Tips from Tom (GIDDYUP) 1-22-08

you could always add technical to either plan by adding:

1) Elevations, you can some difficulty, especially an elevation change at the crest/beginning of a turn (as Tilke’s talks about in that video)…check out the Nurburgring...lots of you tube videos of laps of it…lots of these in that track, it’ll give you a sense for it.

2) A squeeze or two, to slow traffic

3) Or even a ‘wandering’ middle lane to squeeze the inner/outer lanes in certain areas to slow it down (see some of Luf’s track – especially his new one does this)

4) Increasing/decreasing radius corners (versus constant radius) or even double apex corners (see my track the big sweeper…it’s actually a double apex corner)….although, using the flexible routing strip should do this naturally I guess?

Re: elevations, I wouldn’t get too drastic on the height change. On my old track the mountain descent (6” drop in 18” lineal track) was the scene of many a de-slot. I think Luf will see the same on his Nurburgring track as well. If you keep the height transition smooth, it’ll keep it fast & flowing…I think the general rule of thumb is an inch per lineal foot of track – it doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re talking 1:32 scale it becomes pronounced…although, I should keep my yap shut here, because I have a few spots where I was 2” per foot!

Re: Peter Highman, I was referring to one of his books by him and Bruce Jones called “World Motor Racing Circuits: A Spectator's Guide” (ISBN 0-233-99619-2). I bought a used copy of this book from Amazon based on a reference in the Slot Car Bible book by Robert Schleicher. It has the track layouts, relative speeds/gears on the track plus elevations. It must have 50+ circuits in it, from ovals to old courses which no longer exist. I used it quite a bit for reference when designing.

Don’t worry about the undercutting! Even though I did a lot of undercuts on Mugello, it took me only a few hours at most. So it’s not like you’ll be working on that part for days on end. Yes, it’s a bit more work…but so worth it.