Carpet Indoor Tracks
 

I have a few question guys,

What is the best carpet for indoor tracks??

How long do they last??

Do traction compounds deteriorate the carpet??

I have tried searching for older posts but they were all very old (before 2005).


Thanks

The best carpet to use is CRC carpet, which as far as I know is the only special made Ozite and uses material and glue which will not be degraded by tire sauce. How long the rug lasts is dependant on how you use it, with 100 entries twice a week the rug wont last as long as, say, 20 entries once a week, and with lax rules on ride height and screws under the chassis you may pick up a few tears, but overall the carpet is likely to last as long as it is needed even if isn't 100% perfect anymore.

Thanks for the quick reply!!

Yeah, I have contacted CRC and received a quote from them. Just trying to see if there are other alternatives before we take the jump.

Has anyone else been successful with other carpets other than CRC's ozite??

Me and my buddies have been running on straight up office carpet ( the blue kind ) and it has been fine. Traction is not all that great, but we run HPI x pattern tires and it works surprisingly well. No static electricity, and it is durable. Lot of fun to run on, and it is CHEAP.

I've heard of tracks using other carpet and having traction issues so people wouldn't race there. I have heard of people showing up to a track looking at the carpet seeing it being off and just leaving pissed. Do it once the right way.

Be strict on the ride height and don't use 5 different traction compounds or it just becomes a slick.

:nod:

Our track (CRC carpet that I think is now in its second year) is strictly jack the gripper / sxt 3.0 / sticky fingers, with only motor spray, simple green, and water permitted for tire cleaning.

It's a temporary track (we only roll it out on race nights), so traction is definitely a bit different from one night to the next, and it comes up some throughout the night. But even on off nights, traction is still medium with good driveability.

When we change layouts once a year, it only takes 1-2 race nights to bring up a nice groove.

On our previous carpet (not sure if that was CRC carpet or not), we used Paragon Ground Effects with Traction action spray. Grip tended to be finicky, either not quite as high as we wanted, or flypaper traction rolls, and either the foam or rubber tires (can't remember which) didn't really agree with the sauce very well. Spraying the traction action indoors also gave people some serious headaches.

The club is definitely much happier now. :tire:

EDIT: I think another decision factor was that CRC carpet with Jack the Gripper (and compatible) sauce is basically the standard for USA national-level carpet events, including IIC. So having that environment at our local track better prepares the dozen or so fast guys that attend one or more of those events each year.

-Mike

i was wondering what the benefit of building a sub floor under the carpet is? prob. common knowledge but I am not in the know..

There aren't many things that I really hate in RC, but that is one of them. I'm a big believer in, the track is what it is, my challenge as a driver is to achieve a set-up for it and drive it to the best of my ability. People who won't drive a track because it's not up to their standard annoy me.

Sure, it's nice to have things the way you're used to, but part of the challenge of this sport is adapting. Not every club is going to have the money to buy "the best" but with support from the racing community they'll get in a position to do so more quickly. Most club tracks are a compromise in some way, but that's what makes it interesting. Having the same thing everywhere would be boring.

My local track just redid the track with a sub floor. What I have noticed since the change is that traction seems to come up sooner and stays more consistent. Before the sub floor the carpet was just laid down on the concrete floor.

+1 :nod:

They're always the sort of people who never help out at their local track and moan when something isn't 'just so'

Skiddins

Most clubs in the UK run PrimaTrack GT, which I've heard is very similar, performance wise, to CRC.
The problem with CRC for us would be that it has to be shipped from the US.

Skiddins

Who sells the PrimaTrack?

Vaughans of Leicester.

You'd have the same shipping problem though, delivery is expensive enough in the UK lol.

What material did you use for the sub floor??

Yeah, I agree with you. We are just trying to get the best alternative for long term. We don't want to invest in a Home Depot carpet and find out it only lasted 1 season and grip was horrendous.

The current warehouse's floor is polished concrete which makes grip non-existent. We have looked into cheaper alternatives, but again, we don't want to invest money into something others have already tried and failed.

I again, thank everyone for their input. We are currently trying to find a discarded carpet from hotels or centers as a temporary fix.

I do have seen some tracks made of carpet tiles, has anyone had experience with that??

CRC Fast Track is the only way to go in this hemisphere. The consistency and durability are unmatched. The stuff has been constantly refined for our specific use, and it shows.

My club track is straight on the concrete, but I have a little experience with carpet on a subfloor as well. :D The BEST thing about a subfloor is that with some shimming here and there, you can create a pooltable smooth surface. The subfloor also lends itself to a little more consistency in traction from week to week. Temperature variations seem to have a less pronounced effect on bite with a subfloor, but a well regulated temp in your facility makes a concrete based track pretty agreeable too.