# Mudtown Motorplex nearing completion!



## Manning (Mar 2, 2004)

Track is finally functional!!! Whoo-hoo!! Been months in the making. Started early last winter. Right after my twin girls were born. Tough working on this project 20 minutes at a time........

Outside lane is just over 40' (per Tracker 2000). The corners at the ends of the long straight are 15"/18" radius. The tight corners in the infield are 6"/9" radius. The rest are 9"/12" radius. Green felt was used as the table surface. The perfectly fitting track borders are from Gregory Braun. 
( http://www.hoslotcarracing.com/ ).

Power is one Tomy wall wart per lane. Track has a jumper midway down the long straight, and in the short straight in the infield about 1/2way around. Magnet cars don't seem to have any voltage drop. 

Still tweaking the track joints to make them as smooth as possible. Outside lane is pretty good, the inside lane needs some more work.

Next up, padded walls (magnet cars sound horrible colliding with the wood walls at warp speed), commercial style controller stations with brakes and direction reversing switch, lane colors, and of course the timing system (photo- transistors are already installed). Hopefully can get the padding and lane colors done this weekend. 

A huge thanks to everybody on this board for giving out the great ideas, tips and tricks; and to Gregory Braun and his incredible website.


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

Excellent job.I wouldn't mind runnin some hot laps on that track.

Nice neat wiring job too!!!!!!!!!

Great stuff,thanks for showing us.

Mike


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## coach61 (Sep 6, 2004)

Sweet.. drop it off when Ya pass by next time.....goood job


Coach


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

Neat layout, really! Great stored shot. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: rr


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## Anti-Cop (Jan 25, 2005)

Awesome! I love the way you store it. I am thinking I might be able to get away with a bigger layout now if I did what you did! Looking good!


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## overbored77 (Feb 14, 2005)

mann is that a redesign of the whitefish bay layout cause it looks very familiar
I did the whitefish setup for our club track and people loved it . the 2 long straights and tightening corners made the track fun for all kinda racing

well your track looks great good luck


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## Manning (Mar 2, 2004)

Yep, the "Whitefish Bay 33" layout was strong inspiration. I orininally had a layout similar to the "Ravinia 35", but a buddy convinced me that some tighter corners would be needed to make more of a challenge, and keep it interesting over the long haul. Really glad the tight corners are there now. 

Got the lanes marked a week or two ago. Used red (outside lane), white and blue. Just left the inner lane all black. Used Testor's paint pens, and just ran around the inside of a rail. Worked surprisingly well. It actually looks somewhat professional. Used a single edge razor blade to scrape the paint from the top of the rail. On the third rail I wised up and stuck a neo magnet to the razor blade to suck up all of the tiny metal shavings. Worked really well. Wish I would have thought of it sooner.....Doh.

Also stuck some sleeping bag padding to the walls to ease the impact of the cars. The padding is 3/8" thick blue closed cell foam, probably polyethylene. Not crazy about the color, but I've got a zillion contingency stickers leftover from my former life as a NHRA Stock Eliminator racer. Should make the layout look a bit 'racier'. 

The wife and kids are going out of town this weekend, so hopefully the controller stations can get started.......


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

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## Manning (Mar 2, 2004)

"Mudtown" is also the nickname of the small suburb of Fayetteville, Arkansas in which I live. 

I have absolutely no clue why, and neither does anybody that I've asked....  ....Every summer, we celebrate "Mudtown Days".......... :freak:


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

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## Manning (Mar 2, 2004)

It's only been 7 months or so since the picture request......

One pic shows the hinge from the bottom with the track folded against the wall.

The other is of the hinge side from the top with the track ready to use. 

There are 4 big T hinges screwed to a 2x6 which is lag bolted to the studs in the wall. Shouldn't be going anywhere.......

There are 2 padlock hasps on the top to keep it against the wall. Seems to work well. I'm just tall enough to be able to flip the hasps up to get the track down. If it were 2 inches higher, there would have been a problem.....

There is also heavy duty corner braces in the frame, and a piece of angle iron running down the edge for repetitively redundant bracing to reduce flex.....


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## Heliopolis (Nov 24, 2005)

That looks like one awesome setup. Thanks for sharing. -- Greg


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