Assume you had two different size tables to work with. One is small, about 4'x8', while the other is large, maybe 8'x16' or 8'x20'.

What is your preference on these tables. Would you want to get as much track as possible on the table, including elevated sections, or would you go for an open course and have less track?

Thanks...Joe

If you are going to landscape I'd say go bigger with less track and more space.

'doba

Go big and bank them turns!!! You got to be able to listen to the car wind out down the straightaway!!! Every car has a little different sound. If you watch your car close enough, as it hits the straightaway, you might see a little wiggle or a slight fishtail before the car hooks up with the track. You build a good banked turn, and you can see your car hanging all out in the turn, getting some good rear end slide action!!! A track with elevations is very exciting, also. When you see a car come out of a turn, and the track drops, the car seems like it is floating for a second. When your going down hill and there's a tight turn at the bottom, it's all about the braking. I've ran on a lot of tracks, and the fast smooth tracks with elevations and banked turns, are hard to beat, if you like excitment.
If you like to take Sunday drives, then build a small track and just dream about going fast!!! Just my thoughts, Randy

P.S. Check out www.fulltiltspeedways.com for some track ideas.

Depends on the goal I think....looking for room to detail?....or room to race?

Serious racing requires desolt prone areas to have easy and quick access by marshals...plus you dont want marshals to have to fumble around trying to pluck a car out of a fully detailed diarama...also deslot prone areas need high barriers around curves to keep deslotted cars from knocking other cars off other areas of the track...

On the other hand....I've seen some of the most beautiful home layouts on par with home railroads in detail and finnish...

Kats spa...nurbering...lemanzaco...shawnadega...etc...

You seen brooklands Joe?

http://www.geocities.com/brooklandsspeedway/speedway/index.htm

Very detailed...yet not cluttered....

I'd go with the biggest table possible...I currently have a 3x7, a 5x12, and a 5x8 tables out in the garage with a temp tomy four lane lay out on them...

I'm thinking about just combining the two tables into a 5 x 20....but it would be a tight fit...plus the garage is unheated...unfortunatly...there is no where in the house to set up....I lost the basment to the wifes home business a few years ago...

Here's the last layout I had in the basment on a 5x8...tyco four lane:

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/Slots_002.jpg

And here's a shot of one of the club tracks...114 foot 4 lane tomy

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/medium/AMSRA_practice_006.jpg

There are a few more pics of rossburg raceway in my gallery....

Crim--

I'll have to get you some new shots of Rossburg with the new landscaping and (mostly)-working pit road.

Are you cyber stalking me?

:wave:

Hi Guys,
The actual intent of my question is to get input from actual experiance at running at both types of tracks - flat and open, or multi-level and packed. Assume there is not a lot of scenery.

The two table sizes mentioned at the top of this thread are in different locations. At my parent's house, where I still spend a good deal of time, I have a smallish 7.5' x 5' table on which I try to get as much track as possible. That requires me to go to multi-level, and does not leave a lot of open area on the board. Obviously at this size there are no real long straights and it ends up being much more of a road style course.

The larger table would be something I set up at my house and would have some long straights. But with a larger table, do you still try to pack the board with track, or does it look and "play" better with a more open layout?

Thanks...Joe

What's your preferance in cars Joe,magnet or T-jet style.
If magnet cars,go for the open longer straights,T-jets throw as much track on the table as you can get :thumbsup:

Joe --

You can also have flat/packed and multi-level/open.

I think the real issue is enjoyment, and what you enjoy might not be the same thing that another person enjoys.

If *you* have a real interest in landscaping your track, by all means include room to landscape. If *you* really don't care, then don't worry about leaving space for landscaping.

However, landscaping or no, the track should be enjoyable to race on. Exactly what is 'enjoyable' to a given person is certainly up to each individual, and is also affected by the kinds of racing that they do. Don't pack in track simply for the sake of having a long track. Pack it in if that makes the track more enjoyable for you.

Conversely, if you leave space for landscaping, but the track is too short to really enjoy, then you have gone too far the other way.

A couple more points; a landscaped track pretty much implies an unchangeable track design. Are you a person that will be satisfied with a permanent design, or are you someone that needs to change the layout occasionally for a little variety? Also, there are levels of landscaping. There is the 'no landscaping whatsoever' type of track, where the track sits on a plain surface that is not green. You can have a minimalistic landscape of just green felt under the track. There are the simple landscaping jobs like Brad Bowman's original Champion track, with just grass, a few rocks, and slight elevations. Or you can go full-bore with bleachers, a pit lane, control tower, access roads, safety vehicles, etc.

You need to decide what you like. Do that by examining at your interests, and wants, and looking at the many excellent tracks both in this thread and other places.

Here's an article about a great HO track of the fully-landscaped type: Portugal in a Play Room (http://www.f1specialties.com/main/racetrack/racetrack.html)

And another track -- 1/32 scale this time. The creator of the track is an architect by trade, and it shows in his work: Brad Korando's Track (http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20110&st=15)

-- Bill