More Track Coming - Maximum Radius 4/15

 I had plans to buy a few more cars for the holidays, but the more I thought about my original plan, the more I wanted to stick to it. It involved getting power and track pieces. I got power, and it'll be installed in January, so I wanted to get the track pieces. 

There aren't many more track pieces that I want, so I just got the ones that had been on my list for the longest time. They consist of three 3/30 pieces and twelve 4/15 track pieces. I really like the 3/30, but I quickly learned there's not much you can do with the three that I have, so I got three more. 3/30 curves can be taken at very high speeds without much trouble. They add a lot to an otherwise straightforward layout. 

The 4/15 curves will make a complete 180°. So that means I have at least one 180° in every radius. I really doubt I'll set up a track with a giant 4/15 180°, but you never know. My original intention was to use 4/15 tracks sparingly to spice up track designs. We'll see how it works out. A lot of my designs have an element of large radius curve usually somewhere in them, many times as a curvy S-section. The 4/15 can be used to break up straights while still being able to take them full-throttle. 

1/60 [brown], 2/30 [yellow], 3/30 [green] and 4/15 [blue] track pieces. These are some possible variations on the 180° turn, including tight apex variants.

I've talked about this before, but it makes such a huge difference to a layout when you use larger radius track pieces. At first it might seem obvious that you'd group a bunch of the same curve together to make a huge curve, but if it's all the same radius it'll get boring. Some of the curve sections shown above give you a lot more braking/acceleration room than a generic single radius curve would give you. 

The idea is this: let's say you have a layout that is all 1/60 curves. No matter what the layout looks like, as long as you know how fast you can go through a 1/60 curve, then the rest is a breeze. Simply apply that speed to your muscle memory, and it doesn't matter what the design is like...you'll blow through it every time. So that's boring. What you want is a track layout that is a challenge. What multiple-radius curves do is give you opportunities and options. While you might have to slow down for one 1/60, the larger radius curves before it allow you to brake early or late, and acceleration is the same. So suddenly you have to actually drive the race course. And it's not about space. It's about variety. 

Here's the new Test Track layout. It would have been super easy to just use three 1/60 curves for the ends, but by using a combination of 2/30's and 1/60's, it made the track faster and more challenging. Also in the layout are twin sections [I do that a lot] made up of a 2/30 and a 3/30, placed at opposite ends of the track.

I got an email today saying the track was on its way. I still have paint, so the plan is to paint the new track as soon as possible so I can start using it. Curious  to see what kind of track layouts will come out of it. Probably some big, sweepy, curvy ones.