Just a little backgound. Last weekend I broke out my old ho scale slot car track and my daughter has not stopped playing with it since. Its currently just sitting here in our family room. Today I went by a local hobby shop that was closing and picked up the Carrera 1/24 Ultimate Rods set for under $200.00. I would like to just put this up in the basement so I have a 10 x 10 room available. my options are 1 a "L" shaped layout and the second option is a "U" shaped layout. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.thegibbonshome.com/SlotCar.JPG

My personal opinion would be the U shaped layout for a few reasons:

1. A little more straight running which 1/24 scale likes. If its twisty and technical the motors won't perform at their max.

2. Depending on the age of your daughter, if you went with the L shaped layout you run into the potential of place more of the track into the corner of that L. That is very deep and can be out of the reach of smaller people and kiddos which means they have to climb on the track to get deslotted cars. With the U shaped track you would be less likely to build a lot into the corners since you have plenty of room to stretch out the legs on the cars.

Just my thoughts.

PD2:thumbsup:

Thank you, I was leaning toward the U, but since this is the first time I have done anything like this I figured it would be best to hit up some forums.

Thank you!!

Thank you, I was leaning toward the U, but since this is the first time I have done anything like this I figured it would be best to hit up some forums.

Thank you!!

I'm by no means a track designer or even that big into 1/24 layouts (I'm mainly a 1/32 slot car racers who is dabbling into HO scale), but I was just thinking a little logically about the layout. I too have a daughter who likes racing slot cars with Dad. She is 7 and has been doing slot cars with me for about a year now. When we first got our home track and set it up, when a car would deslot she would take the quickest path to get her car - straight across the track, stepping on it and things like that. That just does not fly because they run the risk of breaking the plastic as well as the electrical connections between the sections. Maybe once or twice won't hurt, but if done repeatedly it will eventually wear out that portion of track. I'd naturally assume that if you do something very deep into the corners of your L and even that U corners it could mean the same thing. So when doing the layout I'd strongly watch and consider that - either that or figure out a way that elliminates the need to stretch across the track to retrieve deslotted cars.

I really envy you for having a basement room to even have a setup like this. Living along the coast of Texas we don't get the option of a basement unless you want your pool under your house. HA! I don't have any spare rooms so space is a premium to do a permanent layout. I think you will have tons of fun with this permanent layout! Enjoy it!

PD2:thumbsup: