[RichD]

Last night was the first race on Shoreline Model Raceways latest track. "Gypsy" is a five lane portable trioval, it breaks down into seven sections that were routed from only two sheets of MDF. The track has tinned copper braid so that high performance motors can be run and for added durability. The electrical connections are made without seperate connectors when the sections are bolted together. As a backup there is enough braid hanging down under the track to make connections with twist connectors, like commercial 1/24th tracks do. The main straight is 16 feet long and the footprint is about 7X21 feet. Four people can assemble the track in about 30 minutes. The track was a little slick when we were practicing, but it was about perfect by the end of the evening.

 

[RichD]

Today was the first real race on the Shoreline Model Raceways Gypsy portable track. Connecting the computer and dead strips took some extra time, but that will be streamlined in the future. The practice session saw a few cars land on the ground, but the racing itself was very clean, there were several heats with no crashes. The grip was very good, at the limit the cars would usually swing the tail out and loose a bit of time. I didn't see what a fast lap time was.

Setting up

Does it work? Yes!

Practice makes perfect

The race

 

[SpeedKilz]

I want one. That looks excellent. Clearly the outside lane is longer, how do you normally race? Having only ever raced with the scalextric digital, do you stagger the starts? The idea of a 16 foot straight is very euphoric, I'm starting to loose consciousness..........

 

[RichD]

There is about a 0.3 second difference in lap times for the same car between the inside and outside lanes. We run with lane rotation, so each racer would run all five lanes. The difference in lap distance comes out in the wash that way. The race managment software (TrakMate) keeps track of everything. We could equalize things by adding diodes to the inside lanes, that way you could race head to head with someone that was several lanes away. Ordinarily on a track of this sort you live for the inside lanes.