# My first track design



## BewstdGT (Jan 4, 2005)

*My first track design (photos)*














































I bought a big lot of Tyco stuff pretty cheap a couple years ago and finally decided to do something with it. The setup I have is equal length (17.1m) in both lanes with just about an equal lap times and banking. I dont have any lap timers on it yet but just from screwing around for a half hour both lanes are pretty even. It should make for some interesting racing! The table was built with 1/2" thick plywood and its 4x10 feet. The borders are pine 1x6's. Since we dont have a lot of room Im planing on anchoring it from the cieling with rope on some pulleys so we can raise it up to the cieling when its not in use. So far I like the track but before I spend all the time to bolt it all down and secure everything on wood platforms the right way Im going to make sure this is what we like. The track isnt very old school HO friendly. The non magnetic cars and the AFX magnitraction or Tjet barely sticks on the long banked back stretch but that can be tweaked some more. Anyway Im open to suggestions and ideas if you guys think the layout can be improved at all. Im just happy I finally have something I play with this winter.


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## martybauer31 (Jan 27, 2004)

Wow, looks like you put a lot of work into it, looks like a lot of fun for magnet cars, but like you said, not so much for the non mags. If it were me I would lose some of the banking and add some twisties on one of the straights to make it a bit more interesting.

Also, do yourself a big favor and put some 1/4" board under the elevated sections where you can, it will even the track out quite a bit, looks like they have the waves a bit at the moment with just using the stands.

Great start though, looks like you built yourself a really nice table as well.


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

I ran two lane tyco for years...that is a fast track bro...mag car heaven...

A couple things...Pad the inside of your retaining walls....it will save you some shattered bodies...

Lower your raised portions of track a bit....unless you are running the 18 wheelers...you dont need that much head room on your overpasses....

As noted above...subsitute some this wood bracing for the stock tyco pieces...

And I'd add the pingball net as Scafremon did in this thread on his first build:

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=168267

It will save you having to search for delotted cars under those work benches....  

And consider that in the future you may wish to expand to 4 lanes as I did...Once you go 4...you only want more....  

This is quite possible using the stock tyco 9" and 12" radius curves and some planning or plain old screwing around and testing...and we know now where to get the 6" and 15" radius TYCO curves as well from one of the board members here...

You can still do 4 lane banks...but you need to use adapters into the TOMY 9" and 12" banked curves and then adapt back to TYCO after the curve set...

And marty is right...if you ever plan on enjoying the slip sliders...you'll need to drop the banks most likely...

My layout is all flat right now so I can run the older cars as well as my 18 wheelers...although I do have a short track two lane in the infield with high banks to play with my stockcar mags and the TYCO electronic racing set with pits.....(which is kinda fun in itself)...

Oh...and welcome to your new addiction.... :thumbsup:


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

I can't really suggest much on track layout, as I haven't designed one myself, and aside from test laps on the Tuckaway I made, I haven't actually raced a slot car in decades. But I would like to hear how you put together the pulley system, since I am going to be going that same route.

I think I am going to go with a 3-door track layout, all flat track. When I go to put it away (raise it to the garage celing) I will stack the 3 doors with some spacers between, and pull them up as a group.

As for the net, I can attest that it worked well the 2 times I tested it. The cars both times hit the net and bounced back to the track. I'm pretty sure something would've busted on the cars had they hit wood at that speed.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

edit - One comment: I wonder if light glare from the blue table will be bothersome. I didn't realize I had bought 'glossy' green paint when I was building my track. I gave it a try on a couple pieces, but then thought against using it, and went back to get a different finish. You might want to make sure you are ok with the reflective finish before you attach.


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## sethndaddy (Dec 4, 2004)

I love the bowflex machine used as a slot car tackle box stand. thats why I refuse to buy any more excersise machines, they always end up a waste.


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## BewstdGT (Jan 4, 2005)

Thanks for the comments. And surprisingly, I do use my bowflex quite a bit hehe. Otherwise I'd have a beer gut like my dad and his dad before him.

The elevated section is way too high but until I build the right side supports I cant do much with it. Eventually it will be presentable and have the walls and protection barriers in place. I will definitely be padding the inside walls, already had one casulty last night with an old gplus that couldnt stick on the flat turns heh. The blue track surface is vinyl. We have a home based family business doing lettering, signs & shirt stuff. So it came in handy that I had a nice big blue roll. The camera flash adds a lot of glare, you dont see that when you race. My thinking is for right now it looks decent as blue but when I put the green carpet/cover over the table I can cut holes and my lakes are already colored. 

This was intended to actually be a 4-lane track but I couldnt find any 6" radius turns at the time. So eventually that may be in the cards. Since its just 2 of us using it Im satisfied with 2-lanes but if we get some friends involved maybe we'll expand. A 4x10 table is certainly enough room to have 4 lanes.

And just for the record, who sells the 6" radius stuff on here? It would be nice to know so when I expand Im able to get the pieces I need. Thanks everyone. I will keep you all posted as I progress thru the coming weeks. Happy Racing!


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

Grandcheapskate:

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/member.php?userid=29399

Use the "send PM by e-mail" option...

But he's kinda tied up at the moment and most likely not availble until after the holidays..

He also has the tyco 15" curves....if you want speed use the 12" as an Inner and 15" as the outer....then if you want a hairpin...use the 6" inner and 9" outer...

He has very reasonable prices...

I'm going to get a full set of both in 360 deg. and build a couple small table layouts for sale locally and liquidate my Tyco stuff...

I'm going to upgrade to TOMY track when I can...more variety of pieces...

BTW...if you sell that blue stuff in lots or have any scrap...that would make a perfect lake...


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## FastMann (Dec 19, 2006)

Oh man that looks awesome. I might need to clear some space for a ping pong table and get me an HO track at home.


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## Tycoarm (Jan 7, 2006)

I like the simplistic look to it but as said it's very non mag friendly.

I too would recommend losing some of the banking, try to maintain the clean look, so many of us feel we have to use every piece track and use every inch of real estate.

I learned that keeping things clean not cluttered makes for a better faster layout.

The things I keep in mind when planning a layout.

Don't cram the area, examples,
*Track to the edge of the table.
*Track touching each other.
*Trying to use all those 9"1/4 turns. 
*Try to put a least a lane gap between the track coming in contact with each other, if you plan on using aprons give yourself extra room to compensate for them.

Also if you do decide to go with some banking give yourself some shorter entrances and longer exits.

Elevations, no track is perfectly flat, add a dip here and a bump there.

Overpasses, Why not? but keep them under control.

And of course if room is a concern do what is best for your situation.


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

LOL...I set up a 4 lane temp track last night on the wifes 9x5 drapery cutting table...I violated every one of those rules...  

*snicker*


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## BewstdGT (Jan 4, 2005)

I dont really like how clean my track looks because the layout isnt what I had originally planned. If I had the extra cash I'd buy the 6" radius turns I needed and build it the way I had originally planned. But since I had to redesign the middle track sections the lanes were closer together than I would have liked. I did take some advice and add a few wiggles into one of the straights and it gave it more character:


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## glbbb (Jan 26, 2003)

Did you use blue vinyl to cover your table top? Or did you paint it?
GLBB


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## RacerDave (Mar 28, 2006)

Nice job. Looks like a serious speed track with those long straights. Dave.


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## BewstdGT (Jan 4, 2005)

I used blue vinyl. For now it looks better than the plywood and down the road when I add grass I can just cut out holes and the lakes will already be blue.

We've been racing magni-traction cars on them (Xtraction) and its a blast. The SG+ and Tyco stuff flys on this layout. But its not nearly as much fun as the older slower cars. I need to do some more reading on how to do some of the landscape stuff so I can finish the track. But I will post more pics later after I get it all done. Thanks for the compliments.


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

How many cars have you lost in that closet so far? :devil: Looks fast! :thumbsup: rr


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## videojimmy (Jan 12, 2006)

I like the set up, and I've had a few layouts like that one.. funny thing, my non mag cars handled the banking just fine. You just gotta go FAST!

I prefer multi leel layouts myself, although I'm in the minority on that one. I agree with the others on one thing.. it;s too high


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## glbbb (Jan 26, 2003)

Did you get my PM ?

GLBBB


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## BewstdGT (Jan 4, 2005)

I replied to your PM already, did you check your inbox?

I agree with the height problem. But the reason its like that is theres a banked turn going over top of antoher banked section of track so the 2nd lane is pretty high. Its higher now than it was and I hesitated but eventually Im going to try to landscape some rocky sidewalls to the high overapass bridge to add character. I like the height because its not the same as everyone else. Its not hurting anything really, the cars all make it past that section. Here are some pics of the progress as of now, still have a long way to go though! This stuff is time consuming heh.

http://www.designbydan.com/pt/HOTRACK7.jpg

http://www.designbydan.com/pt/HOTRACK8.jpg


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

Looking good!

Please also post some pics and explain how the ropes and the pulley will work.

I was looking at this garage storage thing by Racor. It's $100.00 at amazon, but the $40.00 in shipping costs gave me pause.


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## BewstdGT (Jan 4, 2005)

I will post pics of that tomorrow. I totally forgot about that part of the plan. We did get the pulley setup working but it was too akward to handle this big and heavy of a table. We had 4 100lb pulleys mounted on the floor beams and 4 steel snap clips/hooks. The plan was to run 2 ropes, one for each side and when you pull the slack in the ropes on each side it would raise up to the ceiling and you hook the ropes you just pulled underneath the table to support the weight. Well that whole concept got old and one person needed to be able to move the table by themself. Soooo we got a $75 winch to mount to the ceiling from harbor freight. And theres an I-bolt mounted to the center of the table for the winch to mount to. And there are still ropes on each corner that help it raise evenly instead of tipping all over. But I will get pictures tomorrow for you guys.


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