I decided to build a small portable track for my then three-year-old son; well that’s what I told the wife anyway !! which also had to be simple to set up, easy to run and marshal and be enjoyable. Therefore, the track had to be built around these factors.
First of all I did a few dummy runs to try and make an interesting and challenging
layout within a 6” x 4” self imposed design limitation but with no
bridges or elevated sections.
Once the design had been finalized I proceeded to solder bits of wire across all
the joints underneath so that there would be no electrical problems for my son
to worry about, just plug and go. This has worked problem free with the standard
scalextric track used throughout. It proved to be the most time consuming thing
to do, but well worth the effort.
The baseboard was hand made using 2”x1” timber for the frame with hardboard on top making it cheap& relatively light to transport. I then nailed the track down, after making up templates for some of the corners, and used standard scalextric track borders where possible. The remaining track borders were all constructed from 6mm MDF.
Once the track and boarders were secured then the entire baseboard was painted to fit around the scalextric buildings & Dunlop bridges positions. There are several run off areas with skid marks, a helipad with Harold the helicopter & various motor sport stickers stuck around the circuit. Finally all the scenery was painted with a clear varnish to “fix” everything in place.
When the track is now down all the buildings can be placed quickly and easily within a couple of minutes and me and my son can crash ‘n bash our way around the circuit, but not with the cars I used for the pictures !!
The first picture is a top down view of the whole circuit, the second of several cars passing “Harold” on standby with the crowds massed in the stands with the third showing a change of driver round the back of one of the stands in the pit area. I’ve also included a few other pictures if Sean has the space for them.
I’m now looking to build a more permanent layout in my loft for us to
enjoy sometime in the future……
