From the Rally start box two cars, One A and one B, race toward turn one and down the front straight. Next a sweeping left hander and then up a hill into the round about. At this point the cars cross over. Next we come back down a hill and race around the cliff wall. Running smoothly through this section helps you make it up the 40 degree grade to the top of the switchback section. After 3 switch backs we are back near the start finish and now we drive the lane that the other car was just in. Basically the track is really One 72 foot lane, that two cars race on at the same time. It is a very interesting concept because you cannot get in a rythm each lap, as it is different from the last time you came around.
This track was built in one day! I have been wanting to build a rally track for a while now. On one thursday, I told my self, I am going to build a 4×8 rally track on saturday. Being young and stupid still, I decided that working in the garage in the wonderful Detroit winter would be a good Idea. So I started sketching and I came up with a layout. By friday, I had tracked down a copper tape dealer. I didn’t realize it was so cheap! ($3.95 for 36 yards!), 1 sheet of particle board and some nice 1×6’s. I had previously found some folding table legs at home depot for $24. I had a sheet of MDF from when I built Berkely International Raceway. Total cost so far is under $100 bucks. So the building began at 7am . I had invited over a few friends to help with the build. Jimmy, of the infamous Northline Raceway, came over from 9am to Noon, in this time frame layed out the entire track and solidified all the lanes and exactly where they would go. We really had to think hard here because the track was so compact in the space we allotted. I had to trim the table size from 4×8 to 4×6… but I wouldn’t budge on the layout. So we came up with some guide templates to show exactly how wide the road needed to be for passing and then another template for no passing. We were done with the solid layout by Noon and had even added a rally style start box, and a cross over.
Jimmy had to leave at noon, so I was on my own to route the whole track. The routing began at 12:01pm and I routed and routed non-stop until 4pm. I was freezing my duff off, as I think it was about 30 degrees in the garage. I was ready to quit at this point, then my friend Paul showed up and helped me push on to get the track to the state that you see it at now. We kerfed the back side of the track using the “you hold the wood, I will try not to route your finger off” technique. After the kerfing we supported the track in the fashion you see. The mdf was half inch, so we didn’t get as big of elevation changes as I had hoped. Also we were only working with about 3 feet of track in the hill climb section. The track climbs from 0 inches to 8” maximum, with one section going from 0 to 6” in 2 feet! (the narrow hill)
we did some final sanding of the slots, then Paul had to leave, so I was back on my own… by this time it was 7:30pm and I was frozen from 12 hours in the garage. I got my girlfriend kim to help move the track into the basement, then I cleaned the garage for an hour. This brings on my final suggestion. I ALWAYS WEAR A RESPIRATOR! 1 sheet of mdf can produce enough saw dust to make a thick layer all over everything in your garage!