236 replies to this topic

[SlotStox#53]

Holy mackeral! Is that just one track?!

From what I've been told/heard and looking at the picture it is indeed one track !

My one and only visit they had the King track with really terrible club cars that required coin payment at the drivers console to run them round!

[Pontiac Jack]

This is the track I pretty much grew up at in the '70s, Tom Thumb Raceway in Box Hill, Victoria here in Australia. It's long gone, but there are a couple of us still racing who remember it fondly. I worked there part time from the age of 13 to 16.
 
It was originally a kind of eight lane "double Figure 8", but the "Hillclimb" section was added in the late '60s and it became two four-lane tracks. It was tight and twisty. There was a sharp set of esses at the bottom of the hillclimb that lead into a 90 degree left turn, then into a tight slightly-banked 210° corner, onto a humped straight that ended at the notorious "Dunny Dip", an extremely tight, blind 210° corner that dropped away suddenly and went under the other four-lane track.
 
Visiting racers absolutely hated it, but the locals loved it!!! Once you mastered it, you could drive anywhere!
 
Looking at these pics, it's hard to believe we ran G12, G20, and Open State level races on it.
 
There aren't too many photos of the track, and because it was set up in two adjoining shops, it's hard to find a pic that captures the whole track.
 
Cheers,
 
Andy
 
The "Hillclimb" extension.


 
The view towards "Dunny Dip".


 
The "Hillclimb" under construction.


 
BTW: A "dunny" is Aussie slang for an outhouse. Dunny Dip was the corner nearest the toilets.

[SlotStox#53]

Holy carp!! It looks amazing, they weren't kidding naming the "hillclimb" part... It really is a CLIMB!!! Wouldn't want to be standing there if a car came shooting off.

As for Dunny Dip, just evil going underneath the other track!

Thanks for posting a really cool piece of slot track history.

[John Secchi]

Paul,

The King track you drove on at Wonderland was probably the Tottenham track which was moved to Southend when TMR shut down in 1974-75.

[oneofwos]

[SlotStox#53]

Now you come to mention it, John, I remember hearing that it was the TMR King track, also that it was in someone's basement (guy called Mike Wall I think) before ending up at Wonderland.

Dad and his friends from the Hornchurch club often went to race at TMR on Saturday mornings!

[Cheater]

Here's another track pic snagged from Facebook. I think this track is located in at a raceway in Argentina, but am not certain.

The weird cropping is because the picture was taken at an odd angle and I rotated it.

[sub006]

Was it easy to launch from the Wonderland (or Tom Thumb?) humps?

[Tex]

If it was an un-modified American track with humps... you betcha! You couldn't just punch it out of the lead-on. You had to "time" your trigger finger with the humps. That's what "drop arms" were for... to say "in touch" with the track while your car was semi-airborne.

[Kehlo]

Hi Cheater,

The four-lane track is located in Hannover here in Germany. They have five tracks:

RennCenterHannover

I think this is the Klein small Monaco.

[Cheater]

Thank you, Christian.

[Race O' Rama]

I am not sure if Minks Memorial Raceway in Bloomington, IL still has this track but its certainly interesting.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I wish I had some technical details about the track but these photos are all that I have.

The last time I was in Bloomington, IN for my follow-up for my brain tumor they did not exist any more... about two years ago.

[Cheater]

Clip from French TV (I think). Looks like a temporary track set up for a large racing event.

PdL or Don Siegel, can you provide more info for us monolingual 'Murricans?

Edit: This seems to be the Les 24 Heures de Cognin event held this past weekend, Nov 2-3, by one of the main French slot racing clubs.

Here's a overall view of the track as it was being set up:



As mentioned earlier in this thread, these are two mirror image tracks. Can any of our European members speak to how this came to be a common practice? I don't I've ever even heard of this sort of arrangement being used in the US.

[glueside]

The last time I was in Bloomington, IN for my follow-up for my brain tumor they did not exist any more... about two years ago.

 

It actually is Bloomington, IL - and yes it does still exist and they have races on it every week.

[Cheater]

Another interesting track layout, lifted from the Facebok page of Pistaslotcars Vittorio Pesa, in Italy. Dunno if this a club or a commercial facility; the former I'd bet. 

 

Any of out Italian members have more info to add?

 

[sub006]

I love seeing big tracks with four or six lanes. Seems closer to realistic scale track width, and fewer neighbors to de-slot and take you out.

 

With a cheaper buy-in for commercial raceway owners, maybe upfront track costs, electricity bills, and floor-space economics would have been a bit better. Almost never saw all eight lanes in use except on once-a-week race nights or the day after Christmas. Might have created more excitement if people had to wait more often (and maybe buy more stuff while waiting).

[Dennis David]

I think the space savings of 4 lanes and one track might have allowed for a smaller building and more hobby inventory.

[Cheater]

Here's another Facebook snag, Dave Maddock's track in the UK. And a twisty devil it is. Hard to see but there's a crossover on the curve before the bridge.

[Gator Bob]

But... where is the 'other' crossover?

[Cheater]

Guess there isn't one, making one full circuit equal two laps essentially, no?

[Tex]

???

 

Is it just me... I see two crossovers(?).

[Gator Bob]

Then why have a "squeeze" track at the end of the 'backstretch".  Could it be the ice and snow conditions?

 

That is a much nicer track than the one I don't have.

[Cheater]

One interesting fact about the track builder is that he has worked at Bentley since 1976!

[Cheater]

Here's another Facebook snag, unidentified, but it's gotta be a temporary track at a European event, possibly in Italy based on the Slot.it signage.

 

Two mirror-image tracks that abut along a straight. Looks like paired pickle-buckets for supports, too. How about those bridges so the marshals can get inside the tracks?

 

Can anyone tell us when and where this track was set-up?

 

[Cheater]

How many 127' foot HO tracks do you see? Not many...

And how many self-built HO tracks looks as good as this four-laner made by Ken Sheperd? Nice work, for sure...

[Cheater]

A Slotblog member has corrected my misinterpretation of the ownership of the track above, which was a Facebook find.

It was constructed and is owned by Ken Sheperd and I have made that correction to the above post. Track is located in Troy, MI.