nitrous36

Driven your car on an unprepped track before??? I went to practice at a track once and chose a non race/practice day so Id have the track to myself. This meant the track wasnt prepped either. I didnt think about that til getting there. I cleaned the track a bit to run the car anyway. I thought it should still hook enough to hold decent lines. So I put some traction compound on and begin running.

It was like driving on ice. And couldnt keep a line for nothing. But I did become good at controlling drifts though.

SteveM

iTrader: (165)

Yup...been there...done that. My club's outdoor on-road season this year had very low attendance and at the last 'race' there was zero prep. The asphalt wasn't swept, there was no sugar water applied and we didn't even have the computer and lap counting system setup. Those of us that showed up put the boards out and we then just goofed around. Traction was actually not too bad and I ran my TA06 Pro with the HPI VTA tires and my TB04 Pro with a set of used Sorex 28R tires and traction was fine for both. Mind you, both of my cars had 21.5 motors so speeds weren't blinding. What disappointed was that we still had to pay fees.

locked

iTrader: (1)

Steve, the prop wash from all the planes going in and out of the hangar probably keep that pad from getting too dusty. I was playing around with my Mod TC between rounds when I was there for the CIC offroad race. It was a bit drifty, but nowhere close to as bad as the average street or parking lot.

Amazing what a bit of sugar water will do. Nitrous, if you find yourself in this situation again, go to the store and get a couple of 2L bottles of grape soda. Take the cap off one and cut a small slot in the cap with a hobby knife. Put cap back on bottle, point at racing line and give a bit of a shake. You can give the track a nice sticky misting fairly easily.

SteveM

iTrader: (165)

locked, we might have had decent traction due to the heavy rain a day earlier that likely washed away some dust and dirt. The runway for the small planes is too far away to benefit from prop wash unfortunately. Indoor on carpet starts this weekend and I hope attendance picks up.

locked

iTrader: (1)

It was fairly rainy that weekend. Could have definitely made a difference, but I noticed the planes that park on the pad going in and out quite frequently and when they taxi on and off the pad they still produce a fair bit of wind. Perhaps prop wash was not the correct term though.

Hope attendance picks up for you guys. I'll probably come out for that race in December and hope to bring a few guys with me.

SteveM

iTrader: (165)

The planes that are on the pad are pushed off manually. I hope that on-road changes for the better in Ottawa and that turnout picks up again.

daleburr

Yep, all the time. I think only one track in the UK requires prep, the rest are never prepped and have decent grip once a few cars are running and the track cleans up. If I do a practice day on my own then I usually sweep the track and after a couple of runs I can start testing things.

I think its down to the type of tarmac (asphalt) used. UK tracks normally use tarmac with quite small individual stones, but the stones themselves are quite rough. This gives decent and consistent grip (at least according to an F1 tyre expert). What you don't want are the large smooth stones more normally used on roads.

I know of one track that used the wrong type when it was first built and had zero grip... so they relaid it.

nitrous36

Yeah I wished I had thought of that. But I was already there and was like, "well Im here, work with what you got and make the best of it". My only other solution after sweeping and sweeping was more traction compound. :lol It sucked and I was dissapointed. The only good thing about it was me getting good at controling power slides on corner exit. I didnt have my shims with me to adjust more rear toe in at the rear to counter that. I believe my setup at the time was a little tail happy, which I fixed.


I bet it made the racees interesting though.