Over the last few years, I have attended various clubs, around the country, and raced. Despite having raced on these superb tracks, what I felt was lacking, was a home track, a place which I could have some fun on, and let my friends have a race on when they came round.
So, nearly seven years ago, construction started on the 'MIRC' a rather large 70ft 2 lane Scalextric track, in my garage, which went up into the roof when the garage needed to be used. This track had taken shape, and the scenery work was beginning, and it was very promising. However, general day-to-day life has meant that, firstly the garage is now in constant use, and secondly, it was very difficult to bring down, and involved a good hour of your time. So, the board is still there, waiting for the right opportunity when work will recommence.
Now, fast forward to 2011 - a year in which a whole new aspect of this hobby would be opened to me. Slot Rallying! The popularity of the annual Slot Rally GB championship hooked me, and I have entered two rounds of the championship, by proxy, taking a 2nd place in 'Pro-Stock' at the Wolves round this year.
With this in mind, and some space now available in our spare bedroom, it was time to attempt a new track. The room is superb, and for about 18 months or so, has been the 'slot car preparation suite' - to use a fellow club members saying
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. The room has plenty of storage for cars and equipment, a large workspace for car prep, the build area for my 'retro race' cars, and display cabinets for my 'shelf queens'.
With my new found interest in rallying, it was obvious to go down this route. The space available was 4ft x 5ft 7 inches (122cm x 170cm), admittedly not the largest space ever seen, but it would allow me to have a permanent track, with proper, permanent scenery, and better still, not fill the room completely. The name I settled on for the town was 'Kirkstown', just something I like the sound of!
The base board was laid, and the track plan designed. I went through a few different layouts, until I decided on one I liked. I have always had an interest in a 'round the houses' stage, similar to the Ramsey or Castletown stages used on the Isle of Man rally.
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With this in mind, I finalised the design, before buying the MDF, and sketching out the layout.
The layout is not based on any particular stage, or place, but a collection, of roads I know locally and ones I have drove on when I have been on holiday. One place I love is Yorkshire/Lancashire, the stone walls, the twisty country roads, with huge elevation change is superb, and would be ideal for rallying. The planned track follows this trend, with elevations, sudden crests, blind bends and cambered corners. This is the track plan:
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The opening part of the lap is very tight and twisty, 'around the houses', ducking and diving between central reservations, and avoiding buildings by a few fractions. The track then turns right onto the river front, before taking a sharp left over the bridge, and then out of the town. The track then goes up the hill and onto the main road, which will have various elevations, before going over a blind crest, and into a hairpin corner, around a mini-roundabout.
However, I don't own a router, or a jigsaw, the necessary tools needed for this job. But, after speaking with Melvyn, a retired carpenter who races at my local club, Norwich Slot Racing, he agreed to help with the project! Result!
So, yesterday, me and Melvyn met up, and spent the day routing the slot, and cutting the underside of the board for elevations. Mel's work is of a superb standard, and his skill is evident, especially as he routed the layout completely free-hand!
The weather has been brilliant of late, 27 degrees at least, so we managed to work outside, which made the job much easier!
The board, was then separated into three sections, firstly because each one needed different slots cut in the bottom, to make the MDF bend, and secondly because it would make cutting out the various sections with a jigsaw, much easier. You can get an idea for each section:
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Next, each section was cut underneath, to create the various elevations. The undercuts allow a huge amount of flexibility, no matter how thick the MDF (I'm using 12mm thick MDF). A good illustration of this can be seen on Luf's Old Slot Racer's website (HERE).
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One section of the track needed to be elevated, but also be given the ability to be cambered into the corners, so we undercut both way's. This does make the wood very fragile to carry, but when it is in-situ, it all works fine.
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We then setup the track on the car-park, so we could get an idea for the size of the track, and make any alterations.
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Because of it's compact nature, it would fit in the car perfectly, ready for it's journey home.
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Once back at home, the base board was assembled, and the track put in location:
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Recently, we repainted some of the rooms in our house, so we have plenty of half-full paint tins. These placed under the track, make it the perfect height for the front elevation, and using other paint tins, it would weight down certain parts of the track, and create the required elevations. As you can see, the twisty part of the track will be relatively flat, but there will be some inclines as they approach the climb up to the front elevation.
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The town part of the track will have some buildings surrounding the streets, as well as all the various paraphernalia seen in English towns and cities.
So, that's were I am up to at the minute, and I hope that over this coming week I can make some more progress on the front elevation, and the slight inclines in the 'village' section. Any comments, questions or advice would be much appreciated.
Regards
Jon
So, nearly seven years ago, construction started on the 'MIRC' a rather large 70ft 2 lane Scalextric track, in my garage, which went up into the roof when the garage needed to be used. This track had taken shape, and the scenery work was beginning, and it was very promising. However, general day-to-day life has meant that, firstly the garage is now in constant use, and secondly, it was very difficult to bring down, and involved a good hour of your time. So, the board is still there, waiting for the right opportunity when work will recommence.
Now, fast forward to 2011 - a year in which a whole new aspect of this hobby would be opened to me. Slot Rallying! The popularity of the annual Slot Rally GB championship hooked me, and I have entered two rounds of the championship, by proxy, taking a 2nd place in 'Pro-Stock' at the Wolves round this year.
With this in mind, and some space now available in our spare bedroom, it was time to attempt a new track. The room is superb, and for about 18 months or so, has been the 'slot car preparation suite' - to use a fellow club members saying
With my new found interest in rallying, it was obvious to go down this route. The space available was 4ft x 5ft 7 inches (122cm x 170cm), admittedly not the largest space ever seen, but it would allow me to have a permanent track, with proper, permanent scenery, and better still, not fill the room completely. The name I settled on for the town was 'Kirkstown', just something I like the sound of!
The base board was laid, and the track plan designed. I went through a few different layouts, until I decided on one I liked. I have always had an interest in a 'round the houses' stage, similar to the Ramsey or Castletown stages used on the Isle of Man rally.
With this in mind, I finalised the design, before buying the MDF, and sketching out the layout.
The layout is not based on any particular stage, or place, but a collection, of roads I know locally and ones I have drove on when I have been on holiday. One place I love is Yorkshire/Lancashire, the stone walls, the twisty country roads, with huge elevation change is superb, and would be ideal for rallying. The planned track follows this trend, with elevations, sudden crests, blind bends and cambered corners. This is the track plan:
The opening part of the lap is very tight and twisty, 'around the houses', ducking and diving between central reservations, and avoiding buildings by a few fractions. The track then turns right onto the river front, before taking a sharp left over the bridge, and then out of the town. The track then goes up the hill and onto the main road, which will have various elevations, before going over a blind crest, and into a hairpin corner, around a mini-roundabout.
However, I don't own a router, or a jigsaw, the necessary tools needed for this job. But, after speaking with Melvyn, a retired carpenter who races at my local club, Norwich Slot Racing, he agreed to help with the project! Result!
So, yesterday, me and Melvyn met up, and spent the day routing the slot, and cutting the underside of the board for elevations. Mel's work is of a superb standard, and his skill is evident, especially as he routed the layout completely free-hand!
The weather has been brilliant of late, 27 degrees at least, so we managed to work outside, which made the job much easier!
The board, was then separated into three sections, firstly because each one needed different slots cut in the bottom, to make the MDF bend, and secondly because it would make cutting out the various sections with a jigsaw, much easier. You can get an idea for each section:
Next, each section was cut underneath, to create the various elevations. The undercuts allow a huge amount of flexibility, no matter how thick the MDF (I'm using 12mm thick MDF). A good illustration of this can be seen on Luf's Old Slot Racer's website (HERE).
One section of the track needed to be elevated, but also be given the ability to be cambered into the corners, so we undercut both way's. This does make the wood very fragile to carry, but when it is in-situ, it all works fine.
We then setup the track on the car-park, so we could get an idea for the size of the track, and make any alterations.
Because of it's compact nature, it would fit in the car perfectly, ready for it's journey home.
Once back at home, the base board was assembled, and the track put in location:
Recently, we repainted some of the rooms in our house, so we have plenty of half-full paint tins. These placed under the track, make it the perfect height for the front elevation, and using other paint tins, it would weight down certain parts of the track, and create the required elevations. As you can see, the twisty part of the track will be relatively flat, but there will be some inclines as they approach the climb up to the front elevation.
The town part of the track will have some buildings surrounding the streets, as well as all the various paraphernalia seen in English towns and cities.
So, that's were I am up to at the minute, and I hope that over this coming week I can make some more progress on the front elevation, and the slight inclines in the 'village' section. Any comments, questions or advice would be much appreciated.
Regards
Jon
