Design

The design goal was to create a four lane track to occupy a loft space in my home which necessitates avoiding the roof joists and remaining accessible whilst having corners of varying radius and utilising the maximum length of straight to provide what I hope to be an interesting and fast layout.

Click on the above diagram for a larger version of the schematic with the names of the parts of the circuit. Another criteria was that it should be possible to dismantle the track if necessary for track changes or house moves (heaven forbid with all the other junk!).

The design also embraces all the 1999 BSCRA recommendations. Bookmark this page before following this link or use the back button on your browser to return here later.

The plans were also to incorporate a computer controlled application to be developed using Visual Basic. Follow this link to the software page for more details. This requires two sets of detectors for each track which are recessed into the track from below feeding data back to a circuit that interfaces with the parallel port of a PC running Microsoft Windows 95. Follow the link to the data page for more information.

A prototype section of track was used as a proof of concept and built into the final design but track building and the thought of racing has delayed software development!

The design was optimised to come from three 8ft x 4ft sheets of 9mm thick MDF to help keep the cost down. Cutting details are included on the construction page.