[Gareth]

QUOTE (LeeH @ 10 Dec 2011, 21:51) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What length and width is the board the track is on???

The board is 6.5 by 4 feet. It really is the maximum I can get in my flat without getting rid of all the furniture!

I am really grateful to Andy, Dave and Karl who spent several hours scraping paint out of slots and from rails until we had a working track. But the end result was worth it as the track is a lot of fun to drive.

I still need to finish the kerbs which will be smoothed, repainted and striped in the future. I'm also going to finish the retaining wall and add some barriers in front of the driver stations.

Not sure on Norwich yet Lee, it does depend on how the missus is feeling.

 

[Gareth]

A few more photos from yesterday.

Tomy Turbo Open wheel

Dodge Chargers on the grid including one very familiar car on the yellow lane

 

[woodcote]

Great pics

Those Turbos were a joy to drive, as were the Life Like M Nascars, SGs, X-tractions, my T-jet. In fact, what wasn't good to drive?

Top time of the day was your MR-1 at just under 3 seconds?

You've really nailed it with that infield - it flows perfectly and is completely awesome with the pancake cars

 

[mikefi]

Drat and double drat muttly

Missed the debut of the raceway,that will be S.P.C(small person commitments) for you...

Looked good fun and hopefully will be there next time for some slower car action

Nice one gareth

Cheers MikeD

 

[Gareth]

I haven't managed anymore racing on the WHR since that one session in December. In a practise session on my own, I found a loose wire so have bought some more wire to rectify that. I also still have issues with the cars flowing smoothly round the track. Some sections are very dead so I picked up some lighter fluid to hopefully ease the dodgy connections of any paint that is blocking the power flow.

I've been carrying on collecting cars like crazy so here are a few of the new ones mingled in with some existing ones as I've worked on my collections! I've got some Turbo open wheelers coming soon so didn't take any photos of them.

By the way if anyone sees the Turbo F1 Minardi, Venturi Larrousse, Autopolis Benetton (not the regular one), Jordan, Marlboro McLaren or Camel Lotus then please let me know or buy them for me and I will pay you back! Just the Turbos though! I'm holding fire on collecting the SG+ cars.

All of these cars are Dodge Daytonas. I think the red and white Autoworld is possibly my favourite. That and the orange original Aurora one. Still a few more to get to complete the set including the disgusting purple LifeLike one!

Classic Rokar and Amrac cars. I find it interesting that the Datsun has an Autoworld logo on the side panel. Was this a real car sponsored by AW or just some mash up between the two companies?

I love my vans!

My first two Artin F's courtesy of Tony HORA Slowracer Stacey! I then bought a couple of chassis from the WHO club shop and managed to get one on ebay straight after that for 99p! It was listed as a Micro Scalextric and was only up the road as well.

Marchon Group C cars. I bought them to modify the chassis for racing but as they are a pair (and I think I had the Sauber as a kid) I may keep them as is. Which means I'll have to buy a few more MR-1 chassis for racing cars.

The ever expanding Nascar group! I think I am going to pass on collecting all of the LifeLike Nascar bodies. Or just focus on the long thin Thunderbird shells if I do start. I do want all of the Tomy ones.

 

[loosesalute]

Great cars Gareth!
That Footwork F1 on your December 11th photos is my favourite.
Cheers,
Kev.

 

[Gareth]

Cheers Kev. The Footwork is another of the Tomy Turbo F1s. My first ever car was the Williams version which is probably the reason I'm so attached to them and why I collect them!

 

[Gareth]

As it is so big compared to my flat, getting the WHR out to play is a bit of an effort. I've been getting a bit annoyed though with putting up small bullring ovals for testing or having a track up for 30 minutes or so only to have to pack it away again. So I built myself a test track!

I used the remains of one of the original boards which is why it is a bit thinner at one end. The track is silicone sealed down and I made new driver stations with no brakes which makes them a lot simpler to wire up than the ones on the WHR. The central 9" straight has holes drilled for photo cells and there is a portion of the board removed to fit them. Photocells and LEDs etc will be ordered soon.

Total build time was only around 3 or 4 hours including working out how to fit the most track possible onto the board as I could and keep it interesting with different corner radii. There are 6s, 9s and 12s in the mix.

Eventually this will have a lurid paint job and become Junior's track but by then we should be in a new place with space for the WHR to be up on a more permanent basis.

 

[OppositeLock]

Test track my a***! That's bigger than my race track

 

[Gareth]

I don't know how you managed to race on something so small! And put that stunning video together on it as well! I even told the missus about it. That onboard footage was absolutely brilliant!