SIR, Yes SIR! May have been heard a lot before the roar and whine of race bred 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 cylinder engines from just 1.5 litres to Ford 7 litre V-8s. But the roar of engines was no stranger to the area, a former Air Force training base turned regional airport. Nestled among hundreds of small lakes (we call them sinkholes) in the middle of the state, about halfway between Orlando and Miami. The racecars originally screamed down two of the active runways and then wound their way through the access and service roads. Once a year, dozens of racers and cars spent 12-hours to prove who is the fastest, best and most reliable. The 12 hour endurance race at Sebring has been run for over 55 years, as well as several other races and a racing school. The Sebring International Raceway is now a permanent facility that shares acreage with the airport and an industrial park.

My track is 41 running feet, that's only 1/2 human miles, a far cry from the actual 3.7 miles. The back straight is 91" or only about one tenth of a mile. Doing some preliminary work on the "full scale" dimensions from an aerial photo of the pits, I've come up with this so far. It looks like there are 2 tractor trailers parked to the edge of the back straight, and it looks like you could park about 4 of them end to end in the infield between the straights. My collectable race car transporter trailer is 7 3/8", so I would need 29 1/2" across the infield, right now it's only about 9" or about 1/3rd of the scale distance.

The biggest problem I'm having is with the turns. I'm limited to 9" radius curves right now. I know there are 6", 12" and 15" curves out there - they would make it easier to simulate the hairpin and the Le Mans Curve. You just can't do the Big Bend justice without a really big radius. I've heard of a flex-track piece that might work there, but I haven't had a chance to get one yet. Maybe someday - but for now, I'll just update my layout with what I have and keep my eyes peeled for the right curves! I sure wish I lived in a house with lots of extra rooms - and I didn't have to work for a living.