Dirt track

[Lee Martin]

Hi all,

I want to build a dirt track @ LM Raceway, First of all, who knows where i can find some red clay? by the lorry load?

Also who wants to help build it? either via investment or help?

Lee:thumbsup:

[ben]

Hmmm. Is it worth doing lee with the british weather?

[Lee]

Olly webb knows where to get the dirt pidge, how much do you need and will it be undercover?

Speak to me boy ;)

[ben]

What was aire valley like when it rained?

ben

[Chris Doughty]

Defo get in touch with Olly Webb!

[James]

What was aire valley like when it rained?

ben


pants , but they oiled it, the EA would lock you up if you did it now :eh?:

[footey]

sounds a great idea but recon it must be covered BUT id love to race on it:thumbsup:

[Garry Driffill]

Defo coverd would be the best as our Brittish weather sucks !

[spenner]

To help get a dirt track in the uk i will give you help lee...

Is this for 8th or 10th ???? or both..
Maybe we can have a euro's or even better a worlds!!! bout time UK held a big meeting again!!!

[David Church]

I will be happy to help Lee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:thumbsup:

[MK999]

I might be able to make it down occassionally to help, would depend on dates and stuff and how much cash i have that week :p be awesome to see a dirt track though, it's about the only surface that seems to come naturally to me :thumbsup:

[Wraggy]

i will be there with a helping hand Dude .:thumbsup:

[jordi15]

covered would be cool and 1:8/1:10 compatable (modular) would be even cooler!!:woot:

[Lee Martin]

im thinking hopefully cactus size.

i will get in touch with oly.

Covering well thats a prob, but maybe with investment from external sources and we can get it going.... it would have to house 8th aswell...as the lack of interest in the tracvk i have is quite annoying! so maybe a 10th only just doesnt cut it anymore! :-(

[Garry Driffill]

Would it be the only indoor dirt track in the UK? - well aswell as the place NEO was held at?

[Wraggy]

it wouldnt have to be fully enclosed i guess? just a roof on it to shelter the rain and whatever else we get in this country..
im sure we have enough people interested in this as it would the the only one of its kind in the UK.
Maybe if we have enough interested in putting there hand in there pockets and then come to some sort of arrangement that they can come up for free practice for 6 months or so for the financial input they put in ??

maybe get some quotes together Lee and we can get are heads together..

[Southwell]

We had a quote for putting a vinyl or something roof on our quad at work which is about the size of an 10th track, maybe a bitter smaller, it was about 35k i think. But anyway im there to help.

[losixxx]

what happened to it being cml raceway?

[Lee Martin]

i thought u had vanished southwell!

nah roof only would be cheaper than 35k......

you can have a whole building for that!

[Lee Martin]

The track is still CML...but the house and grounds and tracks in them/hardwork are mine!

[Southwell]

We get ripped off then lol.

Nah, just had some stuff on, back at stotfold!

[Garry Driffill]

Lee what sort of features in the track would you put in?

Like features from other tracks that you have raced on abroad, like them "mogles things" from the Japan worlds just gone...

[Lee Martin]

Well, not really thought. but it would be very american.

fast rollers.
step ups.
berms.
triples
doubles
fast step downs
whoops

[Chris Doughty]

and with it being dirt you can just get the track rotavatored and re-rolled into some new shapes!

I looked into the places to get the semi perminant festival type dome/tent things, that would be pretty ace! should fit an RC track under there and have enough through ventilation if needed

[cjm_2008]

I've been thinking about how to do this very thing for quite a while.

imagine guaranteed dry racing all year round - it'd be immense, and a lot of people would travel to race, as you'd know exactly what was in store.

and any resident model shop would be likely to make a small killing selling bits onsite.

don't tiverton have a barn they race in?

some farmer somewhere must have an empty barn of suitable size that they'd be willing to rent out.

the ultimate solution would be a pre-fab steel structure (like a large industrial unit) with a retractable transparent roof, so you could landscape and put down grass - open the roof to feed the grass, and the transparency gives the light required.

how grippy is dry astro?

I'm going to buy lottery tickets this weekend.

[Chris Doughty]

I've been thinking about how to do this very thing for quite a while.

imagine guaranteed dry racing all year round - it'd be immense, and a lot of people would travel to race, as you'd know exactly what was in store.

and any resident model shop would be likely to make a small killing selling bits onsite.

don't tiverton have a barn they race in?

some farmer somewhere must have an empty barn of suitable size that they'd be willing to rent out.

the ultimate solution would be a pre-fab steel structure (like a large industrial unit) with a retractable transparent roof, so you could landscape and put down grass - open the roof to feed the grass, and the transparency gives the light required.

how grippy is dry astro?

I'm going to buy lottery tickets this weekend.


seriously.... if its coevered why would you bother with grass or astro?? :eh?:

[cjm_2008]

seriously.... if its coevered why would you bother with grass or astro?? :eh?:

because wet grass soon turns to a muddy slippery mess :)

dirt would be easier to maintain though - and a nice change.

[Lee Martin]

dirts just the best form of racing1 the ultimate!!!! Grass suxxxxxxx

[James]

What size structure are you thinking of, about 100 x 80 ft ?

[millzy]

we only have you word on that dude

half of us will never get to race on what you do in the us and europ.

so if your willing to put the effort in so us joes can taste the dirt racin then i say good for you and go for it

[Chris Doughty]

because wet grass soon turns to a muddy slippery mess :)

dirt would be easier to maintain though - and a nice change.

thats the thing, we only race on grass and astro because of our weather.

if weather is a not a problem as its indoors then why would you not choose dirt?

[sparrow.2]

and with it being dirt you can just get the track rotavatored and re-rolled into some new shapes!

Wish it was quite that easy :D

Even a small jump about 2m wide will require about 10-15 wheelbarrows full of dirt and you have to remove it before rotavating it or it just doesn't go away and becomes a small hill...

Unless you are going to tip something like sodium hydrochloride on the track to get it to bind you are going to have a very dusty tent! You can get the dust binding chemicals at morrison mud co in Wareham. That stuff will make the track last a whole lot longer and you will get a nice blue-groove. corners don't break up as much either.

[cjm_2008]

... because a lot of us are already used to racing on grass, and we quite like it.

"I raced on grass and I liked it" (currently number 1 in the uk singles charts).

wouldn't a compacted dirt track require a big set up change, including a new set of proline tyres which come with the associated kits and normally end up in the bin :woot:?

what's the wear rate like on dirt?

[millzy]

nothing more than what we used ot do at tivy

drop the oil 5 is brown fronts green rears

walla one working b4 on dirt

[Richard Lowe]

wouldn't a compacted dirt track require a big set up change, including a new set of proline tyres which come with the associated kits and normally end up in the bin :woot:?

what's the wear rate like on dirt?
Yep, setups and tyres are very different. Tyre wear depends on the dirt's condition, sometimes on blue/black groove slicks are the tyre to have the grip is that high (!)

[Chris Doughty]

'indoor' grass is rubbish, its like racing on a grass track with constant dew and moisture all over it.

on dirt front tires last for ever, and depending on the type of dirt and how wet/dry it is rears can last a similar length of time to schumacher or ballistic on grass or astro.

racing on dirt is much more fun

[Kopite]

'indoor' grass is rubbish, its like racing on a grass track with constant dew and moisture all over it.



ahh, indoor grass. Did you ever race at Worcester (Malvern) at the three counties showground? They had that huge indoor track that had grass, polished wood etc.... huge effort made to be fair!

[Lee]

Have to agree here, the US style dirt tracks are awesome, lots of fun to drive, and very rewarding when you get it right.

I didnt enjoy the collegno track personally but i know others did.

What would be the ideal sized warehouse for a track?;)

[footey]

it would need to be big lee as it needs track and pitting space

[Lee]

I know but if we have a 5000 sq ft track (100ft x 50ft) and then a 10000 sq ft space for pitting that is still a very small warehouse. I can get a 70,000 sq ft one tomorrow if anyone wants but its not cheap :(

[Chris Doughty]

ahh, indoor grass. Did you ever race at Worcester (Malvern) at the three counties showground? They had that huge indoor track that had grass, polished wood etc.... huge effort made to be fair!

Certainly did, wet grass that then made the polished wood sections wet, was an absolute ice-fest... not great...

but massive effort for sure!

If I could go back in time and race on a track with the cars I have not I would love to go back to the British GP at the NEC, early 90's I think it was. I didn't appricaite how ace that track actually was back then. - does anyone have any photos of it? it was part of a huge model expo going on.

and regarding pitting - if the only way to get an indoor dirt track was to have ONLY the track covered then thats fine, I really don't mind putting my own tent up and pitting in that.

think of the EXTRA cost of making it big enough for pitting is not worth it

[cjm_2008]

I know but if we have a 5000 sq ft track (100ft x 50ft) and then a 10000 sq ft space for pitting that is still a very small warehouse. I can get a 70,000 sq ft one tomorrow if anyone wants but its not cheap :(

how much for a 5000 square foot?

like mr doughty says, people can pit outside.

[James]

...........

[jordi15]

I think its pretty obvious Lee that if you built a huge, covered dirt track which was suitable for 10ths and 8ths you would get huge amounts of support!

Rallycross is sooo popular at the moment as you know and with more new cars being released all the time I can only see the class growing even more so "build it and they will come" ..... my lad would love to get on a 'Farm' style track!!

[sparrow.2]

@ pidge

It's all good and well building a nice track in your garden but are you also going to invest in some serious sound-proofing and double-glazing for your house if you're going to have 1/8th scale buggies blasting past your living room window all day :woot:

[spenner]

The track would prob be in one of his fields out the back just past the forest.......
Plus there is already the multi surface track outside his bedroom door!!!!

[GRIFF55]

Lee, i think your in the right area of the country to do this too! People would come from every area to drive it as you pretty central. Why don't you have a ring around your contacts and see if you could drum up some sponsorship for it. Complete model car comlex in your garden:thumbsup:
Where do i sign to become a lifetime member(that would be a cash generator):thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Garry Driffill]

Would CML be able to help you out Lee?

[Col]

Lee, i think your in the right area of the country to do this too! People would come from every area to drive it as you pretty central.

It would appear not to matter where in the country the track is.
I've been told that CML is already one of the best in the country and Lee said earlier that he's struggling to get people to race there. This is no different, Turn out will be big for a few months and then the novelty will wear off, just like has already happened.

[ben]

Well i think it would be a big hitter col. Being the only dirt track in the country.

[Col]

I wish it would be, Ben, but what is needed is a loyal turnout of regular racers. A load of F1 drivers out for a novelty race a few time a year just doesn't make it worth doing

[MK999]

CML raceway is pretty unique in itself already, I didn't appreciate it at first as it was the first track I raced on, but after doing the national series the relatively smooth, technical, more defined american style features of CML is a really nice layout to race on compared to the typical UK style bumpy surface with more smooth rolling jumps and 'natural' features, and for some reason it still doesn't get the attendance it deserves.

Would have to be a lot of effort to get a following, but the clanfields meeting a little while ago on dirt was relatively successful, although I know Pidge wanted a larger turnout and was a little disappointed.

I know myself an American style track on dirt would be the most appealing surface to me to race on. :thumbsup:

[emtee]

BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME.....

[bbq]

who knows where i can find some red clay? by the lorry load?



Ask a tennis club where they get there red sand?

[sosidge]

You don't see many clay courts in the UK (not sure I have ever seen one - although they have one in every village in France it seems).

They are all real grass (only at the posh clubs), hard, or synthetic grass. A bit like UK outdoor toy car tracks!

[RogerM]

Oli Webb was trying to sort an indoor clay venue .... might be worth talking to him as it wouldn't be too far from the CML track IIRC.