Targa track design

[Double Naught]

Your track looks great Wes. Looking forward to seeing it completed.

Thanks for the photos,

Paul

[WesR]

The Targa track is progressing nicely. Cars have been running round
but no videos yet. Only one l/c needed tweaking. One advantage of
card or plaster is that alterations are easy to do. With plaster in
particular, it is only necessary to scrape away the plaster, loosen the
wire and pin and reglue. One photo shows the l/c mod where the
racing line out wire has been moved slightly to ensure the default goes
straight on.
One small problem with narrow tracks such as the Targa is that, in the
event of a spin or other incident, turning the car using reverse is a little
more difficult. The track panels were cut to minimum width (from 1/2"
or12mm chipboard) to ease twisting and bending. Now I am increasing
the width slightly where possible to make reversing easier.
Otherwise it's looking very good.

[WesR]

L/c mod

[WesR]

Track so far

[Lasp]

Ooh Man

You have some very tuff corners!

I find out that I need more than 160 mm in radius, maybe 180, dependence on Car and or left or right!
But with a little speed at right place, the car swing around.

Looking forward to your hole track WesR

[Joel, LeNoir]

My Thoughts about all the tight corners as well. Looking forward to seeing the video. Keep up the good work Wes.

[WesR]

Re. tight corners, these have been achieved by cheating a little and allowing
the inner lane/wire to run wide on the exit. This will mean that it will not
be possible to run cars side by side at all positions on the track, which is what I
would normally recommend, but it does allow a very realistic hairpin turn.
We shall see how it goes.
We have some interesting default/straight on options on the outer lanes
going into a corner. I.e., if cars are not steered into the corner, in one case, cars
will go straight on through the straw bales and will eventually return to the track.
In the village, cars will crash into straw bales and will need to be reversed back
onto the road and in the turn before the pits, cars not steered to the racing line
will go into the pits!.
Photo shows road works in progress!

[WesR]

Nice pic of an Alfa here showing typical straw bale use.

[WesR]

Track is coming along nicely. Mostly I am working on trying to ensure that cars do not get stuck on bumps or ridges when 'off track'. It seems best to either have track surrounds that cars can drive over or position retaining walls, rocks, buildings etc., to ensure cars can't go where they will get stuck. At the same time it is helpful to allow a little extra width to the road where possible to enable cars to do 3 point turns ( Well, in some cases it will be more like 9 point turns!) which is the way I like to test to ensure cars can get out of trouble without marshalling. One prime objective is to be able to race without marshals. The 3 apertures along the back of the track are essential for construction but I shall have panels in place for racing which will provide extra run off area for the cars as well as completing the scenery.
The track is quite challenging to drive with some 13 racing line turns for best lap times. The lane
changes are much closer together than I first thought possible, as little as 12" (30cm) of straight
proving enough. The cars can cope- the question is, can the drivers? I must admit that the improved grip at the rear (still masking tape) does make the cars run straigter into the lane changes.
Hope to do some video tomorrow.
Cheers Wes

[PDX Bryan]

Most excellent Wes!
Looking forward to the video.
Bryan