A real track design! (Go Karts)

[clarkma5]

So my local indoor karting place (SyKart in Tukwila, WA) is going to be reconfiguring their track layout in a couple months. This is the sort of thing they do every couple years, and they've invited customers to submit designs. I enjoy the fantasy track designs that are created with such creativity on this forum, but sometimes it's nice to tackle a project with real constraints. They're definitely going to build something, and I'll happily pass along any well-developed or interesting designs to them. They might build yours or mine!

I've whipped up a scale drawing of the blank space (1" = 30' on 8.5 x 11" paper, though the accuracy of the drawing is probably about 90%...I paced off some distances, used a lot of photo and video reference, and my own personal knowledge of the space and also talking with staff to construct these. They're close enough to get a design going though) and the existing track as well. Links:

Blank space: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...lankLayout.pdf
Existing track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...stingTrack.pdf

I also have the original AutoCAD file at home if anyone wanted to work with that.

Constraints

They're not reconstructing or relocating their pit area or mechanics bay (bottom of the drawing, in darker black lines). The light gray layout lines on the blank PDF are 30' wide by 23'4" tall and there are posts most every 60'x23'4", except for one place near the current pit exit where there are doubled up post a beam spanning a wider bay (this is all shown).

The track is defined by tire barriers bounded with smooth black plastic walls, about 8-12" tall. For sake of argument I'm calling the barriers 3' wide. Being inch precise isn't super important here. Based on the speed of the karts (they run 6.5 and 9 HP karts), a minimum track width of 20' or so is pretty reasonable, maybe 18 (you might be able to fit three lanes in the 60' between posts, is what I mean, but I would only do it in a couple of places where you're intentionally trying to tighten things up, not everywhere).

Here's a youtube video a friend of mine shot while driving one of the 9 HP karts around the current configuration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZMHkI9tnFg

I'd love it if people on this forum went to town on this! I'm working on some of my own alternative designs that I'll be posting up here and I'd love to see other ideas, feedback, etc. Think we could make a really awesome design for this place, and it's fun to have your hand in something real

Any questions, let me know!

[clarkma5]

Another constraint: the track must also be safe to run in reverse, though they rarely reverse the track outside of for the amateur league races sometimes. Here's a video of their previous track design (which really was only different for about a third of the lap) being run in the reverse direction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qiFQIuB5Z4

I've also attached some panoramas of the track as it stands now

[clarkma5]

A couple sketches. The first one is trying to develop out my ideas for something that's not afraid to be non-orthogonal with the post/wall layout of the building, while the second one is a more conventional one that kinda just came out when I put pencil to paper that I'm reasonably pleased with.

[bio]

Not wishing to rain down on anyone's parade, I remember a good couple of "it's gonna be really built!" project appear on these forums - as far as i know, none of them got to be built eventually. So, good luck, your could be the first one

[ECW Dan Selby]

With you there, mate.

I've had about 4 people email me personally asking me to design (in-depth) a track or two for them.

I've also made sure it's a paid gig if i'm going to be doing it properly (ie. working out specific measurements, making sure it complies with health and safety suggestions), and you never, ever hear back from them.

I had a guy only recently that's all of a sudden gone missing, despite agreeing to my terms and conditions.

Fact of the matter is, i'm out of work right now and struggling financially, so i've made it crystal clear from the get-go that you'll get my undivided attention at a cost. It's just annoying that they all agree with it, then say they'll get back to me, then don't.

Utter waste of time.

SAYING that, good luck with this project. Just unfortunate that we've had a lot of time wasters here previously.

Selby

[clarkma5]

The building's there, the pits are there, the karts are there. They have a history of changing their track every ~18 months and that's how long it's been since they last changed their track layout. They're only moving some tire barriers around a concrete floor. This definitely isn't some pie-in-the-sky multi-million dollar club track that's a glint in someone's eye. Much more realistic than that.

Honestly I'm just a customer of this place who likes track design and think it's a fun thing to sketch up and think about. They have been providing blank layouts of their facility to anyone who wants one to invite people to sketch up and submit ideas that they're going to implement at the end of their current league, which runs through April; I just went ahead and did a more detailed layout of their pits and stuff to scale that were lacking in their original blank layouts for others to use. I'm not suggesting that professionals go pro bono on this, just people who want to do it for fun. I haven't been around this forum much these last couple years, sorry if I misunderstood how professional the user base is.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

My Track design started out before my time as a place to show of everything from a squiggle on a napkin or beer mat to serious discussions on circuit layouts. For the vast majority it's either a bit of fun or a hobby. To my knowledge no design here has ever been built, perhaps the nearest has been Luigispeed.

Lets look at the above as a challenge set with a real world venue.

[bio]

Originally Posted by clarkma5

A couple sketches. The first one is trying to develop out my ideas for something that's not afraid to be non-orthogonal with the post/wall layout of the building, while the second one is a more conventional one that kinda just came out when I put pencil to paper that I'm reasonably pleased with.

These look good for me. If I had to choose, I'd pick the first one - it seems a tad faster to me - but the other one's just as good.

[bio]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

I've had about 4 people email me personally asking me to design (in-depth) a track or two for them.

Haha, I've only had a guy who asked for my permission to use two of my track concepts for a video game - I guess one that was never made

[ScotsBrutesFan]

here are two polar opposites

[vodka]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

here are two polar opposites

the first one is great!

[clarkma5]

Thanks SBF! Thought I had subscribed to this thread so I'd see replies in my e-mail but apparently not. Glad I came back to check.

Your first track gets some good straights in there and a decent variety of corners; a couple of your straights might be a little too long, particularly the big one around the outside right half of the track. Beginners get into these things and show up at low speed corners with high velocity and have crashes, bend kart axles, etc. So that's a slight concern.

I really like the second design! Has more character IMO. Maybe one too many chicanes but otherwise a really good balance between straights, short corners, long corners, and also avoiding being completely orthogonal.

Thanks a lot for your designs!

[clarkma5]

I got a lot of good feedback on the first design I posted from the staff and regulars at the kart track, so I went back and tweaked it a little bit. Main goals were to straighten up the "middle straight" and to reprofile the line in a way that encouraged more moderate speeds through the return leg back to the pits.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Here is another option