Hello,
A few days ago I put up some photos and information on the first of my two 4 lane analogue layouts, 
The Routed Raceway....

Now it's the turn of my second track, here goes  

The Shed End Circuit.
The second layout I have built. 4 lane analogue, using Scalextric Sports track, repainted with ultra smooth masonry paint. I had loads of the sports track, it's cheap and easy, and I had picked up all the lane 3 & 4 corners,and the other harder to get bits at Gaydon & Swindon.
Power via a Fusion PS 201 adjustable power supply. 5-15 volts, enough for all types of cars, and for all levels of racers.  Timing/ Lap scoring via DS 300 pro series lap counter and Stop & Go boxes, using DS hand controllers. This is the same system as fitted to my Routed Raceway, we just duplicated the wiring and fitted connectors where necessary. The best bit about the DS system is the ability to race in both directions. It is amazing how different a track can feel one way to the other.

Design brief - This track comes down from the ceiling, so had to be light, hence plastic track, not routed.
It is mounted onto a frame, a bit like a garage door! This is made from Polycarbonate roofing sheets ( very light & very strong) and fixed together using "c" section aluminium, which is rivited in place. The frame is 3.44 metres long, 2.29 metres wide, and is lifted via an electric winch and pulley system.

Track design - A lot of track into a reasonable size space! Multi level, with tunnels, crossover corners back to back. I wanted something totally different, and a more demanding track to drive than my routed layout.

Theme - A 1960's style track, with figures, buildings and signage to match. 
Lanes 1 & 4 are 56ft 8, and the middle lanes, 2 & 3 are 57ft 6. So very close, given the nature of the track.

Skill level required  - Frame designed by myself & best mate Andy, the clever bloke who sorts all the technical stuff! He sorted the frame, installed the winch, and had the pulley system drawn on the back of an envelope, honestly! It worked first go, clever bugger....
Track design "stolen" from an article in Slot Magazine. Thanks 
Track build, scenery, signage, landscaping etc, all down to me. I had learnt a lot from my first layout, I learned stacks from doing this one, and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Big thanks to David Jesset at Slot Track Scenics for the 3 part article in the early issues of Slot Magazine, showing how to build a multi level landscape,install your track, and how to make it look pretty. Your help was invaluable.
 


Yes racing gets a bit interrupted by the tunnel areas, but a simple "yellow " flag rule does the trick. Still more to do, especially figures, but very pleased with it so far. 

Soon to be available from all god slot car dealers, and already available on pre-order, is this version or the ubiquitous Porsche 956.

This car was driven in 1983 at the Kyalami 1000kms and continues the now famous line of cars sponsored by the 'Rhodesian' cigarette comany - Gunston.
Like the series that brought this famous (at the time) brand into motor racing - the Springbok series- it no longer exists. You will probably be aware of this brand from a lot of other cars made in previous years by Fly, SRC, and Scalextric. It joined a lot of other 956's that year that were re-liveried into South African company sponsored cars.

The car was entered by the Briton Richard Lloyd, for drivers Jan Lammers and Johnathon Palmer. Henri Toivonen was also scheduled to drive, but did not make the race. It started in 5th on the grid and finished 5th in the race.

   

   



The cars as it raced in 1983 (I need to go and dig out my photo's of this car)

   

   

Borrowed some magazines from Brian (CMOTD ) and saw an article about Carrera ,spelt that wrong ,some time ago thinking of fitting sound chips into their cars ,Did anything become of that ??


Steve

Whereas Scalextric have been busy getting their 2020 new releases into the hands of customers, things had been rather quite from Carrera... So, it was excellent to hear from Carrera's UK distributor this week and see the first 2020 releases hit the shelves in the UK over the past 24 hours.

I previewed the March releases way back in February - read the write-up here - and these should be with retailers in the next few days...

   

Two of the cars that have just arrived are in the delayed April batch...

   

Expected in the next month are the cars scheduled for July...

   

And then - hopefully - things should be back to normal... which, of course, usually means some delays!

The April releases include two classic American stock cars and the cracking Mann-Filter HTP Motorsport AMG GT3 from the ADAC GT Masters series.

First in my shopping basket is the 1970 Plymouth Road Runner - which I'll review as soon as it arrives from Pendles. The original car was driven by Ramo Stott in the Midwestern ARCA series. Featuring some dominating performances in his aerodynamic Superbird, Stott won nine of the twenty rounds (six in the Road Runner) and captured the 1970 ARCA championship. He  successfully defended his ARCA title in 1971 (with the new model Road Runner) and was crowned the USAC stock car champion in 1975. Stott also raced part-time in Nascar between 1967 and 1977, making 35 starts - with an impressive 17 top-tens and pole at the 1976 Daytona 500.

   

Although pictures of Stott's Superbird (already produced by Carrera) are plentiful - because it's the best-preserved Superbird in existence - images of the more successful Road Runner short-track car are hard to find. This one suggests the Carrera livery is close, but not quite 100% correct with the Plymouth lettering at the back. Or maybe it was a repaired and re-painted quarter panel? Those ARCA short-track races could be pretty brutal.

The second stock car is the 1970 Superbird driven by Richard Brickhouse in the 1970 Nascar season, qualifying fifth and finishing sixth at the Daytona 500...

   

Brickhouse had won the previous year's Talladega 500, substituting - because of a drivers' strike -  for Charlie Glotzbach in a Dodge Charger Daytona. Brickhouse made 39 Nascar starts across five seasons, scoring 13 top tens and the one victory.

I've said it before - and I'll say it again - I really love these big Carrera stock cars and I am very pleased to see a variety of models in the catalogue this year. In addition to the Stott Road Runner and Brickhouse Superbird, we're expecting Marty Robbin's beautiful purple 1969 Charger Daytona, plus Bobby Isaac's 1969 'non-aero' Charger later in the year. The full 2020 Carrera catalogue is in the SlotRacer Library here: slotracer.online/library/carrera/carrera-catalogue-2020

The analogue Carrera Evolution cars are the only Carrera 1/32 models officially imported into the UK. You can expect to see the Digital-only liveries in 1/32 and 1/24 scale with some dealers and all the digital cars can be ordered from any Carrera stockist as a special order item via the UK distributor. The Evolution cars can be run on Scalextric and other 1/32 scale track systems using the 'shallow' guide included in the box. They are easily converted to Scalextric digital using the C7005 retro-fit chip. The red shallow guide will need to be painted black to work with the ARC One, Air and ARC Pro lap counters - or the BRM-126 black guide can be used as a direct 'shallow' replacement.

A big thank you to Pete at the Hobby Company for the images and release details.

SCX
[img=15x15]data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==[/img][img=15x15]data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==[/img],new tuning package:
adjustable ride height front and rear
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,sprung guide,
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rims with incorporated puleys,
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suspension,
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lightweight cockpit(not so good)
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Hi ,this is going to be my new build ,well more of an assembly really  .Hope it turns out OK ,always wanted an older Grand Prix car .

Steve

Spurred on by plenty of people asking "when will we be racing again at the Barn?", I've jotted down some fairly detailed and rather daunting thoughts that might start to prepare us. Please don't read on if you need cheering up - go straight to the socially-distant drag racing thread instead!

It goes without saying that we need to be socially-responsible - both to prevent infection rates rising and to protect each other and the future of the club. The older people are - or if they have underlying medical conditions - the bigger the risk of a more serious illness if they catch Covid-19. That includes quite a few of us at WHO. I want us to help each other get through this, not put each other at risk. The pandemic is nowhere near over - we're in for some challenging years ahead and must remain flexible to ensure we can enjoy some racing.

       

Firstly, these pictures remind us of what a WHO event is about - twenty or so mostly unrelated people in close proximity indoors, handling numerous shared surfaces for up to six hours for an evening event - and ten hours for a Saturday event. Such a social gathering is absolutely impossible to hold at the moment in the UK.

The first things we will need to happen are...

• The Barn to re-open
  
• The government to allow indoor social gatherings of up to 50 people lasting 6-12 hours
  
• Social distancing regulations to be reduced to 1 metre or less
  

The third change might happen soon. I haven't heard any news about the first - and the possibility of the second seems a long way off at the moment.

When all three changes happen, there will still be numerous conditions we are likely to need to meet. Such as...

• Compulsory wearing of face masks by all participants
  
• Regular hand-washing by all participants
  
• Regular sanitising of all shared equipment / surfaces - ideally after every use
  
• Floor markings to ensure strict social-distancing
  
• Temperature checks before entering the building
  
• Anyone showing any symptoms (even of a cold or hayfever) to be asked to leave
  
• Collection of mobile phone contact details on registration
  
• A flow of fresh air through building
  
• No food or drink served on the premises
  
• Deep-cleaning of venue before and after event
  
• Cleaning of toilet, washbasin and handles after every use
  
• Protection of volunteers
  

There will also be slot car and WHO-specific issues to consider and plan for...

• Marshals handling cars
  
• Marshals being at least 3 feet away from each other and from drivers - at least 6 feet if face-to-face
  
• Sharing controllers
  
• Team races - shared controllers and social-distancing
  
• Spacing each driver station by 4 to 6 feet (to allow for people being two feet across the shoulders - and any jiggling when they drive!)
  
• Set-up and tear-down team members working at least 1 metre apart at all times
  
• Handling money
  
• Club shop
  
• Club paperwork, flyers etc
  
• The difficulty of taking photographs and video while social-distancing
  
• Welcoming new racers
  

Some of these issues can be dealt with by sensible track design (variations on Indianapolis or Le Mans); use of gloves and sanitizing products; paying for race fees in advance on PayPal; closing the club shop (or operating it as mail order); removing all WHO paperwork from the Barn; limiting photographs to certain times and areas of the room. We can also make sure racers have their own personal club loaner controller and club car for the evening. We will definitely need to modify the HO driver station - perhaps with extension cords like the one we already have for racers who use wheelchairs. Our digital equipment is more flexible, but we will need to stop in-race driver changes for team and pairs races - the formats can be easily adjusted.

There will be the need to purchase a good supply of sanitiser and PPE (gloves, surgical masks, visors) for our volunteers, who will be exposed more to potential infection. We will need to be more specific about volunteer roles and not expect individuals to do tasks from the moment we unlock the door to when we leave. Our volunteers will require - at a minimum - this protection...

• Set-up and tear-down crews wearing disposable gloves and masks
  
• Welcome desk person to have a full-face visor
  
• One person to run race control and to solely handle keyboard, mouse, USB etc
  
• Exclusion zone around race control - full-face visor available
  
• Exclusion zone around digital scrutineer/car ID-er, who wears disposable gloves and mask/visor
  
• Cleaning crew to wear disposable gloves, apron and surgical masks
  
• Volunteers to have regular rest breaks to sit outside
  
• Volunteers should not be expected to both set up and tear down
  

As it is difficult to extend the time of the events (and unwise in terms of infection-control), it may be necessary to shorten the racing to ensure the pre-event cleaning, track set-up, track tear-down and post-race clean can all take place without any hurry. A mid-race pause and clean-down might also be sensible.

My initial thoughts are than this will take a lot of planning, organising and utmost care and supervision during the event. The elephant in the room is that several of us are in the highest-risk groups - including people in the shielding group - and some of us are most unlikely to safely return to indoor social gatherings until the virus is more-or-less eradicated from the population (ie when UK Covid deaths are in single figures per week and new cases across Sussex are zero). That includes me, which - whether we like it or not - will have an impact on when and how the club returns to racing. It may be that digital events are easier to organise in these conditions? And that may impact on planning for the 2021 season.

Of course, there are alternatives to racing at the Barn. The mail-in proxy HO drag racing is one. Smaller groups racing at people's homes (even outdoors) is another - although not yet. Neither is ideal - we want to be back at the Barn, all of us together. However, we may need to explore these - and other - alternatives. What is becoming clear is that the Covid-19 pandemic is not over. There are numerous models of how the pandemic may play out, but this is one of the most useful - looking at three alternatives...

   

This suggests that any return to the Barn may stop and start. We will need to be flexible - and prepared. There are things I have probably missed and ideas I haven't thought about - please to add them below.

I know what I've written above is a downbeat assessment -  and things may turn out better than expected. We can certainly hope for that, but let's prepare for what is most likely to happen.

L       Thanks        As a new member to Slotracer.online I did the  introduction and mentioned that I had two 4 lane analogue layouts at home.  As I was asked to post some photos, here goes....  

The Routed Raceway.
My first track we  built.   4 lane analogue, slot Routed into MDF. Cooper tape for power pick up.
Surface painted with Ultra smooth masonry paint.
Power via a Fusion PS201 adjustable power supply. 5 - 15 volts, so good for all classes and levels of racers.
Timing/ Lap scoring via a DS 300 Pro series lap counter and Stop & Go boxes, using DS hand controllers.

Design brief - This track folds against the back wall, so had to be flat. Mounted on a board 4.39 metres long, 1.80 metres wide, and lifted via an electric winch.
Track design - Fast , flowing, easy for all to use. No pinch points.
Theme - 1960's style racetrack. Goodwood themed buildings. All scenery other than fencing has to be easily removed and stored. Lane lengths - inside 32ft 11, outside 37ft 8. Big difference but mainly negated by the way the lanes drive. Red is hardest, the others very even.


Skill required - Much more than I have! Designed between myself and best mate Andy.
All the clever technical bits by Andy, who is by trade a Handy Man. He has all the tools, all the skill, and can do anything. If you want to to do a layout similar to this I can not stress the importance of having an Andy!!
Apparently other versions are available, like Dave, Colin, or similar

Here is part three of the 1/32 scale Morgan build:



Thanks

John