# New Sequoia Speedway



## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Sometime after the first of the year my current slot car track will be replaced with a newer, larger facility. My 3X6 layout has been good, we've had a lot of great racing on it and it taught me some things about banking flat corners. But the time has come to build something a bit more capable of hosting the faster CoT Lifelike cars we will be switching to in 2009. 










The new track (top) will only have 45" straights but the corners will be 18/15 radius on a 4X8 layout. They will also be flat, I won't try banking them again as the extended radius corners should allow enough speed. The current Sequoia (bottom) is a tight 9/12 radius track with about 8 degrees of banking but pretty rough through the corners. 

The new track will be fully landscaped with fencing, walls and will be sunk into 1/4" foam board so that it's all flush with the track. 1" run off areas will extend outside the corners before the walls. The outside walls will be N scale model railroad cork roadbed with fiberglass fencing another 2" above the 1 1/2" wall. Wood doweling will be used for fence posts, simply because they break instead of bend and will be more easy to replace. In the corners will be a "safer barrier" of corrugated cardboard the height of the cork wall. Painted white, this stuff looks like scale safer barrier and will permit some pretty stiff shunts without hurting the cars. It's also really easy to work with and easy to find for free (at the post office....I love priority mail boxes!).

I know that our HO cars are closer to 1/64th than true HO but in an attempt to force perspective a number of HO features will be incorporated into the layout. Most notably will be the emergency and track vehicles and static spectators. The current Sequoia makes use of 2D pictures of spectators on an angled surface, the new track will have hand built bleachers, grandstands and a Skybox with outside stair cases and individual HO scale people. More people will be added over time, I am hoping to have about 300 in the stands by the time the rest of the landscaping is done. At about $8 for 75 unpainted sitting people this should be pretty easy to deal with. 

The surface will once again be painted as concrete, with weathering. One thing I won't do with this track I did with the old Sequoia is use gravel anywhere on the layout. For the first few races we had a lot of problems with the kitty litter (it's what I used) getting into the slots and causing deslotting. There will be grass where grass is appropriate but no dirt or gravel. 

The current Sequoia Speedway is up for sale locally, asking price is $250 and it will go with three 75 ohm controllers, a G-Jet power pack and 3 Super G+ open wheel cars. If it does not sell by January, the time when the new Sequoia is ready to race on, it will be salvaged out. I'll take all of the trees, electrical and anything else of use and transfer it over to the new layout. This coming week the track pieces will be ordered and in about two weeks the board and framing will be done. I'll do a step by step but this one won't be as labor intensive as the current track or even close to what LSMR was.


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Sounds like a great plan Pete! Can't wait to see what this track will look like - you always do a great job on the details bro. Who ever gets the old Sequoia will definitely be getting a good deal for all the work you put into. Good luck on its sale and good luck with the build up!

PD2:thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

After practice last night the Hicks Brothers and I talked about the new track idea, we may begin building it much sooner at their shop. It will be financed by them in exchange for technical help and help with promoting it. They already have all of the wood, wiring and some 1/4" material to sink the track into. They have a complete machine shop so making things won't be a problem. Electrical will cost them about $100 for a BSRT power pack and good controllers. And I have all of the wall material I'll be giving them. It will have a unique name but it hasn't bee decided yet.


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Pete.....

You're a pretty handy guy with this stuff.Why dont you skip sinking it into foam board,and kill about three birds with one stone.Sink it into some mdf or partical board or whatever you call that stuff.

The oval would be relatively easy to cut out with a jig saw,and you have the ability to use the outsides as turn borders.

I admire the lengths I see you go to to bring HO racing to younger people.I too am big on that as well,tho most of the guys I do have come down here are usually in high school or college.

Every one of them goes nuts and loves it.

I havent had much luck getting anyone to actually commit to racing on a regular basis unless I supply the cars and controllers.

But after seeing the thread on the Tyco chassis blowout,I might stock up on those and some parts and just become a "dealer" and sell the guys what they need.

Anyway,keep the updates coming.

Mike


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

Mike, remember dealer theory. Hey man, the first ones free...


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Mike, I generally supply the cars with my track. All the driver has to do is sand the tires, do some minor adjustments and race. This cuts down on the cheating. With the World GP Series we even randomly chose the chassis before each race. In 2009 I'm going to be getting away from supplying everything and requiring everyone to have at least their own cars. We will be picking teams, not just car numbers, between Christmas and New Years. I get to pick first and already have my eye on DEI, I want a #3 CoT in the worst way.

As far as the new track, both the Hicks Brothers are into HVAC, and their shop is a 5000 square foot machine shop where they make everything from ducting to putting together custom units. They have this really neat insulation material that is like foam but it's not. They want just a minimum of landscaping though, fences, walls and that's it, no buildings. James has already started putting together the base and legs, they're going to use track from their Super International that I gave them earlier this year. Still no name for it but they're leaning towards Yosemite Speedway. 

As for Sequoia, since I'm keeping it I'll be renovating it. The 2D bleachers and grandstands will be removed and replaced with more realistic units, and the HO scale people will populate those. I have some railroad switching lights that will be placed at the start/finish, and the exit of turn 2 and 4. Everything else will remain about same except I still need to get the 4 Parma 75 ohm controllers I've been planning on buying since building it. 

Tuesday I place the order for the rest of the CoT's for the guys already committed to the first series. Then I am going to sit back and take it easy and race for a little while.


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Sounds like a sweet deal with the Hicks Brothers! Plenty of space to have more than just a few guys racing around the track too. 

$100 for a BSRT power supply AND controllers? Which controllers? That actually does not sound like a bad deal! And is the BSRT power supply a variable or fixed voltage unit?

Make sure to keep us in the loop on both the build up and the Sequoia renovations!

PD2:thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Paul, Parma's, probably 45 ohmers at $20 each. The 4 I had disappeared after an away race and I'm using the little plastic replacement ones that cost like $5 each. Each track will have to have their own now. 

My renovations won't begin until after this series, I'm still deciding on how detailed to make my stands and keep it durable enough to be moved every week.


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Pete McKay;2529482
As far as the new track said:


> Its been years since I have been in a sheet metal shop,but if I was those guys and only wanted an oval,Id go with a routed track for sure.Even something modular,like two 8 foot tables that you could connect and disconnect from each other.
> 
> Our buddy Slot V has some pretty good layout drawings for building bleachers and what not.
> Ive had pretty good luck with that foam poster board and a hot glue gun.
> ...


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Well they do have a good supply of copper material that could be sunk as rail. Same with stainless steel. But since this is their first track I think they will be going small and with Tomy pieces. I gave them the Super International back in April so they have it laid out and ran some laps this evening. I wasn't there but I hear it's fast.


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Pete on the controllers.....

You say that you are going to order in some 45 ohm Parmas.
From my experience,assuming you will be going with LL or SG chassis,the 45's are just a tad too "touchy" for my liking.

I have found 25's to be of far more use,for me personally and as far as newbies are concerned.

Then again,my 15 year old son uses the 45 I bought him years ago for anything that he puts on the track.

Just a thought.

Mike


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Mike we do slow rolling starts, the controllers I had I believe were 75 ohm and for my tiny oval worked great. I had them for almost 20 years and they were a part of every track I've built in that time period. I had an away race at a hobby shop in a town near me and when I got the track back home noticed my controllers and remote timer had been taken out of my grips box. Needless to say a call to the hobby shop didn't lead to any suspects and several visits out on race night have not led to their recovery. They have invited me back twice with my track, both times I refused until my stuff is returned. I just don't have the cash on hand to replace them right now and have been using some A/FX controllers like those found in layout sets for the time being. They work, but just not as well.


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