Track Plans

[snmhanson]

I am planning on building a track in the backyard but having never really raced on a track I thought I would post my plans for all of your valued input. The area for the track is an L shape and is ~85' wide and 100' deep and I am planning for 8' wide lanes on average. We will run nitro stadium and monster trucks on it and possible electric buggys. I have the area cleared out and am trying to contact someone about bringing a few truck loads of good clean soil (sand/clay mix) in. Then all I will need is the corrugated tubing to get it rolling. Following is a description of my track corresponding with the numbers on the plan.

1 - Banked corner but there will also be an optional jump over the fire pit which would be a ~12' gap. Major carnage potential if you miss the jump.

2 - These two turns would probably be off camber as I hav a bit of a slope there that I need to deal with. I could build them up to flat or even make them on camber.

3 - Big table top jump over a tunnel (see #7). If a bridge is too hard to build I will just make it a gap. This will be the highlight of the track.

4 - Zig zag section with small spines that project out to make it so you can't just fly down the middle without a bit of a challenge.

5 - Medium sized single jump on the outer edge. If you come out of the zig-zags wide to keep your speed up you will have to deal with the jump.

6 - Mogul section before, in and after the hairpin turn.

7 - Tunnel going under the table top.

8 - S-turn section. Not sure if these will be banked or not but I am leaning towards banked.

9 - Whoops section.

10 - Offset single jumps is the plan right now but I sometimes think I should put a double there.

11 - Probably do a step-up before the turn and then a drop after the turn.

12 - Mid-way through the straight before the finish line I am going to put a big stadium jump to mix things up at the finish.

Well, those are my plans to far. Any comments would be great. Should I add, change or take anything out? Are 8' wide lanes about right? Is this a good design and mix of terrain to make monsters and stadiums competative with eachother? Thanks for any advice.

Matt

P.S. I attached the track plan but i am not sure if it will appear in the window or if there will be a link to it.

 

[snmhanson]

Allright, no image or link showed up. I'll try again but if it doesn't appear can someone tell me how to do it?

 

[Diver6127]

Will this be for 1/8 buggy off road as well? Second, From the layout, there seems to be an underpass. Granted it can prove to be "interesting" but potentially hazardous since sight will be lost for a split second. If it's off road, a jump might be better or even a flat intersection ... WATCH OUT! Third, looks to be a technical track ... which is fine. My question is, where do you plan for the placement of the drivers stand?

 

[redhatman]

Second, From the layout, there seems to be an underpass.

yea...I think it would be best to have that like an intersection. Dont make like an overpass where you can't see your car. One question:

Do you live in the suburbs? Because you might want all your neighbors to "ok" this before you do it. It would really suck for your neighbors to call the cops and say that it is to loud. Being that you would be running like what, 6 cars at a time??

 

[Lessen]

I think that's a prety nifty layout. here's what I think. Diver is right about the jump, definately need to make that a jump between 7 and 8. Ok, now for my constructive criticizm. I honestly don't care for section 4. I REALLY like 1,2, and 3 because there will be lots of pressure on the driver to carry as much speed through the end of section 2 so he/she can get as much out of 3 as possible... I think that will be very important for a driver that needs to catch up. however, because the track is so technical over all, I think 4 is a great place to maintain some of that section 3 speed and create a section that really challenges the high speed handling of the vehicle. I would like to see the entry and exit of 4 being very swoopy, possibly with a little bank going in but very little or none (but definately less) coming out. I REALLY like 6-10! But I REALLY dislike 11. It's very repititous of 6 and 7. I'm thinking w/o 11 you have room to play with another nice bend. If it were me I would nix the current 11 and turn it into one medium speed FLAT corner. I think that will be a good racy way to finish off a lap.

Just my

here's my idea. Like I said I like your layout A LOT so I didn't screw with it too much... these are the only things I would change. This is only my opinion because I like tracks that have a mix of both speed and technicalities.

 

[UltegraSTI]

put some curves in it. these angular stadium tracks are too numerous. give urself some cool corners w/long apexes, multi-apexes, off camber etc etc

good luck

-Ult

 

[redhatman]

I think that's a prety nifty layout. here's what I think. Diver is right about the jump, definately need to make that a jump between 7 and 8. Ok, now for my constructive criticizm. I honestly don't care for section 4. I REALLY like 1,2, and 3 because there will be lots of pressure on the driver to carry as much speed through the end of section 2 so he/she can get as much out of 3 as possible... I think that will be very important for a driver that needs to catch up. however, because the track is so technical over all, I think 4 is a great place to maintain some of that section 3 speed and create a section that really challenges the high speed handling of the vehicle. I would like to see the entry and exit of 4 being very swoopy, possibly with a little bank going in but very little or none (but definately less) coming out. I REALLY like 6-10! But I REALLY dislike 11. It's very repititous of 6 and 7. I'm thinking w/o 11 you have room to play with another nice bend. If it were me I would nix the current 11 and turn it into one medium speed FLAT corner. I think that will be a good racy way to finish off a lap.

Just my

here's my idea. Like I said I like your layout A LOT so I didn't screw with it too much... these are the only things I would change. This is only my opinion because I like tracks that have a mix of both speed and technicalities.

I agree with the one out of the 2 changes. I like the one about 11, that is a good way to finish off a lap/race. I do not agree with the 4 section not being curvy though. I like that zig zag thing.

 

[savagelover12]

that is one sick track. thats is a good track plan. your lucky you have that much space. i would say its defently do able.

 

[snmhanson]

Thanks for the input so far. Now to answer your questions:

1) At the time I am not considering 1/8th buggies. From what I understand they take a pretty different track than many of the other cars. Mainly stadium and monster trucks.

2) I am planning on putting the drivers stand at the bottom along the straight a little to the left of the finish line. Probably just before the last jump. This is the plan for two reasons: 1 - There are alot of trees around the other areas and 2 - if I do build the tunnel it gives drivers the best potential view looking through it. Next year I am probably going to build a shop with an upstairs apartment about fifteen feet away from the main straight of the track. When I do that I will build a deck coming off of the apartment with steps up to it which could serve as the drivers stand.

3) I'll probably start with a gap jump (double?) rather than a bridge/tunnel. If I do ever put the tunnel in I will narrow the upper jump to about six feet wide or so to make the tunnel as short as possible. We'll see... edit> I think what I will actually do is build a gap jump and then lay some sort of metal mesh plate between the gap jumps. That way drivers will be able to see through it but cars that don't make the jump won't crash into the path of the uncoming cars.

4) We live in a rural area on five acres. The track is going to be somewhat close to one neighbors house at about 200' feet away but there are quite a few trees between it and them to help act as a sound barrier. I will probably talk with him but everyone around here is pretty easy going as long as I don't push things too far. If anyone does start to complain I guess we'll all have to get electric buggys. I am also going to put some sort of irrigation system around it to keep it moist and help keep the dust down.

5) I'll take your advice on section 11. I was trying to pack as much as I could into the space I have so that's why I put that section in there. What I really want though is a track where stadiums can race against monsters, electrics can race against nitros and, etc... I am still leaning towards leaving the zig zag section in (at least at first) but I can relate to what you're saying. That's why I didn't totally have the corners overlap each other - so there would be a way a car could go straight down the middle (I put the spines in so there is a risk for a car doing that though). Maybe I will make the zig zag section a little more sweeping so you can keep your speed up more. If I do want to change it that would be one of the easiest areas of the track to change.

6) I'd love to have more curves in it, the only problem is that they take up quite a bit more space. Part of the reason I designed it the way I did was because of the drain pipe connectors available and the other reason is for economy of space. Although it sound like a fairly large area once you start making large drawn out curves you start loosing real estate quickly. Some of the sections I did square out in the drawing just to make it easy and I will end up making them more curved when I actually start laying the track. I am also planning on using alot of banks and built up sections to make the turns flow better.

Thanks again for all the input, it's going to be a huge help as I haven't actually driven on a track in over ten years. Keep the opinions coming!

Matt

 

[vbgagnon]

The first verison of our track we packed as much as we could into it, and it wasn't that fun to drive especially with a monster truck. I will recommend making the lanes at least 10ft wide and make it a simpler design. I find it funner to carry more speed around the track then to go back and forth back and forth. Just my .02

 

[Lessen]

sounds good Matt. I like watching people design and build tracks. I wish I had a lot of land or I would do one (or more ) myself. Good luck with the build and don't forget to update us.

 

[Hypedonrc]

Here is a pic of a practice track we built in my friend's yard.

http://img36.echo.cx/img36/2103/10404304zh.jpg

 

[redhatman]

Here is a pic of a practice track we built in my friend's yard.

http://img36.echo.cx/img36/2103/10404304zh.jpg

Nice, it is simple, but better than nothing.

 

[Plaidfish]

I'd say keep the hairpins on 11 but make em deep banked turns and do the big sweeper on 4 like that......a nice fat lane you can just drift around....Mills pond is going to try the metal grate bridge soon ..... I'll let ya know what everybody thinks about it.....

 

[snmhanson]

Allright, finally finished my track to the point where I can at least make a full lap on it. I ended up scratching the last plan using just a few of the ideas and section I had on it. It is still pretty turny for my RC10GT and I might eventually make some changes to speed it up a little. Unfortunately my clutch bearing went out one tank into my christening and I never was able to get dialed into it. I think I am also going to try running minis on it and see how it works for them. I'll post a few pictures of it so you guys can see it and make any comments or suggestions to improve it. A couple of notes: 1) I do not have any drain pipe on the outsides of the perimeter of the track so the farthest out lanes don't really look like lanes. 2) I still have alot of fine tuning and shaping to do, especially on the main straight stadium jump. 3) I am planning on bringing more dirt in, probably next spring, to make some more obstacles and some nice banked turns.

This first picture (assuming I can figure out how to post it) is from the front right corner of the track. The far lane is the side straight with a set of triples on it. After the triples is a stepped up corner which you can barely make out in the sun on the edge of the picture that leads into the main straight and stadium jump. On the lane just inside the side straight in a single jump just before entering a small switch back section.

The second picture is of the over/under jump. You approach it coming from the right of the picture. On the otherside of the tunnel is another single jump which is pretty fun to hit right after you leave the tunnel.

The third picture is the over/under from the other side. It gives a better view of the backside of the single I mentioned above.

The last picture is the track from the opposite corner that the first picture was taken. It shows pretty much all of the track except some of the very outside edges.

Fell free to comment good, bad or otherwise.

Matt

 

[Lessen]

cool man, lookin good. :thumbup:

 

[BRIBRI]

i just put together a track in my bacyard i would say it is about 75 yards long by 30 yards wide still tring to tune in the bank turns dont know how hig to go so far a couple of large jumps are done down the 75 yard straitaway down one side of the track.

 

[nitro fan]

looks good man but no to be hard or anything but i dont like the underpass thing but the track is coming alone nice

 

[alien13]

looks good man but no to be hard or anything but i dont like the underpass thing but the track is coming alone nice

This thread hasn't been touched in two years. Thanks for blowin the dust off, but I would think the track is done by now.