Edit1964 Atlas HO Slot Car Track & Layout Guide
EditMotoring & Racing with Atlas Slot Cars in HO Scale
Welcome to the world of ATLAS HO Scale Motoring and Racing.
If you thrill to the nerve tingling countdown at Le Mans, or the famous words of Indianapolis Speedway President, Tony Hulman: "
Gentlemen ... Start your engines!" you now can duplicate, in miniature, all the excitement of real auto racing, thanks to the advanced thinking of Atlas.
Whether you prefer the colorful American track cars, the roaring sports cars of road racing, or the Grand Prix cars that flash across the courses of Europe, all can now be had in truly authentic HO Scale. Scaled and engineered to be ground hugging, brutishly powerful and extremely fast, these are the most accurate competition cars yet produced by any manufacturer of HO Scale motoring sets.
This book comes to you for a single purpose - to help you get more enjoyment from HO Scale Motoring and Racing. That's why you'll find information on some of the more advanced aspects of this hobby toward the back of the book, and why there are nearly fifty roadway layout plans from which to choose.
Actually, these little cars are plenty tough, and what little maintenance they need usually comes either from very long operation or very rough handling. As the maintenance section points out, assembly and disassembly is quick and easy as a result of Atlas attention to good engineering practice. You may want to take the body off out of sheer curiosity, just to have a good look at the jewel-like motor and gearing. After all, if you owned a Ferrari you'd want to lift the hood occasionally[ How about a track? Well ATLAS offers more easy to build layouts than you could dream up in a life-time. Long straight-a-ways, left turns, right turns, banked turns, yes, and even turn off junctions, either manually operated or remote control.
Atlas Roadway, including Up and Over Pier Sets, will operate satisfactorily when set up temporarily on the floor. However, you'll probably want to convert to a more permanent set-up by mounting the layout on a piece of plywood. For your convenience, we have given outside dimensions for all plans in this book. All will fit on a standard 4 x 8-foot sheet; many, including some of the trickiest, will take less than 4 x 6 feet. These will fit nicely, when not in use, under a standard double bed so you need have no fear of being crowded out of the apartment. Some of the more complicated looking plans, such as the up-and-over "Pretzel" that can be made with the No. 1203 Set, will fit on a base only 36 inches square. These can be stored in little more space than a card table.
EditRacing with Atlas
If your interest in HO motoring includes racing with your friends as a fine competitive test of your driving skill, you will want to consider the way the course layout affects the race. If the roadway pattern includes a Figure, with curves both to the right and to the left, the two lanes will often turn out to be exactly the same length. This makes for a fair race, with each car having the same distance to cover per lap.
EditSkill and Speed
Your layout, whether it's a highway or race course, needn't be bare. A full line of proportionately scaled buildings and accessories is made; everything from the popular roadside restaurant to grandstands and "pit stops." Anything and everything you might desire can be yours...