Design for Simple Three Lane Track

Using Only 4 ft by 8 ft Board

I have received numerous inquiries about 1/32nd scale track designs for small spaces from people who have read our How To Build Your Own 1/32nd Scale Home Slot Track article. My brother Ron whipped up this design for a friend who had very little space in his basement. The main feature is that it only requires a standard 4 foot by 8 foot panel for the table surface and yet you can still get in three lanes!! In order to fit in all three lanes and give it some cornering excitement, the board is cut in two and joined to give it an "L" shape.

You will notice that the lanes are 3.5" apart and the outside lane has a minimum of 4.5" clearance to the outer edge of the table top all around the track.

Variations:

You can start with this as the basic design, and still add your own personal touches. For example, you might consider modifying this plan as follows:

• Increasing the radii of corner B to make it an even faster corner.
• Straightening out the kink (corners H & G) for the outside and middle lanes to equalize it more with the inside lane.
• Merging the lanes together on a straight section to create a "no pass zone".
• Bringing the lanes closer together (less than 3.5") at Corner A by using a different centerpoint/radius for each lane. This will guarantee some wheel banging excitement!

It's a good idea to work with a piece of graph paper and do all your experimenting to scale using a pencil, a compass and a ruler first.

If you have a design for a small home track that you think others would be interested in, send it along and I will post it here. Have fun!