NASCAR vs short track

[HomeRacingWorld]

Out of my area here sir. On big banked tracks like I have raced on in the past, the large degree of banking just takes the challenge of driving out of it for me. Unless you put in blazing hot motors...and then I really get bored watching blurs.

But that's just me. All taste is different.

[dreinecke]

My advice is stop over thinking it and just build a track. You can always build another if it doesn't suit you. Have you considered a roval?

Plastic may be a good option too if you aren't sure about the design. I'd see if there are any Artin oval sets for sale on eBay.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Well, again it's all personal taste. I prefer very little banking. In slot car track terms I have about 3 inches at the ends. Basically just a shade over flat :) Reading that Ozark Speedway build kind of alludes to what I am trying to describe.

But that's how I like it. It forces me to actually tune the models to get them hooking up how I like. It also makes for great action as we try to go into the corners like gentleman, but come out like animals.

Ovals are not that different in design tastes than road courses. Some like a fast track with plenty of room, others want a tighter, more technical race experience. From chicanes to varied radius corners and just about everything in between.

Guys like Mike and others will chime in eventually and you will see how varied it can be.

You have to decide what kind of action you want to have and build upon that.

[strangebrew]

I've got a very small oval (5 x 11... 4 lanes 4" spacing banked around 10 degrees) It's about 8 yrs. old. I'm thinking of building a slightly larger
oval mabe 6 or 8 wide by 12 long, but I'm keeping the banking. I'm thinking I'd like to make it a little more circular. The straights would have
a bit of a bow in the middle, much like the true action of the 1:1's It would allow a faster exit off the turn, or a drift out to the wall if you want
to call it that. I think you would be able to hang the car out through the turns farther & longer than having to transistion to a straight & though
it might make for faster racing, you'd have to drive the straight more & drift the straight a little rather than that fishtail we're all used to.
Just a thought.

[woodman]

I would bow one, sort of a mild dogleg, and keep the other straight.......
Also, I find on mine, one end has a tighter radius on the entry with an increasing radius on the exit...Makes for hard breaking going into it....Giving me 3 different turns....

[btaylor]

You Know you have been kicking this around for a good while, Just build you a track,and if you dont like it, change it or build another!. You dont want to waste precious racing time pondering a track build. There is no track plan that offers any enjoyment if you cant put a car on it.
Take the plunge, build what YOU want, and burn some laps!

my two cents of pushing you over the edge!
Bob

[philc712]

Dude. I just got into 1/32 from HO where my layout was about 100 ft of four lane Tommy A/FX. I say around for about two weekends trying to figure out what my 1/32 track would be? Then I just got some 4x8 sheets threw all the track on it and started. In the past month since I started I've modified the track half dozen times. It ain't perfect but it's fun! BTW, I'm using Scalextric Sport (analog)

[Nor Cal Mike]

I have two ovals. Both have very little banking. Maybe around 2% I like just enough to add realism to the look of the track since most real ovals have some banking if nothing more, to shed water in the rainy months. With that amount of banking, you could build the track flat and then if you don't like it, loosen up the screws holding the road down. cut some wedges and drive them around the corners. Tighten screws and you have immediate banking.

My first wood track had a lot of banking. I built it that way because that was how they did it back in the old days. I didn't care for it.

[smithspeedway]

I used to have a 36 degree banked tri-oval, and it took a lot of motor to be competitive on that track. Our flat oval has really simplified the rule book. With zero banking, and the whole track being only 6 feet wide, the motor becomes irrelevant after a point. In one of our divisions, we've had a range of motors from 20k to 60k. If the lower rpm hook up well, they stay in the throttle longer on the 12 foot straight (needing less barking before the turn). It really evens things out.

Having said that, at our old banked track, my restricted stock car division used to run the track at about 30 actual miles per hour. The hot rod division, using 4.5" wb chassis, used to create a breeze when they all bailed into turn one together. if I had never had the banked track, i would want one pretty badly. Now that I've had one, I really like the flat track. Gimme another ten years, and I'll be telling you how much better whatever I'm running on then is. It's an evolutionary thing. Just use the space you have, leave some room for pits, and enjoy it until you don't. Then, make a new one.

Steve