NASCAR Ovals

[Nor Cal Mike]

To Nor Cal Mike; My modular 1/4 mile track set up in the driveway on 6 saw horses, complete with outer wall and infield in just 2 hours. The sections are all the same being cut out of a 4x8 sheet of plywood. each has 1/2 a straight & 1/2 of a turn. The modules weigh around 20lb. I have some pictures, will post soon. After stashing it all in my shed, it only uses up about 80 cu. ft. There is plenty of room in a 2 car garage to set it up.

Nice to know Sir. a large(ish) oval that can be set up on sawhorses out doors in the yard or another location is what I need. Multiple panels that plug in together is fine. Super light is the key. Perhaps a separate oval build thread that doesn't obscure Wes's much anticipated announcements would be a better place to discuss this. I'll start one.

[WesR]

Nice to see the growing interest in oval Magracing. Here in the UK we know very little about Nascar racing but we do have short track ovals and in my previous existence as an r/c car manufacturer (Mardave) we sold many thousands of i.c. powered F.1. Stock Cars and of 1/12 scale Stock Cars and Ministock cars. These classes, both full size
and model, are still popular today. I recently visited our local Coventry Stadium to see the first round of the F1 Word championships. 30 years since I had been! Not a lot
had changed, except the size of the wings, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will post
photos so you know what I am talking about.
Anyway, with the help of You Tube I now know much more about NASCAR. Very impressed with the size of the grandstands, spectator attendance and driver fan support.
Just rebuilt my track (for the third time!) and new layout is something like the sketch which follows

[WesR]

Sketch shows current layout. There are racing lines on the outer lane but not on the inner. Just one lh and one rh lane change and the pit l/c. The thinking at present is to make the track easy to drive and to minimise lane changing collisions. Racing
next week should teach us a lot more.

Oval track plan.jpg (9.81 KiB) Viewed 15459 times

[WesR]

European F1 Stock car and Mardave Ministock. This is a popular entry class for
teenage drivers.

F1 stocks.jpg (78.83 KiB) Viewed 15458 times

Ministock.png (96.02 KiB) Viewed 15458 times

[Nor Cal Mike]

Sketch shows current layout. There are racing lines on the outer lane but not on the inner. Just one lh and one rh lane change and the pit l/c. The thinking at present is to make the track easy to drive and to minimise lane changing collisions. Racing
next week should teach us a lot more.

Oval track plan.jpg

Interesting to see that you have three driving lines through the curves. That is very realistic for some Nascar ovals. Which line do you find the quickest Wes? The inner or the middle? I think it would be super if one could find just the right balance between shorter distance and carried speed to make the racing close in those two lines.That way the person who figures out how to drive in deeper into whichever line he might be in without spinning would win the duel.

Another way to experiment would be to add masking tape to only the right side tires (for a track circulating counter clockwise) or just the outside front tire to see how it would effect the racing for better or worse.

MA

[WesR]

Hi Mike, The outer default lane on the turns is really just to make the drivers work
a little! Hopefully it will be quicker to steer to the racing line. I say hopefully
because I am still filling and finishing today and not tested it yet. I did previously
have to extend the outer wall because cars were rubbing against it and going faster
as a result which I didn't like!
As you say, I think the aim is to get the two basic lanes equal which is what I had
before. I can tweak the radius of the bend in the near straight if necessary to
equal the lanes out.
A racing line for the inner lane does not seem to be possible.
Will let you know how it goes very soon.

[Lasp]

As long as the driver can chose line, its not nesseserly that the line is equal.
In fact, there chould be one quicker if you as driver take some dissisions.
And the default line chould always be slower.
That is MagRacing! Bravo.

[Nor Cal Mike]

As long as the driver can chose line, its not nesseserly that the line is equal.
In fact, there chould be one quicker if you as driver take some dissisions.
And the default line chould always be slower.
That is MagRacing! Bravo.

What you say is true Lasp but there is an exception on oval tracks. Nascar tracks are very high speed circuits. Preferred drivers lines aren't as important as they are on the typical road course. Drivers in that series, regularly take two and sometimes three different lines (depending on the track and the car set up) without penalty in terms of overall lap times around the circuit. I think a good magracing oval would mimic Nascar by allowing two competitive lines. I think Wes may very well have that in his Martinsville design.
MA

[Lasp]

I must obmit that I newer have been at an Oval Track.
The only experience is when Kenny Bräck hit the wall. Glad hi make it well after that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xlNRNytM_s
But I will order some bodys later from Wes, because I beleive in the massmovment from the Nascar cars.

[Nor Cal Mike]

Lasp, It looks like more than Kenny Black hit the wall!