Saying hi from PNW

Hi gang, I'm another newcomer adding to the fray and saying hi! A few months ago a 3DBotmaker video came across my youtube feed, out of nowhere. Within days I was hooked and down the rabbit hole. I wondered if my 11 year old nephew on the other side of the country would be interested, and when I sent him the link, he responded with what's become my go-to set of youtube channels now. He was already one of you. I have to say it's pretty cool to have a little obsession to share with him. He's sent me photos of my old 70s era cars that he still plays with back at my parents house.

I've gotten myself some new cars and some Blutrack which works great for me. I've strung it up in my small back entrance to create Alley Cat Canyon.

25' long with a drop at about a third of the way to the end. About 4' of elevation at the start at the far concrete wall where it's hooked to a cut stub of bamboo. The last 8' or so are on the flat. (I've changed the layout for the better since the first attached photo, there's a box sitting on that small concrete wall, creating the one significant drop.) Fast cars are definitely running under 4 seconds, though I have no timing set up. The drop adds enough luck to keep the fast cars from totally running away with it. Though after a few weekends in a row of running my current 16 cars, that white Skyline is definitely the fastest. Smooth, straight, quiet. My slowest car was a squareback VW, and I've successfully made it faster! Pretty happy about that. I've made a couple others faster, and haven't yet made one slower.

I've already gotten super into the speed side of this, and know I'd like to start entering mail-in tournaments for sure to get in on some of that competetion! But throughout the years I've dabbled and been curious about model building, miniatures, repair and restoration of miniature items, so this current rabbit hole is scratching a lot of itches right now :-) In my head I've designed mechanical start and finish gates, though your fancy digital timers sure are apealing. Circuitry has neven been my gig, but maybe I'll have to find a way in.

This drop here causes a lot of fun. I'd love to get some video on it. Have to get myself a wee tripod. You can kind of make out the landing marks in the two lanes, they're about one to two feet below that drop. 

I can set this up on Friday night, race all weekend, then stowe it easily. I love it. For me a good starting point. Since it has a built in hook at one end, I just stretch it tight, weigh it down at the finish, and I'm off to the races, so to speak. I'd like to make a hairpin at the end that empties onto a different surface of open track to finish. I sell flooring, and I'm thinking about using sheet vinyl, or maybe this felt like surface that also bends easily and has almost a pool table like feel. But that's for another time.

Thanks for being here folks!