Winter Update

There have been some things:

I got more grass and finished off the extension. I really like it, although I think I need to strengthen the extension a little with cross bracing.

It's a bit dark as I haven't put any lights up yet over the extension. I also need to add that sliver of grass on the corner.

I had big plans to buy straights and some more large radius curve pieces so I could get a good track going, but those plans fell through when our money ran out. So I'll have to wait. Meanwhile, I took out a bunch of unused 1/60 tracks and reintroduced them into the layout. It turned out making a good technical section out of the extension. I also added some lighting.

i ended up using all but three track pieces, with 26 curve pieces used in this layout. I tried mixing things up so there was variety through the 1/60 curves. I think I got there.

I still want to do the other extension, but it would be pointless right now as I have no more track. I have the wood and grass, cut and ready to go. I'm turning laps in the high 7's right now, which is a pretty good lap time.

By this time next year I will have everything I need to get this done. I know this. I guarantee it. I'll also have some new cars. I know this. I guarantee it.

The other half of the track. It's mostly for speed, with some 2/30 and 3/30's adding some twisty bits at the beginning of the backstretch.

Meanwhile this track has turned out to be pretty impressive. There are some things I'd change: a larger right side to break up the 180° turn, build a faster technical section using less 1/60's and more large radius curves. I just love them. So much more variety can be had with the addition of a handful of 2/30 and 3/30 curves.

I still like the grass. I had a friend over the other day and we had a pretty good time with it in its current state. The grass helped make for clean racing and was a nice landing area for offs.

I figure I'm a long ways away from deciding on a permanent layout. Since changing out my last long--term layout, I've changed now dozens of times. I'm still going for fast sections, technical sections, big sweepers, that sort of thing. Just having a 20'x10' space to fill is a little daunting. Never thought I'd have to say I had too much space.

Be that as it may, i probably won't be satisfied until I've done the other extension and have made a complete circuit with the track pieces of my choice.

Rebuilding this section into a more technical one was surprisingly easy and fits great as an alternative to another two straightaways. 

I think it's pretty easy to make a track that's all straightaways, with turns that are more for utility's sake than for any kind of racing challenge. If I made a giant L-shaped track with two 180°s and two 90°s, that would get boring pretty fast. I like speed as much as the next racer, but there's gotta be a challenge to stay on the track in there as well.

My nephew was over for the holidays, and when he was asking me how he should approach going through this section, I told him to find a comfortable speed without sliding, and then try to hit that speed through the whole section as a start. Once he gets comfortable with that, start with little punches in the small straights, setting up a rhythm. He figured it out and improved his lap time.

Current Layout

Sadly, like every year, it's too cold to spend any length of time in the attic racing, so I have to wait until it warms up a bit. We're at freezing temps now, so I would rather not stand in a refrigerator. But this track is up and ready to race. I might make a tweak or two to it, but I plan on it being the next race in my season.

The cars are lubed, tuned and ready to go. I'm going to throw in a curve to make the next race interesting. Not going to say what that is yet.

2019 Season - Race 1 - Extension Connection

And it's official. The first race has been run, and there were plenty of surprises.

25 timed laps. All cars were cleaned and tuned prior to racing.

Conditions were a bit slippery on the track today. I attribute that to the new layout shuffling the track pieces and throwing off the line. A couple of curves just don't have the grip that they would if they were worn in.
The tunings were very very light, as the cars were in great condition. At first I thought I'd need to do all of them, but I really didn't need to do any of them. Still did anyway.

Without further ado, here are the results from the first race of the new season:

Car          Time          Lap        Crash      Points

Gulf         3:01.6       7.2           2                 0   
Shell        2:50.2       6.8           0                 4   
Alfa         2:48.5       6.7           1                 6     
#5            2:45.1       6.6           1                 8   
Porsche   2:50.5        6.8          1                 2     
Matra      2:43.1        6.5         1                11           

It wasn't a flawless performance, and there was a little tail twitchiness, but otherwise this car handled like a dream.

Every car, with the exception of the Shell GT40, had crashing issues. Almost all occurred on the same section of track, which was the esses coming in from the extension. I'm not a fan of the layout, so it'll be good to work on a new, better one. I sure do love that extension, though.

The Matra has made itself known this race day, winning its inaugural race. At first I wasn't sure if it was running well, or I was just used to it. Turns out it's both. Incredibly smooth car. I don't expect this car to lose many races.

I think this car is becoming my take-it-for-granted car. I never bet on it, but it's always right up at the front. Totally great car that really likes this track layout.

A surprise in the pack was the Alfa, which not only did very well, but I feel probably could have been pushed a bit more for a better time. I felt the same way about the Shell GT40. It just felt like it had a little more to give if I was psycho enough to take it. It's the first race. Gotta shake the bugs out. Or wasps. Whatever. But the Alfa. I didn't expect that to happen. I knew it liked racing on this layout, as it's a fan of tracks with more turns and less long straights. But it just ran glued to the track. Excellent ride.

I had to add a step of power in the controller to give the Porsche a little more headroom. I'm not sure if I added enough. It requires a bit higher power setting than the other cars do, but it uses that upper range beautifully. 

I thought the Porsche also did well, and felt like it was going faster than it actually was. About halfway through its race I said "that's the way", as though to signify that I thought the car had a pretty good chance to win it all. It ran a respectable race, just .3 sec per lap behind the leader and right along in the pack. I think I need to pump a bit more power to it.

I've had issues with this car since race 9 of the first season. Getting this thing up to speed is going to be a priority.

The car that didn't perform well was the Gulf #11 GT40. When I was racing it it felt like I couldn't get in a good rhythm with it, so it kinda chopped its way around the track. It ran well off the pace of the pack by over 10 seconds. I pushed the car, but it didn't seem to have the capacity to step up. Not sure why. I'm going to look over it later and see if maybe I didn't do something funny to it while tuning before the race.

But I gotta say, the most impressive car of the bunch was the #8, even though it didn't set the fastest time or whatever. It just felt like it had a lot to give and was ready. I didn't run it conservative. I just ran it. That it didn't come off the track even once was also a nice thing.

So there it is. The first race of a new season. I labeled it by year, and I'll probably go back and do that for the previous seasons. I'm planning on 20 races, hopefully on 20 different layouts. I'll get the layout maker up and running and add a layout photo as well [like the old days].

I think it's a little early to call favorites to win it all, so I won't. I am going to give the #11 a good once over. It needs to run faster.

New Season Plans and Notes

I'm planning a 20-track championship series. Six cars, all Slot.it. If I get any more they'll be late additions, but I'm not expecting to. Races will be 50 laps timed. Clock will stop in the event of a crash.

Points for races will be distributed as follows:

Place     Points

1st            11
2nd            8
3rd             6
4th             4
5th             2
6th             0

The reason I give 11 points for 1st is to avoid a potential tie at the end of the season. This came close to happening before because of my math. Not this time. Also the three point differential between 1st and 2nd keeps it competitive. And since it'll be over a variety of layouts, no single car should dominate. We shall see.


Car Notes

The Matra has yet to run a legit race here. I've done loads of laps, but haven't had a single race since getting it. So that makes it the big question going in. The Porsche was able to make a good showing coming into the party late in last year's championship races. I expect there will tracks he will totally dominate at. I expect the same from the Matra too. The other cars, we'll have to see. I'd love a good surprise, and I think there are favorites and long shots.

I'd call this one a favorite.

Cars will be treated to a full tune-up, cleaning, lube and oil change. Tires will be sanded once every 5 races and cleaned before each race. If 5 proves too long I'll shorten it, but if one gets it, they all do. Another lube and cleaning will likely occur halfway through the series.

I've been running all the cars the last few days and am ready to prep them for the race. They're all running well, so it's hard to tell without timing which car is the fastest. The results should be interesting.

Quick Notes

The #8 GT40 is handling very nicely these days.

• Love the extension. So far cars are averaging around 8 seconds a lap, but I could probably push that number down a little bit over the next few days. I'm still running the temporary layout just to get the feel of adding an extension. I also found that if I stand a couple feet away from the table I have a better view of the entire track. 
• Since I'm messing with a temp layout, I got to thinking; why not do another championship series using various layouts again? It'll be awhile until I have a truly satisfactory layout, but until then I should take advantage of this sweet table and the lack of a permanent thing yet. So that's probably what I'll do, and I'll likely start with this current layout. 
• Curiously enough, the car that is handling this current layout the best seems to be the GT40. All three of them cruise right through everything, handling much smoother than the other cars. This is probably due to not many sharp turns and not many straights longer than three track pieces. That makes the Fords sled right through most of the track. Should be interesting. 
• I've been doing an informal poll of crashes and specifics around them. A large percentage of crashes occur going through the outside of a 1/60 turn. A huge percentage of the time a car won't roll over when it crashes, and rarely go more than a few inches from it's crash location. 

I ran the Alfa for a bit, but it needs a tuneup and a bit more attention.

• The more I race on larger radius curves, the less I like 1/60s. I've got a nice flowing curvy backstretch, but it's choked by sharp turns on either side. I'm going to need to pick up some more track.
• The grass is a huge success. It's much quieter than bare wood. I can race at any time, day or night and not bother anyone. I just need a few more rolls of the stuff to cover the rest of the table. 
• This leads to another question: what about the other extension? My original thought was to make two. As it stands at this moment I would have enough track to cover it. I have the wood, however. It's all cut and could be in in an hour. But I need to think about how badly I need it now. I suppose I could use that extension as my workbench for the time being. Now that I have the grass down I can't very well work on that. So maybe it'll be that before more track.

Last layout RIP LOL

So the other day my wife tells me over breakfast that she's having a work colleague over for coffee and cake, and don't worry, I don't have to be there. So reflexively I ran upstairs, put a few things together, and made an extension:

4x4 extension. Started with the ol' out-n-back. I'll have to come up with a clever name for the extension, as well as a clever section.

I did a bit of cheating. Since I had kind of built myself into a corner, I had to secure the extension to the main as I was building it. I couldn't just make a 4x4' table and connect it. I needed to get the table evenness just right. So I attached two legs I had measured from the current legs on the main to the main itself. Then I did the other legs, then added crosspieces. The whole thing barely fit under the roof while still being level with the main table. Felt pretty good for a novice work.

Quick and dirty track design. Don't care for it much, but I like the windy backstretch. That's pretty fun.

Now I need to put grass on the extension and consider some table walls. I'll have to build something for the back where the roof comes down. Those holes are a straight drop to the floor in a very hard to reach spot. I'm also considering a front wall/border. Something going right along the front of the table about an inch or so up. Not sure about that yet. I still don't have an issue with cars flying off the track. I'm sure someday I'll have that special visitor do it for me.

So of course I had to toss a quick track layout up to test it. The layout isn't the best, but I'm enjoying the extension. It tends to stop the tennis spectator effect when racing cars. Makes me turn and look. And the post isn't in the way at all. Also, there's no feeling like it's really far out there or that I can't make out the cars. I do need to work out the lighting. But I think the extension works pretty great, partly due to the 80cm height.

Threw in those softer curves as an afterthought. I really love those curves. Wish I had more. I really hate the 180° at the end.

I took the Matra around this current layout and averaged 8 seconds a lap. So I've gained about 3 seconds on my previous track. That's pretty good. I'm going to run it this way for awhile and see how I like it. I'll do layout changes for sure, but I like parts of what's going on here. Small parts.

I've also almost used up all my track pieces. I'm down to 4 1/60s and 2 1/30s. That's pretty good. I'm fine with leaving those out.

Up, running, and already changing the layout

An interesting thing happened when I added the grass mat [hereby forever known simply as "grass"]: I took out the elevation and got almost two feet more room on either side. So I lengthened the backstretch by two lengths and added a left/right/left infield:

I'm now able to race at night without waking my 2 year old daughter up. Pretty impressive.

Adding that part [where the car is] to the infield to make it an infield worked out for now. The table will be expanding off where that post is, so I'll likely redesign the entire layout to fit. I'm going to try to keep it open and flowing, but with some challenging bits. I'd like to replace some more 1/60s with some wider radius turns. Something like that infield being done with 2/30s instead of 1/60s would mean you could go through it faster, get more flow...hell, I'll probably get crazy and use multiple radius turns together! That's it!

I touched on this before, way back around Post #13 from this blog. I have curves of four different radii now. I'm going to hit the track editor and see what I can make out of them. I don't mind tight curves, but not two of the same radius together, if I can help it.

Here's the other side, for those interested. 

I haven't taken any lap times yet, although I'm about ready to. I still want a little more time on the track, getting used to it being flat and slightly different. Once I get a chance to do that with a few cars I'll give 'em all a go and see what happens.

The Porsche is LOVING the new layout. Any opportunity to add more straights is okay by this guy.

So far the Matra, Porsche and Alfa are responding best to the changes. The Fords are better in a straight line, and tend to get a little squirrely through the curves. The new infield replaced the front straight, which gave the longer Fords an advantage.

__________

As I'm racing and have now put down the grass, I no longer am thinking about the unfinished state of the track. I'm already pretty happy with it, and I think this will keep my interest for awhile. This winter/spring got kinda messed up due to the wasp situation, and I'm glad that's over. It's too hot to race in the day right now, but not at night. We're also having some cooler days lately, so that's good.

Scored some grass

Got a little time today and had to get to laying down the grass covering. I think it looks pretty good.

It's kinda plain right now, as I have very little in the way of decor. I like the color, however. It's darker than I was expecting, which is good for a background.

It went on pretty fast. I decided beforehand I was going to lay the track flat for now, and it'll still be plenty fun for racing. I have a few pals coming over next week to do some racing, so we'll see what happens. I need to get the attic cleanup up before that, though.

Ran out of grass. I have to go see the guy.

I also need to go back to the hardware store and pick up another roll. I got all the way across the back with two rolls, but will need another one for the extensions, which will be put in this week.

There's a lot of green on the backstretch.

Pros: Way quieter than running on raw wood. I'm going to test it tonight, but I think I'll be able to race with my two year old downstairs sleeping. Also nice color contrast. The weird thing is, I know what it is, and I know it's not ultimately what I want, but I'm actually cool with doing this as a stepping stone to other things. The big question is how long can I go before I tire of it?

It does look damn good though. Gives good car definition, and even works with the gray track.

Cool! Revitalized!

Slight Change Of Plan

Thought I had everything figured out until I was leaving the hardware store the other day. I was there to pick up a bbq grill for my stepdaughter's 18th birthday tomorrow. On the way out the door there stood a sale on something I hadn't considered in awhile....green astro/turf/fiber/carpet/stuff.

I left there with two rolls, but I think I probably should have gotten three, as there isn't enough to cover the to as-yet-to-exist extensions. So I'll be going back for a third one.

I had no plan to buy this stuff. My plan all along has been to get the track to a point I like and then start decor. Serious decor. The green carpet was one of those things I always thought I'd never do. Don't know why....incomplete? Lazy? Unmotivated? Not sure, but I think it'll be way better than the unfinished wood. It's been two years after all.

Good gripping qualities, but this is going to be stapled into the table so it doesn't move.

I don't know what got into me. It caught the corner of my eye, and once I saw it I said "slot cars" and grabbed a couple rolls.

Maybe I just need to feel like it's getting somewhere. Maybe I need more of a table that I can experiment with layouts more than a permanent solution.

I think it'll look good once finished. I imagine the track with pop right off the green with all that contrast.

It'll be okay. Going to be just fine. If this doesn't work, or I'm not happy with it, I can always take it out and use it in my patio. But I'm going to do my best to give it a shot. It'll either satisfy me for now or it'll force to me get started on the scenery making.

The other end of the track. I'll pick up a third roll of this stuff, take down the track, add the extensions, carpet it, and that'll do-er.

Meanwhile, the cars are running great. Taking a few more out tonight for a clean-and-run. Once I've got them all running I'll do the final race before breaking the track down. I still have to take height measurements for all the transitions, bridges and stuff.

Back after a minor naturally occuring difficulty

My attic was invaded by wasps a couple of months ago. They ended up building a nest and taking over. Today the guy came and took away the nest. The wasps are gone, and hopefully won't be back.

So, here's what I have for a plan forthcoming: I have the wood to build the extensions, and since this wasp thing took so much of my quality springtime away, I'm going to get started on that right away. I'll have to wait until the end of the month, but that's when it's going to happen. In the meantime, I'll take down my track and go over track plans with the extensions on. I have extra track ready to add, but I'm not sure how much extra track. I think I'll be able to cover one wing, but I'm going to go ahead and build them both. I can always get more track.

My birthday is coming, and my wife is throwing a small party. It's mostly with friends that are also parents, but with babies, so there will be no kids running around. I want to set up the track outside in the grass and make a nice, big course. I'm going to try and put it somewhat in the corner so there's still room to do other stuff. It's a surprise to my wife, who probably thinks I'm going to bring people up to the racing room. It'll be in pieces.

I'm going to take the 2" wings off and rebuild them with the new 4" extensions, then attach them to the side of the main table. I'll get more stability all the way around.

But that's not for a week or two. Until then, I'd like to lube and tune my cars, dust my track and run a few last races on this layout for all the marbles. I'll post extensive coverage here as usual.

Spring Plan - Rebuilding

I've been thinking of a track layout redesign for awhile now, and I'm finally pulling the trigger. While I enjoy what I have pretty much, I still think about my original plan, which was to add wings to the table to get a U-shaped layout. Well, I'm going through with it, and work will start within a week.

The frustration was that, while I think my current layout is fun, it's not long enough, nor is there enough technical stuff to keep my interest. I've gotten the cars performing great, all clocking in a roughly five second lap times. But five seconds is pretty damn short.

One of the reasons that I waited on the scenery aspect was because I wanted to be sure I was satisfied with the layout. Good thing I waited.

So, the plan is to extend both wings by 4 feet, bringing the whole thing to roughly 18x8 feet, with the center being 5 feet deep.

Now, the controversial part is the design I'm planning. Long time forum regulars believe that a U-shaped design makes for too many possible obstructions. I'm not all that concerned about that. I mostly race alone, so there's little chance of a human being an obstruction. Also, as my track stands now, with the smaller 2 foot extensions, puts my curves on either side directly behind the posts in my attic. With an extra 4 feet, I'll be able to get a bit more straight area in there so there's not so much in the way.

There it is.