[nilshf]

Thanks to the inspiration of Luf and a lot of other people around the world, and the help of a lot of friends, my garage continues to gradually transform into a real "racing room."

My new three-lane routed track is now up and running. It's about 65' for the middle lane. Lap times with a modern LMP are in the mid-6's when running at 13 volts. I still have to tackle scenery and 100 other details, but it RUNS and it's a blast! (The biggest problem is putting down the controllers and working on all that other stuff!!)

First race is this Saturday (1/8/05) - local league guys are dropping by to thrash around modern LeMans Proto's and Ninco classics. If you're in central Pennsylvania the garage door is open!

Here's a sneak peak - (excuse the mess):

North End of the track

South End of the track

Into the first chicane

 

[Doug]

This looks good. Please keep us posted.

 

[Fergy]

Looks fast and fluid!

I see you've added a chicane in one spot. How do you feel about this after running on it?

What lane spacing did you use for the rest of the track?

As Nuro said, keep us posted, especially after this weekend's fun!

 

[xelayb]

Hi,

This look nice.

 

[nilshf]

QUOTE (Fergy @ 5 Jan 2005, 12:44)Looks fast and fluid!

I see you've added a chicane in one spot. How do you feel about this after running on it?

What lane spacing did you use for the rest of the track?

As Nuro said, keep us posted, especially after this weekend's fun!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Fergy -
There are actually 2 chicanes - 1 at each end. Both come following a series of increasingly sharper radius curves, so nobody is going too fast. Lanes are spaced about 1.5 inches apart in the squeeze, so lanes 1 & 3 can get through side-by-side. It's only adjacent lanes that really have to worry. So far, the response has been positive... but I'll know more after a weekend of racing.

Lane spacing around the rest of the track is 3.5 inches with at least a 6 inch outside gutter and 3 inch inside. The painted track surface in the pics is a bit wider than that. Visually, the track will get narrower when I get around to painting kerbs and adding the scenery.

 

[Cslotracer1]

great job!

 

[darainbow]

Very nice! Once the racing starts, its alot harder to finish up the little details.

 

[taxi]

Really nice work Nilshf

Rob

 

[Trakdaddy]

Looks great

Ron

 

[sacesta]

Very cool.

If I'm ever in Central PA I'll have to look you up.
Steve

 

[a Bill]

Hmm, yes, I see lots of places for me to wreck my car

I should be there Saturday morning. My corner marshalling skills might be off a tad due to a recent cold but I'll still have a go at it. Notice I didn't mention a deterioration of 'driving skills'? They can't deteriorate if you don't have them

 

[BEEJAY7]

Very neat track, and looks a lot of fun to drive. I would love to have a go with some Ninco Classics!.

Good luck with your Club Racing on Saturday.

Regards

Alan

 

[nilshf]

QUOTE (BEEJAY7 @ 6 Jan 2005, 17:45)I would love to have a go with some Ninco Classics!.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Alan,

We were running Ninco classics (always one of my fav classes) last evening during an informal practice session and they were an absolute blast.

Using NC-1's, a little bit of weight and good tires we got the Ninco's down into the low 8-second range... which was a good bit quicker than a box-stock Scaley IRL car. Ironic (and extremely funny) to see a Healey or Porsche Speedster just motor by the IRL!

Nils

 

[a Bill]

Everything went great today (Saturday 8th January). The races were Ninco Classics, which are some kind of old looking cars with NC1 motors and LeMans, which are some kind of swoopy looking cars with a magnet. I personally ran a silver AC Cobra for the Ninco class and a Fly Racing Saleen in a lovely shade of puke green for the LeMans class.

I didn't do too badly either, got two donuts and some pizza.

With the multitude of problems that could occur when breaking in a brand new track I only saw one, forgot lane stickers. However, on a three lane track it isn't too hard to figure out where the car belongs

Scoring, lap counting, power etc were all perfect. Very smooth track. First time I'd ever run on magnetic paint too.

 

[Skeeter]

magnetic paint????

ho does it work? how much? how easy to use?

 

[nilshf]

QUOTE (Skeeter @ 8 Jan 2005, 18:40)magnetic paint????

ho does it work? how much? how easy to use?
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Skeeter,

It's actually paint that's mixed with an iron-based powder that makes the surface attractive to magnets. The track is painted with 3 coats of the "magnetic paint" followed by 2 coats of flat acrylic latex. Magnet cars get grip across the entire surface of the track, instead of just a small concentrated area over metal rails or magnetic braid. This allows magnet cars to slide gently when they reach their traction limit instead of suddenly flinging off the corners. So far, so good.

The additive runs about $40/gallon. I used about a gallon and a half on a 65-foot 3-lane track, which gives me about 1/2 the grip of Scaley SPORT. The grip is strong enough that I can flip a test-track 90-degrees and still have a Scaley GT-40 stick to the track. enough that the magnets allow some classes of cars to go faster, but not enough to allow you to just blast around w/o really driving the car.
For reference - our cars in our Modern LMP class, with a single spec bar magnet, were running lap times in the high-5's and low 6's. The Ninco classics, with no magnet and NC-1 motors, were running 8-second laps.

I'm working on a detailed article about the magnetic paint concept. More info soon

Nils

 

[Skeeter]

sounds cool. i wonder if you could repaint plastic track with it?

 

[Neo]

very nice track dude !

 

[Mark0]

QUOTE (nilshf @ 5 Jan 2005, 16:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks to the inspiration of Luf and a lot of other people around the world, and the help of a lot of friends, my garage continues to gradually transform into a real "racing room."

My new three-lane routed track is now up and running. It's about 65' for the middle lane. Lap times with a modern LMP are in the mid-6's when running at 13 volts. I still have to tackle scenery and 100 other details, but it RUNS and it's a blast! (The biggest problem is putting down the controllers and working on all that other stuff!!)

First race is this Saturday (1/8/05) - local league guys are dropping by to thrash around modern LeMans Proto's and Ninco classics. If you're in central Pennsylvania the garage door is open!

Here's a sneak peak - (excuse the mess):

snipped

If you're still around Nilshf, I'd like to learn more about your experience with the magnetic paint.

Thanks

 

[SPZERO]

smooth n flowing very nice looks like would be a blast to race round keep those pictures coming well done looks excellent