The Late Great Sequoia Speedway

In March of 2008 I started building a semi banked 1/5th scale mile oval that could be taken from place to place and used for kids races and such. What became Sequoia Speedway was one of the most detailed builds I have ever done on an HO slot car track.

I started by bending the flat corners to bend the 10 degree banking I wanted. I felt that the 40 degree typical banking from Tomy was too much, but I didn't want an absolutely flat track either. After epoxying the 9" inner and 12" outer corners together I bent them to the configuration I wanted, then applied heat using a hair dryer, allowing them to cool, then reapplying the heat. I did this 6 times before the corners would hold their banking by themselves.



I then glued a 2" thick piece of Styrofoam insulation material to the 3' X 6' layout, and laid out the track, tracing it onto the foam. After removing the track I then carved out the foam using a BBQ wire brush, a technique I found useful when I made my Laguna Seca track a year earlier. The idea was to have the plastic track lay flush into the foam, supporting the banking from below. I used an expanding foam insulation material to not only fill in the gaps between the track but to "glue" the track onto the Styrofoam. After it all dried I trimmed the dried foam and sanded it flush with the edge of the track.



I also filled all of the track gaps with either epoxy or casting resin for a really smooth track surface. In the above photo you can see that even the straights were slightly banked to 4 degrees. After everything dried I used a type of water based filled that goes on pink and dried white to build up a 1" wide drifting berm around the outside of the track. After sanding and getting everything smooth I covered all of the foam to the edge of the race track surface with white glue soaked blue shop towels, two coats.

The original layout used foam board grandstands with printed crowd scenes and orange A/FX guard rails. This configuration was used until October 2008 when I completely remodeled the track with scratch built buildings, grandstands and static scenery.





..stay tuned for Part Two: The Remodel.

I started by trashing all of the foam board buildings, guard rails and just about everything else. I put new grass down, redid the walls with cork railroad bedding and mesh fencing above. I scratch built the main grandstand from sheet plastic and detailing accessories. Same with a set of rest rooms and other smaller structures.





I decided that I would hand paint the 180 figures on the track, a daunting task that I am continuing with my current track build. But here is a walk through of the Sequoia Speedway:

General layout of the remodeled track:



Outside of turn 1 was the medical clinic, with a roll-a-way, ambulance and a sheriff department car. The track maintenance vehicles reside just outside of the new cork walls in turn 1. The Christmas Tree Farm and the tree's lining the back straight is shown here.



Just down from the medical clinic is the entrance and exit from the track to the pits, with another wrecker truck. A couple of CHP units and some track workers hang around the spectator gate to the pits, also hand made.



On the other side of the main grandstands is the turn 3 bleachers and the cut out for the fire truck and more track workers. To the left you can see the line of women waiting for the restroom, which was also scratch built.



The turn 4 BBQ and playground area can be accessed from the main track grounds. The fire truck sits in the cut out just past turn 4.



Late it it's life, looking down Sequoia Speedways back straight and the Christmas Trees lining the back fence. After a year of repeated heating and freezing the track began to warp and crack in places, and by the end of 2009 it's time had just about come.

The last race to be held at Sequoia Speedway was also the last Pancake Outlaw race, using AMG Racing XT winged Sprint Cars. 18 cars competed for the last time at the track.

Thanks for putting it up Pete. Too bad it's time came up.

...a bigger and better project has already been started, Three Palms Speedway. The build up will be reported shortly.