[jasperok]

Just curious as to what those with experience of putting together different track layouts have experienced with R1 bends/hairpins/chicanes?

As a severe Motorsport enthusiast I am mocking up layouts and very quick to throw one r1 combination bend somewhere in each layout I come up with if nothing elsefor variety and a different type of challenge.

I am worried with slot cars it may not be so much of a good idea?

Do they ruin the fluid tempo of a track with deslots or do you like having them there?

I am leaning towards trying them out but its an expensive gamble to blow money on them if thy are gonna cause hassle?

any thoughts welcome

 

[Si.]

Hi jasperok

My MRW Motor Speedway circuit, runs like a dream !

Loads of R1's as well as 2's & 4's in there.

My previous tracks the same.

You simply CAN'T make a challenging real-world chicane or Monaco style hairpin without them.

You don't deslot on R1's, if your brains in gear, and you haven't got a rubber-band round the throttle.

Cheers

Si.

I gave up 'ovals' & 'figure of 8's' when I was 10 and discovered there was something else apart from R2's...
...imaginatively called R1's, buy LOADS you'll have a great time !

If your throttle finger doesn't work, stick to an R4 oval or figure of 8 !!!

 

[Ember]

I love them. They make for a spicy life in amongst a few other radii in a corner. But the digital crew are not big fans of the as pace cars choke on them.

Embs

 

[Camber]

Personally I wouldn't have any, but if I did I'd only have one R1 corner and setup as a hairpin.

- Cam

...Edit...

There is an awesome corner in this video that has something like an R1 hairpin even though it is a 1/24 scale wood track. You might get something close with plastic track pieces. I like how the left hander washes off speed for the hairpin and love the really fast right hander exiting the hairpin, probably the best use of a hairpin I've ever seen.

 

[MrFlippant]

When people talk about "fluid tempo" they usually would not like R1 turns. R1 turns bring your tempo to 0/0 once per lap, just about. If you want your car to be flying about while you hum a tune in your head to the tempo of your trigger pulls and releases, then the ONLY time you would want in R1 turn is inside a combination that begins and ends with wider turns. A R2-R1-R1-R2 combo is a popular way to include them without forcing cars to almost stop.

Me, I like a track that requires me to watch the car at every moment, and look ahead to know when to brake and when I can punch it again. I like having to almost stop the car to get around a turn without coming off. I also like wide turns that let me carry a lot of speed. Most of all, I like variety. That way, I'm not just finding the one or two spots on the controller I can hold the car at for the turns and straights. I have to use the entire throttle range to get the best lap time for any car, and that means the low end for sharp turns and challenging technical sections.

I definitely do not agree that R1 should only be used as a hairpin turn. As for "digital crew" and pace cars, I'll be happy to rant on that any time. Suffice it to say that pace cars are never competition without them outgunning the driven cars, in which case the R1 turns make no difference. That said, I only ever use pace cars any more to run in a brand new car.

 

[Si.]

DING...DING

"Seconds OUT......ROUND 2 !...."

On my left for the R1's...we have...

On my right for the R2 Box-Set...we have...

OK

I wanna fair fight, & NOTHING below the belt please...

 

[Camber]

Please accept my sincere apologies Jasperok regarding my "feelings" on R1 curves and disregard everything I said in my previous post. Listen to Si, he knows everything.

 

[Si.]

^?

Hi jasperok.

I'm afraid sadly 'I' ...DON'T...know everything.

I do have a sense of humour though ( some say, anyhow ! )

Cheers

Si.

 

[jasperok]

come on on folks its all good fun!

Personally I prefer a technical looking track but as I am trying to build something large enough to maybe get something going locally with other people I was just trying to gauge a general consensus as I wouldnt want people turning up and disliking the R1's!

Well the final say will go to my son as Half the track is his!

Thanks for your input

 

[Si.]

Hi jasperok

If people turn up at your challenging track and don't like it, I shouldn't worry about it.

The people left will be the ones you want to race with.

They can get the grumps, or get to grips with a rewarding technical circuit.

Cheers

Si.

 

[Wraith]

Even when I create 100m tracks I throw in as many R1s as I can into the technical section, it might slow down the race but it's great for separating the boys from the men. It is however a pain fr some cars to get round the inside lane, especially carrera cars if the guide is not 100% setup.

 

[legionofone]

I have them in my layout in serveral places. Don't hinder the flow, but you do have to use caution and make a decision...just like real racing.

I do the opposite...and go from bigger curves to the R1 in the white lane.

Hairpin with chicane. Again, you check up or go for it. Does come into play from time to time, but if you like to pass cleanly you check
and go for it after the hairpin.

What I dubbed Devil's Backbone...white and blue lanes have a R1 kicker and folks love this section of track.

Blue lane with another R1 area. You do have to be smooth on the trigger with this one more than any of the others.

It's all different strokes for different folks. I just happen to be one of the folks who likes different.

Here's a video of our NSR Double Down IROC Event. They're non-mag and you can see that they handle them just fine.
"]Click for video[/url]

 

[UshCha]

R1 RULE! Contention over ;-). Seriously R1's do need inner and outer boarders otherwise they will cause de slots. Mr F's comments say it all. They do spoil it for power freaks as tons of power does nothing for the driver on a tight winedy slot track. On my own small technical track you can drive as fast at 80% power as at 100% as you almost never want max power. More open "flowing" tracks can use higher powered cars to effect.

You pays your money and you takes your choice.

 

[Ember]

Mr Flip and I see eye to eye in one major point. It's all in how you use them.

 

[loosesalute]

R1.Totally out of scale & unrealistic.
Cheers
Kev.

 

[injectorman]

So is the speed.......900km/h

 

[loosesalute]

Only if you`re into modern stuff.

 

[Ember]

I, personally, like them mixed in amongst the others to make for multi-radius corners. But.... on the unrealistic front

It doesn't look R2 to me.

 

[loosesalute]

Scalextric plexy track was originally designed for slot cars which were a lot slower than today & mostly a lot smaller.
Unfortunately the radii of curves hasn`t really changed since then.
When the wider F1 cars & faster can motors were introduced during the 70s the limitations of the track became more apparant.
Dunbee-Combex -Marx seriously considered changing the track in the late 1970s. However,serious financial difficulties stopped any development.
Meccano France who also realised the limitations to the old plexy track did scrap the Scalextric Classic track system in 1979 & brought out the larger & wider Circuit S system.
A lot of collectors & racers during that period would have liked to have seen the Scalextric track change.

I still think it would be a very good idea for those who enjoy modern slot cars if Scalextric had slightly widened the gap between lanes & changed the radii of their curves.
Cheers,
Kev

A 1964 BRM next to a 1980 Ligier.Even on a vintage Scalextric layout such as mine cars like the Ligier can struggle on r2 bends.

 

[StuBeeDoo]

When I got back into slots last year I had 4 cars - 2x 1990s F1s, a Laguna BTCC car and a Megane rally car. I went mad and bought all the track I could find on eBay, including loads of R1s. IIRC, my first mega-layout (20+mtrs) lasted all of 2 weeks - the R1s were causing me too much de-slotting grief. When I bought my first LMPs, that was the final straw for R1s. Every race track I've done since has been all R2, R3 and R4.

The R1s now form part of my rally track - that's where they belong!

Just my 2p.

Stuart.