[Michael363672]

In the beginning Lee decided to build a Oval Race Track

Lee Thorndike built it - hence the name

But while he is good with a saw and router he is no good at posting on here so I have posted it for him

Well done Lee it looks a great track

Starting the routing

The inner lane

The Jig to keep the lanes straight when doing the rebate for the braid and also the correct distant apart on the bends

It doing the inner lane

And moved around to keep it inline whilst rebating the slot for the braid so it sits flush to the track

The cut outs for the lane changers

And with the track pieces in position

The back straight cut in

And the power base now added

And the track in full view - Just needs to painted now

Nice work Lee

Not bad for a Saturday afternoon's work Lee

Since then we have added

And here are the Nascars being prepped

The Track Runs

PB PRO SH 13.8V 20 AMP Power
PIT PRO
SSDC V5 For race control
Plus A RICHG LAP TOWER
PLUS FLAT SCREEN DISPLAY

And here it is in it's new Home

For more details of race nights please contact me on the forum on the EMail above

HOPE TO SEE LOT'S OF YOU NEXT RACE NIGHT

Michael

 

[Michael363672]

Just to let you all know Lee has started work on the NEW Sections for the GT Track

Hopefull he has remembered to take some Photo's then I will update the thread

Michael

 

[Miker]

Hi Michael,
looks great

Wish the club longevity, I'd love to come along, once my work life is sorted (read, when I have one) I'll certainly pay a visit, or 2 or 3 or......
Mike

 

[Michael363672]

Thanks Mike

Any race night feel free to pop down and the first night is on us

ps we have donuts as well

 

[Michael363672]

So as promised here is the latest update to the track

A new curve being constructed

New STRAIGHTS Being "Routed"

The NEW Jig for keeping it all inline

Don't think it's going to fit in there

Looking Good

More to follow once it's braided and painted and ready to race

Michael

 

[lee thorndike]

Just thought I would add that this race track is to big to race at our location
so it will be run on a saturday in a hall in basildon essex.
Should be in spring some time.
So if anyone is keen to race just keep a look out for posts.
The good thing with the way I have built this track is it is sectional so I can just keep configuring it in different ways.
A bit like a huge scalextric set were the straights are 6 feet long.
I am also working on banked curves for the oval.
If anyone has ideas they are welcome.

 

[grimboracer]

Looking good mate.

are you looking forward to doing the braiding, i know you like doing that.

 

[lee thorndike]

a means to the end im afraid
Braiding is very time consuming
theres nearly 200 foot of braid just on the four new sections.
Hopefully you will make it down lee when we run it.

 

[grimboracer]

If its after 6 on the satuarday i cant see why not

 

[Michael363672]

What 6 in the evening Lee ?

 

[montoya1]

Lee - what is the address the track will be at?

When will the oval be used for the last time at the current location?

 

[Michael363672]

Not sure yet as it will need to be in a hall

Just need to find one that is reasonable to hire

And the Oval will allways run every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month

 

[montoya1]

Good luck sourcing a hall.

Maybe all the Basildon/Rayleigh clubs should venue-share?

 

[prdad]

Looks impressive. Do you have any details on the wiring? Power supply size and connections between the sections? Can you run it in analog mode? I notice it breaks out into 3 lanes from the APB is there no way to start with 3 lanes?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm in the process of researching track for a new club in Manchester.

I'd love to hear about the reliability of the digi setup in a club environment. Is it robust enough?

 

[lee thorndike]

Good idea dean
The local hall is around £150 for all saturday.
I do have some other options though.
The new additions do take up a lot of space.
It bumps the length up to 80 feet and will need a space of around 35 feet by17 feet minimum.

 

[lee thorndike]

QUOTE (prdad @ 19 Feb 2012, 19:20) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Looks impressive. Do you have any details on the wiring? Power supply size and connections between the sections? Can you run it in analog mode? I notice it breaks out into 3 lanes from the APB is there no way to start with 3 lanes?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm in the process of researching track for a new club in Manchester.

I'd love to hear about the reliability of the digi setup in a club environment. Is it robust enough?
The braids are terminated underneath in connector blocks and just have
kitchen link light connectors to join the track sections together.
we only run on standard scalextric supplies at the moment and haven't needed to upgrade.
no we don't run in analogue mode as we could only run two cars.
It could be ran three lanes across the start finish but I like the squeeze also the cross over.
makes things more interesting.
With the fuel strategy it is best to run the inside line until near the end of the race where we all tend to run the
outside for the speed.
We have had a few glitches but I think they are behind us now.
I think the biggest thing was changing to a desc top computer.
We are also analogue racers as well but we all now love the different style of racing digital has to offer.
If you need any more help don't hesitate
Regards Lee

 

[Michael363672]

To be fair to Lee There were no real issues with the track

The track started out life by going to be a plain Analogue oval then myself and Lee was talking at the club one night and I said about making it digital

Some errors were made early on but more thru Lee thinking like an analogue track rather than digital
And also down to the fact that the track is modular and can be erected and rigged ready to race in well under 1/2 an Hour from it being in the back of his truck

The only other problems we have had were with SSDC V5 not seeming to like the large race data we built up by running in a club race environment
over many race meetings and in trying different connectors to extend the controllers that caused us some issues and the powerbase USB cable conectors being a bit tempermental with the junction box to use the laptower

Last Summer the Track ran for 2 hours at my son's summer fate with over 25 races run without any problems
we were using SSDC V4 and a bunch of 5 to 10 year olds and to say it took a pounding is an understatement

I would confidently say that if we were to design and build a track from scratch I would be able to say it would work from the word go

All the problems were actually easily sorted once I got a chance with Lee to run a TEST session one morning
just the two of us as the track had had all its testing in a race night environment ( not a good idea )

Also SSDC is a lot more complex to get all the settings right than a general analogue race program that only counts laps

Michael

 

[prdad]

Seems like a fair and positive report, Michael. Its quite encouraging to hear success stories with digital. I've been an early adopter from day one with my home track and had a fair few headaches with it. Something I wouldnt wish to inflict in a race scenario. But you've got me thinking again.

Good luck with the racing and keep us fed with pics!

 

[Michael363672]

So only a couple of pictures

Lee's FIRST Custom ROUTED Lane change giving you your last chance to get to the inside for the Pits

A NEW Addition for the OVAL A BANKED CORNER

More to come soon

 

[prdad]

Thats looking very tasty. I wish I was a bit closer to you for a visit. Its developing fast!!

What are you using for the edging to get the nice curvature?