Season 2: Race Two - 50-lap sprint

I decided in the interest of fairness and in the hopes of keeping the racing competitive to have the two Fords share the same set of urethane tires. It's unfair for one of them to run rubbers, as they have a lot less grip, as the timing obviously states.
And because they are practically the same car with a different paint job, they both use the same size tires. In fact, I won't even have to do anything to them except switch them out and put them on properly.

So from now on the Gulf Ford will run on the Shell Ford's tires. Other than that the two will have individual tuning approaches.

The Track

The other day I added the first of two wings to the track, and found an interesting layout to take advantage of it. It moves the technical section more to the left side, which balances out the rest of the track. The straight away isn't as long on this track, and there are 4-less turn pieces being used. This meant dialing my controller back to a small-track setting, with max power at 4 instead of 6 like the last track.

[racing counter-clockwise] Turn 1 is a quick and relatively flat S-section, going into two slight uphill left turns before getting out on the 10-piece back straight away.

[still counter-clockwise] Coming off the main straight and working through a high-speed shimmy section, into a slightly-banked 180º left turn. A short straight, a short flat shimmy and into the last right-hander before heading out on the 5-piece home straight. The new 2" extension [w/winglet] gives me even more space than I was expecting. Now I obviously need more track. I have the four unused curves there, but most important I have only one unused straight. Adding that second winglet will be more table than track. I didn't even go all the way out to the corner on this one.

Current layout, including the as-yet-built right table extension. Once I get that finished and get some more track, I'll be in perfect shape. 

The Gulf GT40

The #11 Ford GT40 Gulf Car, pictured in the back [much like how it comes over the line], is finally getting the attention it deserves. As mentioned, it's going to share the tires that are currently on the #8 GT40 Shell car.

The Gulf car hadn't been worked on for quite some time. I hadn't given up on it, but I also hadn't paid as much attention to it, given that the rubber tires meant pretty much a guaranteed 3rd place. Since I was going to use the urethane tires now, I wanted to give it a cleanup, oilup and lube-up to get it in line with the other cars.
There's a definite difference between the two types of tires, with the urethanes being much grippier, smoother, quieter and more confident, while the rubbers simply are not. So, it's either put all the cars back on factory rubber in the interest of fairness, or put both Fords on the same set of tires, which makes more sense and is way more fun. Sure, I could stop being a cheap bastard and buy another set of tires, and I will, but not until after I see what the holiday haul might bring. If I get any more cars, I'll need more tires. I'm pretty much in the urethane family, if there is such a thing.

On the left, the Shell car. On the right, the Gulf car with the Paul Gage urethanes. The two cars are similar, although the Shell car is apparently a year older than the Gulf car. The Shell car has the luxury of all four pod screws, while the Gulf car hasn't. Motors are screwed down.

If you're reading this and wondering why I don't go out and buy my cars like a normal person, instead waiting for it like a kid at xmas, it's because this can be an expensive hobby. A $50 car can quickly become a $100 car with only a few options. So if I do it this way, I'm not spending a bunch of money, and instead getting the most out of what I have. Sure, I could go out and get a car a week if I wanted to, but I want each one to matter.

Anyhow, the race. 50-lap sprint race on fresh layout.

RESULTS

Car                Time            Lap           Offs           Points
Shell             4:08.56        4.96             0                  3
Alfa              4:06.09        4.92             0                  5
Gulf              4:08.59        4.96             1                  1


STANDINGS [Race 2 of 20]:

Car                 Points
Alfa                   10
Shell                   6
Gulf                    2


Now we're talking! Putting the urethanes on the Gulf car...best idea ever. Now we've got a competition on our hands. The fact that the two Fords finished so close to each other, especially given that the Gulf car crashed once, tells me we've got a race going on. The track times have a certain amount of human error, since they're timed by hand, but they are what they are.

The Gulf car reminded me what it was like at the beginning. Speed, power, able to whip through tricky sections, yet still having enough tail to make the driving challenging. You always feel like you can take it to its natural limit. With the urethanes it's as smooth to drive as the Shell car is, and maybe even a bit quieter. The Shell car always had a bit of a vibration sound that isn't present in the Gulf car. Probably something like the pod vibrating against the chassis or something like that. This little tire-share arrangement between the Fords will work out for the time being. It gives me a chance to take a look at each of the cars prior to racing...something I sometimes overlook.

The Alfa loves this type of track. Anything small and technical and the Alfa will shimmy right through it. It's got just the right length so that if it feels like it's coming loose, you let off a little and it straightens right up. It really helps keep the speed in the corners, and the car will rip through them provided not too much gas is applied too late into the turn. This causes overall infield section speeds to be better, and I'll bet if it was all properly timed out it would show that in the results. This is an Alfa track. This kind of thing has cropped up before, especially in the early races. The Alfa just loves the tighter, twistier tracks, and this one really isn't all that twisty.


POINTS SYSTEM

It might seem steep, but I think it needs to be. 5 for first, 3 for second, 1 for third. This way there will be less chance of a tie at the end of the season, even though it might mean that the cars aren't neck-and-neck throughout.
By the looks of it, the Alfa has already started to run off, although one or two wrong moves and he can find the Shell car passing it. The Gulf car will be burdened with getting out of third for the time being, but now has no excuse. I don't expect many third-place spots out of it from here out, and had I not crashed it would have certainly come in 2nd, maybe even 1st. It has some ground to make up, however, and it'll require the other cars to be cooperative.


So now we've got some racing. Pretty exciting, as I was a bit bummed for having to finally put the Carreras out to pasture. Sure, I'll pull them out to remind myself what used to be, but not that often.

Meanwhile, I'll be changing up the track as I go, since the table is big enough to do a lot of stuff.

Impatient Youth

After setting that 5 second average lap record yesterday, it dawned on me that unless I do something about the size of my table, I'm liable to race on the same layout multiple times. This is already a problem, considering that I'll eventually have to come to a decision on a layout eventually, as my wife will be wanting to get started on scenery.

So today I had some time, got out the saw, did a little cutting, and built an extension:

The two-foot extension [left], and angled winglet. That's 6 feet to the wall. I'll be building a mirror version on the other end of the table.

I wanted to wait until I had the proper wood to do the job. Not that this was improper wood, just that it wasn't the same in uniformity to the rest of the table. I didn't have the 1"x5"s like I had before, so I had to make due with 1"x3"s.

While lighter and less rigid in design, it's still plenty strong. It's on four legs itself, with 1"x3" cross braces.

I have enough wood to finish the other end, but I think I'm going to wait. I'd like to pick up a little more wood to finish, and I'll probably rebuild most of the side I built today. While it only bugs me a little bit now, it'll really bug me tomorrow, and be a full-blown annoyance by next weekend.

I'm also in no rush to finish as I don't have any more track to make it around satisfactorily. There's a chance I might get some sweet curves coming up, so I'm kind of hoping the slot cart will lead the horse a bit here. Build the table, get the track. We'll see what happens around holiday time.

For the time being, this will give me a change to mess around with more turn space. I'm going to try to keep a nice long straight if I can, but it likely won't be 13-pieces long.

Breaking the 5-second Lap

Due to all the excitement about doing the last race on the new table, I forgot the fact that the Alfa set a new track lap record of 5.08.

Good. Something to shoot for with each car. Breaking the 5-second lap time is going to be the next challenge. Of course this isn't going to be possible with the Carreras, but with the Slot.its it should be doable.

Also during the last race, the Shell Ford GT40 experienced a loss of a screw that mounts the shell on the chassis. I'm not sure whether it had an effect or not, but the car did have 3 wipeouts during the race, which is not normal for that car.

This car absolutely owns this track.

I reset the screw and made sure the car was set correctly, ensuring that all of the other various screws were in place. It just wasn't like this car to go off the track that often. So this would be the first car that was going to try to break the 5-second lap.

Since I don't have a digital lap counter, I'm getting my time based on an average lap time in a 50-lap run. If the run has an off it's discontinued. So maybe I should consider it an Average Lap Time. I'll be making these types of runs from now on with all the cars as the method for timing.

The Shell GT40 is now the record holder, setting a new average lap time of 4.82 seconds per lap. I expect the Alfa to come close to that, maybe even break it. The Gulf Ford won't without having urethane tires. I'm considering lending the Gulf the Shell car's urethanes. That would be interesting. Since the cars rarely race each other in real time at the same time, there's no reason I couldn't share tires. The tires won't fit on the Carreras, so they remain in the bin.

Season Two: Race One - 50-Lap Sprint Race

Okay here we go. Off the rug and on the new table, and no idea how fast of a lap I can do. This will be the first official timing.

First, I think it's important to note that I have gained a considerable amount of track pieces now, and am using as many as I can on the new table. 8 straights and 10 1/60 curves were added to the existing track pieces. Add to that the new 19'x4' table, and we're good to go.

50-lap sprint against a clock. All cars participating. Cars run as is, with only fresh scuffed tires.

The Track

Current track setup. Curves have roughly 4-5º banking.

The Cars

Alfa Romeo 3/33

Last season's winner and the most nimble car in the field. Modifications to the car since out-of-box are: axle spacers, suspension screws, motor screw, rubber washers, Paul Gage urethane tires.

Ford Shell GT40

This car came so close to winning it all, and it would have been quite a story considering how much it struggled early in the season. Had it gotten off to a normal start, this car would have run away with the championship. Modifications: suspension screws, motor screw, spacers, pod screws, rubber washers, Paul Gage urethane tires.

Ford Gulf GT40

This car showed tremendous promise at the beginning of the season, but when the urethane tires showed up on the other two cars, it didn't stand a chance. That upgrade will happen soon. Meanwhile, #11 is an underachiever. Modifications: suspension screws, motor screw, pod screws, rubber washers.

Audi R18

The Led Sled has returned. Nothing but a scuffing of the tires will tame this car. Even with the added track, I still don't expect it to compete with the Slot.it cars. Modifications: none.

Audi Safety Car

I expect this is one of the last races for this guy. Just for kicks I scuffed his tires too. Modifications: none.

The table is in racing condition, and the track is fast. Featuring a 13-piece back straight and a sharp, technical infield, this track should test each car's endurability. No more 3 second laps.
I have to say that I really enjoy racing on a table. It's such a different viewpoint than racing on a rug. On the rug, you're looking down at the car, and have more of a distant vantage point, so it's easier to keep things in perspective. But when it's all on a table, the action is much closer, more immediate, and it's easier to overestimate your speed going into a curve.

So all of the cars were run after a basic tire scuffing. There were no warm ups. Scuff, clean with tape, and go. Here are the numbers:


RESULTS                       Time / Lap          Offs             Points

Alfa Romeo                     4:14.64 [5.08]        0                   5
Shell GT40                      4:26.21 [5.32]        3                   3
Gulf GT40                       4:55.22 [5.9]          1                   1
Audi R18                         6:17.22 [7.54]        0                   0
Audi Safety Car               6:59.81 [8.38]        5                   0


It looks like it's going to be a race to the 5-second lap time. The Alfa was so fast through the technical section that it was able to maintain a very high rate of speed. The Shell GT40 had three crashes, all in the same place, and yet it still kept it close. I average about 4 seconds for each re-slot. That's 12 seconds, which would put the Shell car right up against the Alfa had it not crashed.
The Gulf car ran expectedly slower, but managed to hold it's own throughout. There's still a half-minute gap between the Gulf's rubber tires and the others' urethanes. I expected a bit more than that. That should show promise for the future Ortmann urethane's I'm planning on picking up.

Because this is a new season on a brand new slot car table, I had to include the Carreras in the race to see how they would do. While neither were competitive, both were better than I expected. This is especially true of the R18. Sometimes it feels like all it would need were a set of urethanes, but I know that's not true. It's twice the weight of the other cars, and there's no way that heavy of a car is going to be able to keep up with the quicker, lighter, faster-motor Slot.it cars.

So that's it. I'm shelving the Carreras. I won't be racing with them any more in this series. There's just no point to it. I'm not going to run them with magnets, because then the results will be tainted. I'm just not going to run them. Besides, holidays are coming, and I have some cars and track on my wish list this year. We'll see how that goes.

If it does occur that I end up with more cars....even one more car.....I'll restart the season with whatever new cars added. If I do get new cars, it'll take a bit for the urethanes to arrive.

There's a chance that I get track instead. If that happens, then I'll be finishing the two wings on the table, redesigning my track, and continuing on with this current season.

All upcoming races are going to be on the same track design, so I'll be going back to the cars and working on getting them in racing condition throughout the season. Each report will include anything special I've done to each car since the last race. The Gulf needs the most work, so I'll be making an accessories order regardless of whatever else might come my way.

Note about this race: while putting away the cars, I picked up the Gulf car and a body screw had fallen out, rendering the body to sit loose on the chassis. I later found the screw at the end of the backstretch. Not sure at what point during the race it came off, but there you go. Overall, not the Shell car's day.

Building A Table for a Slot Car Track

A lot has happened since my last post. During that time, I had constructed a "table" out of various spare and leftover pieces of box furniture, as well as other things that weren't being used at the time. Trouble was, the centerpiece of the "construction" was a coffee table, which my wife decided she needed to use. So I took apart the table and went back on the rug.

Time went by. I got more straights. Then more 1/60 curves. I could now go from one wall to the other on the floor.

When I was a kid, Saturday mornings meant setting up the slot car track in the living room and racing while watching cartoons. They'd start at 7:00 and run until about 2:00. Breakfast and lunch were eaten on the floor during racing, and the classic fistfight between my brother and I would usually break out at around 1:00 or so, resulting in one of us usually spending the rest of the day grounded. My Mom preferred us playing slot cars as opposed to Hot Wheels for a few reasons: slot car track, while hard plastic, doesn't fly well, isn't long enough to use as a weapon, and often needs to be disconnected properly. Hot Wheels track was long, flexible, and with a few held together could be a brutal welting machine, capable of really leaving a mark.

So that was life with slot cars. They're perfectly at home on the rug. With that said, about freakin time I did what I did.

__________

Building A Table

End of an era. My track's last day on the floor. The wonderful, fuzzy, back-breaking world of modern rug racing.

I'm pretty good at putting together Ikea box furniture. I can usually get through the directions well enough to make a good, sturdy whatever with no missing parts. That does not qualify me to do any kind of scratch work, though.

I had an idea of what I wanted regarding a table for my track: something semi-permanent that I could stand next to or sit at like a normal table. It would be all one fixed elevation, which further elevation changes I would add later once I got a satisfactory track design figured out. So I measured the space, worked it out on some track editing software, and called some woodworking buddies and asked for help. I couldn't get any of them to commit. Actually, that's only partially true.

I recently got a promotion at work, which happened to occur just before my scheduled 3-week vacation. To celebrate, my wife asked me if I had any projects I'd like to work on, and I told her that I wanted to [finally] build a slot car table in the attic. So I got together my notes, we went down to the lumber yard, and I picked up about 100 bucks worth of wood. Four 4x8' sheets of 1/2" plywood, about a dozen 1x3's and another dozen 1x5's [more like 1/2"x5"]. See? Just me explaining what wood I bought out to show just how little I know about all this.

And wouldn't you know it, the minute I got it home I wanted to start building. I didn't even want to bother setting up an appointment with a buddy to do it. I figured if I screw it up, I'm out a hundred bucks. Big deal. So off we go.

__________

The Plan

19' x 4', roof-to-roof.

4' is really narrow for Carrera track to do practically anything on. You can extend a 1/60 U-turn by adding a straight in the middle, but other than that not much else will fit. But for now I'm going to start with 19x4.

I decided I was going to build two 4'x8' tables, and join them longways with a 4' bridge piece covering the gap in the middle. This way I'd have some adjustability as to how the table sits in the room.

Those clamps are more reliable than my friends.

Woodwork isn't easy. "Measure twice - cut once" is about the best piece of advice I got. I picked up a couple of all-purpose clamps to get me started. They ended up being much more valuable than I expected.
I'm not sure what you'd call that type of construction, but I'm sure it has a name. It's nothing special, and taken from pics I saw of other tables on the internet.

I measured out the side pieces to roughly 8'. That gave me 1/2" on each side to lay the top on the end pieces. Each table had three long side pieces, and four 4' end pieces. In the middle I used slightly fatter pieces, which made it easier to attach the inside top to something.

It's coming together. The frame measures a hair over 4'x8'.

I live in a tall, narrow, 3 story house. In order to get the wood up the stairway to the attic, I had to cut the 4x8's into 4x4's. This kind of worked in my favor, as it was easier to mount them on the frames, and they felt more sturdy. Not sure if that's true, but it felt that way.

I wanted to leave one side open so I could sit at it like a regular table, but I can change that very easily by adding more cross supports. In fact, I will be changing it.

__________

Not There Yet

Here's what it looks like with the tables finished and the "bridge" temporarily installed. The bridge is an unused 4'x'4'. 

Let me just say right off the bat what a huge difference it is between the rug and a table. The angle of view is much better, the experience much more immediate, and the speed seems faster. The sudden fear of losing a car off the table to the floor exists. Ultimately, my track will never have guard rails attached to the side of the track, but it will have extensions in the curves with guard rails a bit further back. This brings me to my biggest gripe....

NOT ENOUGH TRACK SPACE

No matter how you design it, no matter what special track you might have, 4' is just not enough space to do anything satisfactory with unless you stack it all over itself. I've read tips and suggestions on what is right and what is wrong about designing a track/table, and I'm about to go directly against everything that I've read. The following may be the dumbest decision I've made yet, and only time and experience will tell.

See that pole holding up the roof on the left side of this shot? It's a little over 2' from the edge of the table to the pole, and I'm planning on putting an extension there. 2' deep by 4' wide. And to prove I'm crazy, I'm going to do one on the other side too. I'll finish them off with nice transitional triangle-shaped pieces.

I had originally thought about building two wing-like extensions, each adding 5' depth and 7' across. They'd ultimately form a U-shape. Then my buddy Frank came over for a weekend of hanging out, and we did lots of slot car racing. That's when I realized that if I extended the two sides to right where the posts are, I don't lose any sightline. Any further back and I wouldn't be able to see the cars unless I was racing by myself. And although that happens more often than not, it would make my track unworkable if anybody showed up to race. That would be a different level of stupid.

When we raced, we instinctively stood about two feet away from the track. I think that was likely due to it's width. It cut down on the tennis-head-swivel thing. But it also left plenty of room to see not only the whole track, but the big empty spots on the sides.

Here's what I have now, size-wise. Counter-clockwise.

Something like this. While there are still 1/60 turns, there are plenty of other radius curves used as transitions. I'm trying not to use any overpasses, and I probably wont go with two giant S features, but this is an idea of what can be done.

I'm willing to sacrifice a little obstructed view for more space, and I think going right up to the posts will do just that. There's a huge bit of difference between those two table sizes, and I'm not going to build something that I'm not satisfied with. And right now I'm not satisfied. I need more.

I'm okay with not having a track design yet. That's the part of rug racing I enjoyed most: constant changing of track design. Once I have settled on my final track design, my plan is to add an underlayer to much of the track, cut in a similar but wider shape. Then I'll elevate that instead of just the track. That'll allow me to control overall elevation and give everything more depth, as well as make the track that much smoother. And since Carrera track flexes enough to add 4˚- 6˚ or so of banking, I'll get better transitions. Then when it comes to adding scenery and stuff, the track bed will make a nice basis on which to work. Add a bit of runoff on the curves, followed by fencing or guard rails or hay bales or some such thing, then grass and trees. A well-placed building or two.

__________

Getting What I Want

I'd ultimately like it to look a little like Le Mans in the 60's. The track design won't resemble it at all, but I'd like the theme to be that. I'd really love a section through tall trees. My wife wants some craft challenges, so I'm thinking of a hillside forest in the back right corner. Oh, and the backstretch will be raised by a good 10" over the rest of the race track. So there will be some transitions. I'm thinking a long uphill on the right, with cliffside switchbacks. A nice long radius curve going into the elevated back straight, which comes out of the forest and down the hill, to a long radius curve getting progressively tighter. This will cut off my far corners a bit, which is okay, as the added soft banking will mean less cars off the track in that hard-to-reach corner. I'll probably even elevate the corners with scenery to stop cars from making it all the way back there.

In the end, the whole thing will likely be quite scenery heavy. If that means the track doesn't take up every square inch of the table, then so be it. I had even thought of a big floppy-eared oval for awhile, with R4 curves and everything. But I'd like a little infield action, while having plenty of room for vistas and somewhat hilly forest racing. Curve selection is going to be important, so that's the next step in track acquirement.

Here is the track with the curve color codes. K1 Orange. K2 Yellow. K3 Green. K4 Blue. The larger the number, the larger the radius. Even with this track design, there are way too many K1's for my taste. I don't mind using two together, but I'm going to try to make that the most, and figure out better use of each side.

__________

I know. There are loads of flaws in my idea. I can sense them. But I think I have some ways around them, and once they're tried they'll be okay. I really want a nice long 9+ second lap. If that means having a few kooky design ideas, then so be it. The track comes apart, as does the table.

I'm probably going to do the extension work rather soon, so I'm not sure when the next race will be. I'm considering running one with what I have set up for now, so I'll have a reference when I expand. If the extensions don't work out...if I decide that I can't see as well as I thought, so that I have to do too much looking around, or something else, then I'll take them off. My only other option would be to widen the entire track to about 5'. As it is now I can lean over and put my hand flat on the back stretch. So far I haven't had to reach to the farthest corners, but even with my current track design, they aren't really in the line of fire unless you brazenly punch the car without stopping.


The plan going forward is to add six K2 and six K3 track pieces. I'll probably need more, but they're a whole lot more pricey than K1 tracks are, which is why I have so many. Once I have them, I'll work on some design ideas. Chances are the first designs will be something along the lines of a big floppy-eared oval, so I'll get an opportunity to see how that works.

Homecoming Race

This is not the start of a season. I know I said that in the last post, but the fact of the matter is, this time of year is a bad time to think that additions aren't going to be made to the track. The holidays are nearly here, and the focus once again is on slot cars and track.
I picked up 8 straights recently, which significantly improved my layout possibilities, as well as my opportunity to air the cars out on a true straightaway longer than the 5 pieces I was previously able to muster.
The reason I'm not starting the season now is that I know I'm going to be adding more track shortly, likely in the form of curves, which I also need. If this happens, I'll be rebuilding my table to go larger in order to take advantage of the possibilities. As it stands now I'm at 16' across, which is significantly larger than my previous table. The plan is to go the entire 18', then bring the ends around a bit for a U-shape. The depth is too narrow to afford a curvy infield, so I'm going to make up for that in other ways.

But anyway, let's get on to today's 30-lap race. This is a reminder of the cars running:

Alfa #2 - [last season winner] PG urethane tires
Shell #8 - PG urethane tires
Gulf #11 - C1 rubber tires
R18 - Stock rubber tires
Audi PC - Stock rubber tires

Cars were run at various times throughout the summer, some more than others, although time was spent on each one. No outside parts were added to the cars since the last season, and none of the cars were tuned prior. You could consider this an end-of-summer shootout, probably.

I got this layout by starting with an oval and adding the few track pieces I have extra: 2 1/60's and 4 1/30's. Added a bit of a challenge, but I'm sure looking forward to adding more curves now that I have the extra straights.

Results:

Car            Time            Lap                 Offs
Shell #8     1:55.99      [1.86]                   0
Alfa #2      1:56.69        [1.9]                   0
Gulf #11    2:13.86        [4.4]                   0
R18           2:47.69         [5.5]                  1
Audi PC    3:05.05         [6.1]                  0


If I don't get some tires for the Gulf car, it's not going to be competitive, I know it. Urethanes are just that much grippier than rubber. While both the #8 and the #2 ran pretty much where I thought they would, not so for the Gulf.
I was curious to see what the Carrera cars would do. While I ran the controller at 5 Power for the Slot.it cars, I stepped it down to 2 Power for the Carreras, and it was still too much. Slippy, slidey, all over. They're going to get some urethanes too.
Overall, I think if I ran a season based on this, the Shell car would win it. It's got a slight edge in the turns over the Alfa.

So at this stage I'm going to continue running the cars on the track until new track is acquired, then I'll paint that, design a good course and we can get down to business. Any cars that might appear will be added to the mix regardless of condition or class. Once I feel that the additions have stopped, which should be by the end of the holidays, then I'll start up the season. Until then I'm going to go back over each of the cars and get them ready for a nice long winter of racing.

New Improved With More Track

I said I'd be back when I get either more cars or more track, and I'm now prepping and painting eight new straights. I got them in the post today and made a quick layout to test it. Such a huge difference in fun and playability.

Couldn't wait to add them to my track and try it out. This is going to be excellent. Inside lane measures 970cm.

Earlier today I took apart my previous track, as well as the temporary table* it was sitting on. I added a few more pieces to extend the table to 460cm [just over 15 feet] across and 5 feet deep. I was able to easily run fun curve sections and still have nine-segment straightaways. It's likely the final table that will be made will be roughly like this, but fully extended to the roof on both sides, and coming back a bit at the wings.

I will need a grabber. It's going to be difficult to get into the corners when a car crashes. It's totally worth it, however, as I'd rather have the space used for something, even if it means it'll be a little tricky to grab the cars once in awhile.

Tonight I prepped the track pieces I just got and laid the first of two coats. Tomorrow morning I'll do the second coat and the next day I'll assemble from a track plan and see what happens.

Prepped. I went back to my previous paint post to remind myself what not to do this time. I think I got it. I used wider tape, which was easier to trim, and did shorter sections. I trimmed in the gutter to the outside of each rail. I also went over the white lines with a black permanent marker.

This part is really easy. Took about ten minutes to lay the first coat. This is your standard latex exterior house paint, in this case Silver/Gray. I made sure to take up any extra paint that may be left over by dry rolling after laying the first coat. I suggest two coats, as it's still not quite covered with just one.

Here's the finished product. Dry to the touch in about 8 hours.

First layout. I wanted to see how long I could make a straight and still make the rest of it interesting. I need curves now.

Once I come up with a satisfactory layout, I'll tune the cars and set up the next race season. It's a bit risky starting one so late, as the holidays are coming and I may have to add a car or two [or more track] to the mix if I'm lucky. That'll change everything. It's likely I'm in for some pretty big changes now that I have this much track to deal with.

*I call it a table, but actually it's a collection of tables, end tables, bed frames, cabinetry and other odds and ends. It's sturdy enough, but I can't stand on it or anything.