curacing2

to keep the jump faces from getting ripped up astroturf or carpet works well, our track has it on many sections, we buy 900mm x 30 metre offcut strips, it comes in many different colours and we don't get to choose as you'll see in this link.

http://www.rcracer.co.nz/Forum/viewt...hp?f=19&t=7380.

Its a good size track, 45 metres by 55 metres.

likeaboss

iTrader: (1)

^^ Was that on public or private land? Track is huge..Any plans for a driver's stand? What country is that In?

rcmoe

iTrader: (21)

+1 I have a buddy who has enough land to build 2 tracks. We talk all the time about building one but we're definitly not going to do it by hand lol! We're deifinitly going to rent the equipment to build it whenever we put aside the money and time for it.

curacing2

Its public land in an industrial/comunity garden area in Auckland New Zealand.

The drivers stand isn't in the usual place it should be, the photos were taken from up there, its a 40 foot shipping container.

it is a long way to the back straight but you get used to it after a few tanks, a fast lap is anything under a mid 42 seconds, at our last big race meeting a few of us did 40 second laps when the track grooved up.

rcmoe

iTrader: (21)

wow that track looks gigantic lol!

JoePit

iTrader: (15)

So you made good use out of 1 of the many shipping containers all around the area The stands will be the last for us. We'll stand or sit in the back of our trucks for a bit till we have the money to make them proper. I want a stand with a ramp so the cars can drive right up for refueling. Also going to make getting down to the track easier. Again... This is for personal use, and just for a few friends to mess around on. Still plan on supporting the local tracks.

Track looks like a blast!

JoePit

iTrader: (15)

Which of the 2 layouts would you guys prefer?

bevofrancis

iTrader: (11)

One thing to think about is that it's harder to setup for a jump when the track is going away from you or coming at you. Distance and speed are much easier to judge going side to side. You might want to do more side to side then up and down. Since there is only a few of you running you want to keep it kind of simple so that your not always having to marshal yourself.

JoePit

iTrader: (15)

You make a very good point here. Considering the back straight on both tracks is our high speed section with no jumps. We may have a single there, but nothing that would cause us to slow down. 80' isn't much of a straight, but it's what we have to work with. The Jumps may also create quite a few blind spots going up and down unless we keep them on the small side.

Thanx

bevofrancis

iTrader: (11)

One of our home tracks we built is only around 80x90. It was our first ever build and we did alot of up and down and it made for some difficult jumps and really hard to make passes in the sections with jumps because you are so worried about lining it up right and hitting it at the right speed. Here's a video a buddy made of it to give you an idea of what we did. This year we're going to try and make it more side to side for jumps and up and down for the technical sections. As soon as the weather lets us, we're going to give it another build. From what we've learned the last few years with building other tracks, and running at the factory I think we'll get a much better layout this time. If you had more people running it wouldn't matter as much, but I've learned to make it fun and fairly as wreck free as possible. That doesn't mean you can't make it difficult, just make it make it so your not on your top very much. It's no fun at all to have to walk off the track stand and flip your own car over.
The big jump on the far right was not only coming back at us, but it was going to the right slightly too. It took awhile before we all started to hit it consistently and we still had some pretty viscous wrecks on it after a year of running it.

Really though it's your track and you can do what you want. I'm just kind of giving you a few tips that I think we screwed up with on that build. Anyway you you build it, it's going to be a blast to run on.
We've built 3 more since this one at another guys house, but this track has much better dirt (all clay) and alot more of it to build jumps out of. Can't wait for the rain to let up.

+ YouTube Video

tcflyr

iTrader: (8)

Looking good so far! As for water, yes moisture is your friend during a track build. Keep the dirt damp, not too wet to make mud but damp so you can compact it after it is placed. If at all possible try to get a skid loader. It not only makes moving dirt easier but you can compact with it after it is placed . We simply roll over and over everything to compact to help the jumps stay intact. You will always have maintenance on the track after a heavy ran but if you have a good base it will definitely help. Good luck on the build!

Locum51

iTrader: (12)

I agree with the others, i like the first design you had. Those straights would be just big enough to maybe include a nice rhythm section.

The rhythm section adding to the challenging factor, because if you made the track too flat, it'll get a little boring. Just my $.02

Z4Kevo

iTrader: (7)

Go with as wide a lane as you can. 10'-12' is ideal...8' is a minimum. I started out with 10' lanes on my previous layout, but my track length suffered as a result. I recently switched it out to 8' and it is cozy, but much longer in length. I kept the back lanes 9' wide since they are farther away and you really need that extra width to help with depth perception...so keep the far lanes wider if you can.

Also don't get too carried away with tight turns...yeah they are cool, but you can over do them and let's face it...high speed stuff is funner in the end. I am speaking from experience...going to be redoing my pipe to allow more straight runs and higher speeds.

Also, you can add crossovers and jump overs to increase track length...plus they can be pretty cool if done right.

Track is in my sig...check it out for ideas...www.oakhollowraceway.com

Teufel Racing

iTrader: (30)

I hear ya having a lot less track. Our local outdoor track is about 130x55 ish and it can feel pretty small with the 1/8th out there. It's what we got so we try to work with it, but it's easy to see that more room would make many things much easier.

As for building/maint. of the layout/jumps:
Carpet does work, but if left out in the sun 24-7 will fail at some point. We used some with the macking of the carpet exposed to the elements and it work about 3/4 of the season. By the end of the season it was pretty tore up, but did what we wanted it to do.

When building the jumps/layout. Take your time and make sure you have plenty of water and a good roller/vibraplate to help pack it in. On the jumps, build them a layer at a time, like a cake, and pack the living snot out it if with plenty of water. That will help to keep the jump together longer, but at some point that too will fail. Sun and little to no water do a lot of damage. If you can keep the track watered and maintain it/repack it when needed, shouldn't be too much of an issue which ever way you want to go.

Layout choice of the two you posted up:
I'd go with the first one for many of the same reasoms that were given already.

JoePit

iTrader: (15)

WOW!!! Big thanks for all the input here folks. I tried to make it as "high speed" as possible. The only slow outside corner is the S-E corner being that 180. The other 3 are sweepers, even though it's hard to tell by the pic. The bottom straight is getting a double coming out of the corner followed by a triple. There will be a small smooth flowing single on the East side of the track heading north and just stay hammered down around the back of the track into the 1st 180. The very dead center of the track leading into the last 3 180's is where the whoop section is going. I hope to get them dialed in such a way so they can be doubled straight through. The rest of the track is all up in the air as I want to see what this looks like once the pipe is down.