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My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:50 am
by bladeszx2
As I have mentioned I'm at the begining stages of building an onroad track in my backyard. I cut it out and groomed it late last summer, and this spring I will pour my first slab of concrete. Until it is completely concreted, I'll be running rally cross cars like in the first photo. So far, even with only two cars running last year, the racing was door rubbing tight and loads of fun. This year I'll have five cars ready, so now I'll get to see how the width of the track really works.

Tell me what you guys think. I live in Dearborn Mi, so if any of you are in my neighborhood, give me a PM and stop by for some racing.

Ben

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 9:48 am
by shodog
I'm envious of that killer track, if it were me, I'd leave it dirt though.

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 10:05 am
by tiger1
lovely lovely track. I would love to run my cars there :)

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 10:31 am
by i crash cars
Look's awesome, how'd you sell that plan to the wife? :lol:

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:13 am
by bearrickster
thats cool

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:18 am
by shodog
i crash cars wrote:how'd you sell that plan to the wife? :lol:
Maybe he had to get "rid" of her hence the need for concrete :lol:

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:34 am
by tiger1
shodog wrote:
i crash cars wrote:how'd you sell that plan to the wife? :lol:
Maybe he had to get "rid" of her hence the need for concrete :lol:
Under the concrete? I thought the grass need nutrients more :mrgreen:

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 12:54 pm
by bladeszx2
Thanks for the nice compliments guys. I'll keep this thread updated as I work on it. As far as the wifes permission. She's just really awesome to me. Sometimes I forget that. I really need to get her some flowers.

Anyways, as far as leaving it dirt. I'm way ahead of you Shodog. I'm paving the whole track so I have a nice large onroad track, but all along I've planned on using the infield for dirt race track lanes. In the end there will be a Rallycross Cross over track that will have dirt portions in the infield and connect here and there to the onroad track. It will even have a bridge/tunnel crossover. If any of you have played DiRt or Ralli Sport Challenge on the Xbox you will know what I'm talking about. It's not going to be easy, but I think I can pull it off.

First comes first though, I need to learn how to lay super smooth concrete.

By the way if you guys can't tell from the pics, there's about a 2 foot elevation change. It's going to make laying the concrete that much harder, but if I pull it off, it should be really cool.

Ben

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:07 pm
by vintage racer
That is the coolest backyard track I have ever seen.My Brother and I have a grass oval in the backyard,its so good not having to drag all my gear to the tracks plus having cold drinks and food on hand is tops.I like the rally cross idea.Good luck in making it happen.You have done very well so far.

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:31 pm
by LowClassCC
look's good but my question is how wide is the lanes? looks like it might be 6 feet wide and smaller?

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:33 pm
by Lowgear
That looks really cool. It could be the angle the pictures were taken at but some sections look really narrow, and the majority of the turns look like hair pins. Thats also some heavy duty power lines you have going on there. I hope they don't cause any interference issues with anything.

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:56 pm
by dldiaz
Very nice. I have pipe-dreams about building a track in the yard... Maybe someday.

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 12:36 am
by Charlie don't surf
Cool, we have an offroad track in the back yard, great for the little ones :wink:

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:54 pm
by bladeszx2
Thanks for the compliments guys. I just got the go ahead from the boss(wife) to work on it a bit and pour that first slab of concrete. I'll keep you guys posted.

LowClassCC, the lane width is 4.5 feet all the way around the track. The pics are distorting it a bit.


Lowgear, I'm using old school(pre 1990) Futaba Magnum junior and Magnum sport controllers and so far so good.

Ben

Re: My track in my backyard

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:02 pm
by bladeszx2
Well everyone,

It's about time I provide a little update on my track, Blades Raceway International. I poured my first slab of concrete about 3 weeks ago, and am pretty darn happy with it. For never pouring or flaoting concrete before I think it came out pretty good and smooth. It's perfectly plum, and the surface is mostly smooth accept for a spot in the middle which is a little rough. I plan to go back an use floor leveler to smooth out these type of areas. Another milestone was hosting my first RallyCross race last weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures of the event at all except for the one big crash we did have. It broke my number one rule, no high speed crashes, but it was an accident, and the guys felt bad. No broken parts so it was all good. We had a good laugh at it, although it was pretty dramatic when it happened. I plan to pour my next slab in about two weeks to extend the current one. All in all both the concrete and the race seem to be a success. I'll keep you guys posted as I progress.

Ben