I'm about to start constructing my track table for an HO setup, and I have been giving some thought to table width. I don't have a particular track layout in mind yet, so track width is completely open at this point.

A four-foot table width is common; that width makes for easy marshalling and it's wide enough to fit four 'roadways' of 4-lane track. The downsides of the 4' width is that there is not a lot of room between roadways for large curves and/or landscaping.

On Greg Braun website (http://www.HOSlotCarRacing.com) shows how to make 5' 4"x12' tables with no waste of wood. The additional width might allow you to pack in a little more track, or more space for landscaping or curves, depending on what you want. However, the wider track won't be as easy to marshal as a 4' table.

Using Greg's approach to making a 5'4"x12' track, it's possible to build a 6'x16' track.

My question is whether 6' (or even 5'4") is too wide for a HO table? I have the room for a 6' wide table; should I make use of the space? Or am I going to be constantly cursing the need to use grippers/a magnet/walk around the table to retrieve a car?

I think I know which way I'm leaning, but I'd welcome everyone's input.

-- Bill

I built the 5'4"x12' table in my garage. I put driver stations 2 on each side so there is a person in the area should a car come off. It's just me and the kids racing and te width hasn't been a problem. The track is under construction still, but here's a pic so you get an idea. The pic is taken prior to putting in the driver stations

I think it also depends a little on the height of your table and the height of the people using it.

I made my track 5' wide (with very little wood waste) and it quite high compared to most. I think it's about 42" or something in that range. I'm 5' 10". I have no problem grabbing cars unless they're clear on the opposite side.

I also installed my driver's stations two on each side.

Using a gripper to grab cars out of reach isn't really that much of a hassle. We have to use them on my track in places by the mountain. It can be a gripper or even BBQ tongs since the magnets stick to the metal tongs.

Bill,
Table width is what gives you the ability to use wide radius turns. My small four lane layout is on a 5'6" x 7'6" board because I had two pieces of plywood when put together made that size table. I have used every inch of the width in order to get some of the larger turns into the layout. I wish I had more.

Think about it a moment. Most layouts have the straights running across the long length of the table. The 18" radius turns are 36" in diameter. Add in a border and you need at least 37" for a 180 degree turn. That basically means, on a 48" table, you cannot use the 18" curves to make a 180 degree left turn (for example) and then make any kind of turn to the right - you've only got 12" left. A 180 degree turn using 6" curves would take up every last inch. Go four lanes and it's even worse.

Table width is what gives you flexibility especially if you are looking to do a road course. If you just use the track to run by yourself, either accept the fact you'll need to walk around the table to get cars on the other side, or stay at or less than 48". Or get real good so you never deslot.

My personal preference is to go as wide as possible to open up a whole world of design possibilities.

Joe

Or get real good so you never deslot.

Or buy cars that never deslot. If they deslot, throw them away or send them to me. :lol:

I believe the opinion of many people is to go as big as you can or as big as the Boss will allow. Ahem.

I'm sure many of us will say that table/track size is akin to storage space. No matter how much you have, you wish you had a little more.

I wouldn't go much over 4' if accessible from only one side. If you'll be able to get around the whole table you can go pretty wide. 6' or more maybe?

GP

Ligier Runner, nice track ! Are you going to landscape it too? I agree with everyone else go as big as you can (or as the Boss will allow, I don't have one so it's going big) As for cars that de slot Wm brant I have to agree with ligier runner buy ones that don't come off the track or send the ones that come off the track to him !
I am starting to build the one that Scafremon is building a BIG four lane course . Have fun !

My track is L shaped, 6' across the main body (some photos can be seen by clicking My Photos in my profile; you'll find one wide shot of the entire table).

I don't find the extra width a problem for racing. As said, it comes down to some combination of grabbers, poking sticks, etc. I wanted a scenic track and I felt that width was necessary for the effects I wanted to create as well as the opportunity to give different portions of the layout different types of character.

I don't recall how high I have the table, but it's tall; tall enough for me to store full desks underneath; I wanted to bring the cars closer to eye level when sitting.

Though not a problem when racing, a 6' width does make the task of landscaping difficult. Back breaking reachesto work in the center area. And you're always wrecking something on the outside of the table while reaching to work on something towards the center. For pure racing fun, there are times I wish I had a smaller, tighter layout (and may still build one as a second track), but I love my sprawling scenic track.

I have an L shaped track made up from two 4x8 sheets joined together (see the Aurora Clubman on GB's site), with the longest straight length being 12 feet. For the benefit of adding scenery, there are times I wish there were another foot or two on the opposite side where the 8 foot length is, making the inside part of the L more like 5 or 6 feet across from the long length instead of the 4 that it is.

Blah, blah....point is.....I'm in the camp for building as much table space as you can realistically fit where you are building the track. If you're concerned about reach when de-slotting, you might want to keep track on the outer parts of the table and scenic the interior space.

A 6' wide table can create problems even for taller people depending on table height. It's easy to reach across a flat table at 32"-36", but when you add 3-4 inches of retaining wall around the side, scenery and/or crash walls, driver's station and shelves, it becomes alot different. If your track doesn't have a comfortable average reach, people will be banging into it "in the heat of the moment"...table gets moved around, things get leaned on or worse broken.

The best advice IMO would be to visit a few tracks of varying widths and see just how comfortable you are with them. A real consideration is will your track be used more for "Model Motoring" or for Racing, makes a big difference then.

I have an L-shaped table with only one side against a wall. The part of the table that is against the wall is 3.5 ft wide and the rest of the track table is 4.5 ft wide. This is a Model Motoring track for the most part and reaching things has not been a problem.

Profound laziness dictated my 4'x8' table size. The track surface is 36" off the floor. The table is on rubber casters with locks so it's easily moved. I'm 6' 1" and can marshal it from one side of the track, but the driver stations will go 2 per side to make marshalling while seated on stools possible. With 18" curves I haven't felt too limited on what I have been able to do with Tomy track. It does feel small too when running Life-Likes and Tycos. So much so that I never opened the Tomy cars that came with the Super International set I used to get started. Once I'm done finishing the basement, I'm planning on selling off anything that doesn’t use a pancake motor and finishing this track. For what I've got in it in sectional track, if I had to do it again, I'd seriously consider something like Wizz track. I've reached the point where I’ve got to start screwing it down and really tweaking the fit, causing me to procrastinate.

Truth is I think I’d throw in the towel on the HO track if I found a commercial grade 1/24th scale hill climb for a song. I’ve got the room and a couple of Parma cars stored somewhere. The 1/32nd scale stuff looks real purdy and the 1/24th scale cars can be had for next to nothing. Staying married would be the greatest challenge. I’d want a real pinball machine to go with it too :)

I would think for event racing then 4' would be the best for ease of deslots. But for real looking layouts then you would eventually have to go wider as there is only so much you can do with 4' wide tables. After looking at the beautiful tracks that Peacefield and others have recently posted It's got me thinking that it's time to start over.

This time around I'm going for a more realistic track feel with wide open spaces.

A few tracks that have the look I will be going for.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c394/tycobro/Sepang.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c394/tycobro/Magny-Cours.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c394/tycobro/Nurburgring.jpg

Here is the area I currently have devoted for both my tracks.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c394/tycobro/basementarea.jpg

Instead of building the tables first, this time I will be laying a two lane down on the floor, running it for a bit then building the tables to fit the track ( a four laner of course).

I went with 8' x 16' and just marked off a sort of "no man's land" in the middle where marshalling would be too tough to reach. I felt that anything more than 3' in would be too much of a stretch from the edge of the table.

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/TrackPicb.jpg

So, the track design had to be such that cars would not be in position to change direction and deslot in the no-marshall area. I ran straights down the middle and placed the turns close enough to the short edges to be reached from the end of the table.

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/Deckertring2007-_053b.jpg

Still occasionally someone will vault themselves down the infield -- that's when the 3' telescoping magnet grabber tool comes out. :woohoo:

Thanks for the input, everyone!

I had been leaning towards the 6' width, but I see a lot of 4' wide tracks, and was wanting to make sure that I was not missing something. The 4' wide tracks are popular, but they don't have enough width to have a lot of variety in the layouts, which I really didn't like.

The area I have is 10.5' wide at the narrowest (a support post in the middle of the family room), so I don't think I want to go much wider than 6'. While a wider track is certainly an option (no track manager, aka SWMBO), I think that 6' is a nice compromise between a table that's too narrow, and a table that's wider than I can really afford the track for.

The area where the track will be going is carpeted, so laying it out on the floor and trying it there is not really an option. I'll try a number of layouts on the table before I fix it down.

Lots of good input from everyone, and I really appreciate that. Thanks again.

Now, all I need to do is to get moving and get the table built! I already have the track...

-- Bill

That's an awsome track Cordoba. BTW, you may want to be careful about using a magentic grabber. I don't recall where, maybe on this board or on another, but someone did once say that a magnetic grabber screwed with the car's magnets over time. Don't know if that's true; just passing along the thought.

That's an awsome track Cordoba. BTW, you may want to be careful about using a magentic grabber. I don't recall where, maybe on this board or on another, but someone did once say that a magnetic grabber screwed with the car's magnets over time. Don't know if that's true; just passing along the thought.

Thanks!

I try to hook onto an axle with the magnet grabber if I can -- pretty easy with the tjets and xtracs.

Nice layout Doba. I also calculated my table width on floor, prior to table construction.
My table width for current design is 74 ins.(track surface), with an additional 3/4in. of borders in varied heights for table perimeter. Height is approx. 32ins. w/ full walkaround.
No problem retrieving cars. I agree, a reach from any side more than 3ft. is difficult.

I modelled Nurburgring on 2 4x8 tables. Its a 2 lane but can be made into 4-lanes. The track pieces are laid over an actual plan diagram.
Tell me what you think

I modelled Nurburgring on 2 4x8 tables. Its a 2 lane but can be made into 4-lanes. The track pieces are laid over an actual plan diagram.
Tell me what you think

Cool -- neat idea to overlay it like that! :thumbsup:

I modelled Nurburgring on 2 4x8 tables. Its a 2 lane but can be made into 4-lanes. The track pieces are laid over an actual plan diagram.
Tell me what you think

Looks good. The layout looks like it should be fun and technical. Room for landscaping too.:thumbsup:

GP

Great looking track Cordoba.Tom Stumpf

I modelled Nurburgring on 2 4x8 tables. Its a 2 lane but can be made into 4-lanes. The track pieces are laid over an actual plan diagram.
Tell me what you think

Good looking track,Christos, but with a 12' table available, it seems a shame to not take advantage of a longer back-straight.
Since you have already deviated from the original design, would it hurt to square-out that upper right corner to give some of your leggier cars a chance to stretch a bit? Just a thought.

Thanks for the cool comparo!:thumbsup: