Yes, same solution here - always a lane number on the car 😊
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
81 - 100 of 115 Posts
It's been a while since I was going to comment on digital (if I haven't already) 
.
If you go digital, you enter another type of competition.
For me digital is traffic and fuel.
If you have many lanes, the digital almost disappears.
Seeing the dimensions of your track, I would go for two lanes. Imagine 4 lanes and 4 drivers (they would almost end each one in a lane)
It also depends on the number of drivers in each race, at your track I would say a minimum of 6 (with 2 lanes)
At the beginning it is chaos because the drivers are not used to traffic, changing lanes and looking at the screen, but as they gain experience they cheer up (they have to be patient).
.If you go digital, you enter another type of competition.
For me digital is traffic and fuel.
If you have many lanes, the digital almost disappears.
Seeing the dimensions of your track, I would go for two lanes. Imagine 4 lanes and 4 drivers (they would almost end each one in a lane)
It also depends on the number of drivers in each race, at your track I would say a minimum of 6 (with 2 lanes)
At the beginning it is chaos because the drivers are not used to traffic, changing lanes and looking at the screen, but as they gain experience they cheer up (they have to be patient).
Reading your publication #84,... for a moment I understood that you wanted to disassemble the one you have and mount a two-lane one (I would wait until 2024 ).
According to your comments...I would go directly to 2 lanes and a pit line and cancel the other (I don't know if inside or outside...).
).According to your comments...I would go directly to 2 lanes and a pit line and cancel the other (I don't know if inside or outside...).
Thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated 😊
Ja throwing in my lane changers is pretty easy, the track remains totally the same, it’s just a matter of placing the lane changers in a good setup so it’s possible to travel along all the lanes. With scorpius I can simply name a (say lane 2->1) LC “pitlane entry” and one further up the road “pit exit” and I’ve created my pitlane “zone” in the track.
Geez with Scorpius I can set up the pitlane with a speed limit so it’s a no go to race trough the pitlane - to keep speed it will be necessary to change lanes to stay out of the speed limited track section. Mmmm interesting.
Pro: I can still race 4 lane analogue.
Pro: track and scenery stays the same.
If it’s not satisfying, I can change the placement of LC’s, so testing until a satisfying LC “flow” is created.
Other possibility is going to a digi 2-laner. With a few interesting changes in the track geometry the track becomes a 2-laner that follows mostly the old layout, only now in 2x2 lanes side by side.
I can use my converted Carrera LC’s for the fast straights and the tighter Ninco LC’s for the twisty sections. Ninco pitlane pieces are fine for the pitlane setup.
I’ve made a sketch, what’s your thoughts about this variant?
![Font String instrument accessory Pattern Drawing Design]()
Ja throwing in my lane changers is pretty easy, the track remains totally the same, it’s just a matter of placing the lane changers in a good setup so it’s possible to travel along all the lanes. With scorpius I can simply name a (say lane 2->1) LC “pitlane entry” and one further up the road “pit exit” and I’ve created my pitlane “zone” in the track.
Geez with Scorpius I can set up the pitlane with a speed limit so it’s a no go to race trough the pitlane - to keep speed it will be necessary to change lanes to stay out of the speed limited track section. Mmmm interesting.
Pro: I can still race 4 lane analogue.
Pro: track and scenery stays the same.
If it’s not satisfying, I can change the placement of LC’s, so testing until a satisfying LC “flow” is created.
Other possibility is going to a digi 2-laner. With a few interesting changes in the track geometry the track becomes a 2-laner that follows mostly the old layout, only now in 2x2 lanes side by side.
I can use my converted Carrera LC’s for the fast straights and the tighter Ninco LC’s for the twisty sections. Ninco pitlane pieces are fine for the pitlane setup.
I’ve made a sketch, what’s your thoughts about this variant?
It’s a spaghetti puzzle when a 2-lane track goes round as if it’s a 4-laner Grunz 😊
The only change would be the corkscrew, where the outer track would make a u-turn and the inner lane would stay in as the overpass - resulting in a swap from inner to outer and vice versa.
![Window Urban design Asphalt Flooring Engineering]()
The only change would be the corkscrew, where the outer track would make a u-turn and the inner lane would stay in as the overpass - resulting in a swap from inner to outer and vice versa.
Apart from fantasizing about digitizing my track, there’s also quiet evenings filled with racing and tweaking cars. I find remarkable pleasure in patching up old cars and with some TLC, make them driveable again.
These old Scalextric cars for instance. Changed the dried out tires, lowered the front to get a nicer stance, lubricated the gears and repaired the lights. These old Scalextric cars have taillights and braking lights - when I go off the throttle, the brake lights light up. Very pleasant sight. These old cars are no match for modern cars but as a group of four, highly enjoyable to race them!
![Car Wheel Automotive parking light Vehicle Tire]()
![Wheel Car Tire Vehicle Hood]()
These old Scalextric cars for instance. Changed the dried out tires, lowered the front to get a nicer stance, lubricated the gears and repaired the lights. These old Scalextric cars have taillights and braking lights - when I go off the throttle, the brake lights light up. Very pleasant sight. These old cars are no match for modern cars but as a group of four, highly enjoyable to race them!
Next week the race room will be partly cleared - it’s also a storage room and one side is fully occupied with boxes. When these are gone, a lot of space is gained. So I’m have been puzzling in my cad track drawing how to possibly make use of that space. This might add 2,5 m. to the track length. Bonus would be a better integration of track and railroad, I could make a shunting yard in the middle of the table. Plus the main straight could be 5,1 m long, so nice to go full speed a bit longer.
Here’s a first sketch.
![Black Font Pattern Symmetry Engineering]()
Here’s a first sketch.
Still some puzzling to see if there’s a nicer layout possible. The short twisted part leading towards the first banked curve I could make in 45 degrees curves as in my previous post, but also in 22.5 degrees curves (by cutting a standard 45 curve in two equal parts).
It might be interesting to add a pair of softer curves and vary on the present curves.
![Font Line Pattern String instrument accessory Engineering]()
It might be interesting to add a pair of softer curves and vary on the present curves.
81 - 100 of 115 Posts
