I like the action of a hairpin turn in real life, but it seems that I never see anyone actually use one of these on their home layout. Do you guys use them? I've got a four lane layout planned and it might add a bit of interest, but it looks like it's more of a headache than it's worth.

If you've got one on your layout or use one, post up a picture so we can see it in action and let us know the pros/cons of using it. Thanks!

I've attach a pic of the hairpin on my track. It depends what kind of racer you are. If you like the high speed, long straight type racing, it's probably not your cup of tea. I personally like it if the set-up is right on a 2-lane track, because you have to use strategy and your skills especially when entering the turn neck and neck with another car. If one of you don't back off or accelearte to the lead, someone's gonna lose! And perfect timing and acceleration can also send your opponent into the wall and out of the race. Now, the hairpin works great with Super G+, Turbo and SRT's. I have not tried the new Mega G's or run any modifieds through the hairpin turn. T-Jets, Mag and Non-Mag's don't do well. They lose contact and stop unless you increase the width of the pick-up shoes. The JL shoes improve their performance. Hope that helps.

we had the tomy hairpin on our fourlane,but we also race semis,and they couldn't take it,so we scrapped the idea.and no, the mts and tjets didn't like it either.

The most fun we have ever had with the hairpin was on a 4 lane with a 14' or so long straight away.

You entered the straight on a wide radius sweeping turn, floored it for the 14' and then encountered the hairpin! This proved to be great fun in "out" braking your opponents!

Another use was in a slow and highly visable portion of the track. Watching and positioning the cars nose to tail through the hairpin was enjoyable as well.

Use it.....It adds great fun.

Jim Norton
Huntsville, Alabama

Yankee - Have anymore pics of your track? NICE!

Click on "my photos" below Yankee's name.. They're there. Excessive drool warning!!! Wear a bib.. or put a towel on the keyboard..

Ron I have a spare hairpin I use two for a test oval lol.. pick it up when ya can free of charge for a nice guy.. (plus I don't have to pack it in a box for you lol..)

that way if you don't like it your not out anything..
Dave

Back in 2003 I ran 100% tjets. The layout I had back then (my first permanent one), had 5 Tomy Hairpins. At that time I wanted to get as much track into a roughly 30x60 space (with an interesting course) as I could. Tjets were fine through them. I wouldn't have had even one on the layout, let alone 5, if there had been any problem. They can be great fun, as you get a "feel" for them with tjets and a tjet controller (90-ish ohms). Standard Tomy cars had no problem either. It was my experience that more specifically the cars like AFX Magnatractions, JL XT's, Lifelike, and other brands were the ones that had really serious problems getting through them. My .02 is that if you run many diff brands then you may want to avoid the hairpin. I now have zero hairpins thanks to an intervention by JoeZ and a 12 step program ;). nd

tjd241, that old layout looks pretty cool. You definately crammed as much as you could in your space.

Coach, I appreciate the offer. I'll be in touch in the next couple weeks when I start on the layout.

Thanks for the replies. I think a hairpin or two may be in my future. I'll probally be running Super G and SRT for the most part, so it sounds like it might add a little fun to the layout. I'm trying to get a little more space than a door size layout, so this may work out.

I'll have to think hard about this one. Don't know if my kids would be able to drive the corner or not so that will be the deciding factor. Thanks for the help once again.

how old are the kids?i know the kids i have had run my various tracks from time to time were pretty trigger happy,so you might wanna be careful,as my magnet cars became missiles pretty quick on the tighter turns!i think big swoopy turns are the best with kids.my wife takes care of two kids full time from 9 to 5 and the five year old boy likes my tracks,so i let him play from time to time if he's"been good".the best for him was big 1/8 radius turns,as he likes to go really fast.my present layout is more difficult,as he doesn't always pay attention to the car,and comes off alot sometimes.,therefore a hairpin is out of the question for me here,as i enjoy being able to have kids use the track too.

Carol and her friends never had a problem with the hairpin when I had it setup.. took them 4-5 laps to settle into a rythem but they did fine after that. your yougin's will be pushing you off the track by the 8th lap..lol...


Dave

too funny dave,the five year old smokes me too sometimes!probably rusty with my magnet cars!

I used a hairpin and it serves a couple purposes for my layout. It maximized my track infield with a 4 lane twisty infield. The entry to the hairpin is from the slow twisty infield releasing to a fast straight. The hairpin was a debate with me since I don't like the squeeze from inside lane to outside on a 2 lane track but on my 4 lane, lanes 2 and 3 are great and if you gun it just right the cars get almost 90 degrees to the rails as you exit to the straight.

There's a discussion of the Tomy hairpin starting with post #13 on this thread (http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=199248&highlight=hairpin+diagram). In post #41, there is a scaled diagram showing why some AFXs aren't compatible with the hairpin, and suggestions for altering the AFX pickups. You should see the word "hairpin" highlighted wherever it occurs, so you can pick out the relevant posts from the others.

-- D

yankee, your track is amazing, any tips?

yankee, your track is amazing, any tips?

If you like the full landscaped look, check out Woodland Scenic's products. If your main purpose is to race, your track design comes first and everything else should be built around the track. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding my landscaping. Throw your ideas out there, these guys know their stuff and are very informative and helpful. Good luck with your track and post your progrerss on HT. You'll get good feedback. Druck