[woodcote]

Rock County Raceway, part two - Building the MaxTrax oval

   

The problems with the Tyco oval - electrical continuity plus too many lumps and bumps - were accentuated by the kind of racing we were attempting. The old-school pancake cars run without traction magnets - and it's magnets that usually cover up the flaws in HO sectional track. Then there was the precise rhythm of oval racing - a jump in the slot or over a track join, plus any power drops or surges were frustrating and robbing us of typical short track wheel-to-wheel battles. We were the only UK group to be racing T-Jets, but the consensus from over the pond was T-Jets need a routed track.

Why not do it myself? If we were talking 1/32 or 1/43 cars, I would happily grab a router, plus a roll of copper tape and get stuck in. However, routing an HO track takes a huge amount of skill and experience. We're not just talking four guide slots. For each lane there are also two slots required for the vertical steel rails and these need to be routed with extreme precision. A tiny error in depth, width or spacing can give you a completely useless track. I wasn't ready to learn those skills, so I went to the experts. After doing my research, I ended up chatting to Paul and Cheryl at MaxTrax Scale Racing in New York State. Their sectional system has been popular with HO racers across North America for many years, but so far there were no MaxTraxs in the UK. Paul Kniffen took over MaxTrax in 2013 and quickly enhanced the production process with the benefit of over thirty years working as a machinist. Cheryl added a friendly, but professional edge to ordering and customer services.

Between us, we came up with a four piece oval that would be a foot shorter and slightly narrower than the Tyco layout. It was my hunch that this would be an even better size for the T-jets, especially as the power delivery and racing surface would be vastly improved. To make my design a reality, Paul produced a brand new CAD design for a full three-foot straight with cut outs for reed switches halfway along. From me placing my order to the track being shipped took a mere nine days. I then had to wait another three weeks to get my hands on the parcel - thanks to the very thorough work of UK customs. But that extra wait was worth it...

       

Paul had packed the track extremely well and removing each layer of foam exposed yet another beautifully-crafted piece of grey Sintra PVC foamboard. It was an exciting evening in the workshop as I laid out the pieces for the first time - two three-foot straights plus a pair of tight one-hundred and eighty degree bends. The track sections would be electrically connected with stainless steel keys and each piece would then need careful adjustment before screwing down to the base board.

       


I spent quite a while designing and building a lightweight frame to support the track and hold all the electrics, including a Trackmate module for lap timing. My vision was to produce a portable unit with the footprint of the MaxTrax pieces and with only four leads coming out of a track-hugging foamboard surround. I re-used the driver stations I'd built for the original oval, which would help with meeting my deadline - a series of four race evenings over the summer.

       

So how did the new 're-paved' oval match-up? There were eleven racing evenings held on the Rock County Raceway through 2016 and 2017 and I'll look at how the track gave us some brilliant racing in the next part of the story...