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Different types of surface for indoor track

Different types of surface for indoor track

Old 10-20-2013, 07:07 AM
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Default Different types of surface for indoor track

I'm looking into different surfaces for our indoor Off-Road track.

Options I've looked at are Ozite carpet, Commercial grade carpet (loop carpet) and sythetic grass.

What are other tracks running ? What are the pros and cons of each ?

Any pointers will be greatly apprecated.
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Old 10-20-2013, 02:39 PM
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If you use Ozite, people will have to run only foam tires or rubber slicks. I don't think an offroad tire with pins will work very well. But, you'll have the option of removing all the jumps and running an onroad program for touring cars, WGT, 1/12th scale, etc.

If you use loop type carpet, pin tires will work great, the pins will grab into the loops, almost like Velcro. The bad part is you'll get a LOT of carpet fuzz in the cars, and it's hard on wheel bearings. Ran on a track that used indoor/outdoor carpet from Lowes. Schumacher mini pin tires worked great. But the carpet is kinda thin and tore rather easily

Never ran on astroturf, so I'm not sure if you'll get fuzz off that or not, but again, pin tires should work very well.
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Old 10-20-2013, 05:11 PM
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We ran on Ozite for a while and the shumacher pins would hook up like glue. It was a lot of fun.
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Old 10-20-2013, 05:21 PM
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One of our OffRoad tracks here in OR just switched from dirt to an Astroturf/carpet hybrid layout. Traction is great all around, tire wear is minimal. The turf feels a bit more "OffRoad-ish" and the carpet a bit more like OnRoad with jumps but then again, the last part of that sentence also describes many hard-packed clay tracks when running sauced barcodes these days...

They did it to add a carpet OnRoad track to the same building which would have been a lot harder to do if the place was full of dust all the time. If you want to ask the owner any questions about the setup, the tracks' thread is here: http://www.rctech.net/forum/northwes...thread-79.html
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Old 10-20-2013, 05:47 PM
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the track i run at uses Ozite and most of us use Schumacher pins with a lot of success. for sct pins and stock A.E tires work good too
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Old 10-20-2013, 06:09 PM
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My LHS runs Ozite, and for SCT and buggies, tires like Ions, Pressure Points, and Suburbs work fantastic. Almost too good, a set of tires only last about four race weekends, after which tire sauce is usually needed until the tire is bald. Carpet fuzz isn't too bad, as long as you air off after a race day you'll be good.
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Old 10-21-2013, 05:17 PM
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Thanks for your input ! I'll be posting updates as the track begins to take form !

If anyone else has experience with racing on other surfaces I'm all ears!

Thanks!
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Old 10-21-2013, 05:29 PM
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Not trying to knock what you are doing but its very weird saying carpet and off-road in the same sentence. I personally don't like where off-road tracks are going these days. I understand that not everyone has access to dirt tracks or dirt to make a track. We need as many tracks as we can get. I just hope dirt track don't die. I would encourage you to do a dirt track if possible.
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Old 10-21-2013, 05:44 PM
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We've ran both ozite like carpet and now turf. The carpet was a lot of fun but was hard on mini pins, you could go from last one week to winning the next with new tires. We now run turf with dboots tires on a bigger track. Its a lot more dirt like and not as hard on equipment and way less wear on the surface. The carpet was toast after a year, where as the turf has non after 8 months. Its nice playing around on different surfaces
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Old 10-22-2013, 09:45 AM
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egobrkr, I agree with you 100%. I would have prefered to build the indoor track out of dirt, but I cannot afford the rent for a building that will let me to that. Our outdoor track is dirt but, for now, the indoor track will be carpet.

If the local RC community picks up and becomes very active I will make the switch to indoor dirt, but I need more racers to cover the expenses.

rcjunky1: I'd like more info on the turf you're using. How long are the grass strands ? I've seen everything from 1/4'' to 3'' long... I'm guessing somewhere around 1/2'' is good. If you can post pics it would be great! You're running at dirt trax ?

Thanks!
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Old 10-22-2013, 10:13 AM
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Glad you started this thread, we are in the same boat here starting up a new indoor track. I've talked to some on road racers and we may try just the concrete or use 30lb roofing felt.
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Old 10-22-2013, 01:27 PM
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will any commercial grade loop carpet work? I am building a track in my basement so I can practice as the closest tracks to me are an hour away at the closet..any help would be rad
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Old 12-03-2013, 10:16 PM
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Here's a video of our indoor concrete track. We don't have any problems making traction and is a blast to race on.
http://youtu.be/HJt03GicHv8
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Old 12-04-2013, 08:37 AM
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Our track is now up and running. I've made it with ozyte carpet on about 90% of the surface, the other 10% is commercial loop carpet (that was already in place). The loop carpet offers a bit more traction.

We're still tire testing: Pin Point, Schumacher Mini-spike, Hole Shot, scrubs... not sure what is the best yet.

You can find pictures and videos on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CircuitTeleguideOffRoadEstrie

More picture are to come soon... We're having lighting issues when it comes to taking good pics !
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