Evoracer

iTrader: (24)

Thanks TD!! We're getting the PVC sometime this week. The next club meeting will regard track layout. We'll see what happens.

Stupid me.....somebody want to tell me what ROFL stands for??
Thanks to everone who has offerd help so far.....I really appreciate it. I keep getting little tips here and there....amazing the stuff you learn!!

IMPACTPLAYR

iTrader: (7)

I hope you don't mind, I changed a few thing on your layout. I have found that 5-7 foot wide lanes are fine for a few sections of the track, but leave a wide straight, Also try and use all of the real estate you can don't let much of the space goto waste...... Check out my chages and tell me if you like them.....

IMPACTPLAYR

iTrader: (7)

R olling
O n the
F loor
L aughing

Evoracer

iTrader: (24)

Thanks Impact.....On both accounts.

Cyclonus

I think you need to make sure the chicane at the end of the straight cant be straight lined though. Because it is just gonna push the drivers on the outside of the straight out and drivers on the inside in, and you end up with a lot of people hitting the first or second chicane going full speed and breaking parts. If you make it so they have to turn a bit. That way there is atleast a few lines through the turn that are reasonably fast, rather than just one line that is way better than anything else.

IMPACTPLAYR

iTrader: (7)

Cyclonus- I see your point however....... the purpose of a track layout is to challenge the drivers, otherwise you might as well just build an oval track with 200 ft wide lanes...LOL

trackdesigner71

iTrader: (6)

I like em, its just that I was trying to keep it as close to the real life Catalunya as possible. I do like the changes though

ruf

iTrader: (3)

Since it is a parking lot, I assume that you will not have much of a drivers' stand. If that is the case, then take up the first 7ft as a buffer so the near left and near right corners can be seen easier. This gives you a 100x50ft which is easier to design around. 57ft would give you an odd number of lanes which is really a pain to design with unless you don't mind wasting a lot of space.

Anyways here is how I would do it at my track. When you are copying a real life circuit, you can't just try and get all the corners in similar places. The scale of the track is all wrong and you end up with a bunch of fat, easy corners and trying to make up for it with bad kinks. What you should try to do is get the "feel" of the track. Catalunya is:

1) straightaway
2) chicane that opens up into a right hand sweeper
3) short chute to a right hand carousel
4) left hand hairpin into a fast left hand bend
5) sharp left that opens right into another right hander(this part of the track is kind of boring and we simply don't have the length to model the intricacies of these corners)
6) infield straightaway (again limited on space, we have to turn this into a bend but still try to portray a sense of speed)
7) increasing radius left (which is boring and again we don't have space to run out the exit. Decreasing radius corners are better for carrying momentum and passing anyways)
8) right hander that opens up to the sweeper entering the straight (now we have the space for increasing radius and it allows you to carry more speed onto the straightaway effectively "lengthening" it's feel)

I'll post a scan of the scribble when I get home tonight. The hardest part was working in the chicane. Since it flows into the sweeper, it's very easy to make it too simple. On the other hand, you don't want to make it a "parts corner" either. The layout is pretty open and should accomodate for a lot of motor, varying skill levels and clean passing.

Evoracer

iTrader: (24)

Hi Joe,
Thanks for your help. Just so you know....Our AVAILABLE track area is 57x100. Our 15 ft trailer/drivers stand will be on a second row in the parking lot. Each 57 ft of parking lot is divided by a 9ft raised grass median. A natural barrier !!! The track could be substantially longer but we limited ourselves to 100 ft.

Keep that advice coming guy's!!!

trackdesigner71

iTrader: (6)

For those of you visual learners out there here is a picture of the REAL Circuit de Catalunya:

http://www.circuitcat.com/2002/english/frame.html?6

ruf

iTrader: (3)

Crap. That changes everything. Run the track 120ft. I'll come up with something new tonight. I'll still post the scan of 100x50ft layout. I'll see if I can find some of my old layouts. I think I have 2 versions for the ROAR Regionals, a technical layout after that, and then the one we are currently using for our series races.

Honestly I would still run the track ~50ft wide. Use the 7ft as a pit lane so you can attract the nitro crowd ($$$). 57ft just TEMPTS you to add another lane in the middle which usually makes for a messy layout.

Evoracer

iTrader: (24)

Joe,
You got a point. I'll consider it. At this point we're electric only. Owners of the property didn't want the noise or the potential fuel damage to their freshly surfaced lot. Still like the idea of a pit lane.I don't think it would be to hard to convince my club members that we have to have a bigger track !!

IMPACTPLAYR

iTrader: (7)

It sounds kinda cool thinking about racing on a scale track designed after the ne your favorite pro drivers race on ...... doesn't it??? Yeah, just one major problem..... and I am sure I will try and beat it into your head....LOL

RC tracks need to make the most of the available real estate!! if you have 500 square feet to take advaage of you simply canot run a layout that makes no use of 150 square feet. Also very few full sized tracks have lanes that "piggyback" each other or are only seperated by a few feet. Why?? because if there is a crash and a car ends up in the wrong set of lanes people can and will die. RC has the advantage that no matter how much carnage there is on the track nobody ever gets hurt!
ALL OF THE TIME while laying out a track design you have to make compromises that will alter your vision..... sometimes the compromises are small, sometimes they are huge.

You have to keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to layout designs that will please the participants while challenging them, this is a hard task to accomplish. If you start out too wide open and the better drivers aren't challenged then they will stop attending, if the design is too tight and newer drivers have a hard time manuvering thru it and end up braking they will stop attending....... Unless you have raced with these people regularly for some time you should lay-out a fast flowing track with a few challenging sections. Then as the raceday progresses question people coming off of the drivers stand what they think and how you could make the driving experience better for them.......

imataquito

can i post a simple pic of a track i ahve in mind in jpeg format

trackdesigner71

iTrader: (6)

Go ahead. Were talkin about how to scale down Circuit de Catalunya