Back yard race track made of snow.

Welcome to RCTalk

Come join other RC enthusiasts! You'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Iowa crawler

Hardcore RCTalk User
Build Thread Contributor
Messages
1,462
Reaction score
2,534
Location
Iowa
RC Driving Style
  1. Racing
  2. Crawling
  3. Scale Builder
  4. Flying
Just thinking about when it snows. I have a little patch of a back yard and last year I tried to make a race track with the snow blower.

The SCT did not work at all and a fast rock crawler was pretty fun. Till it got a foot deep.

Making a path did not work out last year. I could not see the truck at all. And the dogs left “problems” for me to deal with.

I’m thinking about making a track this year. But moving all the snow out of the center. Like a giant bowl with trees in it.

Kinda hard to build up a base with a snow blower. They want to dig to the bottom. But I can do some hand work to make it drivable.

We don’t get consistent cold. So I can’t build up a base with ice. It would be fun to drift a 6x6 around an ice rink.

Probably have to just go to the center and circle my way out blowing the snow toward the fence building up a bank. Then as it snows I can use the new snow as a base a pack it down. I have snow shoes I can use to stomp the snow down.

This is a video I made last year. You can just see the path off to the left. I made a two pass wide path blowing the snow toward the center forming a mountain. That turned out to be a mess.

 

Attachments

  • 1139A8E7-9DA4-438E-82D0-74F22D3807CE.jpeg
    1139A8E7-9DA4-438E-82D0-74F22D3807CE.jpeg
    304 KB · Views: 107
Winter racing outside in northern latitudes is a challenge, for certain. Is it possible to compact the snow base for suitable racing surface? Would a weighted roller or sledge give you a useable surface instead of trying to blow one clear? Maybe even water it down lightly after compacting to lock the surface in place? Hoar frosting I think it used to be called.

'AC'
 
Like they say depends on the weather. But Iowa is not have stable temps. Over a one month period it can go from below zero into the forty’s every day. Or not get above -5 for a week then be +40 for a day. Temps at night as as low as -5 -10 and then it’s like +35 during the day. Above and below freezing with a sprinkle of powder every week or so. I cut the grass really short last time. So I hope that helps .
We don’t get deep snow like the east coast. It has been these little three inch things so I hope to build layers. The sun melts stuff if it’s to thin. I’ll give it another try.
 
The sky delivered a good base layer of race track building material today. I made the basic layout. Now I just wait for delivery of more material
 

Attachments

  • 404B74B8-F8D1-4AAB-9CB1-4E7AE9C5C1D4.jpeg
    404B74B8-F8D1-4AAB-9CB1-4E7AE9C5C1D4.jpeg
    280.4 KB · Views: 50
Big winter advisory for the Midwest. Six or seven inches of building material.
It’s going to be 11deg so no melt. I am going to try and figure out the balance between packing down the snow and blowing the snow. I want a smooth surface and it’s only the second layer. So I’m building a base.
 
I’m thinking adding water is a bad idea. Like when you say to yourself “ I should paint my car with spray paint.
We did that back in 83 I think it was, when we got like 2' of snow. We made a bobsled type course down this big hill and began coating it with water. Gawd that was dumb lol
 
Iowa got another eight inches of powder last night. At -5 F it did not melt at all and I was able to make quick work of the snow.

This solidified the track layout. Now every time it snows it makes the track smoother and the sides smoother. It’s only January. That leaves a long time to build. Gotta figure out what to run.

Probably a fast crawler. Maybe take out the overdrive and run a fast motor and no brake. Or the SCT rig
 

Attachments

  • 0A511FD3-C03C-4497-84B7-DE7BEE7E77CE.jpeg
    0A511FD3-C03C-4497-84B7-DE7BEE7E77CE.jpeg
    747.1 KB · Views: 44
First laps look great. Can hear the revs spike on the icy patches in the shaded areas. I'd say you've got a winner in winter there.

My AE MT10 came with a 'hairnet' cover for the interior. Perhaps something like that would work?

Hearing the snow crunch underfoot brings back memories of Nebraska winters past. Cheers. 'AC'
 
Thanks. This are not the revs spiking. That’s just goosing the throttle for kicks. Never more than half throttle on the back stretch. The SCT truck is a little to fast for the track. I think I’m going to try a fast crawler.
Going to do some gearing changes to reduce the front over drive and increase wheel speed. Not to fast not to slow. Full throttle on the back stretch without slamming into the fence kinda speed.
 
This is a fast crawler I put in a revolver and went from 10 tooth to 15 tooth pinion. It’s still to slow. I think the SCT is better. I’m going to reduce the power to about 50-75% and just blast around.



Still a ton of fun.
 
Back
Top