24 replies to this topic

[Cheater]

Snagged from Facebook, so don't post questions here. Call the phone number listed below.

 

For sale in mid-Missouri: 120' six-lane Chris Dadds-built Reverse Grandstand.

 

4.5" lane centers. 90 amp Bulldog power with group 30 RVbbattery. LapMaster race program. 42" monitor.

 

Complete and set-up for you to race on before purchasing. Never taken down, never stored, never put in a "shed." Like-new condition.

 

15.5' x 30.5' footprint. Will help you take down and load. You'll need to drive a full 8' bed pick-up and  be pulling a 16' trailer. You'll spend twice this and wait almost a year to get this built. Made to fit in a small single mall space, yet also engineered for extra pieces to be spliced into the straightaway(s) to make it 136' or even longer. One of a kind. Many other custom features. 

 

Over $10,000 invested, asking $6,500.

 

Call Steve at (573) 302-4555.

 

 

 

 

[glueside]

I have raced on that track and the kink in the under section is very challenging. 

[gotboostedvr6]

The owner of that track was a character.

[mreibman]

What makes it a "reverse" Grandstand?

[Pappy]

I'd like to build myself a six-lane Grandstand but with 4" lane spacing, a few more kinks to make it more of a  drivers course, and only 12' wide. I'd also put it on wheels like the track I have. A couple more things I'd change is the underpass and the donut. I'd make the underpass so no cars would stop under the bridge when they de-slot; it makes turn marshaling much easier. I'd also bring the donut in tighter so it would be easier for the drivers on the left of the yellow lane driver to see their car going around the donut. 
 
This is a really good track for 1/24 racing and wing car racing but I do mostly 1/32 racing. With 4" lane spacing you can do both and the track surface can be a little narrower also making turn marshaling easier. 
 
Nice track and a great price.

[Pappy]

What makes it a "reverse" Grandstand?

Mike,
 
Most Grandstands have the wide turn on the right side and the cars go right to left past the drivers.

[Mike Patterson]

That track reminds me of one that Mike Leach built, except he called his a Hillclimb. It was designed to fit against a wall, with the upper deck bolted to the wall:

 

 

155' lap length, and no kink on the bottom straight, it runs straight into the donut. Last I heard, it was somewhere in Nevada.

[Pappy]

Mike,

 

I believe the difference between a Hillclimb and a Grandstand is that a Hillclimb doesn't have a donut. It makes a 45 degree turn at the end of the lower straightaway onto a short straight then 180 degree turn and up the hill to another 45 degree lead-on turn and then down the upper straightaway. I think that orange track is a Grandstand because it's got a donut. 

[MSwiss]

The above is correct except, while a couple 45 degree turns would work (and IMO, be cool), the bottom and top turns are typically 90 degrees.

Certainly on an American Hillclimb, they were.

PS: And what makes a Kingleman is the back straights are staggered (not right above and below each other)

[Pappy]

The above is correct except, while a couple 45 degree turns would work (and IMO, be cool), the bottom and top turns are typically 90 degrees.

Mike,
 
In my first slot car raceway I had a Hillclimb with the 45 degree turns and the 180 degree turn and it was one of my all-time favorite tracks, easy to marshal, fast, and a good flow.

But I like a Grandstand a little better because all the lanes are more equal in length. I don't know who built the one I had but I got it from Eagle. It had a plywood bottom on it and all steel legs and upright supports (which might tell someone who built it). Really built well.

[Eddie Fleming]

No matter what the track is I think it is a great idea to have no turn going under the bridge. Cars off under the bridge are terrible for the marshals and for the flow of the race. IMO that is the flaw in most of the American track layouts.

[mreibman]

So at Slots-a-Lot in Franklin Square, NY, they have a track we refer to as the "Hillclimb" (or the "yellow" track, since the sides are yellow). The layout is about 95% identical to the one listed here. No kink in the straight, and the first turn to the right of the drivers is 180 degrees, the one pictured looks just a bit more. But the right turn under the bridge, the donut, and the lefthander onto the back/top straight are the same. I believe the Slots-a-lot track is an Ogilvie.
 
This may end up spurring a whole thread about standard track layouts... hmmm...

[kvanpelt]

Mike Swiss, I think this would look really nice in your raceway.

[MattD]

I would have loved to build a track like that, but that would have taken a long time at the speed I work at.  It is probably my favorite design.   

I'm sure that track is great since Steve built it.

[Bill from NH]

I don't know who built it, but the thread's title indicates Dadds 'Reverse Grandstand'

[MattD]

You're right, Bill. I thought it said it was an Ogilvie track. It's not always easy getting old, sometime you read what you want it to say!!!! 

 

Chris builds fantastic tracks also. He built the King in Louisville and did a fine job. It has lots of miles on it, but it is quality built.

[Don Weaver]

Isn't the basic difference between a Hillclimb and a Grandstand is that the two main straights in and out of the bank are stacked on top of each other? Sort of like "bleachers"....
 
Don

[Danny Zona]

I thought the same.

If a Hillclimb doesn't have a doughnut then I've been racing on a lot of Grandstands.

[Mike Patterson]

Chris builds fantastic tracks also. He built the King in Louisville and did a fine job. It has lots of miles on it, but it is quality built.

Matt, that King is originally from Newark, OH. My name should be under it somewhere, I helped put it together, paint it, and braid it. My first experience with a glue buzz. And headache.

AFAIK, it is the only CADCAM King ever built. I loved that track. I was so pissed when Mike sold it!

[Steve Ogilvie]

The way I marketed my tracks, a Hillclimb was any track with main straights stacked mostly on top of each other. Hillclimbs that I built came with donuts and without donuts, right hand and left hand.

 

As far as I know I was the first track builder to coin the term Grandstand. That referred to a track that had the top straight halfway over the lower straight. We built multiple versions of Grandstands. They were very popular because you got a better view of the lower straight and it could still go up against the wall and take up less space.

 

All of our tracks were custom designed, no two tracks were built identically, with a few exceptions.

[Pappy]

They were very popular because you got a better view of the lower straight and it could still go up against the wall and take up less space.

 

Not to mention easier to turn marshal. Some Hillclimbs are so tight between the upper and lower levels you sometimes have a hard time reaching a car in-between the two levels. 

[Crazy8s]

Any idea if this track is still for sale or where it ended up?

[Jdoll1977]

I own this track at home in Iowa. 

[gatormark]

155 ft. Where do you measure a track to get true footage

[MSwiss]

If the exact distance is important to someone, the easy way is to carefully measure out 2 identical 10 ft. lengths of 14 AWG wire.

 

Start at a track joint, stuff the #1 piece in the slot.

 

Obviously butting it up to the end of #1, stuff in #2.

 

Remove #1 and butt it to #2.

 

Keep alternating until you finally go past that starting track joint mark.

 

Mark that spot on the wire and use a tape measure or yard stick to measure that partial length.

 

Obviously, then add everything up.