Grand Loop Raceway III - The evolution of a track

[jhardy33]

What started as a very small, 2 lane rendition of Suzuka...





grew into the original 4 lane Grand Loop when the race bug bit.





A few years later in a quest to add more length, we came up with Grand Loop II.




I have to say I loved this track and had a lot of fun with a lot of close racing. I hope I'm making the right move. But enough about plastic, this forum is about routed tracks and after running quite a few races on Southern Slotters fantastic routed track, I decided to take Grand Loop to the next level.

What took a ton of time to create was removed in just a few hours.



Since I had the track out, I decided to overhaul the room a bit before starting on the new layout. Off came the table extensions from Grand Loop II...



And with a little help from David Cooperfield, the table was levitated so I could stain the concrete floor.



With the floor stained, a fresh coat of paint, and old barn tin, that somehow cost more than new tin, it was time to start on the track.





With some help from Zoom Beedo, we came up with a new design for Grand Loop III. This time a 3 lane routed track.



I the end, I decided to take out the overpass for ease of routing and better sight lines.



I laid out some paper to get an idea of the flow, sketched it out and started routing.







I used Luf's routing kit and I can't imagine doing a routed track without it. It makes it very easy. I'm using SCC braid and used their router bit with the pin to route the gains, again, very easy when you have the right tools.

Finished the routing and painting and now it's time to tape and braid.









Jay

[Stubbo]

Very nice Jay,

I love the old iron on the walls. I did a simiar thing on the walls of my cave and put up a false timber frame in front of the iron to give a more 'shed' feel to it all. BTW it cost nearly twice the price of new sheets down here as well.

Is there going to be a round of the VRAA at this new track?

Cheers

[Burtonbr]

Very nice work! Can I ask what is the footprint size of your new track?

[tim neja]

SWEET!!! Why not put the iron up on the ceiling too? Looks very nice--good flowing design for your track TOO!! Nice job!

[SouthernSlotter]

Looking good Jay!
I'll miss GL 2, But GL 3 will make some new memories.
Can't wait to race it!

[KJProX]

Like the design, very cool track. The room is great too, really like the pictures on the wall.

[GT3Racerich]

Looks like a nice flowing track. Could you ad it to this thread please.
http://www.slotcarillustrated.com/po...ad.php?t=60193
Thanks, Rich

[The Old Jaybird]

....I think it is 20x8, roughly. Five sheets of MDF.

TOJ

[jhardy33]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Stubbo, There will be a VRAA round at Grand Loop. Maybe it will have some scenery by then.

The footprint is roughly 18 x 7 1/2. The table is irregular shaped and the back is 18 ft wide but the front is about 14 ft wide. I'm halfway through taping and should be able to lay some braid down tonight.

Jay

[Zoom Beedo]

Looking good, Jay. Hope you have it done by the time I'm in town for Petit LeMans. I might have to stop by and run a couple of laps.

Jim

[nhdungeonracer]

Oh... I need to come to Georgia again...
And if George tells me I have to drink a Coke before I can race on this track, I'll drink one...

[SouthernSlotter]

Originally Posted by nhdungeonracer

Oh... I need to come to Georgia again...
And if George tells me I have to drink a Coke before I can race on this track, I'll drink one...

If you come down, you can drink your crappy Pepsi. You might want to bring some with you, it's against the law in the Atlanta area.

[sacesta]

The track's looking great Jay! And nice space too. Next time I'm in Atlanta I'll have to get some laps in on it.
Steve

[jhardy33]

Oh... I need to come to Georgia again...
And if George tells me I have to drink a Coke before I can race on this track, I'll drink one...

If you come down, you can drink your crappy Pepsi. You might want to bring some with you, it's against the law in the Atlanta area.

Pepsi is definitely illegal, but if you make it down we'll smuggle one in.

The track's looking great Jay! And nice space too. Next time I'm in Atlanta I'll have to get some laps in on it.

Come any time Steve.

Jay

[jhardy33]

Taped, Braided, and Wired.



A little more labor intensive but the boy does the braid lay easy and bends effortlessly around the tightest of corners. I did a test track a while back with copper and after using the braid , I will never use copper tape again. Ran a few laps last night and the surface is silky smooth. That's one of the main reasons i built this. No clicks, clacks, or bumps.

Hope to finish the timing and add turn barriers in the next day or so and start running some serious laps. I've been without a track for over 3 months.

Jay