If I were to build another oval

[woodman]

I would throw a few different radiuses into the design......Entering a turn having a tight radius and increasing as it exits is really fun.....And all routed with a flexible guide. .....

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[HomeRacingWorld]

It's the magic of building. Design and build to suit your own taste and style.

Raced on many ovals, can't say the whole increasing, decreasing, chicanes, etc adds anything to the fun for me. But also can't say it hurt anything either. Fun is Fun.

The people standing to the left and right of you make more of a difference in fun factor than any design. IMHO of course :)

So build it and have the oval you always wanted. :music-rockout:

[woodman]

One nice thing I found is the variety it ads from one end to the other......Breaking hard into the tight radius and with the turn opening up, accelerating at the top of the turn with a short burst of power pushes the rear of the car out just enough to set it up to go straight before you actually exit the turn, oliviating any fish tailing ....l have this on one of my modular track sections.......

[slothead]

As a kid I used to draw race tracks on graph paper then use a pencil to trace where a car would drive while making laps - the faster you go round and round the more you see the best racing line. I did the same with my road course design and routed the slots (2 lanes) to mimic that as much as possible.

Years ago I planned to do the same with my 2 lane oval, but the test track made from sections patterned after plastic track are as far as I got. It's been so much fun and I use it so much I gave up on tearing it down to build a bigger one with more realistic lanes. But, if a rebuild was ever necessary I would go bigger than 4' x 14' and route arcs into and out of the corners like 1:1 drivers use. Also, if you look at aerial photos of most small ovals they have much wider turns than you might think. Many were once horse tracks at fairgrounds and around 50% of a lap's length is in the corners, which I'd like to emulate too. A 7' x 14' track would accomplish that.

Since I'm now a solo racer too I'd route 2 lanes with a crossover so a complete lap was actually twice around, once in each lane. Yes, I'd add switches so 2 cars could race if needed.

Slothead

[woodman]

The diverse rythim you get into is what I discovered with this varience from end to end of the oval.....I had a tri oval I routed 20 years ago it was 9x16, routed compas style......the one pictured is 8x16....
I like the smaller One car garage size tracks, and being at eye level with the track surface is the way to go....
At our 6 lane big oval I like sitting down .......

[Nor Cal Mike]

I like your thinkin' Woody. My criteria for a good oval is to have each end drive a little differently. MY D oval does just that. One end is similar to your concept of short in, long out. But the other end approaching from the D section is just the opposite with a long in and short out. This is fun because your car can get a little crossed up at speed coming into the curve or a lot crossed up before a barrel roll if you brake too hard.

[SpeedyNH]

my favorite old oval had four lanes, each one exactly the radius, which were offset diagonally across each other so that there was a crossover at the ends of the straights- the outside lane went to the inside and vise versa, and then did it again at the other end so you got it back. this was an attempt to make racing lines, and it was pretty effective.
we ran mostly old Monogram Midgets. those were the days before super glue, so whatever you lost off the car had to wait til next week, and the car got heavier as you went through the season from all the glue. my favorite car's driver was still missing his right arm when I got it back out a few years ago, but Tiny Tires kindly provided me with a new one (thanks again!).
somewhere a couple years back I saw a sprint car track that had crossovers like that where the lanes stayed beside each other, but it crossed inside and then wound back out in a spiral. it went around three times! think it had three lanes, but that one seems to have gotten lost.
another modern oval I like has the lanes squeezing in the middle of the corners, and another one I saw online has pairs of lanes squeezing alternately as you went around.
in case you can't tell, I like tracks where the lane separation is not constant!
speedy

[Tycosaur]

My current tri-D-oval build has 4" at turn one, 3¼" at the D and 3½" at turn three. I run mostly 1/32's but plan on running some 1/25's.
It will be a little tight at the D for the 1/25's and should lead to some fender and wheel rubbing which could make things interesting.