How to make a track

[jonelzoe]

How can I make a track in my own backyard:D

I need some ideas!

[looker2756]

The hard way ! Shovel & some buckets ....
The Easy way ! Rent or get a bobcat skidsteer loader.

I have a track in my back yard. It's a ton of work to make. Then it's maintenance that keeps costing money & time.

[pedeboi364]

really? lol, i chose shovel and buckets (+some other stuff) and used old small logs i found around the woods in my backyard (where my track is) so far, the only thing i have to do to run on it is go around it once with a rake and groom it. its cost me absolutely nothing but time and hard work but its definately worth it! my track is now to small for my brushless stampede so it will be my rc18t track and i will be building a new track for my stampede in the same woods, lol.

[OldSchoolRC]

i made mine entire by hand, and it was a ton of work...plenty worth it in the long run though. Best advice i can give is figure out what you want first - a racing track? crawler track? scale? size? Then take the time to make a solid plan before even lifting a shovel. feel free to improvise as you go, but planning it out (layout, materials and where to get them, etc) makes a huge difference.

[looker2756]

I totally agree. The planning stage was very important for me as well. I had to decide in the first year I did not have enough time or money to make mine as big as it has become. So it took a second year of work & more planning. By year 3 It's sweet !! Got tons of room & can configure it in not a ton of time. Still !! With the bigger area, comes more maintenance & $$. I had over $ 400.00 in fuel for my tractors & weed killer alone in 1 good year. Kinda makes you wonder if your buddys need to come & run for free huh ! Oh well for over 4 years now it has been there mainly for me, but there have been many groups come & have a run on it. We mainly race 1/5 scale oval on it right now. We'll see what it becomes in the spring ? With an area of 230' x 90' got plenty of room to play with :D

In reality though it is quite a job to build & maintain one, but well worth it. It's nice to have a place to practice driving insert name here.
Give it a try & see what you come up with ....

[mx757]

here is what i know about building stuff from when i rode bmx.
1) bury stuff. It is mush easier to move logs, buckets, rocks, bricks etc than it is to dig out and move dirt. use whatever you can find to build jumps quicker and with less work.
2) allow room for expansion. If you are going to build a series of jumps, leave a bit of space between the landing of one and the lip of the next. that way if you figure out that the jumps are too small all you have to do is move the landings and not the landings and faces.
3) build after it rains. wet dirt is much easier to dig up, and packs much better.

[pedeboi364]

mx757 put that into a good perspective, however, i disagree with your moving stuff idea. As it may be easier to move things over dig up and move dirt, dirft it the way to go as you will have the ability to "fine tune" the jumps' curve, lip, run-up, etc. and it stays where it's supposed to stay much better as well. But for the first stage i would just make up some plans and mock it up with whatever you have lying around, KEEP IN MIND THAT YOUR BUGGY NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO FIT INTO THE LANES!!!!!! if your lanes are to thin, your buggy will go everywhere that you dont want it to go-i found this out the hard way after i went BL on my stampede and tried to race it on my track that better suits my rc18t.

[mx757]

I get what youre saying but you can use the dirt to shape it once its built up. i usually make a sort of wedge slope to build the jumps. Also for rc cars sine they are light you can use plywood and set it up on a brick or cinder block just like you used to as a kid for your bike. just remember its still going to take work to shape everything the way you want.
Also long rythym sections are great. build a section with 8 bumps 2 feet high and 5-7 feet apart and you can do all sorts of cool stuff with it. you can go 2-2-2-2, 2-3-3, 2-2-4, or 4-4 depending on the run you have into it. look at motocross and supercross tracks. they have a lot of cool sections that you can replicate fairly easily.

[pedeboi364]

once again i must agree with mx757, there are a lot of things that you could easily replicate from larger scale tracks (such a AVT or MX) however, you dont have to make your whoops section THAT huge (keep in mind i think hes around 11-12 years old)

[looker2756]

I for one, know that age is a factor for all of us. Money is another huge factor. Enough space to build is another issue. The ideas of looking to big tracks for good layouts & set-ups is great. Many of us are limited by some or all of these issues. I say do the best with what you have & enjoy having fun.

[pedeboi364]

amen, lol. ya, my area isn't very large as it is woods COVERED with leaves (about 6" deep) and full of trees and other crud...soooo, i say we build another track!!!

[jonelzoe]

pedeboi im 13:D

[pedeboi364]

o, lol, im 13 on jan. 14!!!!lol, yaaaaaay!!!...but ur still a noob

[mx757]

if you can, and have friends that are into it as well, see if they will help out as much as possible as well. maybe even print some flyers with your phone # on them saying you need help. im sure theres a lot of drivers out there looking for a place to run, and would come help out if they can run on what they help build. they can also bring other ideas as to layout and what kind of jumps to build.

[pedeboi364]

well...so far me and my dad are the only ones that may help him. We are in MA and let me tell you, there is NO ONE in MA that is older and into RC...kinda sad cuz we have a great hobby shop in a heighboring town...

[jonelzoe]

ya i cant find many older people than me that lives near me and is into rc but my neighbors new some people so maybe i can ask them one day

[jonelzoe]

also i have a huge space to play around with i have a 4 acre backyard and half of it is filled with leaves, bushes and weeds :D which i can use for a track

[pedeboi364]

lol, it'll take a while to clean out but the bigger the better, and it can be pretty big seeing that ur running a nitro buggy

[pottsgroverc]

To conserve on space and work area...now this only works if you are running one of two cars a time. Make you lanes overlap, like a figure 8. that way you can get more distance out of a smaller area. You can even double back on your straights. Also, prebuilding your jumps out of wood (plywood) is a good idea I still use. Saves on dirt moving, and if (and when) you want to change your track configuration. You can just clean off the dirt, and move your jump. Remember to build outside lips on your jumps. This will keep the dirt from creeping off.