Building a Track......

[Silent]

Building a track in my backyard, and here's my idea. Because of limited space the center lane and lower right turn are shared with the figure 8. Its got a sweeper, banked hairpin, jump and pass-through. One of the considerations was to leave some grass for the dogs. <G> What you guys think?

 

[beason]

good plan but you may have a prob with people remembering where to go.. and slower traffic getting in the way.. ever been behind someone that went for the right exit at the last minute from the left lane?? thats what your y turn is gonna look like... lol and unless you make that an over under.. theres gonna be crashes.. BAD crashes

 

[Silent]

Thats a jump, jumping over the pass-through, and the cars will be going the same direction on the shared part, so the crashes shouldn't be too bad on the merge..... There will only be 3-4 cars on it, but the racing will always be close, thats for sure. .

 

[beason]

ok the jump over is a good thing.. as long as you make it.. but what I'm seeing is at the end of the center stretch.. if someone is behind then ones gonna go right and the other left. and when you set up for a corner you swing out to the opposite side.. so your gonna have one car from far right cutting left, and one car from far left cutting right.... sounds like some fun chicken races.. rock on man.. build it and they will come!!!

 

[Silent]

Yeah, and both my buddies are pretty agressive drivers too. I think you're running it backwards than I intended tho.... Both L and R lanes funnel into the center straight from the top, both make the jump, then both hook the Left. But then one goes straight, and one button-hooks it under the jump. Does that way work for ya? <G> I see what you mean the other way.

 

[Silent]

An update of the track build. The jump was built into a 4 feet span. Kinda squeezes the pass-under but I think it'll be alright. Using a pick to break up the ground, then sift out the grass/weeds, releveling/banking with a steel rake. I'm thinking about getting one of the "rollers" that you fill with water, compresses to 400 lbs, to get it nice and hard-pan flat.........

 

[Silent]

Rented a turf roller for $8 at Pro Rents. When filled with water, the 2-foot roller weighs 270 lbs. Packs the soil really nice and level, but it will leave low spots. So, I've had to re-rake and roll a few times. Kind of like doing bodywork. Coming along nicely, still alot of work to do.

edit: Home Depot didn't do the link correctly, but if you do a search for "ROLLER", you'll see it.

 

[rcnutcase]

nice track I built one for my 1/18th trucks in my yard. be careful you will get bit by the building bug like I did. Mine is going to be leveled and built twice as big next year.

 

[dougc]

a little while ago we buillt a track for our mini-ts to race on. We used a roller on the jumps, it gave a great effect to them and less hassle but we used a tamper on the flat... if you dont know what it is... it is a pole with a 1ftX1ft square at the bottom. it weighs about 5 pounds, but it will flatten your yard with no problem... The hardest part of having a track is fining someone to marhel and clean up... you have to prep the track before and after you race on it.... like we had to water our track before we raced so the traction would be good. after we got done playing we had to wet it again and bring out the roller. WE stoped playing on it for 3 weeks and weeds took it over.
http://phatlip.net/pic/small/images/full_jpg.jpg

 

[Silent]

Track Update: Me and a couple of buddies tested, raked out the track some more, and rolled it again with the turf roller. Got alot of work done. You're right dougc about rolling it before and after racing. (I may end up owning one of these things <G>). Got the groove carved in and jump adjusted and added some smaller ones. Carving the face of the jump a little concave was the way to go for distance. I just have to cleanup, and put down some Augustine in the infield and borders. Heres several of the best shots today by the jump area..............

 

[Silent]

My buddy that helped me build my track wanted one too <G>, so we built him a track over the weekend. Theres was alot more room to work with, so its a very nice "small" track. We rented a tiller to get up the sod, and the roller again.....

The jump and underpass.........

We used a 5" flexible drain tubing for nice round corners. Dug a trench and halfway buried it into the birm. Its non-obtrusive if you happen to get on it, and can even drive over it. It takes several "rake & rolls" to get the racing surface nice and flat for some high-speed flat-trackin'.........

Looks really good too with the drain tubing bordering it. He's gonna get another 25' roll and finish the outsides.........

I'm an on-road type racer, but I gotta admit I'm having a blast with this dirt track racing in the off season! This was alot of work, but we hardly noticed 'cause we were having that much fun building and testing it.

 

[Lessen]

sweet man, I'm planning to possibly build a small track for 1/18s in my backyard next year.. but time will tell

 

[dannyd]

those look sweet.

 

[Silent]

A closure for this thread. We shot some vids today. I gave my buddy a XXX-T, and he gave his brother an Evader truck. I've got a XX-T, and a couple more "house" trucks. We had a total of 5 at one point for a little Christmas day fun racing. I figured with the vids, you could get a better feel for the finished layout.... I still want to re-sod the islands and borders in the spring. Enjoy.........

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

oh, btw, my buddy gave me that ROLLER for Christmas. hehe Awesome for leveling out, and compacting the dirt.