Chris, I don't know if I am misreading your post but I cannot understand why that you have five lanes laid out for your oval. If you are, I would guess that you are thinking analogue slot racing Sir. Mag racing or digital slot racing for that manner are a different animal. Given that the cars can run in the same line, aren't two or a maximum of three plenty? If you look at a typical Nascar track, most are wide enough to allow three cars to run side by side but in reality only two lines are of any use to the drivers as racing lines. If I were building an oval for mag racing which I probably will do in the future, I would lay out two lines for racing and about another lanes worth of free space to use as run off room on the outside of the corners. That third lane of open space on one or both of the straights could be used for your pit lane.
Yes it is true that a 4ft. diameter turn ( 2ft. radius) uses up 2ft at each end of a 4X8 board so you use as much board for turns as you do straights. But a 4ft. straight on a bull ring isn't bad. I have a 4X8 slot car oval here that is a blast to drive on! All of the action is in the turns, the straights are just places to rest your trigger finger while waiting to attack the next corner. Straights are over rated I guess what I am trying to say. My bull ringing is a D oval so it really only has one 4 ft straight. I have added a pic of my 4X8 bullring. If this magracing moves to ovals for me, I will convert this on for that purpose.
If you used the two center lanes or better yet split the difference between 1&2 and 2&3 by laying your wire line down between them, you can see that the rest of the track is available as run off space and pit area. There is plenty of room for a pit in this 4X8 track.
Greeting from WNY
