New Track...Need A Few Volunteers?
08-14-2011, 02:53 PM
#1
New Track...Need A Few Volunteers?
Alright guys hang with me as this might be a little long winded as I give an update. I went over to work on the track today, first time I have touched in a couple weeks! I have been out of town for 3 weeks straight for work and on the weekends, I am at Karns or spending some time with the wifey. First off, I love working on this track. It is actually something I really enjoy. I went over today, and as I was pulling up, it rained and was an absolute monsoon for 10 minutes with hail in Strawberry Plains! Hardest rain I have seen in a long time. The pictures below are actually taken 8 minutes after the rain and we were walking on it. Track drains really well except two places. We are currently laying 2" drain pipe on the banked turn at the bottom of the hill, you can see the hole in the bank wher we dug out with the shovel. The banked turn will be another 3 - 4 feet higher after we get drainage in. We are putting 2 drains in that turn, we found some really cool drains from a job site that a contractor my father-in-law works for that we could have. What is nice is thy have plastic screw on tops to them, so for racing we cover them up and throw dirt on them and you will not know they are there!
Overall, it is hard to tell, but the track is actually really smooth, believe it or not, ther is about 60 yards of dirt on it already. The land it was on was grown up almost forest so a lot of work went into just getting it flat. Just to give you an idea, a couple weeks ago I was running on it with the nitro buggy. It is pretty fast and flows well, but with no jumps, we were timing the laps and I was running 30 sec. +, so with jumps it might be 35+ lap times I believe. Anyway, I am spending the rest of the night weeding and spraying the track so all weeds will be gone for next weekend as I am over here as I type this! My father-in-law works for a contractor and he thinks it is funny and donates a bunch of materials and lets us take anything left over from jobs we want. He gave us 2 gallons of the Round Up Pro that landscapers get that you have to have your charter to get that comes in the blue bucket so it is the good stuff. We are pulling the weeds and spraying that over everything so no more weeds! He gave us 8 4x8 sheets of plywood and a bunch of 6x6 posts. We want to make a big board about 30 feet long and it will be a record board. Whoever has the fastest lap, and fastest race gets their name on the board! He said he will build it for us as he is thinking about getting into it after seeing the track and seeing what we are doing. I went and bought 10 4x4x16 posts or the drivers stand and want to get them in the ground and set next weekend. I sat on top of a 6 foot tall ladder and could see the whole track great! A 12 foot tall drivers stand will be awesome.
The neighbor behind us is a plumber and just laughs and thinks we are the biggest hillbilly's for doing this. He is donating his time and big ditch witch to lay water lines to the track. Track is on a seperate lot and has its own main and meter. I just need to buy about 100 yards of line to run from the front of the property up to the track. I will have two hookups one on each side of the track. He said he would be happy to lay the water lines for us!
Allright now the jumps. I have completely mapped out the jumps, and have them on graph paper. I have watched 100's of videos online and tried to take the best and coolest from some of the big tracks. I am completely open to anything! This is a chance for anybody to come up with some ideas and we will do it. If anybody comes and volunteers for a few hours the next couple of weeks I will be happy to listen and implements your ideas! In other words the ROCCK racers have an opportunity to get together and build something together.
Give me your opinions on this: For jumps I thought about doing them sort of like the jumps at Goony's in a way. They would be made out of wood and we have the plastic covered pads theat are about an inch thick to put those down and then some carpet over it. They would be perfectly symetric, would be really soft, and this way I could move them around from time to time to change the track up a little bit? Good idea or bad? I am still learing toward dirt but it is an idea in my head.
In hte long run, I would like to have some races, but in the end if it is a nice track where some guys can come out on some Sunday's and or Saturday non-race days and have some that will be fine. However, maybe if we try to get a points series next year this might give us a second track.
We will see, I just want something to practice on and have fun with!
I would like the track runnnable in 2 months. It is my goal to have an end of the year party, celebration for the ROCCK as well as BBRC or whoever. I love smoking and barbecuing and figured I would do some ribs, 4 or 5 pork butts and just have some fun. This winter I will spend more time on it and get the surface even better once it cools off. I have not been real happy with the supposedly top-of-the line dirt from Claiborne Hauling so maybe a couple inches of good clay like down in Georgia will be in order, I am looking around right now.
I really would like 2 or 3 volunteers at a time to come and help for just 4 hrs. at a time over the next 2 to 3 weekends to have the jumps in. That way I can finish the drivers stand and get the edging of the track in and be ready to let'er rip and can complete in one weekend by myself laying the ouline of the track!!!! Power is something that we are working on during the winter. KUB engineer 2 houses down the road and is willing to help with the power! I am going to Karns and racing next weekend so I will not be working on it except for a few hours 7 to 11am next Saturday, all day Sunday. If anybody wants to help we would relly appreciate it a lot! I have a lot of time and money in this thing and I just want it to be fun! Has to be able to flow both ways and 1/10 friendly, but I want to catch some air too! Like calling McGee Tyson to get a squawk code for your buggy or truggy!!! Yes, I said Truggy!!! (All the pilos will know what I am talking about)
I know there are some experts around this area that have been there and done that and seen a lot of tracks! This is your chance to have a track and help design it!!! I am no expert and not claiming to be so I will listen!!!
P.S. The track is wider than it looks in the pictures as some grass has made its way on the track, but it will be all gone by next weekend. You are looking at at least 12 feet and wider in most sections.
2 monhts from now, an all out end of the year bash for all the ROCCKERS and the BBRCERS, bring a buddy, bring your kids this is a chance to get new people involved!!!
Well I hope in 2 months, I wont guarantee it, but I am hoping!!!
By the way, next time you see Art, make sure you thank him because these things are an unbelievable amount of work and I know he has hundred's of hours that not many people realize until they are stupid enough to try to do something as dumb as I am doing!!!
Pictures will follow in the next few minutes!!!!
Heck Fire, I am in this far and spent lord knows how many hours already I might as well do it right!
Overall, it is hard to tell, but the track is actually really smooth, believe it or not, ther is about 60 yards of dirt on it already. The land it was on was grown up almost forest so a lot of work went into just getting it flat. Just to give you an idea, a couple weeks ago I was running on it with the nitro buggy. It is pretty fast and flows well, but with no jumps, we were timing the laps and I was running 30 sec. +, so with jumps it might be 35+ lap times I believe. Anyway, I am spending the rest of the night weeding and spraying the track so all weeds will be gone for next weekend as I am over here as I type this! My father-in-law works for a contractor and he thinks it is funny and donates a bunch of materials and lets us take anything left over from jobs we want. He gave us 2 gallons of the Round Up Pro that landscapers get that you have to have your charter to get that comes in the blue bucket so it is the good stuff. We are pulling the weeds and spraying that over everything so no more weeds! He gave us 8 4x8 sheets of plywood and a bunch of 6x6 posts. We want to make a big board about 30 feet long and it will be a record board. Whoever has the fastest lap, and fastest race gets their name on the board! He said he will build it for us as he is thinking about getting into it after seeing the track and seeing what we are doing. I went and bought 10 4x4x16 posts or the drivers stand and want to get them in the ground and set next weekend. I sat on top of a 6 foot tall ladder and could see the whole track great! A 12 foot tall drivers stand will be awesome.
The neighbor behind us is a plumber and just laughs and thinks we are the biggest hillbilly's for doing this. He is donating his time and big ditch witch to lay water lines to the track. Track is on a seperate lot and has its own main and meter. I just need to buy about 100 yards of line to run from the front of the property up to the track. I will have two hookups one on each side of the track. He said he would be happy to lay the water lines for us!
Allright now the jumps. I have completely mapped out the jumps, and have them on graph paper. I have watched 100's of videos online and tried to take the best and coolest from some of the big tracks. I am completely open to anything! This is a chance for anybody to come up with some ideas and we will do it. If anybody comes and volunteers for a few hours the next couple of weeks I will be happy to listen and implements your ideas! In other words the ROCCK racers have an opportunity to get together and build something together.
Give me your opinions on this: For jumps I thought about doing them sort of like the jumps at Goony's in a way. They would be made out of wood and we have the plastic covered pads theat are about an inch thick to put those down and then some carpet over it. They would be perfectly symetric, would be really soft, and this way I could move them around from time to time to change the track up a little bit? Good idea or bad? I am still learing toward dirt but it is an idea in my head.
In hte long run, I would like to have some races, but in the end if it is a nice track where some guys can come out on some Sunday's and or Saturday non-race days and have some that will be fine. However, maybe if we try to get a points series next year this might give us a second track.
We will see, I just want something to practice on and have fun with!I would like the track runnnable in 2 months. It is my goal to have an end of the year party, celebration for the ROCCK as well as BBRC or whoever. I love smoking and barbecuing and figured I would do some ribs, 4 or 5 pork butts and just have some fun. This winter I will spend more time on it and get the surface even better once it cools off. I have not been real happy with the supposedly top-of-the line dirt from Claiborne Hauling so maybe a couple inches of good clay like down in Georgia will be in order, I am looking around right now.
I really would like 2 or 3 volunteers at a time to come and help for just 4 hrs. at a time over the next 2 to 3 weekends to have the jumps in. That way I can finish the drivers stand and get the edging of the track in and be ready to let'er rip and can complete in one weekend by myself laying the ouline of the track!!!! Power is something that we are working on during the winter. KUB engineer 2 houses down the road and is willing to help with the power! I am going to Karns and racing next weekend so I will not be working on it except for a few hours 7 to 11am next Saturday, all day Sunday. If anybody wants to help we would relly appreciate it a lot! I have a lot of time and money in this thing and I just want it to be fun! Has to be able to flow both ways and 1/10 friendly, but I want to catch some air too! Like calling McGee Tyson to get a squawk code for your buggy or truggy!!! Yes, I said Truggy!!! (All the pilos will know what I am talking about)
I know there are some experts around this area that have been there and done that and seen a lot of tracks! This is your chance to have a track and help design it!!! I am no expert and not claiming to be so I will listen!!!
P.S. The track is wider than it looks in the pictures as some grass has made its way on the track, but it will be all gone by next weekend. You are looking at at least 12 feet and wider in most sections.
2 monhts from now, an all out end of the year bash for all the ROCCKERS and the BBRCERS, bring a buddy, bring your kids this is a chance to get new people involved!!!
Well I hope in 2 months, I wont guarantee it, but I am hoping!!!
By the way, next time you see Art, make sure you thank him because these things are an unbelievable amount of work and I know he has hundred's of hours that not many people realize until they are stupid enough to try to do something as dumb as I am doing!!!
Pictures will follow in the next few minutes!!!!
Heck Fire, I am in this far and spent lord knows how many hours already I might as well do it right!
08-14-2011, 03:11 PM
#3
This is a picture taken and I am standing on turn 1 that is elevated about 3 - 4 feet. Looming out at the bottom right hand corner of the track to give an idea of the size.
Just another picture from on top of turn 1
I am once again standing on the table-top jump in turn 1, this is looming at the front straight away. Right side of the picture in the shade area is where the drivers stand will be. Please excuse the grass on the track, it will not be there ever again I promise!!!
Up by turn 1 looking down at the straight going downhill toward the big banked turn. It is wide and will be another 3 - 4 feet taller. Cut it really close and tight, or carry a lot of speed on the out side to try to pass! Yes it needs some work, but it will be groomed and sweet eventually!!!
I am just standing in the middle of the front straight going into turn 1. We need a goat for the patch on the front stretch! It is actually already gone though!
Just another picture looking up at turn 1 table-top. Drivers stand will be left of the big oak tree and partly under it for some shade and will be covered. Land sloaps down hill a good bit. If you are one a 12 foot tall drivers stand, the bottom of the track a 6 foot tall person will easily be 30 feet above the bottom at head level. You will be able to see no problem!!!
Yes the grass will be gone in a few minutes, just in time for me to get 2 battery packs through the SCTE!!!
08-14-2011, 03:13 PM
#5
As you can see it has some grass on it from not being ran on for 2 weeks but I have pulled most of it and sprayed. 1.5 hours after a monsoon and it is ready to run! It will look a lot better, however it is smooth right now, actually surprisingly smooth compared to the pictures.
08-14-2011, 06:02 PM
#6
Mike it looks like it will be a nice track and yes I can relate to all the work involved. Like we talked about the other day I think you should go with dirt on the jumps as well. You said you have some base dirt on site use that and top with good clay. Wood jumps sound nice for changing the track up but you can move dirt pretty quickly too with the right equipment. Good luck with your project and if there's questions you may have about track building or mistakes to avoid I'm your man. Just remember drainage, drainage, drainage!!!!!
08-14-2011, 07:07 PM
#9
Nope, you dont have to worry about that. There is only one neighbor across the street from the track and he could care less. We talked to him. Dirt jumps is is. We finished going over everything with Round Up tonight and I pulled every weed out there on the track and rolled it since it had just a little moisture in it from earlier. Flat, smooth and ready for some jumps next Sunday.
08-14-2011, 08:13 PM
#10
track
Mike, where is this track?.. i have the white 1/8 e buggy, and the truggy rc8t you fixed the frame brace..
...I have 6 acers of property you can get dirt ,if you need it.. I'm in seymour area.
I like the size of the jumps on the 2009 ifmar invitational nitrocross on youtube. Iwanna catch some air too..
...I have 6 acers of property you can get dirt ,if you need it.. I'm in seymour area.
I like the size of the jumps on the 2009 ifmar invitational nitrocross on youtube. Iwanna catch some air too..
08-15-2011, 05:04 AM
#11
In Strawberry Plains, right off of 11e. I think I have the dirt covered. I have a lot of fill dirt from the track and I still have 20 yards of sifted dirt from Claiborne Hauling. I will let you know if I need some more! I met you at Performance the other day.
08-15-2011, 06:20 AM
#12
mustaken id
I thought you was the other mike.. lol sorry but if you do need dirt let me know.. if I can come help I will.. lmk
Travis.
Travis.
10-23-2011, 04:55 PM
#14
Yes, I was out there most of the day today. It does not look like the pictures as there has been a lot of work done to it. I worked on widening it today and making more room for 15 ft. lanes. I am planning on having a Bobcat next weekend and I plan on adding another and grading another 30 x 80 foot area to make the track bigger so we will have a lot bigger straight away. Will be about like Dalton, I might be able to squeeze a little bit more length out of it. It is coming along, just have to find time to balance a pregnant wife, working 50+ hours right now, the usual stuff....... Plus I like racing on the weekends and that has taken some time away. The moisture in the ground soften it up and was able to get some stuff done.
10-23-2011, 06:30 PM
#15
nice are you going to have races on it and will it have a scoring system and if you are going to hold races what do you think you'll charge and one last thing directions please, i just want to see how far i live from the track thank you