[woodcote]

Is that overkilll? Looks like there's enough space to do away with the pit lane pieces and just use regular straights between the 'rally loops'?

Wouldn't a pair of Scalextric PT73 hillclimb/dragster turns do the same job without the reverse polarity mucking about?

Yes to both. However, this experiment came about after someone asked whether the set-up was a single-lane alternative to the traditional PT73-style loop... Specifically, the questioner wanted to build a realistic hillclimb with one narrow track, rather than an unnaturally wide two-lane road. The use of the pit entry/exit piece was their idea. I just tested it out and tweaked it so it works.

In terms of my layout planning, the successful experiment has added to the possibilities I now have. That single lane is certainly going to look good with the scenics - and it does save me exactly half the width of a double-lane track with loops and hugely less space than the two-lane circuit I was originally trying to cram - unsuccessfully -  in that corner of the room. It also tickles my electronic interests...

Brian - if you have a stack of those PT73s in your loft, you can flog 'em for £100-150 a pair these days. For our Rally-Sprint we made our own (see page 26 of the souvenir fanzine here) with standard track pieces - three different designs. In fact, remove the two loops from the pit pieces in the opening post and you have PT73 replacements.

Doug - most of the track I've used is just surplus standard pieces cut down the middle, apart from the C7016 & C7017 pieces in the loops. Most of it comes from my track box - the stuff I don't use in my rug-racing layout and hasn't been absorbed into the WHO/digital stock. The only extras I bought were the two packs of single-lane curves. I could have easily chosen Classic track, using the C8222 classic to Sport adapters around the pit lane pieces. Instead, I wanted the slippery Sport surface.

The single-lane hillclimb loops should be quite easy to do with any track system that has a digital pit lane - SCX, Ninco, Carrera - although the flipper mechanisms aren't identical and will need to be modified slightly differently. Using adapters, the SCX digital pit lane can be inserted into SCX/Scalextric Classic track - and Policar track could be used with adapters around Ninco pit pieces. Eventually, Policar will have their own digital pit lane.

I am sure most people will continue using traditional PT73-style loops with the standard two-lane track, but this is an alternative - should anyone want to try it.