# Possible routed home track design



## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

I've been playing around designing an HO track for a school slot car club and thought that maybe I need an HO track for home. There's a possibility I could just use the Scorpion track seen in this thread. I have a room in my basement that's 15 feet wide so I designed a two lane track to fit that room. It'll be 15' x 38" and have 1.5" lane spacing with 1.75" gutters. Track length on the outside lane is 76.96 feet and the inside is 76.17 feet – a difference of about 9 inches. I started with the Scorpion track design and added a few corners and some esses. 

It's to be CNC routed, probably using Sintra and have stitching wire for rails. Whad'ya all think?










Cheers,

Todd


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

Very nice design.

Equal lane lengths only matter for drag racing. Otherwise, it's meaningless.


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## munsonator008 (Jan 12, 2005)

Very nice layout but I would go with 4 lanes , you will regret it later.I would not worry so much about the lanes being equal everyone has to run on every lane ,Just my opinion.


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## H.O. Slotrods (Jan 30, 2009)

nice lay out but needs no less than 4 lanes.


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## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

AfxToo said:


> Very nice design.
> 
> Equal lane lengths only matter for drag racing. Otherwise, it's meaningless.


Good point AFXtoo.



munsonator008 said:


> Very nice layout but I would go with 4 lanes , you will regret it later.I would not worry so much about the lanes being equal everyone has to run on every lane ,Just my opinion.





H.O. Slotrods said:


> nice lay out but needs no less than 4 lanes.


You're right guys, the more I look at this layout, the more it needs two more lanes. Back to the drawing board. Good thing I like doing this, otherwise it could become a bit tedious. I am getting quite the collection of track layouts though. 

Cheers,

Todd


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## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

H.O. Slotrods said:


> nice lay out but needs no less than 4 lanes.


So here it is in 4 lanes.


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## munsonator008 (Jan 12, 2005)

not a whole lot of run off may be hard to get through any wrecks


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## munsonator008 (Jan 12, 2005)

what way are you running it


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## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

munsonator008 said:


> not a whole lot of run off may be hard to get through any wrecks


I'd probably put up plastic barriers between lanes. :freak:



munsonator008 said:


> what way are you running it


Clockwise most likely but I'd like to be able to either way.


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

tossedman said:


> So here it is in 4 lanes.


Don't forget the meatballs for that middle bit! :freak:

I'd go more blind with that many turns :lol:


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

That's very close to a Scorpion design. I would probably remove the innermost infield switchback and put the esses in the remaining infield section.

Think about the marshals in this design. The drivers are on the front, along the long straight. Directly across from the drivers is one or more marshals along the back. Those poor marshals are going to have to manage 5 major sections of track, 4 lanes each in that middle part of the track. You would need a marshal with freakishly long arms and no beer belly to reach wrecks on the short straight inside the long one. That's a tough order to fill. Sure, you could use track calls (the bane of exciting racing) to retrieve wayward cars that wreck in the infield, but that's not a great solution.

I would tend to run this track CCW because of the lovely sweeper on teh left side leading into the straight. With that kind of lead-in to the longest straight it's unlikely that you would get many wrecks on the front straight (ignoring leak overs from the infield).

As others have mentioned, look at where crash walls would need to be and also think about marshaling accessibility and congestion. A great track design accommodates many such considerations.


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## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

AFXToo you're right about marshalling. I have freakishly long arms and no beer belly and just thought that everyone else was just like me! 

I thought I'd see what I could come up with on the computer. It's always good to draw something and come back to it a few days later and have a closer second look. It was fun to draw, might be fun to drive but wouldn't be fun to marshall. I'd thought about placing it against the wall to save space but that would make marshalling impossible.:freak: 

I've already drawn up a Scorpion in both 4 lanes and 6 lanes. I think I'll probably go with the 4 lane Scorpion for home. This one's a bit too much. I also think it'll have to be away from the wall in order to be able to marshall it more easily.

Thanks for the input. :thumbsup:

Todd



AfxToo said:


> That's very close to a Scorpion design. I would probably remove the innermost infield switchback and put the esses in the remaining infield section.
> 
> Think about the marshals in this design. The drivers are on the front, along the long straight. Directly across from the drivers is one or more marshals along the back. Those poor marshals are going to have to manage 5 major sections of track, 4 lanes each in that middle part of the track. You would need a marshal with freakishly long arms and no beer belly to reach wrecks on the short straight inside the long one. That's a tough order to fill. Sure, you could use track calls (the bane of exciting racing) to retrieve wayward cars that wreck in the infield, but that's not a great solution.
> 
> ...


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Put it on wheels.. Store it against the wall for down time and solo running, and pull it away for racing!! Saves a ton of space doing it that way!!


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## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

My thoughts exactly! 



slotcarman12078 said:


> Put it on wheels.. Store it against the wall for down time and solo running, and pull it away for racing!! Saves a ton of space doing it that way!!


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