Setting up an impromptu temporary track?

[flipwils11]

Anyone have any advice on some supplies to get something set up for 1/10th scale? I would need to be able to drive a short distance in our neighborhood and have it fit in the back of my wife's SUV. So a few things sticking out of the back isn't the end of the world.

It has to be easy enough to take down and set up, but I was hoping to have a jump or two and some barriers to make a decent track layout with turns and dividers.

The local indoor track seems to use a lot of plastic borders that look similar to landscaping supplies like you see at Lowes or Home Depot? And 2x4"'s always work decently and are cheap. I want to make sure I can take the track down easily enough in 20 minutes or so since I can't leave the supplies behind.

With the landscape border idea for turns how could I anchor them to form the radius of the turn? Some kind of spikes that go into the ground?

[Bormac]

A while back we used to live across from a park which was never used by anyone in the community. At times I would take my mower over and mow a track in the grass really short. I would then peg out a course with lengths of black plastic ag-pipe. This was flexible enough to create corners and what not. I used steel tent pegs which I drove through the pipe into the ground.
It served us well and a bunch of my pals would come round on every second sunday and we would run into the evening out there.
Basicaly it could all be packed away in 15 odd minutes.

[Halgar]

Track markers - hose, rope, extension cords, corrugated pipe, cones, paint, flour, etc. The easiest would probably be rope or extension cords, which could be stored on one of these:


If you go the route of the corrugated pipe, then gutter spikes will likely be the cheapest and easiest thing to use. IMHO, with limited space and quick cleanup, the rope and cord reel is the way to go, you can easily get 100' of cord per reel and it's super fast to coil and uncoil as much as you need.

If you want a jump or two, get yourself some skateboard ramps, car ramps, or build some boxes that you can knock down quickly and easily to store flat or in a tote bin.

[RC10th]

Old fire hose is probably the quickest and easiest. Plus it packs up in a relatively small space and is light.

2x4's with notched ends and steel pegs is a more "permanent" temporary track, like for club racing. You'd almost need a trailer though to carry it around.

[losiXXXman]

Adam, the corrugated pipe is pretty cheap, I think I last saw it at Lowe's for $40 for 100'. As for jumps, that's where it gets tricky. I've been trying to come up with something myself, and I'll share some pics in a little while. I found some plastic barrels at work - 50 gallon drum size, and sectioned them with a skilsaw to make curved pieces. I then inverted one piece and screwed it to another so there was a concave transition to the "humpback" jump. It took a few attempts to get it right, such that the car didn't bottom out the rear and kick into an dive. This system, when I get it all together should even nest for transportation and storage..









It's obviously a work in progress, but I'm getting there. Last pic shows a "rhythm" section, hopefully I can get to work okay with no concave transition. Spacing is CRITICAL for that one, needless to say.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

LosiXXX, great idea for jumps! Adam, you couple that with a bag full of cheap Frisbees and you got yourself a track. I don't think you need a barrier that will hold cars back for a temporary track built for fun. Just something to keep everyone moving in the same direction. Check out some cheap Chinese junk site and you can probably grab 100 Frisbees for <$20. Easy to lay down and clean up. Just get a nice large canvas bag or a heavy mil lawn bag to store them in and you're set.

[Halgar]

Adam, the corrugated pipe is pretty cheap, I think I last saw it at Lowe's for $40 for 100'.

I just bought a roll, it is $65 for 100', still not bad, but it is aweful large and bulky, especially to try to recoil when you're done and trying to stuff it into the back of an SUV. That is a cool idea with the plastic barrel though.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

it is aweful large and bulky, especially to try to recoil when you're done and trying to stuff it into the back of an SUV.

I have the same problem every time I have to take a leak.

HI-YOOOOOO!

[flipwils11]

We had a decent first go at this but I didn't make it to Lowes for any supplies yet. There is a local bike path area with a large grassy area. The cool thing was that there was a hill/bluff that works as a drivers stand so my son and I set up there. I just used a few chairs and a cooler to "design" a little course to slalom around. The very short grass that hasn't grown yet due to the late spring was also ideal for blasting around and not bogging down the 1/10th buggies. But the RC8be with the tekin 2250kv setup didn't care about the grass one bit!

I will need to try some of these suggestions from you guys though the next time we head over there.