Finishing and Accessories
The outer edge of your table top should have some form of guardrail to prevent cars from flying off the track onto the floor (where axles get bent and other nasty things happen). While this would never happen to any car you or I were driving, your guest’s enthusiasm may well exceed their driving proficiency. On each circuit, there are usually one or two corners where it is advisable to attach a piece of self adhesive rubber weather-stripping to the guardrail to cushion any impacts and reduce repair time.
Track signage, flags etc. can be cut from your old race magazines or made on your computer with any graphics package. This way you can customize your own signs. Pit buildings can be made using balsa wood. A length of 1/2" or 5/8" radiator hose, cut in 1/2" lengths creates an excellent replica of a tire. A dozen of these make an excellent tire wall that looks and acts like the real thing. Our model railway hobbiest friends have all sorts of excellent ideas for buildings, trees and other effects. To cover in overpasses or add hills and valleys to your track, tack on some metal window screening (which holds it’s shape) and cover with drywall compound. It dries like a rock, stains easily and looks very realistic. Of course, you will want to paint up any 1/32nd scale track figures that might come with your race set. We created some flag marshals by sticking a flag in the hands of a couple of figures. You can paint skid marks and coloured kerbs to add realism. I’ve added green start lights, yellow caution lights and several blue lights for night time track illumination for our LeMans Enduro racing. I also built in a master control switch which cuts power to both lanes, in order to maintain control of over-enthusiastic drivers and those hard of hearing!!!

 

Use your imagination!!

 

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