Ah, a little sunshine makes such a pleasant difference…!
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Merc’s Christmas holiday racetrack for the 2023 New Year’s Day race
Well hello all, it has been a long time i haven't been slot racing, let alone being on slotforum. But! finally it seems we're going to make it this year, a christmas holiday track and yes, a new year's day race.
This year the place to lay a temporary track is the old courthouse in which we have our office. In the old courtroom - without heating, alas - is enough space for a decent track.
Due to the absence of heating this year i like to do it old style, fool proof: a classic four lane vintage Fleischmann track. it won't be having a long life this track, but well, who knows it may survive the winter and see next year's spring time. We'll see.
I have to make do with the existing stuff in the office, like tables, some wood sheets cut to fit.
It's all about simplicity this time. I have room and a lot of vintage Fleischmann track, so off i went with a classic four laner.
Here i'll post my first sketch of the track plan. I might add some improvements, but basically this is the layout.
The triangle form came from the arrangement of available office tables, and this shape permits easy walking around the track.
There's room for a gauge 1 railtrack circumnavigating the track. I might make a truss bridge spanning the 500 mm gap to the adjacent tables on the left and the right, on which drinks and food will be placed during the race day.
So a beer serving gauge 1 Marklin train might be very well in the making.
For now i wish you all a happy christmas holiday and i'll keep you posted here with my building progress.
Merc
![Human body Font Pattern Graphics Diagram]()
![Human body Font Pattern Graphics Diagram]()
This year the place to lay a temporary track is the old courthouse in which we have our office. In the old courtroom - without heating, alas - is enough space for a decent track.
Due to the absence of heating this year i like to do it old style, fool proof: a classic four lane vintage Fleischmann track. it won't be having a long life this track, but well, who knows it may survive the winter and see next year's spring time. We'll see.
I have to make do with the existing stuff in the office, like tables, some wood sheets cut to fit.
It's all about simplicity this time. I have room and a lot of vintage Fleischmann track, so off i went with a classic four laner.
Here i'll post my first sketch of the track plan. I might add some improvements, but basically this is the layout.
The triangle form came from the arrangement of available office tables, and this shape permits easy walking around the track.
There's room for a gauge 1 railtrack circumnavigating the track. I might make a truss bridge spanning the 500 mm gap to the adjacent tables on the left and the right, on which drinks and food will be placed during the race day.
So a beer serving gauge 1 Marklin train might be very well in the making.
For now i wish you all a happy christmas holiday and i'll keep you posted here with my building progress.
Merc
61 - 80 of 115 Posts
During races I found out that many cars crashed in the S curve just after the S/F line - many drivers trying to reach the lap timing sensor in the dying seconds of the race. So many cars end up full speed nose first against the wall under the overpass, and many Ninco F1 cars lost their front wing there. So to prevent further damage I placed a 2 cm thick piece of soft foam against the wall. It’s not very visible due to the overhang so I’m happy with this damage limiting solution. I might try to paint the foam though.
![Car Tire Vehicle Motor vehicle Automotive lighting]()
Well then I’ll continue with reports from my track!
Today we had another joyful Sunday race. Six participants racing, and after that a nice group dinner with lasagne, wine, apple pie for dessert with coffee and pleasant talks. I could get used to a monthly Sunday race.
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first the race preparations: car tweaks, minor repairs, as well as selecting the wine and other drinks.
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Then preparing the track: vacuum cleaning the room and track, warming the unheated room by means of lighting 50-ish tea lights. I learned lessons from the last race, so no tea lights on the track but only alongside the railroad. With the tea lights the room temperature went up 5 degrees in one hour. Besides that, it looks so festive with the tea lights on!
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Then it was time for the race. Because we were with 6, we decided to race on 3 lanes so we could spread the heats evenly. And off we went!
![Wheel Tire Car Vehicle Motor vehicle]()
weirdest crash of the day. No idea how but this car managed to end up on the barrier while speeding up towards the banked curve.
I must add to this that the 45 degree bend just before the banked curve is by far the most tricky curve of the track: it curves towards the left, you want to accelerate to dive into the banked curve but the road lies anti-camber, so your car goes up and left while the road leans to the right. Very difficult curve to master.
I’ll try to make a video out of the footage I shot today, but that’s for another day!
Today we had another joyful Sunday race. Six participants racing, and after that a nice group dinner with lasagne, wine, apple pie for dessert with coffee and pleasant talks. I could get used to a monthly Sunday race.
first the race preparations: car tweaks, minor repairs, as well as selecting the wine and other drinks.
Then preparing the track: vacuum cleaning the room and track, warming the unheated room by means of lighting 50-ish tea lights. I learned lessons from the last race, so no tea lights on the track but only alongside the railroad. With the tea lights the room temperature went up 5 degrees in one hour. Besides that, it looks so festive with the tea lights on!
Then it was time for the race. Because we were with 6, we decided to race on 3 lanes so we could spread the heats evenly. And off we went!
weirdest crash of the day. No idea how but this car managed to end up on the barrier while speeding up towards the banked curve.
I must add to this that the 45 degree bend just before the banked curve is by far the most tricky curve of the track: it curves towards the left, you want to accelerate to dive into the banked curve but the road lies anti-camber, so your car goes up and left while the road leans to the right. Very difficult curve to master.
I’ll try to make a video out of the footage I shot today, but that’s for another day!
A nice feature of my laptiming software is that I can change the display colours in the main screen. I chose 4 identical cars and allocated them to a lane - and gave the lane the corresponding colour in the laptiming screen. In my case car/lane 1 red, car/lane 2 white, 3 black and 4 blue. So all viewers could see rightaway which car is leading the race, as this colour is top of the list in the main screen.
It made seeing where the battle for the lead was more clear for the spectators, very pleasant feature. 😊
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It made seeing where the battle for the lead was more clear for the spectators, very pleasant feature. 😊
Haha indeed, always confusion 😄 that’s so good with digital tracks: just place the car back on track, any lane will do. With analogue it takes attention.
I placed tape with lane numbers and direction of travel arrows in every curve, but it’s still confusing for untrained marshals - hence the yelling and shouting “put me back! On two!”
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I placed tape with lane numbers and direction of travel arrows in every curve, but it’s still confusing for untrained marshals - hence the yelling and shouting “put me back! On two!”
61 - 80 of 115 Posts
