[Alexandreads]

Hi all! Ive been currently limited to an 8x4 layout, that has to be set up and broken down every time we race as we have limited room inside, however work is about to begin on my new insulated, heated 16x8 shed, and Ive been planning out the layout of what will be a scenic layout (I trained as a scale model builder at art college many years ago!), and am very skilled with power tools etc, holding industrial certificates for circular saws etc, so unusually for a lady racer am doing it all myself! (Not building the shed though - bugger that!) 😂 Anyway, Id love your opinions on this layout Ive come up with, the twisted section Im seeing as being a kind of Targa Florio sort of affair, rising in total to about 20 before heading down the straight to the pit lane and the faster sections of track. I think theres a great range of corners in there, and Im planning on banking quite a few of the corners to make them a bit faster.
So, starting from the power base, and going clockwise, the curves are r3,r3,r3,r3, r2,r3,r4,r4,r3,r2,r2,r2,r2, r4,r2,r2,r2,r2, (small straight) r1,r1,r1,r2,r1,r1,r2,r1,r2,r1,r2,r1,r2,r1,r2,r1,r1,r2,r1,r3,r1,r2,r2,r2,r2,r4,r4,r3,r3,r4,r2,r2,r3,r3,r4,r4, (pit straight),r4,r4,r4,r4,r3,r3,r3,r3, (home straight & power base) what does everyone think?

 

[GRUNZ]

If you are going for a scenic targa-like track then I think this layout is ok.

My concern is that most of the layout is very quick and then you have the wiggly bits going up-hill: you might find that cars that will do well in the more slower up-hill part of the track will be very boring to drive in the rest of the track and viceversa.

But this is mainly speculation on my part.

On a more factual aspect: I would recommend to have a full straight between a corner and a lane changer otherwise your cars might miss the lane changer sensor. In the layout above you have a XLC in the front straight (before the power base) and the pitlane entrance with only a half straight after the corner.

The other thing that I would consider is that the last ditch (aka the last lane changer before the pit lane entrance) is way back in your layout. One possible change I would implement is to move the pitlane further down the long back straight and move the xlc before the pitlane entry.

hope it helps.

 

[Alexandreads]

Funny thing is I'd originally put the pit lane right at the end of the straight, but on advice from people saying that the cars may be moving too fast by that point moved it up! I guess though if you're planning on entering the pit you're going to be slowing accordingly....
I deliberately wanted a course of different parts, so that car and driver would have to approach vastly different roads - much like the Targa Florio - remember it wasn't all hairpins and gradients! I kinda want to have to have a car that performs well all round and test different driving styles... think I might have to look at modding some CLC's to work with Arc Pro though, that might make things more interesting.... especially on the centre section, could have the cover chicane in there... hmmm!

 

[Slots-O-Fun]

Personally I never liked curves as part of the underpass.

 

[Dopamine]

I think the wiggly bits in your plan don't flow very nicely. Shown below with your original plan are a couple of variations to improve the flow. The second suggestion enables you to move the pit-lane closer to where I presume the drivers will stand.

I agree with Slots-O-Fun that curves underneath a bridge aren't nice. Firstly the view of the curve is interrupted, which doesn't help with driving, and secondly, crashed cars are hard to reach, so the bottom suggestion gets rid of the bridge.

 

[GRUNZ]

I like Dopamine's third proposal. The only issue I can see is that the pitlane is too short to be of any use but I do not have any suggestion on how to improve on that..

Edit: @alexandreads I just realise that you have a short pitlane also in your first proposal but I assumed that you would have extended given the length of the back straight.

 

[Alexandreads]

I do like variation 2, though I’d be reversing the direction of travel as I did want the twist bits to be an ascent, and the back right corner will be the highest point.... Would also be remote to mod a clc to provide pit accessin the centre section, adding the curve prior to the pit lane to the pit lane, might make it a bit more usable!

 

[Dopamine]

Here's variation 2 with a change of direction so that the twisty bits are an ascent. However, I predict many frustrating car-retrieval occasions under the bridge!

 

[crustypop]

what about this ,with the twisty stuff on the left going up hill View attachment 14 ft x 7 ft scaley.scc View attachment 14 ft x 7 ft scaley.scc

 

[Alexandreads]

Im planning on setting up the layout just with the scalextric barriers etc and running it for a while to see how I get on with it, I was figuring if I do put a bridge there itll be a wider span than it strictly needs to facilitate car retrieval! 😂 I was kinda hoping that running with mags on an r3 - r2 curve that deal it ring could be kept to a minimum, if friends come round Ill give them a heavyweight Carrrera with nose weights and twin magnets to plod though with! 😂😂

 

[Alexandreads]

@crustypop - Cant see those files, any chance of a screenshot? ☺

 

[Alexandreads]

Ive just got what you mean with deslots under the bridge, if its first corner after the start, I know what my partner Becky is like for mashing the trigger! 😂

 

[crustypop]

just click on the file symbol after hill

 

[Alexandreads]

just click on the file symbol after hill

No, really? 😂
What I perhaps should have said is I only use MacBook Pro, IPad Pro & iPhone so cant open up an .scc file... 😊

 

[portals999]

.scc files are native UR3 file extensions, if you don't have UR3 installed on a WINTEL then they won't open and you'll get garbage.

Sorry, UR3 is Ultimate Racer 3:

http://www.uracerweb.org/english/features/layout-editor/index.html

 

[portals999]

The guys have given some great suggestions on how to improve your proposed design but given the space you have I think there are other layouts that fit the bill better (for me anyway if I had your space).

The left hand side is uninspiring and the rhs wiggles will get tiresome pretty quick after deslot after deslot after deslot.

I'd recommend that you spend some more time looking at other layouts, google is you friend here not forum search engines.

Have a look at this thread, if/when I have the space (I'm currently limited to 10by5), this is one of the layouts I still come back to.

https://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=131866&page=4

It has everything you want, large pitlane, technical compound curves that aren't too tricky (less deslots), and the requisite long straight to let them rip.

You've got the track so spend some time and try other layouts would be my advice.

 

[portals999]

BTW here's the UR3 file above that crustypop attached, he posted two, they they both look the same to me.

If it's not a rally track then I just don't get the need for the wiggle hairpin.

 

[portals999]

You can dl a free version of UR3 so you can view these .scc files incase you weren't aware, it just won't let you save changes as it's limited to 25 pieces.

gl!!!

 

[Alexandreads]

'I'd recommend that you spend some more time looking at other layouts, google is you friend here not forum search engines.'

Errrmmm, excuse me? That's quite the patronising statement there. I know you're probably getting pretty cranky up there since they banned the serving of alcohol in bars, but wind your neck in mate!!! I've spent a lot of research time looking at tracks that I really liked, both theoretical plans and realised, before deciding what I wanted from a layout. But I guess you'd know that if you'd actually read my posts. You'd also realise why I can't view .scc files instead of mansplaining them to me!

 

[Alexandreads]

And just for the record, this is our favourite so far, its rather cramped in our small lounge though! 😂