Build Journal: Pine Hill Rally Course
I made my first homemade two lane turn, to replace turn one to try and reduce blocking coming on to the first open straight. It works, but it's still a little rough. I hot glued the walls in, then smoothed the transition with spackling paste. It's been cold, so I haven't wanted to work on the track much!
Working on an over-under for after the first turn, still not sure if it'll work. It will most likely be removable.
- That looks pretty cool! — Dutch_Clutch_Racing
- Thanks. I hope it works. My main concern is that since it's pretty soon after the start, that the cars will be too close together and will collide on the turn to go over, and the rear one will come to a stop. Like what used to happen on the sharp right turn after the Flinthead Tunnel on Shavano Mountain — ManiacMotorsports
I've made many crossovers like this for my handmade tracks, from my old helix track which had multiple crossovers per lane, to the last possum hills track, and these are the things you need to consider and can help make them better.
- Keep the lane width narrow, like orange track width. Originally I thought it'd be better to have it wider to allow cars more room to move but made it harder as they bounced from wall to wall and slowed them down
- Keep the side to side distance as small as possible - rathen than having a gap between the tracks before and after the crossover, have them side by side, to reduce the direction change amount, so the cars can maintain more speed, or if they have t spread out more, make the crossover section longer to allow cars to maintain/pickup speed between the turns
- Be careful that the lane that goes over the top doesn't either slow the cars down too much with the uphill section or give them an advantage when the get an extra speed boost coming down the other side
- Keep the curves as smooth as possible, to allow the cars to run cleanly and not get slowed down or thrown out of the curves if they are too sharp
- I appreciate the input! I think I'll rework it after I test it. — ManiacMotorsports
- I've already made some improvements based on your advice, and it's working better! — ManiacMotorsports
- Excellent. Glad they helped — Chaos_Canyon
I really like where this is headed... thanks for the progress updates!
youtu.be/uUfMyq6G8IA?si=Aa3nNY9lwvhFnu4U
Running cars pt. 2!
- Looking Good — JBlotner42
- Ty! — ManiacMotorsports
- Off to a good start! I like the layout of the track itself, the course is very rally like good bit of turns but some hills and straights too. Cool! — Sunshine_City_Garage
- Thank you! There are some other elements I'm considering as well. — ManiacMotorsports
- very good so far! — dr_dodge
New turn 3 in place. It's taken quite a bit of adjusting, and it still doesn't work perfectly. I'm thinking I may have to replace turn 2 with homemade stuff, or at least the merge coming into it because thats what seems to be causing a lot of the dnfs.
- Looks good — JBlotner42
- You are absolutely correct! I had to do this at the end of my runway. This actually controls the car like you hoped. — GravityThrottleRacing
Just first impressions having watched the most recent linked video and seeing the Turn 3 photos, you're giving the cars a LOT of room side to side after they leave the AFCR section and this could lead to a degree of variability that must be managed either through surface treatment to control speed, a finer leveling of the track or both
Keep testing, keep tweaking as you go, and remember, Mattel prints "Some cars not for use with all sets" on card backs for a reason
Every track is gonna go through growing pains, it's part of the process
- Yes, the track is very wide. I might replace the turn two or make a gentler merge onto it. — ManiacMotorsports
- I think the hills and top straight will get slightly grippier when painted because they're made of coroplast which is more slippery than polywall, but the rest of the track, which is polywall, will get less grippy. — ManiacMotorsports
Alright! When will you host races? I want in!
It looks like I'm definitely going to have to replace turn two; it runs okay with just 1 or 2 cars at a time, but with four it seems like at least two cars crash there most times. The challenge will be making it smooth enough to not send the cars on to the hills cockeyed.
I replaced turn 2 today. Boy oh boy, the track runs SO. MUCH. BETTER! I can't believe the difference. 
Shown here with veteran track tester Lil' Roar. Thinking I might have to do a tournament with those at some point :)
- very cool evolution. I so love hand made tracks! a lot of work, but one of a kind. you seem to be sorting it out well — dr_dodge
- Nice! — Dutch_Clutch_Racing
- Thanks guys! It's definitely harder than just using CR track, but I get tired of the same old stuff! — ManiacMotorsports
nice progress!