Pictures of our fully MODULAR track! - The STORM Forrest
 

Here are two versions of our fully modular BitChar-G racetrack:

http://www.got-skillz.com/Content/Im...youtz%2001.jpg

http://www.got-skillz.com/Content/Im...youtz%2002.jpg

Facts:
Fully modular track concept consisting of:
- 28 elements (each 50x50cm) result in more than 15m (!) track-length
- 7 different radii of curves allow the most different combination of curves
- completely variing trackvariants (i.e. Highspeed-tracks, wild combination of curves) require an adjusted car setup
- track elements can be altered in height / elevation individually (uphill & downhill)
- different detailed scenes (hills, lake, forrest...)
- insertable narrowings
- road width 20cm

At the moment 16 elements are completely fininshed, 12 more elements as well as blank elements without roads are already under constuction. Furthermore there will be a few technical goodies soon - i.e. integration of a Palm Pilot

You can find more pictures of our track on our website - http://www got-skillz.com

Greetings from Germany!
Doctor Drift & Initial T.

Sweet track!!! What materials did you use to build the track?

Very nice:)

Wow doc, that looks great! I was thinking about making a modular track out of plywood (looks like that is what you used), but I was concerned about it warping or not lining up just right where the pieces joined. Did you do something special to connect the pieces togther (i.e. dowel pins)? I am also curious how you anchored your guard rail posts. Did you screw them in from the top or bottom? I hate to ask you too many questions at once, but how wide are your lanes? I love the track and the scenery. Thanks for putting up the pics.

Hi! :)

Thanks for the positive responses!!

Initial T. and I used old and worn parquet floor pieces for our track. Fortunately all pieces line up extremely well and the floor is very even. The cars don´t bounce at all when crossing the connections.

We used plain dark gray acryllic paint for the road (white pinstripes), light gray paint for the wooden guard rail posts and three different shades of green paint for the surroundings.

The guard rail is made of a highly flexible plastic rail (with a rubber-like surface), which is originally used to cover the border between a carpet and a wallpaper.

The guard rail posts are cut from a wooden bar, painted and then attached to the floor pieces with a hot adhesive pistol. The posts stick extremely well to the wood this way.

The lanes are 20 cm wide (about 8 inches).

Well, if you´ve got further questions, feel free to ask. Initial T. and I will try our best to answer them (hopefully in an understandable english...;) ).

Hi again!

I just uploaded two more pictures of our track.
Have fun! :)

http://www.got-skillz.com/Content/Im...youtz%2003.jpg

http://www.got-skillz.com/Content/Im...youtz%2004.jpg

Doctor Drift & Initial T.[

I'm extremely jealous!! Nice work, Doc Drift!

Wow! thats cool. Thanks for posting the pics. How much was the project all together. Thanks again..

Awsome track musta spent alot!!

:eek: :eek: AWESOME! :eek: :eek:

I had a similar idea, but not that elaborate!

How long did it take to bluild?
How many different configurations can you make with what you have now?

I'm just a little jealous.... ;)

awesome, best track yet! i love the two hairpins too - its technical as well as pretty.

what did u use as gaurd rails?

WOW!!!!! That has got to be one of the nicest Modular Tracks i have EVER seen!! Great job on the detail!! How did it take you to put it all together???

Hiya!!

Thanks a lot for all your replies!! :D

@Mike and @1llusI0n:
Well, we´ve had the worn parquet pieces, wooden bars, tools and some decoration material laying around in the cellar. I guess, we´ve paid about 150€ for paint, the flexible carpet rails (our guard rails) and 60+ trees from eBay so far. We´ll have to buy more trees as well as paint for the remaining 12 elements.

@DriveWRX:
We started building the track in late October. We worked about 2-3 evenings a week on it (including lots of time driving on the track, of course!!! :D ). I think, both of us spent about 100 hours of work on it, but it´s been a lot of fun and worth every second!!

How many different configurations? Countless! Really. We´ve played on more than 20 different tracks already and the number of possibilities grows with each new element. I could post some pictures of earlier tracks (not decorated or not even painted), if you´re intrested. We took more than 130 pictures of the track since October.

@Shypo:
The guard rail is made of a highly flexible plastic rail (with a rubber-like surface), which is originally used to cover the border between a carpet and a wallpaper.

Greetings from Germany!
Doctor Drift & Initial T.

Hiya again!

@JBit:
Here are two closeups of the hairpins for you: :)

http://www.got-skillz.com/Content/Images/Scenez18.jpg

http://www.got-skillz.com/Content/Images/Scenez27.jpg

Greetings from Germany!
Doctor Drift & Initial T.

Wow, very nice! What is the Palm integration going to be!? :)

Hiya!

@tinyrc:
We´re working on a lap-counter / -timer using a Palm Pilot or Sony Clié and two light barriers. I untied the antenna knot on my Skyline, so the antenna is about 2 cm longer than the antenna of Initial T´s RX-7. Our plan is to mount one barrier at a height that only the Skyline´s antenna can pass. Laps would be count for the Skyline, if both barriers are passed and for the RX-7, only if the lower barrier is passed. Only if both antennas would pass the light barrier at exactly the same time, the counter / timer wouldn´t work. Not a common situation so far. ;)

Oh and thanks for the compliment! :D

Greetings from Germany!
Doctor Drift & Initial T.

Cool, please keep us posted on this project! :)

holy crap, that blows my future track plans out of the water...

Hiya!

@tinyrc:

We´ll keep the forum users informed, for sure! It may take a while, until the lap timer / counter is finished, but we´ll post it here.

Meanwhile you can check out our latest mod:
http://www.tinyrc.com/forums/showthr...&threadid=4788

Greetings from Germany!
Doctor Drift & Initial T.

Hey, DR Drift !!

I see you are hosting the pics on UNI DORTMUND.

Now since I´m from bochum, we gotta race someday soon !!
(as soon as I get my steering spring fixed/changed)

mailto: bitcharg-bochum@gmx.de

OMG that track is the sh!t i love it great work dr drift and inital t.like the controls also!bbskyw b26 b49m bg395 bc12m b1spd

Wow that is really cool how do the cars handle on the surface? is the grip good or do they spin out at the corners?

Benji_106

Hiya!

@Benji_106:
Grip is really good! It improved when we painted the wood. Before it was quite slippery, but now you can get through all curves without spinning (hard tires on the front wheels, soft tires on the rear wheels, 2.2 motor, any gearing), at least if you don´t want to spin. ;o) If you want to drift in a tiny Initial D style, all you have to do is choose slightly harder tires or initialize a drift by a quick brake.

@B!NO:
Initial T. and I are both from Duesseldorf, but Initial T. goes to the Uni Dortmund.

Greetings from Germany!
Doctor Drift & Initial T.

SWEEEEEEET! i'm extremely jeolous!!!!!

i have another idea fo ryou, it would break up the looks a LITTLE but you could make a stack system for it by useing longer wooden dowels or blocks on the corner of each section, then notch out a piece of th eudnerside, then when your not using it you can simply stack them on top of each other to get them out of the way and save space.. well @ least thats what ill be doing when i build mine :)

Hiya!

@JTM:
Thanks for bringing up that idea! Sounds good, but we went a different way. You can take a look at our storage-rack at this thread:
http://www.tinyrc.com/forums/showthr...&threadid=5643

Greetings from Germany!
Doctor Drift & Initial T.

Very nice job.

Track Idea
 

Another idea for a cool track layout is the old slotless track from TCR ( Total Control Racing ), race track sets. It is a bit narrower, but the bits area little bit smaller then the TCR cars so passing is not a problem. I have three sets of track from the TCR sets wich includes the high banked speedway. Since you can't get parts for the TCR cars, the bit cars the next best if not better for this track. You can have some long straightaways and some technical turns as well ( don't have any pics yet, but working on it ). The high banked speedway is great and the layout can be endless with bridges, uphills, and downhills. Also, there are cones you can put in different places to add to the fun. Track is still available at some hobbie shops. Another possibility is the slotted track as long as it has sides to them. I haven't seen anyone post about slotted or unslotted track before, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth.

Very nice track!!

Did you use Trackmaker to design it? The track contains 50x50 plates, how does the plats stay together without a height differance?

New pictures (22.01.2002)
 

Hiya all!

Just to keep you updated on the things going on at our track, here are two new pics:

http://www.got-skillz.com/Content/Im...youtz%2005.jpg

http://www.got-skillz.com/Content/Im...youtz%2006.jpg

Hope you like the pics! :)

Doctor Drift & Initial T.

Just great how you made it!

I am also thinking to make a modulair system where you put the plades together. I think I will use Trackmaker because there are a lot of different parts.

I have 2 questions:
- What is the size of the parts?
- What is te wide of the track where the cars drive?

Hiya!

@Harry E.:

We didn´t use Trackmaker, or a similar tool. When we started, we drew some sketches on small papersquares and created our own element styles. Currently we have got 11 different element styles (and still more ideas) and I´m quite sure, some of them can´t be found at the Trackmaker.

The elements are 50x50 cm each with a road width of 20 cm. We´ve created some insertable elements, that can be used to create narrowings on straight track elements.

Doctor Drift & Initial T.

Thanks,

Coming week I have some days off. Maybe I start next week to create a simular design as you did.

bu the way, how do you get the BitChar icons so nice in your last line?

Harry

i got some materials last night to make a circuit track similar to this and a dragstrip. not sure which ill start on first.

Hey doctor drift,
I only have one word to describe your track. AWSOME!!!! That's the best r/c track I've ever seen.

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