# Laguna Seca Breaks Ground.



## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Fresno, CA - Associated Press International

*Press Release*

After a nice breakfast of ham and eggs with bisquits and gravy, the first pilot holes for a scale version of the old Laguna Seca Raceway from the 1960's were drilled. In just over an hour the basic framing and border boards were up and the layout was awaiting it's legs.



















The 6' by 6' layout weighs 88 lbs complete with the legs, is framed by 2X4's and the base is 3/4" OSB partical plywood. Bordering the layout base are 1" x 12" primed shelving boards, which will help contain the 11 inches of elevation change planned for the layout.

Seriously, this is the first step to building my layout. I've put off starting this layout because of things going on in my life. This is my way of getting back to racing as it was meant to be. I need to run to Home Depot one more time to get the legs and then spend a few hours cleaning up my spare bedroom so I can get it standing up. The base level will be just over 3' since the sides are another foot higher. 

Over the next month I'll be adding layers of styrofoam building up my racing surface. I'll be posting the progress as it goes from here. Already Smokey, the Russian Gray cat, has been investigating what he will undoubtedly consider a new play area.


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

Yeah now that looks a lot bigger than I first thought about it when you posted about it. 6X6 is 36 square feet, where a 4X8 is only 32 square feet, so you're having to make up space on buying styrofoam sheets that are 4X8. Since not every sheet will cover 36 sq. ft. then you won't have to buy 12 of them to get your elevation I guess. Looks like a waterbed frame to me.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

As expected the rest of the pieces needed for the track came today. I laid it out flat on the floor to make sure I had everything I needed:










The pit road will be dead lanes with the turns shaped to blend in with the hot lanes. There will be about a foot of elevation change from the straight between turn 1 and 2 and the corkscrew. I still need to clean out my spare room and get the base set up, then the messy part of laying out the foam begins.


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

Why the hell are they doing the carpet now? They should have done it when you moved in.

What you should do is take all of those priority mail boxes you have and use them to build your general elevations. Fill them with expanding insulation or newspaper then build your styrofoam layers on top of that to get the shapes that you want. Fill in the gaps under the sheeting with expanding foam as you go. You could be done in a week instead of a month if you went that route, each 1" elevation will cost you $9 if you do it strictly with foam boards. That's over $100 on just the strofoam landscaping. I'm sure you'd rather have $100 in spectators and trees.

You have a lot of open area from the looks of the track, is that going to all be landscaped? Like parking areas, refreshments, etc? Also, maybe you should consider making it into the current era layout with the infield section just to use that area. I'd just paint it green and be done with it, if you put lifelike grass on it you're always going to have that stuff everywhere. Texture it by spraying it with green enamel paint and then use a thick nap roller and just roll it all grass green. When it gets damaged it'll be easier to fix too.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

They had to wait until the new year, something about budgets, yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm getting new carpet, who cares. This one looks like evidence from an episode of CSI Miami. 

I may do the box thing with some areas but not the whole thing. I think using expanding foam insulation inside the boxes would be better strength wise. I need first to establish elevations where the track runs, then build into it from the vacant areas. I'm still not entirely ruling out something like paper machet or even a fiberglass shell that is fully supported from below by styrofoam. 

And the lifelike grass was an idea but I see your point, I'll have little flecks of grass everywhere for years to come. I'll use several shades of green and sort of dirt color next to the track, and tan in the run off areas. Easy touch ups when the cars scratch it all up. 

Something I need to address with the rapid elevation drop at the corkscrew is chassis rub on the track. T-jets sit a little higher than most slot cars so I need to keep it in mind the other chassis style that may someday race here. From turn 2 to the corkscrew is a 11" climb, from the top of the corkscrew to turn 6 you'll lose 5", turn 6 to turn 8 drops another 3". I'm going to try to bank turns 6 and 7 to make it a bit more highspeed. Not much I can do with banking the corkscrew, and it will be wicked.


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

Pete McKay said:


> Not much I can do with banking the corkscrew, and it will be wicked.


Pete,

Maybe use shims, if you want some banking on the screw?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Scarf, there'll be some pitch but not necessarily banking. My concern is that since these are 6" diameter hairpins I'm going to make it impossible to get through there with the down slope as it is, I'd just like to make it a little easier.

After about 4 hours the layout is taking shape. It's very ugly so no pictures right now, but so far I've used 4 sheets of styrofoam, about a dozen boxes and a gallon of elmers glue. Not an exaggeration with the glue, a gallon has been used. I have the track elevations set to within half an inch, which is the thickness of the final piece of foam board I have to overlay all of the under workings. I've pretty much resigned myself to a thin shell of paper mache just because the foam is harder to work with than I had thought. I'd like to keep the weight down to less than 150 lbs so I'm sacrificing some realism in some places.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Martin, I just read the part about putting the extension back in and no, there's no way now that I've started the landscaping. It'll be fine, it may take some time before I post progress pictures but it's already taking some shape.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Alrighty then, I know:

1. It is ugly just yet, but stick around and it will get better.

B. Expanding foam is a wonderful tool that I'm just now beginning to appreciate. It also makes a tasty midnight treat with cinnimon and sugar. 

And most important... IT IS NOT DONE!.










I got up early this morning after staying up until almost midnight last night working on this thing. I laid out the track again to see where I needed to build it up more under the track itself. So far it's about where I want it to be. I then hooked it up to power and discovered a few problem areas that I have immediately taken care of.

1. The corkscrew had some of it's pitch removed. In about 50 laps with a T-Jet I crashed 40 times, even using a very low power setting. The drop off was the culprit so it's not as steep now. I think meerly having it represented is enough at this point, I want the racing to be better than the crashing. I ran 50 more laps without the steep pitch and got through with relatively good speed.

2. The turn 6 complex has been radically changed to an opening apex corner. The schematic is 6" 1/8th, 9" 1/8th into a 12" 1/8th. This was done instead of trying to bank it, this allows a really good drive out of the corner heading into the second criss-cross track. 










3. Turn 8 was also changed into a tightening apex, a 9" 1/4 into a 6" 1/8th slows the cars down for a quick finish line charge. 










Total elevation changes so far are 9" and I have a couple more layers of foam in the middle, then one more 1/8" thick layer over all the entire layout that the track will lay down into. Over that will be one think layer of paper mache just to make for a smooth crack free surface.

The layout flexs with movement, something I can't get rid of but I'm having to compensate for because it'll be moved from time to time. Surface painting will help avoid some of the cracks but everytime it is moved I'll have fault lines to fix. This is supposed to be a close representative of a real world track, and I think it'll be close enough that those familiar with Laguna Seca will recognise it once it is done.

BTW AfxTwo, your method of using a wire brush to shape the styrofoam has worked the best so far, thanks!!


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

The real corkscrew has a dogleg to the right before it goes left, is there a way to model that in? And how about making turn 7 a larger diameter since that's a fast exit from turn 6. That way you can carry more speed through that section. Since you're so close to the sidewalls are you still doing the drive in bridge?

Also I finally saw that you're using that lap counter track, have you run t-jets through it yet? I don't think they'll have enough to trip it, either that or you'll be breaking guide pins. 

Forget about paper mache, it cracks and breaks apart like an eggshell. You'd be better off just filling in and repainting any fault lines that appear. Just texture the sheeting after you shape it with spray enamel/lacquers, fill in the cracks with expanding foam or water based spackle and paint it.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I don't know about changing the configuration of the corkscrew, I'm having a hard enough time now with the track being right to the outside of the layout. I'll look into making a wider sweep with turn 7, no promises. I haven't run anything through that lap counter yet but I'll look into it tonight. I have an extra 15" so if I need to sub that piece out I can. I'm starting to get a bit frustrated with the foam boards, building elevations is taking a lot more glue and I'm winding up with a lot more gapping than I wanted. I doubt that I'll have that overpass into the infield at this point, I'm running out of money for supplies and I have a lot more to do. I figured 3 months to complete this thing, that'll just about be the timetable too.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Told you guys you'd get bored...

Last few shots until Monday. I'm almost out of glue again (2nd gallon) but I still have 1 complete sheet of foam plus some left. I have one can of expanding foam and will buy one more tomorrow for some problem areas. But using the wire BBQ brush has been working nicely on contouring the edges. 










I've been able to keep the mess down to just a good vacuming off the track except for some glue leaking out of the bottom of the track. Screw it, I get new carpeting in two weeks. The next couple of days I'm going to shape the foam and recess the track surface. I'll make the decisions about the surface this coming week as well.


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

Boring? Heck no - It's captivating!

Why so much glue? How much does a gallon of glue weigh? What's on the videotapes? Where are you using the expanding foam?

Keep the updates coming!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Styrofoam tends to suck the glue up, and this is a very big layout. The expanding foam is being used to fill gaps between and under sheets that curve and to help hold the foam in place as well. The video tapes are to add weight to the sheets to make sure they are in full contact with their glued side. I also use toothpicks to secure them in place while they dry. 

The shaping is about 80% complete. I have one more can of gap filling I need to get and some water based spackel for a couple of problem areas. This is where we are right now:










The steps on the far end are where the corkscrew comes down into turn 6 and will be planed out better shortly. I should be ready to sink the track starting tomorrow.


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

Pete I talked to the guy that built the big road course down here and he said he used liquid starch and those blue mechanics paper towels to mache his layout and it worked great. The starch is cheap, less than the elmers glue is and the towels are about a buck fifty a roll. Once you sink the track you should mache it out with the track in place to build up the berms around it. Are you going to sink the pit lane too?


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

Martin Simone said:


> I don't think they'll have enough to trip it, either that or you'll be breaking guide pins..


I wouldn't worry too much about the counter. I've had one in every layout since 2001... never broke a guide pin yet and from what I can tell, tjets got plenty of oomf to get through (that's all I run). You can also open up the lap counter from the bottom and monkey with the spring if the clicker thingie seems too stiff. The first one I had was a little too robust and that's what I did. The one I have now came new with less tension in it, so it was used right out of the box. I guess they vary... who woulda thunk a mass produced piece of plastic could have quality control issues? From China too? ...lol

Looking good Pete. :thumbsup: .... Carry on ! ! ..... nuther


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

tjd, I'll have to check it, I still haven't run a TJ through it yet, I lost a rear tire on the one I have and don't have a spare. I ran an old anemic magna-traction through it without a problem though.

Martin I plan to do a mache covering, there's just too much inconsistancy with the foam. Someone told me about the liquid starch already at work and I'll try the paper towel trick too. The track will be glued then soldered together in 4 sections, each wired with a jumper. That way if I need to get under it for a problem I can pretty much figure out which section I need to pull up. The biggest problem so far has been the corkscrew.










It's hard to tell with everything being so white but from the top of the corkscrew to where the track exits the picture at the bottom is a 6" elevation change. The corner has an opening apex and a slight bank which may wind up being the fastest corner on the circuit. When I mache the track it'll be built up to the track edge, I have a plan for that too. 

Right now it's spackling with some vinyl spackle, test fitting the track and adjusting it in the places needed. Once that's done I'll take about a week off until the next payday.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Last evening I got a visit from half a dozen racers that I used to race the oval track with, even Martin and his brother Simon drove up from Bakersfield to see this thing. Most of the guys stayed until the wee hours of the morning....remember these are car salesmen that had to be back on the lot this morning at 8AM so it was nice for them to spend the time.

Last summer I was contracted to build bodies for SCSRA and the CCRA, mostly dirt late models that some of you also got your hands on. These are also the guys that commissioned the AMG Eagle Indy body I did for Magna-Tractions that was used in the mini-Indy in May, a lot of those went out internationally. These are the same guys that contracted those bodies, and now they've contracted Laguna Seca for a series of races to begin in March. 

I built this track to be a T-Jet specific track. It's not designed to be a fast track, more of a drivers track where car set up and skill are needed more than speed. I had planned to race other classes of cars here but at a lower power setting. The first "official" race will be a SCSRA event using X-Tractions though, sporting the 2007 AMG Eagle bodies that were handed out for their series. As it stands right now 12 cars will be entered, 13 if you count the one I have that I need to work on. Since this is a two-lane track they're having to create a program for the event but it will be a modification of the round robin they've used for 20 years or so. 

They have also asked about the possibility of having a hard body Can-Am series over the summer and that sounds like something I'm going to be very much up for. In looking at buying cars I kept coming back to the older Can Am cars, so I'm sure in my research I'll include at least one in my collection. But the shift from it being a T-Jet circuit to a X-Traction/Magna-Traction curcuit seems to have begun. I may do a proxy race over the summer just to pad the entry list once racing starts.

Here's the latest. The track is now sunk into the foam and I need to work on the run-off area's a little.


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

_"My name is Eric Rios, and I want to thank Martin for allowing me access to this forum through his account."

"First let me congratulate Peter on being accepted to the SCSRA. As egotistical as this may sound the Southern California Scale Racing Association doesn’t just allow any track to be sanctioned. We have two categories, the first being tracks over 50 feet per lap length, the second for those track being less than 50 feet, which Peter’s track falls under. Any track accepted by the SCSRA must be based on a real-world race course and have at least three defining features that identify it as such." 

"Peter’s scale model of Laguna Seca either met or exceeded our requirements for scale representation and features. Regarding the layout itself it is well constructed with being transported in mind. The tracks features we looked at were representative elevation changes similar to Laguna Seca, general layout and The Corkscrew turn complex. These three features qualified the course for sanctioning. However we also have a minimum requirement beyond those specific features which were also met. Those being having a reliable and available lap counting and qualifying timing system, power adequate to operate all lanes without a power drop or surge of more than 1.5vdc with all lanes in operation, and an enclosure that will prevent de-slotted cars from dropping to the ground in most accident cases." 

"In our two categories of racing we allow traction magnet cars (hence known as magnet cars) on those track over 50’ per lap only. A traction magnet car, by our rules definition, is a car with a separate magnet provided specifically for traction and no other function. This indicates that a vintage Aurora G-Plus car would not be a traction magnet car, although a Tomy Super G-Plus would be. This includes any of the current and upcoming redesigned Thunderjet 500 and X-Traction cars being produced with a neo magnet providing traction. Cars that had traction magnets as part of their original equipment and have had them been removed count as a non-traction magnet car. The BSRT G-Jet specifically is a non-traction magnet car."

"Peter’s track will see sanctioned racing with non-magnet cars even though it could very well qualify for magnet status simply because it is a fast, well thought out course. Thursday evening as part of our examination a variety of cars were run on the still uncompleted course; they were the X-Traction chassis, Vintage G-Plus chassis, Tyco 440 and 440X2 chassis, Tomy Turbo, Super G-Plus and SRT chassis and the upgraded BSRT G-Jet chassis. In all but one case we found that the track suited all cars, the one detractor was a car that had aftermarket tires of less than .440 in diameter which drug the track surface through the entry into The Corkscrew. In virtually all of the cases the cars found the “lower” part of the track, from the exit of Turn 8 all the way through the top of the hill just before The Corkscrew to be flat out and wide open, with the slightest bit of drifting for non-magnet cars through Turn 3. This amounts to a straightaway of extraordinary length of about 14' for a layout just 6’X6’." 

"In closing I’d like to express my gratitude to Peter for allowing our presence with such short notice; he was an excellent host as always. Laguna Seca will host its first SCSRA event the second weekend in March, as already announced it will be an X-Traction open wheel event featuring his styled body for that car. It may be the first race but certainly won’t be the last." _ 

Sincerely,
Eric R. Rios, Chairman
Southern California Scale Racing Association.


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

I wanted to post Eric's messege before I posted my own. All I can say is wow. I raced two cars, a G-Plus and a Super G-Plus, and you can pretty much flat foot it from the exit of turn 8 all the way to the top of the hill, and you get amazing speed up the hill too. Something about the cross track just before turn 3 slows you down enough that you can fly through there too. But slow down you must because it's tough getting woahed down to get through the corkscrew without crashing. I watched the guys with the XT cars go off the first few times, then they learned to slow down. Just about every Magna-traction and X-traction drifted through turns 1, 2 and 3 but not so much that they were in danger of spinning out. And none of the pictures yet posted take the whole thing in. From the low spot between turns 1 and 2 to the top of the corkscrew is at least 10" in elevation change, very nice. Then from the corkscrew to turn 7 the track drops 6". Turn 7 to turn 8 is fairly level but the front stretch drops another 4" through turn 1. I can just imagine once it is finished with trees and buildings how this thing will look.


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## coach61 (Sep 6, 2004)

Martin, welcome to the light.. Leave the dark side and join with those of the light......LOL....


Coach!


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

coach61 said:


> Martin, welcome to the light.. Leave the dark side and join with those of the light......LOL....
> 
> 
> Coach!



Coach, like Pete I started racing the bigger scales but I kept some of my HO stuff. I just didn't bring my pancake cars this time. I need to get some stuff to rebuild the cars. But even at 12 volts magnet cars have a good time on this course despite it being considered a small layout. The 18" radius corners in 1 and 2, and the 12" in 3 just lend themselves to providing some great speed. I can remember watching CART race this configuration in the mid 1980's and they were very fast in the same sections.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

The combination of the uphill, a slight bank in those coners and the wide radius was designed from the beginning since this track lacks a proper high speed straight. Pancake motor cars were lapping in the 6 second to 7 second range, stock magnet cars were running just under 5 seconds per lap. Simon had a modified Tomy Tubo with a ALMS Panoz body that clicked off a 3.35 second lap and except for the corkscrew and turn 8 was pretty much wide open. But he also hung up in the corkscrew several times because of his neo traction magnet making rail contact and just not wanting to let go. Mega-downforce sometimes has its drawbacks. About the best stock car laps were run by the new Tomy SRT Chapperal 2D and SRT GT-40's, in the mid 5 second per lap range.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

From the Laguna Seca historical site, this is the track from 1960.










There was a lake in the infield that was filled in by 1966, and the vehicle bridge had not been built yet. But the pit lane and pit area were about the same. This is a good shot of the elevation changes and where the old growth of trees are around the uphill section. My layout will have at least 20 and probably 25 trees along the hill section. In some of the pictures I've seen there were even grape vines that I've considered doing.

I've also found some cheap HO scale figures, unpainted. I'm planning on 72 standing and 72 sitting either on the hillsides or in bleachers yet to be built. For $8.00 for a bag of 72 it's a decent price. The cars will be all diecasts that I've been getting from thrift stores over the last month or so for a quarter a piece. I still need some emergency equipment but that is in the works.

Buildings will be ordered in three weeks, there will be a scoring tower, a large shop, refreshment stand, a rusty quonsut hut with some grounds keeping equipment around it, scattered out-houses, a medical clinic and the scaffolds I've been building. There won't be any spectator bridges by request from the SCSRA, they don't want anything blocking a marshal's arm from reaching a de-slotted car. But I will be painting in the worn pathways in the hillside as part of the landscaping.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

After a couple of days off over the weekend I've been working on Laguna Seca again. I decided not to have a slotted pit lane, instead I got a piece of foam board and marked out the area as shown in the 1960 altitude shot. Then I traced that onto the foam and set to sink it into the foam and try to level it out some.










This gives me an area of about 20" along the straightaway and about 15" deep. It'll have the entrance off the track before turn 8 and re-enter the track just before the lap counter. It's flat and very close to level but I'll have to build up the paper mache to the edge on the downhill side. There will be 7 buildings of various size either on or just off the pit area and it will be painted to resemble concrete when finished. I do plan a victory lane but it may be a seperate area.

The next step is to completely mask the track and lay it into the recess that I carved into the foam already. The track will be glued on the bottom using that cool expanding foam I used elsewhere, with tape to keep it from actually contacting the track. This will fill any gaps under the track and before it sets I'll tape the track down so it sits into the recess properly, and gives me my desired elevation changes with under track support.

After the foam dries I'll set to doing the paper mache work. I'll work all the way up to the edge of the track, with the tape to protect the track from contact with the mache. There are a number of run-off areas that will be paper mache the depth of the track, this was designed to be a bit tougher area than just the single layer of mache over foam. 

Like I said before the mache will be those nice mechanics paper towels, the blue ones, dipped in liquid starch. This was an inexpensive and very durable way to mache relayed to me by a co-worker that the community center. She even showed me how tough two layers of newspaper was with the starch, so I'll be OK doing it this way. My concern as it always has been is weight. Once the water evaporates it will not be as heavy, like all the glue I had to use. Right now we're hovering at 96 lbs for the entire layout with the track. My goal weight is 120 lbs or less.


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

Pete,

How does the paper mache process you are using compare to that plaster-cloth that some people use? Is it basically the same thing, at a lower cost? 

I'm also curious to see the lil people you purchased, and how you go about painting them.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

36 sq. ft. of plaster cloth would cost about $12 for a single layer, the paper mache would cost $9 for the starch (1 gallon) and $1.50 for each roll of paper towels, and I would need 2 for a single layer. The plaster would be a much harder surface but it would also be three times the weight. Since (I hope) I don't need the surface to be extremely hard the mache is a better deal from the weight and economics aspect.

Now, I have done paper mache before....in the 3rd grade. I haven't done anything since then and I haven't ever tried this starch deal. I'm going to do a one square area to see how it conforms and how fast it will set up. From there I'll decide on doing the rest with the starch or go back to hydrocal or something heavier.


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

I wonder how a water based duct mastic would work if "painted" on directly over the foam? It's probably somewhere between paper mache and plaster in terms of weight but probably much more durable than paper mache. Since it is a water based product you could probably mix a bit of your "ground" color latex paint in with it to get the color closer to what you'll want. You could also try thinning it out a bit to reduce the thickness and weight of the skin coat. You can buy it in caulking tubes and in pails so experimenting with it may be worthwhile.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

AFX, interesting idea. I'll check into that in the AM. My problem is also flexibility, something the plaster won't be, and the mache may not be. But using a paper towel with fibers is like adding rebar in a sense, it may give it more durability like the plaster cloth would be but lighter I hope. The issue with most of the stuff that adds weight is basically how heavy is it once the water evaporates. I'd love to hydrocal the crap out of this thing but I live upstairs in a small apartment where this thing might spend half it's life standing on one end against a wall somewhere. That's one of the reasons I had to make it no more than 6X6 because I'm building it in my living room and when done it's going into my spare bedroom. I have two tight turns to make and with 11" side boards and a 2X4 base I'm cutting it very close. I build a dolly with casters on it to make moving it around easier. I'm really going to hate life if I ever move and have to lug this beast down a flight of stairs.


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## mking (Apr 25, 2000)

*hey pete*

where did u get the laguna seca logo? looks cool!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Stole it from the Laguna Seca merchandise site, it's the image of the window decal they sell online.

I got an e-mail tonight from someone in public relations, and although lengthy the point they made is that Laguna Seca, as a name, is trademarked. While they don't fully understand the impact of calling my track Laguna Seca they "would prefer that the name be changed as to avoid confusion with Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca." Yeah....like I'm going to have anyone confuse a 2.8 mile road course in Monterey with a 28' slot car track in Fresno. 

I have appealed to them and explained that it's only a non-commercial slot car track, hopefully they'll be alright with that. If not, expect a name change to Laguna Fresno. Actually I like Laguna Fresno better. Hey, now I need to get on ebay and find some of those Tyco motorcycles so I can have bike races like the "other" race course.


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*If that doesn't work...*

How 'bout Lasagna Seca??  .... When you host a race night you could serve Italian food!! Probably make ya famous among the slot racing crowd. nd


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

ROFL!!! I'd have to paint a Cobra like an orange tabby cat.


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## martybauer31 (Jan 27, 2004)

That is the freakin' gayest thing I have ever heard! These guys seriously have nothing better to do than worry about what some guy names his slot car track?

Holy crap I says......  



Pete McKay said:


> Stole it from the Laguna Seca merchandise site, it's the image of the window decal they sell online.
> 
> I got an e-mail tonight from someone in public relations, and although lengthy the point they made is that Laguna Seca, as a name, is trademarked. While they don't fully understand the impact of calling my track Laguna Seca they "would prefer that the name be changed as to avoid confusion with Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca." Yeah....like I'm going to have anyone confuse a 2.8 mile road course in Monterey with a 28' slot car track in Fresno.
> 
> I have appealed to them and explained that it's only a non-commercial slot car track, hopefully they'll be alright with that. If not, expect a name change to Laguna Fresno. Actually I like Laguna Fresno better. Hey, now I need to get on ebay and find some of those Tyco motorcycles so I can have bike races like the "other" race course.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Pete, Carve a hole into it and pour a resin pond like the old school picture.

Can you say "Lagoon-a-Seca"?


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## rudykizuty (Aug 16, 2007)

Pete,
What brought your project to their attention?


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## fastlap (Nov 11, 2007)

That thought had crossed my mind also


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*DingDingDingDingDingDingDingDingDing........*



martybauer31 said:


> That is the freakin' gayest thing I have ever heard!


Marty, you said a mouthful. Holy Crap is right. Since Pete's been to Laguna Seca (ooooh can I say that?)... _" just about every year since 1982 "_... I think it's safe to asume he didn't hop the fence and sneak in. Between the gate, food, and drink..... I'd say he's pretty much entitled to name his *home non-commercial* slot car track Laguna Seca (said it again) if he wants to. What this is ... is what's commonly know as your classic case of a big guy putting a bag over the head of a little guy and sock'n him in the gut. *That's what this is. * You mean to tell me that it's REALLY gonna cause a problem for them? REALLY?... C'mon, what are people gonna get misdirected and end up watching races at Pete's apartment instead of 1:1 races at Laguna Seca (that's 3)? Pleeez... with all that's going on in this world and at a busy place like Laguna Seca (that's 4)... People have time for this? If I was this guy/gal's boss I'd chew them out and tell them to get back to work. nd


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

Yeah, I sort of dropped my jaw too. You have to consider who the person was at Laguna Seca and then you'd know. I just got off the phone with someone I know at the track myself and it's been resolved: the slot car track can be known as Laguna Seca Model Raceway without any problems. Actually since he's been working with several historians from the track it should have been common knowledge he was doing it. Cripes, it's not even the current configuration!!! 

As far as the lake is concerned I suggested it but by then most of the foam was being set and it was too late to add it. The modern track only has a small remnant of the original lake and it has a cool BBQ island in the middle. Maybe there's still a chance for a mud puddle inside of the short shoot between turns 1 and 2. The interesting thing is that the CSCRA has two other real world tracks, Infineon and Road Atlanta, and both of those real world courses not only helped in information Road Atlanta even contributed some really cool laser printed scale signage.


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*Good News!!*

Carry on pete !! nd


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

Cool Martin!

Got any pictures of the other sanctioned tracks?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Martin sort of let it out of the bag, yeah we just need to keep it listed as a model raceway and we're fine. I'm not going to comment on who wrote me the email since she is part of the real track's administration, and it wouldn't be wise to bad mouth anyone at this point. 

I didn't really forget the lake but I didn't have it in the original plans because in 1967 I didn't know how big it was then. I'll find a way to have it represented on the bluff just above the short shoot between 2 and 3. 

Crim, I know that the Infineon track is still under construction in Delano, California. The Road Atlanta track was just completed in November and I'll see if I can get some posted. Both tracks are significantly larger scale than mine, Infineon is a 6' X 18' 4 lane and is in the current ALMS configuration. Road Atlanta is an 8' X 14' layout and will be a 2 lane. 

I've done some of the paper mache work so far, I've been down with a bad back for the last two days so I'll post pictures when I get more done than just a few pieces laid out.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

After a few Corona's I started feeling better...or at least I didn't notice my back as much. I started throwing some mache down and it was a lot easier than I was thinking it would be.

I'm using the blue shop paper towels so they're soaking up a lot more of the glue than I expected. I had bought four 2 quart bottles...that's 2 gallons, right? Wal-Mart sold it under the Sta-Flo lable for just under $3 a bottle. And three rolls of paper towels. As it turns out in my estimation that will be just about enough. I'm about 3/4th of the way done with all the first layer, doing the run off areas and building the berms up to the track edges. Here's some pics...



















This is the back side of the course, turns 2 through the corkscrew, above is turn 7 and the entry into the pits. The mache runs right up to the edge of the track and is just slightly lower than the surface. This will allow the painted surface with texture to be at the level of the track. 










Here's the uphill side of the track, now you can get a better idea of the elevations.










I have the front straight, lap counter area, and the entire second layer to do but I'm getting happier and happier with how it's going. The second layer will give all the mache a uniform color and smoother surface. It will also make for a good surface for whatever grass texture will be applied.

BTW, today marked one month since the project was launched, and I have maybe a month left before it's complete if all goes well with financing. It will be ready to race on in just about 2 weeks.


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## martybauer31 (Jan 27, 2004)

Martin Simone said:


> the slot car track can be known as Laguna Seca Model Raceway without any problems.


Thank God we got this one resolved! I'd hate to see Petey taking revenues away from the REAL raceway because people are showing up at his place due to a mistake like having his 6'x6' slot car track named the same thing.....

WHEW!!!!!!  

What a bunch or idiots those people must be, seriously..... they must be awfully damn bored over there. :freak:


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

This might be a silly question, but what is the purpose of the paper mache?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Scarf, basically to provide a stable and durable cover over the foam that I can paint and repair easier. If the foam was bare after a while chunks would be taken out from crashes and I'd be constantly repainting/texturing. 

Marty, the upside would have been I could have had some pretty cool race cars show up at my house wanting to turn laps. That's still going to happen but they'll be much smaller. 

I bent to popular opinion, there will be a lake in the infield. Now before some hydrologist chimes in and says the berms are not sound this is not to be correct to the real track. I know it would flood the short shoot if one failed...










I've done water in the past with pretty good effects. What I've used is hot glue gun sticks melted in a pan and then poured in the depression. It dries clear and pretty durable, and it's relatively inexpensive. The problem lies in what will be under the water. Since the hillside is styofoam the hot glue may melt the foam under the depression and cause it to sink. I've considered other methods and all generate some sort of curing heat. What I may have to do is get some dry ice and cool the foam before pouring the glue into place. Hot glue cools pretty quick though, but to be sure I'll do a test shot.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*From the Calamity Jane School of Scale Modeling*

More than one way to skin a cat Pete. Plenty of options for pondage and whatnot. Thumb some model railrod how-to's before the store owner sez, "Dis is not a lending library!" LOL

Resins and goobers especially for modeling water are cheap enough at any hobby store. Personally I like plain ole fiberglass resin method and have seen a less toxic Matte medium technique that is very convincing. 

If your worried about heat and your cauldron of molten glue why not mold it in a scrap piece to your satisfaction and french a mini module into the layout afterwards...Should be no problem to feather it in as you will be doing several scale miles of edging/contouring along the track anyway. Feathering in a little pond will "seam" like a drop in the bucket. LOL

Number one, and most importantly, moduling it on the bench will spare your back and allow you to worry the finer details with ease. 

More over it will allow you to fidget it around to your liking. Cut that module in, lock 'er down with spray foam and mache the edges. Along the theme of "been there done that"; I always figured if I direct pour and hate it I'll have to carve it out anyway... so why not "cut" out the middleman and just assume your gonna change it up! 

Looking forward to seeing this layout pop out when you put down the base ground tones and get the track laid. :thumbsup:

2 cents and change Pete...just an idea ....given that when I look at your new track my back starts to hurt too!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Bill I melted some glue sticks in my fondu pot and poured a tester into a shallow styrofoam depression. I had maybe a 1/2 pint of glue and no protection over the foam. Well, it's a good thing I did this over my sink because it went through 3/4" of foam in about 10 seconds. I have 4 layers of paper mache between the depression and the foam so that may help but not that much. It took 8 minutes for that small amount of glue to completely cool into a solid. 

I'll take your idea under advisement Bill, I need something that won't get over 200 degrees as it cures. The glue measured 225 degrees in a pasty state, 260 degrees as a pourable liquid. I'm thinking resin but the sustained curing heat may well be a problem too.


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## fastlap (Nov 11, 2007)

*just thinking out loud*

Why don't you cut in the lake where you want it. Then lay in a base (couple layers) of aluminum foil so the edge of the foil is higher than the lake to landscaping profile. Dust some color over the foil and let dry. Pour the glue in the foil like you are pouring into a bowl. Let it cure, then trim off the excess foil sticking above the landscaping surface edges. Then do any final painting to color on the lanscaping where the lake meets the grass/dirt. Just thinking out loud.


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Pete McKay said:


> . . . I need something that won't get over 200 degrees as it cures. The glue measured 225 degrees in a pasty state, 260 degrees as a pourable liquid. I'm thinking resin but the sustained curing heat may well be a problem too.


http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/785-1211


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

OK, thanks for the PM's from those that sent them regarding the lake. I think the product I need is this:

http://www.rplastics.com/weldon40.html

This has a low heat register during cure (less than 160 degrees) and is very durable. Cure time for the 1.1 liter lake capacity is about 48 hours. The instructions it looks like I'll need are:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2179673_water-features-train-layout.html

The coffee grounds for dirt around the edge are very interesting. This is all going to have to wait a couple of weeks until the next payday.

I got the mache work done this evening, about the same time as I was finishing up that Eric Rios called me and they had a meeting at a local Bakersfield race tonight. Unfortunately his group is going to pass on sanctioning races at LSMR simply because it is too small. They want to run modified magnet cars and feel that the track doesn't have adequate straightaways for the speed needed. For me it's not a big loss, it means that I can concentrate on making it for the type of racing I want. In a way it takes a lot of pressure off me to try and please someone else.


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Pete McKay said:


> . . . Eric Rios called me and they had a meeting at a local Bakersfield race tonight. Unfortunately his group is going to pass on sanctioning races at LSMR simply because it is too small. They want to run modified magnet cars and feel that the track doesn't have adequate straightaways for the speed needed . . .


Sounds like the twisty bits scared off the lightbenders -- oh well no big loss like you said. You were building the track for tjets anyway.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Exactly. The fastest cars will be Tomy Turbo's with SCD Panoz bodies (or similar Trans-Am/Super GT/ALMS). Champ Car SRT's will run at 9 volts, maybe even 7.5 volts if they start tearing the track up. 

Ran up to Michael's, the resin will be about $45 for the amount needed to fill the lake to a decent level. I also priced some railroad ballast and figured that the cat can give up some of his cat sand for the run off areas. The lake won't be completely full but the cat sand ground cover will extend all the way to the top of the berm.


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

$45 for the lake? 

I'm thinking 'drought year'.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

ROFL!!!! I was too but you know, I've already started it, may as well finish it. I was looking at vintage pics of racing at Laguna Seca, found a pic of our Bill Hall in his Allard...

http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1957/Laguna_Seca-1957-11-10-050.jpg


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Pete McKay said:


> . . . the resin will be about $45 for the amount needed to fill the lake to a decent level . . .


Pete -- Seriously . . . http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/785-1211
$15


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

doba, the problem isn't the price. For a 16 oz. bottle of the stuff I want is the same, the problem is that the lake is at least 26 ounces. I made the measure using 6mm airsoft pellets to a level I wanted the material to flow to, then put them in a measuring cup. Compensating for the area between the pellets I'm figuring 24 ounces at least, plus a color tint. I also did a price compo using hot glue sticks and found it to actually be more expensive that way. 

But in any even the lake will be done last. I've been working on background ideas and came up with painting the side boards light blue and airbrushing clouds on them. Then from foam board I'll cut the shape of hillsides that will overlap with 3 layers, paint them varying shades of green and use two-sided tape to put them together. They will then be stuck to the sideboards to represent the surrounding hillsides. This gives me a slight 3-D effect for my backgrounds.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Pete McKay said:


> ROFL!!!! I was too but you know, I've already started it, may as well finish it. I was looking at vintage pics of racing at Laguna Seca, found a pic of our Bill Hall in his Allard...
> 
> http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/1957/Laguna_Seca-1957-11-10-050.jpg


Yup! Arms crossed, arse first in a hay bail!

...then again better than my usual slotcar position.... 

"hanging on the guardrail upside down and on fire" 

RE: Your backdrop and horizon. Given any thought to photo prints and their like? Cant say as I've actually done it myself, however I've seen some flat out awesome Model Railroading stuff in person. Using prints, forced perspective, and background edge landscaping tricks they pull your eye in and trick it all at the same time.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Bill I actually took pictures of my surround hillsides which are not unlike the Monterey area when we have rainfall here and they're green and unburnt. Then I took some time off over Christmas and when I went back to work my lovely color inkjet printer had been replaced by a black and white one. I have 24 running feet of wall to put something on, this will be the least expensive way now. The local railroad shop sucks, as does Hobbytown USA, which is the only "hobby" shop in town now. This is another feature I have time to work with, and look for stuff online. I'm at the stage where I need to decide if I'm going to flock the grass or just go with a painted surface. Martin's comment about having loose grass is still on my mind.


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

I vote for grass, but then again, I always do. I'd even be ok if the gov't taxed it. I loved that movie "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle". I didn't think I would, but it was a real hoot. That one scene, when Kumar marries the.....sorry - got off track.

I vote for grass. You've put so much effort and detail (and glue!) into the track so far, I think it deserves something more then a painted surface.

We don't have White Castles in So Cal. Good chili dogs can be found though.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Pete, Somewhat pricey but the cats meow is Woodland Scenics ground foam. I'd stay away from the chunkier stuff, except for use where foliage may be concentrated, and stick primarily to the fine grind. The various shades of the fine grind can be used seperatly and combined in different proportions to create some amazing effects. Combine it with some complementary "static grass" to vary the texture. Cheapo Kitty Litter and silica sand are great for small stones/gravel and can be died or stained to suit your geography. 

Method of application varies widely. Sounds like your gonna latex some base tones in so it's a simple matter to gently tamp it in using a dry brush technique and stippling or pouncing it where you want some roughage. From what I can see a 4 to 6 inch household paintbrusk will work fine for the broad expanses. Keep a 1' lil brush for diddling little furrows and ditches. I find it's best to work the darker shades into depressions and low areas and move progressively lighter as you move out onto the higher points, after you've established some tone variation I tend to toss it around like a drunken chimp for that random mother nature look. Have a coupla beers and go for it. always comes out better when yer loose.

After it's set up ya suck it up with the shop vac with a sock to trap the loose stuff so's ya can reuse it. Bald spots and misses can be touched up with diluted white glue+dispersent spray and re-applied til you are satisfied. The whole shebang Should be permanently affixed using a final even overcoat of dilute white glue or if yer feeling flush Matte medium. 

I've even re-latexed flocked areas because I didnt like the base tone and re-flocked over that! There are no mistakes to be made just loosen up and wing it!


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I haven't seen White Castles since the last time I was back east years ago. The local Savemart sells ~frozen~ White Castle burgers but sorry, frozen sucks. 

I'm considering both methods I've used in the past of doing the grass; the first being paint the areas green and sprinkle the grass on it and the other is paint it green, let it dry and then paint a thin layer of diluted white glue and sprinkle it on that. In either case I plan on spraying the whole grassy area with flat clear lacquer to fix the remaining grass in place. I'll have to do it on a warm day, one that I can have my windows open while the cat and I hang out outside until the fumes clear out. It was bad enough painting the inside boards and the pit area last night with enamel, then trying to sleep. 










Here's the lake in relation to the pit and paddock area. The lake is sifted UNUSED cat sand in white glue. Turn 7 is in the fore ground, turn 1, the short shoot and turn 2 in the distance.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Laid the turf today and filled the lake. I used Woodland Scenic water for the lake and it looks OK, except that I messed it up while it was hardening. I also sort of over flowed it a bit but I'll fix that.










I also need to turf in around the actual water level with flocking, probably tomorrow or the next day. I still need to do all the gravel traps and then there are the trees. I'm hoping to have all the landscaping done by the weekend and begin working on the electrical. I have to wait until I can unmask the track before I can set to wiring. It looks very differen with the hills flocked to be sure.


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Pete McKay said:


>


That looks really good -- the hills have a nice natural look to them :thumbsup:


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

Way to go Pete! Post a better pic of the lake please when you get a chance, and advise how you messed up on it. I'm going to have a lake or two on my track, and would like some do's and don'ts.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Scarf, it's really messed up now because I tried to fix it. The melted pellets worked great until they started flowing over the top of the berm. I piled some cat sand to stop it but dropped some into the water. Then I tried to get it out, but it had cooled somewhat. Now I have a big boat wake in the water to deal with. I'm going to try to smooth it out and float a thin layer of epoxy on top and see how that works. 

The other thing is I used a tint of green that is too light under my medium green flocking, and I'm dealing with thin spots now. I'll keep working on it, things are drying way too slow for me right now.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

OK, here's the lake. I've edged in the grass (new grass on the lake bed) and will be putting a thin layer of epoxy over the rough surface after I finish smoothing it out. If there are any swirls or anything like that left I'll just have a couple of people swimming in it to create the ripples.










I've put the gravel traps in but I still need to seal them. Since this is the area where most cars will be coming off they'll be painted over with a wash of diluted white glue. The gravel needs to be firmly attached and it'll help keep the track from being torn up so much.



















I've started working on other little things for the track, like the orange lollypop turn countdown markers. These will be stuck into the foam at 2" intervals according to the locations in the youtube Grand Prix Legends video. The video shows the numbers were white on an orange background, other pictures show them to have black numbers. I'm going with black because I can do that with a sharpie. They're .020" plastic sheet punched with a hole punch, glued to a toothpick and painted orange. The length of the toothpick should help them be more durable.










I'm going to finish up the flocking today with the slightly lighter color I have over the thin spots. I'm using some super cool Ford spray adhesive they use in the shop for replacing interior trim things, then when it gets tacky I shake the flocking over that. I'm accenting the hills with lighter shades, giving some contrast. I have a package of 14 deciduous trees that look somewhat like the resident oaks. At 3"-5" tall they will be the perfect height for the hillside and hopefully won't block the driver views of the Rahal (Rainey) Straight and the Corkscrew. 

If everything dries in time by this weekend I'll stand it up on the end, blow it off to remove all the loose flocking and gravel, put the trees in and then I should be able to unmask the racing surface. This will allow me to start working on the wiring and drivers stations.


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## fastlap (Nov 11, 2007)

*looking good!*

Pete,

The track is "outstanding"!!!!! Great work. Can't wait for your next update.


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Try putting a heat gun to the lake -- the top layer should liquify and smooth out.


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

The track is really taking shape and looks great. I used very similar techniques including gravel traps made from sand. 

Another thing I also did recently was to fabricate some "stone walls" using very cheap but nice looking polished and cleaned aquarium gravel. It was around 5 bucks for 4 pounds and I have most of it left. I've used a couple of different techniques for the stone walls. In one application I used a combination grout/adhesive to set the "stones" in place on a vertical surface made from cove molding and grouted between the stones with the grout/adhesive. Since the grout was white I went back and weathered/tinted the grout after it was dry using a very thin mixture of flat black latex, water, and isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol seems to make it wick a little better than would plain thinned latex. That turned the grout a nice gray. I then applied satin polyurethane (yep!) to the wall and very lightly "flicked" very fine foam flocking on to the wall. This improved the weathered look even more by adding what looks to be sporadic very fine moss growth. Don't overdo the moss, you don't want a green wall unless you are trying to look like Wrigley Field. The final result is a very realistic looking stone wall. The original wall was made from cove molding, which is something I see a lot of folks use for overpasses. Yeah, it adds weight but nearly as much as you would think. The polyurethane seals it all up and adds durability.

The other technique I used with the aquarium gravel was to mix it in a batch of epoxy, so all of the stones are coated. You can actually form this composition into shapes and use it with a form (with release compound) to do curved stone walls. When it dries it will be shiny so you need to weather it. I'd imagine you could use this technique to create very elaborate "castle walls" if that's something you want to do on your track. The trade off here is weight, but you could use styrofoam as filler for larger formations so the epoxy/stone mix is a skin coat.

What to do with the 3.8 pounds of gravel I still have...???


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Ha ha, Too-che!

Used a similar technique in my Model rr days to emulate the large basalt under layments and walls we see out west. Gross tonnage was the only draw back.

Pete! The flock job is really convincing. The anticipation is killin' me! Cant wait to see this masterpiece with the masking peeled back...probably not as antsy as you are though. No doubt in my mind it will be striking!


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

AfxToo said:


> What to do with the 3.8 pounds of gravel I still have...???


 Get a fish?

Any pics of the walls?


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

It is beginning to look like a track. Obviously you went with a spring/fall look, in the summer the hillsides are a yellow/brown. Is that turf or static grass? The Ford #21-816 doesn't completely dry hard though, I guess if it has scenery grass on it it won't matter. I'd do the epoxy over the gravel though like suggested because you're always going to have rocks everywhere if you don't. 

And I'll be moving back that way soon, I'm being traded to the SuperStore in Selma so I have to find a place up there by March. One more racer for your program.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Martin this was the GT-40 fabric stuff, it does dry to be non-sticky. I'm still fine tuning the hillsides, it may be a while before I get them how I want them to be. That's the good thing about this track, it can continue to evolve in color and features. That is static grass around the lake bed and in the thin areas on the hillsides. I think the gravel is staying put, I rubbed the loose stuff off by hand then glue-washed the rest down. 

'doba, tried the heat gun, unfortunately it began melting the surrounding hillsides before the lake so I had to quit. I just dropped a 3/16th" layer of 30 minute epoxy over the surface and 15 minutes later it's a dead calm again. Or close to it at least. 

Everything has dried up really well. Good enough that I'll start unmasking tomorrow. My plan is to remove the center piece of tape and then pull the side pieces up til I get to the track edge. I'll carefully cut the tape off at the edge of the track, and that should give me my level transition from landscaping to track. There will be places that an outside berm exists, like in the turn 1, short chute, turn 2 low laying area. But that's fine because that is a high speed area and the berm may actually keep the crashes on the track and out of the fence that will go there.


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

> Any pics of the walls?


I added some poor quality pics from my ancient digital camera (a coal fired model) to the photo gallery.


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

AfxToo said:


> I added some poor quality pics from my ancient digital camera (a coal fired model) to the photo gallery.


Ah...that brings back a memory from the crypt...

At a race with an instamatic....got a pretty girl to fan the picture with her.....a... erm....mommy parts.....to get to it develope faster...

Ah...that was a sight...


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Got up early this morning before school and pulled the tape off. It worked good in most areas but a few places took my edging too. I will need to re-do that part later once I figure a good and lasting way to do it. I'm going to constantly vacuum this thing between rounds for the first few months.

There's a few transitions I need to work on, and I need to run to the student store and get an ink eraser for the rails. There's a lot of scratch building stuff still to be done. Scarf has donated some rails, those will be painted and go up when they arrive. I need to get some metal screen and to the spectator barriers and then there are the ad signs. From here I'm maybe half way done, now I need to consider my drivers stations.





































This is mostly to top end of the track where most of the trees will go. This is the first 14 in place, I think at least that many and a few more scattered around and I'll be done with Arbor Day. You can see the red marshalls stand and the orange corner marking lollypops.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Came home for lunch and ran some laps after cleaning the track. Pickup shoe tuning will be very important because of the elevation changes. Especially in the corkscrew where the cars teeder-todder on three tires for a split second. T-Jets work great with their high clearnace, so do XT's. But the few laps I ran with a stock Tomy Turbo were troublesome. They tend to get stuck on the harder transitions unless you bow the shoes a bit to reach the rails. 

But this track was designed and built for pancake motor cars, and those are the one's that seem to love it best. I was running 6.6 second laps with standard TJ's, low 6's with JLTO's and a very nice 5.66 with one of Mike King's Fun-Jet's. My seasoned Magna-Traction with a mean green and silicone shod AJ's aluminium wheels ran a 5 flat several times, newer XT's were running between 4.58 and 5.09 seconds per lap. Lap times will drop once I start getting better at driving this track, and make no mistake it is a drivers track. This evening after work I'll start working on the rails some, trying to work out the transitions that are causing some of the problems.


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

I can't see the pics here at work.

It looks like there were some delivery problems with UPS and the rails. It appears UPS has gotten in contact with you, but not sure. I hope I didn't mess up on the address.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Scarf, you did but since my UPS driver is so familiar with me and my ordering habits they got here juct fine!!! Thanks!!! Once you get home here's how your rails look!




























I was planning on painting them red and white like the old rails at the real track used to be but the orange looks so good I left them alone. You sent me exactly enough, either that or I just found a use for all of it.  But I got the "crash zones" covered plus a few of the area that are for spectator protection. This was a perfect accent, thanks man, I appreciate it!!!!


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Looks good Pete!

And AFXToo -- You've been holding out on us . . . _N i c e_ track dude!


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

I know you're building the scaffolds but here's some static scenery ideas. Get some vacuum hose and cut it in 5mm widths, either stack and glue it or bind it with dental floss for tire barriers. You can make a huge amount from just a few feet. Using hose from an old car even makes them look weathered. Also if you get the mini-wheat cereal (not the frosted kind) from the dollar store, soak it in water to soften it and put it in a square pill reminder container you can make hay bales. Just stick them in the microwave to cook the water back out and dip in Future or a flat lacquer to seal them from the household bugs. I'll be up this weekend, I have maybe 8 sq. ft. of metal screen material you can have to make spectator fencing out of.


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

Glad they found their way to you Pete. I do recall that I let the UPS website 'improve' on the address I had entered, and I think I missed the fact that they changed the street number.

Track looks really good Pete! :thumbsup:


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

What he didn't tell you is Jessica, his UPS driver, is a brick house of a Latina cougar, and he gave her a nice limited edition Ford Dale Jarrett autographed UPS diecast for her birthday in November. Of course she would remember him. 

I forgot to ask earlier about the pick-up shoe issue. Since you have to bow them a bit does that mean instead of running flat on the rails that there is a smaller contact patch? And if so wouldn't this mean considerably more wear? And on the front stretch there seems to be an alignment problem between the first straight in the picture and the lap counter...it that how you meant it to be?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

The mini-wheat idea is an old one. I did that on a track in the mid 1980's and it looked OK but they were too big to be in scale. The vacuum hose I have heard of but I'll need to look at the size or it'll be like having tractor tires. I wasn't going to do cyclone fencing on this track but it looks like it may wind up being the best way to keep the cars and spectators apart. People will be the last thing I'll be adding, after buildings and everything else.

There are three places the track gets tough on the car. Those are the entrance to turn two, the corkscrew and the bottom of turn 6. Each of those either begins or ends a rapid elevation change and is a sudden surface change. Only the corkscrew actually happens while the track is also making a turn so that's the only place (so far) the cars are hanging up. I haven't gotten a feeler gauge in to see how much to bend a shoe but it's not very much at all. How that equates to wear I think only time will tell. 

There is an alignment issue with the front stretch, and it was one that I was aware of in the original design. The straight just before the lap counter is where all of the electrical is wired in. It is also where the jumpers run from as well, but I should have used two 6" straights instead of a 15" there, as a result there is about a 2 to 5 degree misalignment there. My plan is to use plastic filler to correct the gap and leave it at that.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

*Racers fill the pits for the first time!!*

For the first time the pit gates at Laguna Seca Model Raceway swung open for testing and time trials. It also marked the first time that the power intended for the track was used, the BSRT G-Jet 12V power pack. Using Parma 75 ohm controllers and temporary wiring for this unofficial opening a number of cars were tested. Original T-Jets, JLTO's, Fun-Jets, Magna-Tractions and X-Tractions and even Tomy Turbos, all of the classes under consideration for future events were run.










With power reduced from the 18 volt power pack used in earlier testing times were a bit slower, but only marginally so. Fastest T-Jet was a King Fun-Jet with a fast lap of 5.92 seconds, but the overall 12 volt track record was set by a silicone shod Tomy Turbo at 3.13 seconds. Timing was made with a Microsizers timer. 










A heated race broke out between Turbo's with myself driving the 2F2F Surpa and my neighbor driving an Eclipse. We ran about 50 laps, only crashing a few times each and usually in the Corkscrew. Information regarding drivers placement was gianed, best visibility was from opposite sides, which also allowed for self-marshalling of crashed cars. 

The earlier idea that Turbo's had problems in these corners was solved with tire selections that kept the cars from bottoming out in the Corkscrew. You can still almost flat-foot it from turn 8 all the way around to the Corkscrew, and once tuned running full boost should be a possibility. 

We also measured the track lane-to-lane and found that with the cross-overs there is only a 1.5" length difference between the two lanes. Lap length is 20' 10" in lane 1, 20' 11.5" in lane 2. This makes it about as equal as possible under the circumstances, and erases any lane advantage. 

I'm going to take a week or so off from the thread except to respond to questions. No more construction is planned until February 1st, a week from Friday. I'm going to run laps, tune some cars and enjoy a months worth of hard labor.


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

Thanks pete for keeping us up to date.....as you can see...there is a lot of interest... :thumbsup:


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

Man just read a bunch of post and checked out all the pics here...love this layout and a few layout pics of others via their gallery.

Nice work Pete...Enjoy it!

Bob...zilla


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## rudykizuty (Aug 16, 2007)

And awesome work it has been. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. :hat:


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## Tycoarm (Jan 7, 2006)

This shot looks fantasic. Even with just the few trees in place it has a very real look to it.


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

Pete, get on Greg Brauns site and print out some of his spectator images for the outside areas of the track. I'll see about making some laser printed sign boards to scatter around, use the spray adhesive to attach them to sheet plastic and put them in the corners with the spectators behind them.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Good idea, the outside spectators can be printed and the track worker can be figures. I'm also working on an idea for the tire barriers, not going to say what but I should have something over the weekend. If this works out people are gonna flip.


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

1/24/08, 9:56PM:



> I'm going to take a week or so off...


1/25/08, 9:21PM:



> I'm also working on an idea for the tire barriers, not going to say what but I should have something over the weekend.


Time does fly! Welcome back Pete! Didja get your shipment of lil HO people yet? I'm anxious to see them, and if they look scaled right to your eye, then find out where to get me some too.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

ROFL!!!! Time certainly does. I was sitting on the couch, watching TV having a snack and all of a sudden I'm back deep into building something for the track. 

The people I was planning on getting were "true" HO scale, or 1/87th. T-Jets are about 1/76th, AFX scale is about 1/64th so they would be more like small children. Instead I'm going to deal with 1/72nd scale military figures and just add them over time. I have my corner workers, and the few buildings I'll have may just wind up being scratch built to scale rather than train layout stock. 

I'm now trying to find some of the older Matchbox emergency vehicles, in particular a certain Ford F250 box back paramedic (MB25) unit I had several of about 20 years ago. But I'm not paying premium prices for a piece of static scenery, so I'm exploring other things.

Anyway, if this tire barrier thing works I'll have pictures of it this weekend.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Well, I think they look fine, they work well in testing. But now it's time to let everyone else know how far off plumb 'ol Petey is.

Last night I was sitting on the couch eating my old dry cerel out of the bowl...no milk, no sugar. I've been buying the generic Cheerio's for a while because I like them better than the brand name. Anyway, one missed my mouth and landed in the slot car box next to an XT, and I noticed it was close to the same size as the tire. Wait...don't get ahead of me. Anyway a few more minutes past and I finally decided to put a few simple tire barriers to see how they looked. 2 hours later and I had used an entire bowl of Cheerio's to make strings of barriers.










This morning I painted them flat black and let them dry. I took a smaller one and tested it to see how much effort it would take to crumble it and they held up well. The generic cerel is harder than the good stuff, so I really had to try to cruch them. After the test I set them on the track to see how they looked, and while not a perfect tire look they're very close.



















I didn't put any on the inside of the guard rails like they do in real racing because I didn't leave the space required to make it look good. I'll be doing a few more for other areas of the track and do more pictures later. See. I told you 'ol Petey was off his rocker. But if someone could cast these in say, black RTV, I'm sure they would sell.


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

They actually don't look bad and provide a tasty snack when your car breaks down in a corner. I want to see what happens the first time a Super G-Plus car hits them at speed though.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I hit them with a Tomy Turbo pretty hard and they didn't break. Remember these are stale generic "Oat O's" that are hard as a rock to start with.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

New records were set tonight in both single and 100 lap testing. A DASH '64 Galaxie bodied JLTO T-Jet reached the 5.46 second mark, and completed 100 laps in 9 minutes 44.61 seconds. This broke the previous record of 5.61 seconds set over the weekend by one of Mike King's Fun-Jets with a Corvette GS body. 









_Driver Chip Monk speeds past a broken down Porsche on the way to setting the record._

A couple of improvements contributed to the new record; the sudden drop off on the front straight at the lap counter was decreased and the transition from flat to incline at turn 2 was made a bit more gradual. These were two areas that caused deslotting in the past. 

The brand new JLTO was donated by a confidential source, whom I wish to personally thank in this string. I think this car, along with the cars I received around the first of the year have shown me that I made a good choice building this track to that class of car. While the future for Laguna Seca may see high speed magnets cars, it will always be a classic designed track for a classic type of slot car.


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

Dave Frary's book has a great section on doing backdrops. Fortunately, some parts of the book are in Google for preview, enough to get some insight into the shading and gradient needed for a more realistic rendering of "sky and clouds" colors. 

Check it out:

http://books.google.com/books?id=iq...lvJN&sig=4oyg_avcs8OADQ-TJZQVDwVpaG4#PPA98,M1


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

I have a good friend who is a custom painter who has offered to donate his time and materials and airbrush a countryside on the inside of the track once the weather gets warmer. He's also going to do my track when/if it ever gets built. Superbowl weekend will see the first 200 lapper run at Laguna Seca between X-Tractions, I'm sure Pete is going to smoke me.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Change of plans. I put the track away until possibly mid month, no funds to do anything else to it at the moment and I need the space. I'll be OOT for the game as well.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

*Opps.*

Found out today that I'm not the engineer I thought I was.

I had measured the height of the sideboards of the track and the plywood to come up with the largest area, 6' X 6' in my case, of a track that I could maneuver into my spare bedroom once it was built up in my living room. I did all the necessary calculations, and came up very unfortunately long.

This afternoon I went to move the track into the back room and found it will not make the corner. This is not because I measured the corner wrong; I got it right, same with the plywood and sideboards. What I didn't factor in was the 2X4 framing on the bottom, and that put me 2" too tall to make the very tight corner into the room. At this point I have two choices...

One is I can remove the framing, which could very well damage the entire layout. The second is I can cut the framing in half on both ends and angle the sides to the shorter ends. That also would structurally affect the layout, possibly ruining it. As it stands now the track is on its end in my entry way, the only place it is totally out of the way. Chances are this is where it'll have to go when not being used, my patio isn't very big either, and being upstairs I don't have an outside storage area to put it.

I am hoping that this summer I will be relocating into a proper house and will find a garage to put this track in. With its proper storage now an issue (I don't want it to spend too much time laying on it's end) I'm having to expidite that possibility. I built it to be durable, I guess now we shall find out how durable.


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

Why can't you just cut down the sideboards?


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

AfxToo said:


> Why can't you just cut down the sideboards?


Yeah.

Or take them off the two sides needed to make the corner.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Chainsaw the darn door frame Pete!

Like yer gonna get yer damage deposit back anyway...LOL


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

ROFL!!! I considered all three options, the side boards are a structural part of the elevations, to even cut them to the shape of the mountains would cause problems with the foam staying put. Everything is glued together rather heavily. 

I thought about chain sawing the door too but I would arouse the neighbors too much. It'll be fine where it is I think, I just need to make a cover for it to keep the cat from eating the trees.


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## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

Just cut a hole in the wall- its only drywall.


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## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

Reminds me of some worries when I moved in 2004- My track was built to fit into the back room addition of my past house. It was all built in modules knowing that someday it would have to come apart. However, the section with mountain peak was a worry when we disassembled everything as the height of the actual mountain was never considered in relationship to door frames when I built it. The dimension from the frame base to the top of the mountain turned out to be 33", just shy of a standard 34" door width and the basement door to my new house. Talk about luck.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I'm actually converting my living room into a race room and my spare bedroom into a living room. 

Big news will be coming in the next day or so about the racing series for Laguna Seca.


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

Sounds like a plan.

I had these e-mailed to me from one of the guys I race with, I put them on your photobucket account Pete. He says they're 1966 but I'm not sure when the Chappy 2F ran. They are obviously from Laguna Seca though.









Coming down from turn 6 into turn 7.









Turn 1 maybe? There the back side of your orange lollypop turn markers.









Bottom of the Corkscrew.









Looks like maybe turn 3 above the infield bridge. Lollypop markers in the background.









Corkscrew.









Main straight into turn 1.

I couldn't find anything in the RSR reference for when this race took place. But these are perfect for posters for your vintage racing.


And now...


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I think that's a mix of a few years, the Chaparral is a 2E, round 4 was at Laguna Seca in 1966 and the #66 car finished second. The Porsche 917's are later, that was round 7 of the 1973 Can-Am race, The #16 car of Follmer was a DNF, the #6 was Donahue and won. I've seen these pictures at other sites but I don't have them bookmarked. Still, very nice, thanks.

No pictures but here's the results: http://www.classicscars.com/wspr/results/canam/nf_canam_home.html


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

OK, some minor stuff has been taking place the last few days while the track rests and I wait for orders to come in. I have been building chain link fences and spectator areas. I tried a few variations before I came up with this:










Basically its silver fiberglass screen material with printed paper on the front to look like a wall, and images of spectators from Greg Braun's site glued to the posts behind the screen, to give the feeling of depth.

These will be used at the areas where the track gets close to the side boards to fill in that gap and make it interesting. This one is for a flat area of the track, the ones for the incline areas will have the posts at a slight angle so they stay upright. The spectator images will be staggered behind them.

A note on the above pictures, it took me some time but the 4th picture down is actually going into turn 1, I have to really pay attention to the cliffside in the background to be sure.


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## Martin Simone (Feb 21, 2007)

Nope, I disagree. That has to be going into the back straight, it's the end of an uphill section. I'm pretty sure that's the perimeter road to the left. I was just looking at how dry the grass is, you may have to completely re-flock your layout into something more brown.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

The February 24th event has been cancelled because I'll be recovering from ankle surgery.

We have five "teams" have tossed their hats into the LMP series ring. They are:

TEAM AMG (me): Sauber-Mercedes #61, #62 and #63
MS Motorsports: Jaguar XJR-9 Silk Cut #1, #2 and #3
Lewis/Hicks: Toyota 88C Red Bull #14 and #15
Eaton Racing: Panoz LMP1 Cup of Soup/Dragon #22 and #23
LSMR Racing: Toyota Tenoras #50, Jaguar Castrol #60

2 more have expressed a desire to "fly in and drive" a team, so two more cars are possible, bringing the total to 14. Not all teams will build their complete team right away, most will build one car now, and a second car after the series is underway, possibly this May.


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

Pete,

Is the "Eaton Racing" team an employee of Cutler Hammer/Eaton?


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Actually it's Mike Eaton, owner of Eaton Plumbing of Clovis, California. Mike is an emmigrant from the 1/32nd scale guys I raced with locally. I'm doing his first car and possibly the second. Also added will be Jeff Hutton who will be doing a Team 7-Eleven although which car hasn't been announced.

I got some more rails from Steve yesterday (thanks again Steve) and have been putting up my fences and rails. I found some porta-potties on the web and made a few of those too. There will be two scratch built buildings, the King Grandstand and VIP Center that will be on the short straight between turns 1 and 2, and another combination grandstand and VIP area outside of turn 7. Most of the pit area will have small pop-up type tents. The cat got to my marshalls that were on the scaffolds so they will be replaced with true HO scale figures later. 

These are all improvements that will be made over the next two months since I won't be working on it very much after Wednesday. Instead I'll be concentrating on buying cars and building my Mercedes C9/C11 team. 

Pictures to follow when the glue dries.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

*One lap of Laguna Seca*

Welcome to the One Lap of Laguna Seca Model Raceway, a description of a single lap around the HO Scale Laguna Seca Raceway.

You begin by exiting turn 8 onto the main straightaway, this level section of track leads past an automatic lap counter in the track that also serves as a start and finish line. At the start line the track has a gradual downgrade into the first of the big 18” 1/8th radius sweepers, turn 1. 










Another short shoot and the track bottoms out at the lowest place on the circuit, turn 2 is another 18” 1/8th radius corner and then the uphill climb towards turn 3, with a very mild 12” radius. 










From there it’s a steep uphill climb that tops out at the tracks highest point, the very tricky quad-corner, the Corkscrew. 










Consisting of 4 of the tight 6” 1/8th radius corners the corkscrew falls away first to the left, then back to the right, then left again, emptying out into a short downhill straight, the opening radius of turn 6 and into the second crossover. Turn 7 is a flat 9” 90 degree corner that leads into the final short straight, and into the tricky closing radius turn 8. This turn begins as a 9” 90 degree but ends as a 6” 1/8th radius. You’re back on the main straight now, nice and flat as you quickly cross the start/finish line to complete your lap.










There will be two buildings, one in the triangle area between 1 and 2 where the King VIP center, a boomerang shaped three story spectator center will go. The other, a two story combination visitors center and winners circle with VIP boxes, will be outside the triangle section at turn 7. I'm still debating loading the infield with 1/87th scale figures but I am seeking something closer to 1/72nd scale since that's closer to HO. There will also be some pop-up type canopys in the pit area to shade the racers.

Other than the buildings and some spectators and marshals the track is race ready. I have the electrical ready to be installed but I still need to get the two Parma 75 ohm controllers to wire in. Drivers will be on opposite sides, the controllers are connected by Dean's plugs under the track sides. I also need to get a couple of paint pens and color code the lanes. I think the community center may have a few we took away from kids, I'll check tomorrow.

I want to thank Mike, Chris and Steve, and a lot of others for their advice on how to build this up and their contributions. I've already gotten an offer to sell it but turned them down. I just don't think I could get it right twice, or maybe I'm worried about trying to do it all over again.


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## Yoshi Nagura (Feb 9, 2008)

First I want to say how great a host Peter and his crew were for allowing some track time this weekend to several of us that are being converted from the larger 1/32nd scale cars. We got to race a myriad of car types and body styles to form an opinion of the track. I have to say that a lot of thought was put into this track to make it competetive but keep it realistic in scope to Laguna Seca of that period.

I personally got to race everything from Thunderjets to Tomy SRT's this morning and early afternoon, and I can see where one would draw the conclusion that this track is indeed built up for the lower performing scale of car. The Thunderjet I drove was a delight, allowing some interesting high speed drifting and kick in the pants fun. I did find the X-Traction cars more fun, you still had the drifting but not so much and much better handling and speed. But when it came to the cars using magnetic attraction for me it got too involved. Even at just 9 volts the Super G-Plus and SRT cars lapped too fast and were quite unforgiving, when they broke free they were unrecoverable. The Turbo cars, which will make up the first series, were on the edge of being too fast to be fun.

There are four spots on the track that regardless of car type you have to really be aware of. For those of you who may someday Grace us with your presence, here they are in no particular order:

*Off Camber Turn One*








The entrance to turn one is a an off camber turn because as the track reaches the lowest portion of the layout the outside edge drops before the inside edge does. This is a geometric anomoly because the outside edge reaches the bottom before the inside does through the corner. While a minor design flaw it does pitch the non-magnet cars into a cool power slide and seems to get them around the corner that much faster.

*Turn Two Entry Bump*








While off camber turn one isn't much of an issue this one seems to be. Difficult to fully see even from this photo there is an abrupt rise from the end of the short straight into turn two. This tends to pop the front end of all the cars regardless of magnets into the air for a moment, which is immediately followed by entry into the corner. Off loading the guidpin here lead to my crashing quite a bit especially since the previous corner was taken at nearly wide open throttle. Throttle control was necessary not to enter too fast especially on the inner lane.

*The Famous Corkscrew*








I have attended a few motorcycle races at Laguna Seca and this was, as a spectator, my favorite part of the track. One the model circuit however this set of turns is frustrating at best, and virtually impossible to get right more than three times in a row. The track has a nice moderate rise that does not flatten out like the real world circuit. Instead you immediately go from a rise into a spiral drop through some of the tighest corners in Tomy's inventory. All of the cars snap first to the right then back to the left. If for some reason you're still in the slot you are snapped back to the right before shooting down a steep but short straight. This was easier to drive with the X-Traction cars than any other simply because of the combination of drift and performance. 

*Bottom Out After Turn Six*








While not a troublesome part of the track, mainly because no corner follows, the bottom out after turn six tends to still cause the front to lift. This is made even worse by the fact that turn six is an opening radius and you carry a lot of speed out of it into this medium length straight. The car still has some cornering momentum at this point. Again, here non-magnetic cars worked better than magnetic cars did and of the four area discussed this is the lesser problem. 

With all of this said I would like to add that there is no way that I could have even undertook such a project having read the entire build-up. As Peter as stated this track was built for a specific car type, and having driven that car type I now can see what he means. The track is not perfect but having driven something like this I really like the challenge it presents. I'm looking forward to the upcoming ALMS series.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

*Laguna Seca: Post Script.*

Every year around the world race tracks fall victim to the developers wrecking ball. Riverside, Ontario Motorspeedway, maybe even your old neighborhood track you grew up around as a kid. It's just the way it is.

I grew up around a track in San Antonio, Texas called Pan American Speedway. The first time I went there was when I was 7 and a guy named Pat Lane won the feature in a gold and blue '57 Chevy. My dad was a Shrine clown and worked at the track from 1974 until it closed in 1980. I got in free as a teen until I turned 16, then I built a '68 Chevelle hobby stocker and started racing. In 1977 I won my class, and in May of 1978 I drove Pat Lane's '69 Camaro Super Stock to my first (and only) win. My own car burned to the ground in late 1978 and my racing career was over. My name isn't even a footnote in local racing documents.

In 2003 I got on Google Earth. The old track, or what was left of it, was still there. Surrounded by housing and commercial buildings, the paved 3/8th mile was over grown and hardly visible. Gone was the 50' tall grandstands, the pit buildings and the unique 2 story refreshment stand. The figure 8 was still there, added in 1979 as a last ditch effort to increase attendance. Unfortunately the Highway 16 track south of town had opened in 1978 and was bigger, better and newer. Halfway through the 1980 season Pan Am closed it's doors.










This afternoon my nephew, (ex)wife and I took Laguna Seca down. It cost me about $400 and a month to build, entertained a dozen racers participating in 9 races, and created a controversy during the ALMS series because of its nearly impossible to master driving technique required. The well built track was difficult to destroy, not just from an emotional standpoint, but because I built it so damn good. Screws instead of nails, two gallons of glue and then some, 2X4 framing. After an hour it was done.










Salvaged was all of the track pieces, the trees, guard rails, fences, static vehicles, mesh fencing....about half of the cost was recovered through salvage. I still have two 4X8 sheets of foam 1" thick, unused and waiting for another project. Like the Fairgrounds Project.

Laguna Seca is gone. It was fun, building, racing...maybe even in a warped way tearing it apart. Someday if money and space allow I'll build another one, but a 4 lane version. But as with all of the greats, Riverside, Ontario....Pan American, Laguna Seca will live on here on these pages.


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Pete McKay said:


> Every year around the world race tracks fall victim to the developers wrecking ball. Riverside, Ontario Motorspeedway, maybe even your old neighborhood track you grew up around as a kid. It's just the way it is.
> 
> I grew up around a track in San Antonio, Texas called Pan American Speedway. The first time I went there was when I was 7 and a guy named Pat Lane won the feature in a gold and blue '57 Chevy. My dad was a Shrine clown and worked at the track from 1974 until it closed in 1980. I got in free as a teen until I turned 16, then I built a '68 Chevelle hobby stocker and started racing. In 1977 I won my class, and in May of 1978 I drove Pat Lane's '69 Camaro Super Stock to my first (and only) win. My own car burned to the ground in late 1978 and my racing career was over. My name isn't even a footnote in local racing documents.
> 
> In 2003 I got on Google Earth. The old track, or what was left of it, was still there. Surrounded by housing and commercial buildings, the paved 3/8th mile was over grown and hardly visible. Gone was the 50' tall grandstands, the pit buildings and the unique 2 story refreshment stand. The figure 8 was still there, added in 1979 as a last ditch effort to increase attendance. Unfortunately the Highway 16 track south of town had opened in 1978 and was bigger, better and newer. Halfway through the 1980 season Pan Am closed it's doors.


I knew there was something I liked about you Pete! Your a Texan too or was one! HA! That's actually great information as I've heard of this track in San Antonio but never did see it. We now have a road course south of Houston, an outlaw track just West of Houston, and between San Antonio and Houston, two drag strips. Drag racing and SCCA road course racing seem to be the most popular now.

I know it was tough to tear the Leguna Seca track down, but I know it will be a shadow of a memory once you build the next one! Good luck to your future track!

PD2:thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

PD, if you've been to the drag strip in San Antonio then the Highway 16 oval is right next to it. The old San Antonio Dragway was built off in the late 1950's of Walzem and Gibbs-Sprawl on the neighboring Eastbrook Farm to my family's land. It's all developed now but I have a piece of the tin sign that was on the front of the control tower. The new dragstrip opened about the same time the oval did. 

I drove one race in 1978 at Highway 16, I think it's called San Antonio Speedway now. Terry Labonte was there, up from Corpus Christi for the Sportsman race. But in practice Freddy Fryar put me in the wall and broke a front end piece. We went home, didn't even stay the rest of the night. I went one other time to watch, don't remember who won because I spent most of the time in the parking lot with a very pregnant girlfriend, who later became my wife. The things we did for love.


I did find a link to some track pictures, some of the cars from the early 1970's. It's interesting to see them and try to remember these guys. A lot of them I knew personally as a kid, I wonder where they are today...

http://public.fotki.com/txtom/pan-american-speedway/


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Pete McKay said:


> PD, if you've been to the drag strip in San Antonio then the Highway 16 oval is right next to it. The old San Antonio Dragway was built off in the late 1950's of Walzem and Gibbs-Sprawl on the neighboring Eastbrook Farm to my family's land. It's all developed now but I have a piece of the tin sign that was on the front of the control tower. The new dragstrip opened about the same time the oval did.
> 
> I drove one race in 1978 at Highway 16, I think it's called San Antonio Speedway now. Terry Labonte was there, up from Corpus Christi for the Sportsman race. But in practice Freddy Fryar put me in the wall and broke a front end piece. We went home, didn't even stay the rest of the night. I went one other time to watch, don't remember who won because I spent most of the time in the parking lot with a very pregnant girlfriend, who later became my wife. The things we did for love.
> 
> ...


 
Wow Pete! Now that is some history for sure! I'll tell you one thing, the cars that were really STOCK cars back then, they could take some abuse and hits and keep you protected! My wife had a 1978 Camaro that she had a traffic accident in - see was crossing an intersection (she had the green light) and a dump truck hit her in the rear quarter panel of the car. Spun the car around at least 2 times if not more and did some nasty damage to the car, but she came out totally fine! They just do not make cars like that any more!

Good memories and good times Pete!

PD2:thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Seeing those cars again PD was a real trip down memory lane. Wheel failures were common and a lot of guys would weld gussets in their wheels. Some of them you can see in the photo's for the cars. The Tri-Classic Chevy's were most popular, there was a T-Bird I saw and a few Falcons. The Camaro's came later, along with the Chevelles.

I've gotten a couple of PM's suggesting that I do a Pan American Heritage track. In the past (before Sequoia Speedway) all of my oval slot car tracks were called Pan American although none of them was a true representation. I am thinking about the heritage replica seriously, it would be smaller than the planned fairgrounds layout but would have much better landscaping.


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Pete McKay said:


> Seeing those cars again PD was a real trip down memory lane. Wheel failures were common and a lot of guys would weld gussets in their wheels. Some of them you can see in the photo's for the cars. The Tri-Classic Chevy's were most popular, there was a T-Bird I saw and a few Falcons. The Camaro's came later, along with the Chevelles.
> 
> I've gotten a couple of PM's suggesting that I do a Pan American Heritage track. In the past (before Sequoia Speedway) all of my oval slot car tracks were called Pan American although none of them was a true representation. I am thinking about the heritage replica seriously, it would be smaller than the planned fairgrounds layout but would have much better landscaping.


I'd have to agree with the PM's - you have to do one as a tribute and to honor those that raced there, especially if some of them went on to be nationally known racers! All racers have to get started some place and I think (both for scale and 1:1 racing) that is something that we keep loosing as we loose more and more tracks like Pan American Heritage and others.

I'd say do it bro! It may be small, but its keeping the wide-eyed boy dream alive in scale. As Larry says - GIT R DUN!

PD2:thumbsup:


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

PD2 said:


> I'd have to agree with the PM's - you have to do one as a tribute and to honor those that raced there, especially if some of them went on to be nationally known racers!


:haroahs Voice::: "So it is written, so shall it be done." 

I'll fire up the think box this weekend, with spring break out I have my mind occupied with my parks at work. The cool thing is that I can do most of the cars using the RRR Fairgrounds bodies. But the layout with the entry to the track in front of the grandstands will be there. Maybe even I'll do lights.


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Pete McKay said:


> :haroahs Voice::: "So it is written, so shall it be done."
> 
> I'll fire up the think box this weekend, with spring break out I have my mind occupied with my parks at work. The cool thing is that I can do most of the cars using the RRR Fairgrounds bodies. But the layout with the entry to the track in front of the grandstands will be there. Maybe even I'll do lights.


NICE! Very sweet! Good luck with the new project! We'll be watchin!

PD2:thumbsup:


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