrugated plastic), as the only Sizzlers track you'll find will be pricey and occasionally brittle from age. If you want to go all out on track, SpoolHeads 3D prints sections of track, and can be found on Etsy. Also, Slanman Customs is a huge producer of track and parts.
-Modular is not a bad way to go. Portability, however, is going to produce some problems, as you will have to re-tune the track every time you set up and tear down to make sure each lane has a fair run without one lane being faster than the other. (Yes, this happens on occasion.) However, with time and testing and experience, this will not be a big factor.
These are all I can think of at the moment, but I'm sure there will be more considerations as you begin to gather pieces and information.
I am just a few months ahead of you.. Dr Dodge is absolutely correct. Start with your estimated height and then you can figure out the number of turns possible. Think if you want overtaking opportunities and where - have longer straights there, with perhaps a sudden slope to make the cars accelerate faster. But yes.. start with a frame or at least an idea of how big a space you have to work with.
Mike
p.s. I will check ... but spoolheads for me have been a wonderful resource, They may sell the connecters you need. I am not sure.But Russ is incredibly helpful. May be worth finding out.
Thanks for all the help guys, I have a direction to go and some homework to do. Sorry I didn't get back sooner but this is a big site,which is awesome. My track will be for personal use so I'm not too concerned with balancing track speed as much as I am just making sure the cars stay on. I will keep you posted.
The catch with Sizzlers is indeed the track connectors...why someone hasn't 3D printed those is beyond me. I have some lying around here somewhere I know if a template is needed, because with the actual Sizzler connectors it's a superior track setup compared to Crash Racers, but once again it's actually finding them in the wild.