XrayMan

I have access to an area where I am permitted to build a temporary track so I can practice whenever I like, but I dont know exactly how to go about it...

What materials would people reccomend that are reasonably soft when cars hit yet hold thier shape?

I am thinking square PVC downpipe would be perfect, drill some holes in the surface and drop some dowells in the holes to hold the PVC in place while practicing, and able to be cleaned up after with a minimum of fuss and mess...

For the corners, I was thinking some thin, flat plastic connected to the PVC to provide a corner radius rather than just a square edge at the end. Perhaps some red tape to mark the corners on the PVC also.

It will mainly be for me to practice at night time, but i'll also have some friends over to practice as well..

Any ideas guys?

XrayMan

Also, I need to ask what a good width for the track would be?

I'm thinking 2.5meters would be spot-on?

Im running 1/10th Electric sedans on the track, and will eventually be running 1/12th scale, possibly only stock motors in both, but might play with a mod sooner or later also...

Im thinking 2 meters might be too small for a 1/10th...

pink pac man

2.5 sounds good also you should try getting sum roadrail

S-T-R-l-K-E-R

one thing to consider on getting a roadrail!!! it has a fine print on it which sez "not a barrier system".

i would recommend burms so you can make a multi layout set-up!

Nova F1 Racer

iTrader: (3)

Use plastic rain gutters, they will give a little and not shatter the pars on the car....

cain921

road rail more like road ramps we tryed them at our track and they where good for to things
1 parts sales
2 angry racers

rcguy2477

iTrader: (4)

With the road rails, instead of breaking, the cars are just launched. I have never broken because of road rails. I have run at some tracks with metal barriers that were padded at the end and they didnt seem to break many cars. The worst is the pvc pipes, because the couplers rip of tires, and you can't make the track curved. I havnt tried pvc rain gutters, but they seem that they would work well.

Evoracer

iTrader: (24)

Go Road Rails.
Yes, the cars do get launched occasionally. No, they are not meant as a barrier. If you were setting up a track in a high traffic area or as a legitimate racing facility...I would definitely use something between you and other people, autos, whatever ( we use an outer barrier of 2 inch PVC.
Here's the best selling points.....

Easy to set up and tear down...even by one person. No special or "custom" connectors to make.

Unless you plan on cutting all your pipes to fit in your car or truck, you can't beat the 6 foot length's of Road Rail.

Very stackable. Especially if you take the attaching pins out completely after each use.

Will outlast most other materials. PVC pipe will get brittle after prolonged exposure to sunlight.

Very easy to change designs. We use a different layout every month and we change from road course to oval during each meeting.

Just a note here: In high crash areas of your layout, The Rails can be installed one on top of another with the upper one being upside down. This provides a much safer situation since the car will not become airborne and yet it is still flexible enough to prevent great damage to the car.

Hope this helps. The Road Rails syatem is NOT perfect but it has many benefits you can't get with other materials. Good Luck !!

Mason

2" standard duty pvc suction pipe. bends so corners and curves can be made with no problem other than holding the pipe in place. You would need some fairly heavy weight inside the pipe to hold it there or deal with spiking into ground. (We haven't actually tried this yet but it is our intent as it works very well with our off-road circuit. Currently thinking about putting weight inside the pipe, or possibly running a rod into the side of the pipe and attaching it to a weight behind the pipe away from any car traffic)

You may also find some softer 2" at your local Home Improvement store.

For pics click on over to our site NewRed Hobbies and select "The Tracks" link.

Airwide

I've never heard of road rail. Do they have a website?

/Arvid

Lost Aggresiva

iTrader: (2)

http://www.roaddome.com

We've been using them at our local track. They do launch cars, but it's a trade off from more conventional solid barriers. Bottom line, don't hit stuff....

Rob Mincey

IIRC, Road Rails are considerably more expensive than PVC.

Rob

Fatboy Joe

Road rails are okay if you plan to practice by yourself. Ifyou intend to open the track for public use and hold races, I suggest do a multi-track lay-out. You wont break when you hit a "road rail" but I'm pretty sure you'll break when your car hits another car at full speed when it goes over the rails. Happened to me a couple of times already. Some newbie flew off from the main straight and hit my car head on, cost me alot of money to rebuild my front end. There are pros and cons but the best would be PVC Pipe.

cain921

road ramps will ruin any race they lanch cars into oposing trafic and inosent turn marshals they are a bad idea for tight twisting tracks
but they are practical for wide open parking lots if theres just 1 person racing
we had nothing but complaints at my track when it first opened and there were using them
it was cheeper to use 2x4 and thin plactic for the ends
ive seen pvc rails before but they crack when hit hard and just hard to keep in place