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Navigational basics – or how SlotNav works

   

The crux of any navigation is having to choose which way to go at a road junction. A lane changer (or pit entry) on a digital layout acts as a junction. There’s a choice of ‘straight-on’ or ‘turn’ at every changer. That’s just a binary choice – unlike the wide variety of real-life road junctions – but it’ll certainly do!

The next step is to create some navigational complexity from that basic choice of ‘turn’ or ‘don’t turn’. Jason’s track plan has at its core a central spine – two return loops connected by a straight, which sprouts a circuit of track on either side, running off the spine from digital pit-lane entry pieces. I think it looks a bit like a butterfly.

If each ‘butterfly wing’ contains more lane changers, this gives plenty of ‘turn / don’t turn’ choices that string together to create any number of unique point-to-point routes – as long as we accept we are always travelling round in various circles… But in our imaginations we can be turning or not-turning at every junction on a route map from Havant to Margate – or from Liège to Rome and back again.

It’s the job of the route planner – or Rally Master – to create a route for the driver-navigator crews to try and follow. If the Rally Master uses a real-life route as their inspiration, those real-life junctions are linked to the lane-changer ‘junctions’ on our slot car layout. The navigator interprets the information received from the Rally Master and then tells the driver to turn or go straight-on at each lane changer.

How the Rally Master provides this route information could range from a simple written list of ‘turn / straight-on’ instructions, a sheet of Tulip diagrams, a Herringbone chart, a marked map (real or fictional) – or cryptic clues that must be solved and then the route plotted on a fresh map… But in all cases, a binary ‘turn / don’t turn’ instruction must be communicated by the navigator to the driver as the car approaches a lane changer...

   

In addition to the junctions, I also decided to introduce a second navigational element – a Stop Box. This covers one lane of a half-straight track piece – and the car must stop with at least two wheels inside the box. I have included four Stop Boxes on my development layout, each coinciding with a scenic element that can also be found on an Ordinance Survey Landranger map – the bread and butter of British road rallying. These Stop Boxes double as the start or finish points (the Main Time Controls) and could also become intermediate Time Controls, if an event format requires them. I’ll talk more about Stop Boxes in the next post.

With just those two elements – junctions and Stop Boxes – the potential for creating complex navigational puzzles is endless. However, it’s sensible to start simply and build up gradually to any advanced navigational puzzling. That progression is similar to real road rallying – the same route is used, but the clues become more complex for more experienced navigators. The challenge is mostly in the navigation, but if you’re thinking road rallying is just a gentle pootle through the countryside, think again…



Next, I'll look at the technical requirements and build a basic SlotNav layout...