Woodrum Ridge Raceway 2007
After building my home in 2004, I took it upon myself to complete the finish work. So after the planning of wood trim, paint, carpet, vinyl and whatever else my beautiful bride and myself came up with, we installed it ourselves.
Fast forward to 2007 (I didn’t think it would take that long to do all of that either) it was time to start back up into my life-long hobby of slot car racing. So with plenty of room to build, in a mostly unused basement, Woodrum Ridge Raceway began to take shape. I’ve been asked why the track is not larger. I plan on multiple scale endeavors along with a drag strip, so planning how to fit all this in without leaving any room for the wife and kids down there was paramount. So construction begins…. Okay, not so fast, planning begins. I can’t say often enough how important this phase is. PLAN! EVERYTHING! MULTIPLE TIMES! You can deviate as you go, but get the main concepts down, including what you want to spend, what to include/exclude and the theme. It can get frustrating waiting for the next “free” money (a fictitious item I still think can exist) to become available, so plan well. I went through about 60 designs before settling on the banked oval and a variation of Paramount Springs Raceway. Paramount Springs Raceway was illustrated in Robert Schleicher’s book, Racing an Collecting Slot Cars, 2001. I wanted something to zip around at top speed, along with a challenging road course. And so Woodrum Ridge Raceway was born on the computer screen, then to paper. Budgeting for lumber, wire, ceiling tiles (we’ll get into that later), track, power, controllers, etc, etc, etc, was next. So let’s start with a look at the beginning stages. There are not many photos at this stage (big over-sight on my planning…See, it is important!) but I’ll cover what I can in illustrations, what we lack in pictures.
January 2007
Okay, we obviously got a big jump here. The table is built, there are shelves for the driver’s stations and a good chunk of the oval is up, along with the supports for the banking. But not so fast, I was still considering a 1/32nd scale track in the center. But that was not going to allow for any realistic scenery, so the larger scale stuff was scheduled to get its own table. Meanwhile, you can see, there are wooden braces, cut to the angle of the track to hold the banking in place. Now, me wanting to make things as difficult on myself as possible, I decided that I did not want the banking to be the same on all four corners. So each curve is banked at a slightly different degree. So driving into turn 1 at the end of the front stretch is completely different than turn 3 at the end of the back stretch. I also made a skid apron between the retaining walls and the edge of the plastic track. So you can hang the tail-end of the car out just a bit, but just like Darlington, it can snap back and bite you if you go in too hot. So, where were we…oh yeah, no large scale track in the middle, so what do we do with all that real estate in the center….”ROAD COURSE!”
April 2007
Here we have what is close to the final road course design. I hooked up the race set power and controllers to see if the layout played well, was challenging, but not too difficult or too dull. It turns out Goldilocks was correct….”It’s just right”! I recommend testing the layout and seeing if you like it before setting in stone, so to speak. It can really harsh your mellow if the track become tedious or a pain to navigate or you can slip into a coma if it takes no effort at all. Try it out before you “nail it down” and save yourself the aggravation down the road. The third picture shows the skid apron on the oval’s banks. These were made from model railroad cork roadbed. They were glued directly to the track, making sure the surface areas were flush and level.
August 2007
Now that I decided on a layout, how was I going to make it unique? Most tracks are flat or may have an overpass like this one, but I wanted something more realistic. Most road courses travel about what used to be rural settings with hills. Looking at reference pictures of old tracks like Bridgehampton, Road Atlanta, and St. Jovite, the roadways are anything but two dimensional. So Woodrum Ridge Raceway would have some grades added to the road course. In the pictures above, you can see how the track was raised in areas about the course, including the overpass. This added a completely different feel to the layout. Turns that were flat, now have more challenge. Coming downhill into a sweeper, or uphill into a tight hairpin certainly changes how you drive the course.
Here’s a tip to help smooth out those track joints in Tomy AFX or Auto World track. As seen in the first and second pictures, there is a retaining tab that sticks up slightly in the center tab of the track section. Trim that down using a file, hobby knife or Dremel tool. The tab does not always seat well and removing it eliminates the hump that can result.
In some instances I completely remove the tab as seen in left hand picture.
The picture on the right shows the areas that have been removed. Only use this process if you are permanently mounting the track. The tabs do help keep the track assembled and are needed if you are putting up temporary layouts. This step alone really smooths the track surface at the joints.
Of course I had to take a few laps now that the track was down and in place, but not nailed down yet. After all, you want to make sure there are no high or low spots in the rail and the road surface is smooth and there are no issues with individual sections of track. Oh, and this would be the last chance to alter any of the track design before it becomes “permanent” or replace any questionable track sections. So here are a couple of pictures of a little track time, lapping in the curves and seeing how well and smooth it runs.
October 2007
Now that we have settled on the track plan, smoothed all the joints, rails and connections, it’s time to wire the track to deliver even, clean power to all of the track area. We do this by soldering in “jumper” sections in various places along the lap length of the track. This ensures the power is at its best level on any given area of the track. This also reduces power surges and the drain often seen when a car gets to the furthest point on the track, away from the terminal section. For Woodrum Ridge Raceway, I wanted to hide all of the electrical connections and wiring. So all terminal sections were replaced by standard 15 inch straight track and wires were soldered directly to the rails of each section that would deliver power. The number of jumpers you install will be dependent on how many feet in lap length your track design is. Woodrum Ridge Raceway consists of two tracks, a road course and an oval. Each is wired independently of the other by means of a double pole-double throw switch. WRR’s road course is 54 feet per lap and has jumpers every 12 feet, 5 total. The oval is 42 feet per lap and has jumpers every 10-1/2 feet, 4 total. Below are some illustrations and photos of the wiring process.
Here are a couple of examples of what the jumper lines should look like when soldered in place. I was very fortunate, my Dad taught me how to solder. Use lots of flux, a small amount of solder (silver solder in this case) and an appropriate amount of heat. One note on flux and plastic race track: make sure after you are finished soldering, to wash the track and soldered areas to remove any left over flux. Any flux you leave behind may cause corrosion if the track rail and could soften the plastic in the track over time. A tooth brush and some Dawn dish soap do a good job of removing excess flux.
This series of pictures show how to pass the wiring through the table surface. I drilled four holes (5/8”) with a paddle bit, located to match the lane spacing of the track. This size hole allows the wires and the solder joints plenty of space to fit below the table surface and not cause the track surface to rise, creating a bump. Now would be a good time to mark your wires to each lane. When you connect your jumper wires, you must match each rail or you will cause a short circuit that could damage the track, power supply, controllers or cars. If you are using a high amperage power supply, you could have a potential fire hazard if the jumper wires are crossed. Here is a quick way to test the jumper connections with a lower risk of short circuit. With the jumper section of track disconnected from the rest of the layout, wire up a section connected to the wiring under the table and test a car to see if it’s going the right direction. After you have the first piece wired, move to the next section, keeping the jumper track section unconnected to the rest of the track, wire it up and use your test car to see if it’s moving the right direction. Do this for each lane of each section. Once you have confirmed that the lanes are wired correctly, you can connect the jumper sections of track to the rest of the layout. Then test each lane to make sure everything is still running as expected.
Here’s the wiring work in process. Once you have everything wired, secure your runs of wire and keep them bundled and neat.
Here are some early stage shots of the driver’s stations being assembled.
December 2007
There was not a lot of activity through November, but I started painting in the “concrete” infield where the pits, grandstand and other buildings that will make up the racing environment and facilities. I used a plain latex gray paint that closely matched the gray used to paint the track. You can see the various elevations that were placed on the road course. The track was painted with a light gray primer and sealed with a lacquer flat clear coat. Once dry, the rails were lightly sanded with a small flat file with enough pressure to scrape the paint off the metal. I also used the file to clear the connection tabs of any paint on the rails to insure a good electrical connection.
North view of Woodrum Ridge Raceway
South view of Woodrum Ridge Raceway