Help building home rc track

[mwe-maxxowner]

I work a part-time weekday job with a local landscaping crew. We have a 1-ton dumptruck with a 12-foot dumpbed I'm welcome to any time I'd like to borrow it. I can also get the bossman to get me a deal on dirt...

So I've been thinking, BUILD MY OWN OFF_ROAD TRACK WOOOO lol!
I can get clean-fill dirt his price for around 11 dollars a ton, and the dumptruck we have he says can haul around 4 tons at least. I figure one load would be enough to make a decent track, and I would like some help in designing and building my own rc off-road track. It will mainly have an e-maxx, stampede, and mini revo run on it. I was hoping some people who have also built there own track can give me some tips. It would be really great to have some pictures to go by, and maybe even some dimensions and stuff. It'll just be behind my daddy's house, so it doesn't have to be perfect and up to any exact specs or anything, just hopefully a fun somewhat challenging track that's designed well enough it can actually be navigated. We also have access to a skidsteer if need be. My guess is we can rough it in with the bobcat and then fine tune it all by hand.

[Smasher!]

Never built my own track, but laid the plans out in Google Sketch up 7. I recommend you get it, it works wonders.
Here is a picture. My track, being the blue one, my friends(Jeff, traxxasfanatic on here) being the beige one.


I would love to make my track one day..but who knows. MY track(left one) you'll notice is inset, which is just showing the walls or pipes(what ever you use) to line the track.

Hope it gives you an idea, if not, ignore it.

[mwe-maxxowner]

Wow, that does help a lot. Is there any way you can send me a link with those pics full-size, or e-mail them to me in a larger size? My e-mail is culedood3@juno.com. Hey don't laugh at it I made that up a looooong time ago lol!

[Smasher!]

No Problem, check your pm.

[Orgnoi1]

rent a bobcat or something similar... preferably at least a S130 or larger... you will certainly kick yourself if you dont... your dirt price is pretty good... but understand that you will be using a LOT of dirt... so plan on quite a few of your size dumptruck loads... we plan on adding to our track and will require at LEAST 22t more dirt...

[hotrodMAXX]

i designed that track a couple years ago but got out of rc for the most part before i ever got it built.
and mine is also supposed to be inset the picture just doesnt show it.
the inside was never going to be water it was just a different color to show the boundaries better lol

the picture isnt the greatest in the world just gives a general idea.
i had a bunch of pictures but my computer crashed and this was all i had on photobucket

[moneymano97]

also when you build your track you should build alittle area that overseas the track like a drivers stand

[Mc-Roux]

I'm wondering for the one here who build a track. If you already have the space to build one. How much deos it cost. If you add up all the dirt, wood, etc. Because it must be quite expensive. If I had space to build one I would do it.

[mwe-maxxowner]

Thanks guys! I think we're just gonna try to do what we can with two loads of dirt (8 tons) to begin with, then maybe add to it a little at a time later on.
We'll just use black landscaping pipe to form the boundaries, and drive out of the back of a pickup truck for now lol (we have one that sits about eye level at the bumpers). We won't need to rent a bobcat, we have access to a t190 that we can borrow for free, as well as another bobcat someone else my daddy knows owns, but don't know what that one is. How wide are the lanes in most of these pictures you fellas are posting?

[emaxxman2]

I tried but failed miserably.

[Smasher!]

Mine(the left one) I think I made it about 4 feet. I didn't measure exactly(even though you can in Google Sketch Up). You have to have it big enough, to fit a lot of cars/trucks.

[boomgagem]

I would go at least 8 ft wide lanes.

Plan on getting some corrugated pipe, you can search craigslist, and check local plumbing places to see if they have any damaged stuff. I got most of my pipe free. And the pipe I did have to buy was .38 a foot. So about $40 for a 100 ft roll.

If you have a skidsteer, try and put the track on a 4º slope, it helps water drainage.

I would also get ahold of a plate tamp, once the track is through to pack the dirt. I would also use quality RED clay. Fill dirt around here has alot of top soil and sand in it. Stay away from top soil.

Spread out some salt before you bring in any red dirt, that will help with grass growing. Don't finalize any jumps until you are sure that each truck can make it.

[dumplin1078]

boomgagem made some good points plan in advance for drainage or you will regret it. I wasn't around when our track was built, and I'm not sure I would have thought about it anyway, but we have a problem with areas of our track washing out. If I was going to build one I would build the center up and build drains into it so that the water wouldn't have to flow across the track. Our lanes are 12' wide and believe me when you are wide open and have more than one or two trucks that don't seem that wide.

Definetly use good dirt, makes all the differnce, and you will more than likely need a way to water the track in the summer, or you will have nothing but a dust bowl. We put calcium on our track and it really helps it hold in the moisture. Good luck.

[mwe-maxxowner]

I don't think it will need to be all that wide, my younger brother, my daddy, and I will be the only people ever running on it. I think it would be best and easiest to make it one bobcat pass wide, and just cut the grass off on the flat parts of the lanes, and use the purchased dirt only for building the jumps, and a little here and there to be sure the lanes run off water, as mentioned. How about the jumps themselves? How high/far apart, etc. I think it'd be cool to have maybe one triple, other than that I don't have any specific desires, maybe one tabletop and the rest I dunno. My daddy has tamps for his concrete business, so tamping it would be easy for us to do as well. I think the dirt we priced is mostly red dirt, so that will help. My landscaping boss can get us black corrugated pipe pretty cheap also, and has lots of it laying around I could probably just work off by donating a few hours one day.

We have to deal a lot with erosion control/fixing when we're working, so I'll have the bossman check it out and give his opinions on making sure we've got the runoff planned right. It will be in the middle of a large flat field, so I don't think it will have a lot of problem with running water messing it up.
Thanks a lot for the help guys!

[moneymano97]

build the take off ramp of the jump then see how far the Car/Trucks will go..

Take the spots on where they land and average them all but make sure they can all clear them.

[jjshbetz11]

Gonna want the width of the lanes wider than that of a skid steer's bucket width. 8' is a good starting point. Always keep drainage in mind, If U have access to a sight level the better. Going to need some sort of driving stand, the truck bed is a better start than none but U will come to notice that it evently won't do. Also a pit lane will be needed. I would advise not to tamp the track because U want the rocks to surface so u can remove them. A rockhound would be awesome, with sterolized, shredded dirt. I wouldn't worry too much about grass growing, just try to get any local clay, if at all possible stay away from sand mixture. The time it takes to make the type of soil U need is cheaper than screened topsoil. It should make it possible to find your medium cheaper, just shop around. For the driver's stand, keep your eye open for old barns(if in your area) being torn down. Make the lane markers out of drain tile, think thats what U guys were talking about.
Dang, haven't been on this sight in about 2 years, noticed some old names. Even though I don't do the traxxas thing anymore, got to admit this is probally the most active rc thread I've ever seen.

[mwe-maxxowner]

Okay, we'll shoot for 8' to start and go from there. There's a track close to me in rockhill, SC, I'm thinking about checking it out and driving on it a little to get some ideas and see if I like its design. I've never even seen a track in person till I found it a few weeks ago, and of course never driven on one. So I'm excited to say the least lol. I'm sure we'll end up modifying the track a little here and there later on, but I'd like it set up decent at the start so we can focus on having some fun!

[jjshbetz11]

If I were U (wish I was and had the land for a track) I would put a verry high banked corner off of a straight going into a small straight going into a tight corner. The idea comes from my local track witch was a blast. The tight corner at the end of the small straight let to bottle necking witch was real fun.

[mwe-maxxowner]

I'll keep that in mind, and I can use 6x6's to build a wall on the outside of the banked turn like we do on some of our houses to hold the dirt and keep it from washing off the backside.

[jjshbetz11]

Timbers would make a good retension for the bank. You would also need tree steaks or 2 by 4's to stick vertically out of the top of the bank so you can put a type of wall so the vechiles don't catch the lip and fly off. At my local track, they used some sort of plastic like cardboard. The buggies would literally walk the wall on the bank.

[Orgnoi1]

our Bobcat is only a 463 (S70) so we had to make a little more than a swipe to make our track wide enough... so in some areas its probably 6ft and some 8.... some as little as 48" (Bobcat width)...

Heres a shot of our place:
http://trj-rc.fotopic.net/p62303203.html

and a couple more here:
http://trj-rc.fotopic.net/c1786127.html

I really didnt make plans to make it... I just had a rough idea and went for it... in the spring we plan on redoing a lot of the new section (far right) and adding a lot... plus adding a drivers stand as well...

[dumplin1078]

Originally Posted by mwe-maxxowner

We have to deal a lot with erosion control/fixing when we're working, so I'll have the bossman check it out and give his opinions on making sure we've got the runoff planned right. It will be in the middle of a large flat field, so I don't think it will have a lot of problem with running water messing it up.
Thanks a lot for the help guys!

Our is in the middle of a flat field too, and we've had a heck of a time with water drainage. Even if you are just using it to play around on, it will get aggravating having to constantly make repairs.

[jjshbetz11]

thats why drainage is so important.... If you purchaced land on a mass quanty, odds are the previous owner or city, county, or whatever has it set to drain. land in most cases, has a high point therefor the sight level comes in handy to find the highpoint of the land. Then u build from there. If U have access to a skid steer or tractor, use it to make dirt off in the distance. Heck dig a pond, then if u don't plan on changing the plans of the track u can set up an irrigation system for the track.

[mwe-maxxowner]

lol, Daddy's not gonna let me dig a pond on his land (the track's going at the back of his 3 acres). That'd be nice though! I think the biggest problem with water will be making sure that there're no bad low spots that hold water, and I guess keeping up with the jumps themselves to make sure they don't start washing away. The biggest thing I believe I'm gathering is give the lanes a little camber so the water runs off of them, and try to guide whatever runoff that may be flowing by around the track instead of through it. Make sure the lanes are around 8 feet wide, and set up the jumps so you're not landing smack in the middle of one, all that right?

[jjshbetz11]

Wellif u set your track at the highest point of the track U can grade it accordingly. Say for instance if U add dirt to the highest point( say 12-20yds.) U can build the remaining track for a certain said distance above the normal grade. Meaning the track at the orogional level can have a slop pit with drain tile under the track at the begining of the slop pit following the natural slope of the terrain and draining at the lowest part of the track, ya feel me? basically raise the highest part of the natural terrain so U can have a slop pit at the natural highest point so all water drains down with minimal excavating. Ore say point A is the highest, so U put the said amount of fill ojn that point raising that point up further. then make a slop pit when the raised area bottoms out to the natural slope, then let gravity take its course.

[traxxasfanatic]

I found out that the best way to plan for a track is to get some thing to make a outline like string or hose.Then make the layout and try running on it if you like it then you can work with it like that or like smasher said try using google sketch up. Just make something close to what your lay out looked like and go from there. Also I found it helpfull to sketch out a design on graph paper.

Here's what I sketched out on graph paper and a pic of how my back yard track actually came out.




Also if you have google sketch up I have a few track layouts that I made using sketch up if you want the files to look at or work with.

[WhiteTyger75]

Here is a design that I've been playing with.

I'm hoping to be able to build a track once I arrive at my duty location in Iraq. It's been a few years since I was over there and I'm not certain what kind of turf I'll be dealing with. I do however remember all of the talculm powder dust!

Because I don't know if I'll be able to compact the dirt in order to make the jumps, I have planned for the possibility of making the jumps out of (ply)wood. That way it will require a lot less sandbags to be filled and I can easily adjust the jumps to accomidate the way the truck move over them. The double level jump near the pit lane is adjustable so that the second "hill" can be moved closer to or further away from the first. (Design sheet available by PM)

The notes in the upper left corner shows that one graph square equals 12". This puts the lanes at 4 feet across and the entire track covering an area of 40' x 30'. By simply altering the square to equal 18" or 24" you can get 6' or 8' lanes.

[emaxxman2]

danfd that is a nice sketch. let's see it in real life now...

[Wichita RC Race]

Area 160 x 100
Base aprox. 130 tons
Jumps aprox 40 tons
Image will update in a few days. We will open 2nd week in April.
It is groomed up nice right now just havent took picture yet


check out site look in gallery for designs

Use goggle layout for blueprint dimision it then just lay it out per dimisions and you got it

[Rusty+Jump=Fun!]

You might have ideas for tracks here: http://monster.traxxas.com/showthread.php?t=488802