# Track and Set Expansion Questions



## Rusty Cragers (Dec 1, 2008)

Hi all, thanks in advance for all your help thus far in getting me back into HO racing with my kids. Tomorrow night I am gonna build my tables. The next obstacle that I will be facing is adding to my current Tomy track. Right now I am planning on building either a 4 x 12 or a 4 x 16 tables as described in my post about track building tables. I currently only have two cars (life likes) and two Parma controllers and two standard power packs. I have about 50 feet of track right now. I'd like to explore building my track to be 4 lanes but am not sure if that is wise to do. My question is what should I do about buying track and cars. Should I buy a whole set like a four lane or just buy a two lane set since I have two power packs and controllers? Dollar for dollar it looks like buying the whole sets are the way to go. I'd appreciate some of you sharpies chiming in and offering some advice. What should I do a 4 x 12 or 4 x 16? Thanks again for your help. I am so excited to get this set up. Great way to pass the long winters here in NJ.

Rusty :wave:


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## H.O. racer (Jan 21, 2008)

Personally, I think bigger is better. It all depends on what you want. With the speed of todays cars, long straight-a-ways and sweeping turns are a big plus. It may seem redundent to have multipal power packs and controllers, but the stock powerpacks and controllers do wear out and need replaced. If you plan to start with box stock power packs and controllers you can use the extra power packs to poower each lane individually eleminating power surges when a car de-slots. A wealth of information can be found at H.O.Slotcar Racing.com.


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## mmheyho (Jan 3, 2008)

*Build for four lanes*

I like the four lane track. It means more people playing less waiting. Plus you can race against your kid(s) and there friends. And if they are young enough you can give them tjets with added magnets (a sometimes not so popular thing to do) and you can use your fast magnet cars. They will think you are a racing God! And their cars won't flip off when they gun it on the turns...I mean while you are teaching them how to control the cars. Win win
Mike


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## GoodwrenchIntim (Feb 22, 2005)

H.O. racer said:


> Personally, I think bigger is better.


OH YEAH!!!!!!! 20 foot long..... 127 foot of 4 lane racing pleasure


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

Hi Rusty,
Bigger is always better. If you have Tomy track, the best option for you is to buy one of the larger Tomy sets - Super International, Long Beach (?) or Big D. Only the SI set is four lanes.

While my house has a lot of free room in the basement, my parents house here in NJ does not have as much. Therefore I was restricted on table size to 7.5' x 5.5'. While I made a nice road course, I can't have any long straights. So you can never really crank a car all the up to its full potential. That's why you want BIG!!!

You may also want to look at the thread I started on turning a four laner into a two laner found in this section. Although I built a four laner, I want to be able to quickly convert to a two laner by using a single crossover. This gives me the ability to have a four lane track yet use it as a two laner. Since I normally run by myself, a four laner is overkill.

Joe


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

Definitely, buy the set. Then you'll only need to find one more wall wart for individual power to each lane and don't forget 2 more controllers.  rr


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

> Bigger is always better.


To a point... once you get beyond 20-25 feet or so, depending on the age of the drivers, the ability to see HO cars drops off dramatically. It also depends on the layout. A realistic banked oval or tri-oval could probably go beyond 30-35 feet and not be a problem. Negotiating 6" turns from 25-30 feet away, at racing speeds, is a challenge. I've raced on 30 footers and seeing and hearing the cars wind out on the long straights is something to behold. Not being able to really see the hairpin heading into the long straight from the most distant drivers stations is equally frustrating for the drivers and marshals.

I think the perfect table dimensions for a "competition track" made from set track proportioned pieces is 18-20 feet long and 5 feet wide. The only thing magic about 4x16 tracks is the ability to use two uncut pieces of plywood for the table surface. On the other hand, the single best way to capture the essence of a truly custom and pseudo realistic layout is to break out of the constraints of a rectangular table dimensions and have a more flowing and natural design. Thinking outside of the box will almost always result in a more impressive layout.


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## Rusty Cragers (Dec 1, 2008)

Lots of great ideas here. Its snowin in central NJ and I'm in snow removal so my table building will have to wait to another day. Gotta make some coin to build a fun track. Thanks for the feedback so far and keep it coming.

Rusty


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## H.O. racer (Jan 21, 2008)

127'er, my kind of track! I'm wanting to build 4-6'x8' tables in my garage for use with a semi-perminant layout (I would get bored with a fixed layout). I'm going for at least 120'+ 4-lane. As stated before, my parent's house was limited space. I vowed to have a 4-lane track some day. To date I've bought the SI, 4-Way, Big "D", Long Beach, Giant, BB Battlers, and Super Coups sets plus some extra track and cars. Should give me enough track to do most anything. But, then again you can never have too much stuff. I'll power each lane independently. Heck, with 4 large tables I could even expand to 6-lanes no problem.
P.S. I started with a small oval 4-9"r turns an 2-9" straights.


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## neophytte (Sep 14, 2006)

AfxToo said:


> To a point... .


I'd agree with AfxToo; my table is 4 x 8, as I run by myself (for the majority of the time) it's a fairly comfortable size to be able to retrieve cars without too much walking around it. If I had someone to race against, maybe a 4 x 12 would be better, but unless you're running regular competitions, a 5 x 20 (et al) will cause you to put down the controller and walk around to fix a derail more times that you would care for. 

Unless you have remote-control controllers ...

Cheers

Richard


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## H.O. racer (Jan 21, 2008)

I've never had the opportunity to race on a table. I got hooked on large expansive layouts when my friend and I would combine our track in his parents basement, we'd cover as much space as possible (up to around 3 scale mi. of track), we raced T-jets and AFX non-mags (newest technology at the time). Now that I'm grown up (to use the term loosely) I'm able to build a table setup. I have a heated attached 1.5 car garage (12'x29') and want the ability to change the layout when the urge hits. 
My thought on using 6'x8' tables is the ability to have wide sweeping turns and the versitility (expansion from a 4-lane through 10-lane if I so choose). I agree it would be a hassle for resloting. I will (most likely) be racing solo most of the time. I fear the possible regret of building too small. After remeasuring the room (for some reason I thought it was wider, must have been thinking of my parents garage) I've decided mabe three tables, defenitly not four. I could have a 24'x6', 16'x6', 8'x6', and be able to arrange them in an I, H, or L pattern at will. I want to have it available for use by the local Boy Scouts (promote the hobby when possible).
I plan on using Homosite over plywood (at best, lightly lanscaped, the bulk of the weight would be track). What thickness if plywood do most racers use, 1/2" or 5/8"? I was also considering having the ability to break down the tables for storage. I'm not trying to hijack this thread, just though my questions and thoughts might help. Two for one you might say.


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