ANN: 1st track construction pix uploaded
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Ladies (?) and Gentlemen – it finally got to me – the urge to build a Bit Char-G racetrack became too great and I had to do something about it.
NB: The pix to accompany this story can be foundvia the homepage –> Tech’n’Tips –> Bit Char-G or via this direct link.
With little more than a half-baked idea for something “mounted on lightweight board with soft crash barriers/walls and able to simply customise, I made a trip down to my local hardware store to see what tricks they had up their sleeves.
First up was the board. This was the no-brainer for me. MDF sheeting is light, tough, relatively weather-resistant. Best of all, it could be purchased in a precut 1200×600 (9mm thick) sheet for AUD13.95.
Now – the all important walls/barriers. I spent an inordinant amount of time in the foam/rubber section of the store and couldn’t really find anything suitable. Everything was either too narrow or too thick or to small or just plain TOO EXPENSIVE. Finally I grabbed a salesperson. I explained (to his amusement) what I was trying to build and his eyes light up as he had a flash of brilliance.
I tagged behind him and a minute later we were on the other side of the store in the roofing section. Low and behold, the salesperson had found racing barrier nirvana!He pointed outa special profiled (shaped) high density foam designed to seal under corrugated iron roofing and stop rain from coming in. Lying on their sides, I could visualise them forming all sorts of interesting track shapes, and the “inside” profile meant that they would bend perfectly. By the same token, it was not flimsy, either, which was good because at AUD8.99 a 4pk, I planned on re-using them as much as possible.
With two packs of the groovy foam(sorry – unintentional pun – honest!) in my safe keeping, I asked him for some more advice in terms of sticking the stuff down. We powered our way to the adhesives section. He recognised that clamping the roam down would be a pain in the bum, so a quick-grab glue would be needed. He also understood my future need for the stuff to be ripped up and reconfigured when I got bored with it. The suggested solution was a AUD7.99 tube of “Liquid Nails Fast Grab”.
As soon as i got home, and without a single ounce of though put into the actual layout, I started sticking foam into place.
I created the main straight first, working from the outside in, to give me a bit of practive with the glue/foam combo. It was VERY easy stuff to work with and the glue stuck almost instantly as promised – allowing me to move quickly around the circuit. The ends of the foam strips are also dovetailed to make joining – even around a bend – a simple task.
Correct corner spacing was achieved using a CDR as a spacing template
Midway through the bends, I (luckily) remembered the need to be able to carry the bloody thing, so I left some open space that I could later grab hold of or cut out to make a handle. Phew!
At the end of the day, I spent almostAUD39.92 on the track – about TWICE was I was expecting/hoping to spend. But, the foam and board are both re-usable and the tube of glue is good for at least another two track layouts. So – I guess that’s not too shabby.
And how does it race? Well – after the first lap it became know as “Sydney Hell Bends Raceway“. It is a bloody NIGHTMARE to get around with using any motor highter than a 2.2. It’s simply too tight for the higher powered motors. However, the surface offers excellent traction for the medium compound tyres and the cars literally bounce off the walls when you him them really hard.
The current course record is an impressive 13.2 seconds. It mightn’t sound all that quick to you, but when you think that that time includes some frantic 3-point corrective turns it’s quite an achievement!
The next course will be more open, with fewer tight turns and a second fast straight section to make things interesting. However, I’m not totally dissatisfied with my first track as the degree of difficulty has certainly helped me improve my driving/control skills!
Since the building of the track, it has been modified once to allow for the inclusion of a Bit Char-G digital lap counter. It was reassuring to see that the foam WOULD indeed come off again just by running a sharp blade along the board.
If you have any track designs/construction tips that you’d like ausmicro.com to feature (and host images for), just drop us an email – or post your successes (and failures!) in the forums.
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Orright… please excuse the 2-for-1 replyfor starters
> the hardware store is a virtual paradise for finding weird
> stuff to use for things they’re not made for.Amen to that. I’d encourage ANYONE who is having thoughts about building a track or hacking their car to visit their local hardware store and see what interesting stuff is kicking about.
> I made a bit char-g track using 12″ x 12″ imperial floor tiles….
> basically assembling them together like LEGO road plates.I saw the pix on your site. Are they glazed ceramic tiles or something else?
> BTW, Derek…can I add your site to my links page?
You’re most welcome to. Oh and please don’t refer to ausmicro.com as “your site”. Sure Aaron and I fund it and all, but it’s the micro RC community’s site – and I sincerely mean that.
Oh – and before I forget, Aquila…. the linking is conditional that we can link back to your cool projects, too!
> Cool idea. Waaaaaaaayyyy tooo tight a lanes for racing though.
Yessir. I learned that shortly after the first test run. What a pain in the bum.Ya live n learn, I guess, Floydski!
>But I’ve found 9″wide to be a nice size for a race. Plus using the
> faster motors you can make tighter hairpins.Aye. Good advice!What are you currently using as your race track/surface, dude?
Cheers
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Yeah, I widened the lanes to about 8-9-10″ on all my track plates.
for the GT plates (the first that I made) I used imperial floor tile – this is the cheapest stuff you can find in the florring area of the hardware store – it’s about $.44 USD. I literally used black as the base and cut the raised grey areas with a utility knife – the surface is GREAT – especially after being scuffed a little with sandpaper. The only problem with these tiles is that they are VERY likely to warp, break, split…but this was an experiment, so everything I learned was useful.
there are some pics of the first track
these are the GP track (the second) the are lighter, made out of a material known as cintra, trovicel, COmpressed foam PVC – it has several names. I haven’t applied any details, yet, but I am very happy with the racing surface.
Thanks for letting me link to your site…I’m trying like mad to get at least the framework for my site complete.
-aquila out
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I LOVE your work! They are some of the best tracks I’ve seen yet! I’m still intrigued by the “Imperial Floor Tiles” (must be an American thing). Are they foam or lino or something else completely? I’ve ruled out “ceramic” seeing they were USD0.44ea and you could cut ’em with a hobby knife
Oh – and I tidied up the HTML for you. Hope you don’t mind.
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Andrew
I’ve given that some thought (especially the traction
!) and had a bit of a look around the hardware stores. Problem is finding big enough sheets at the right price.The rolling+damage thing is a bit of a worry, but hey – your car has to look a LITTLE bit roughed-up, huh?
I reckon some 800-grade wet/dry would do the trick. Lemme know if you give it a test-run!
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