Skunkworx

As the title says, I just got the keys to a decent track and wanted to know of any good tricks or tips to upkeep on an RC dirt track. Most of it seems self explanatory, but we have a pretty rough course which could use some stamping out to allow for smaller class cars to run on the same track (18th scale to 1/5th). The ouside barriers seem to be held in place with big spikes and boards are lined up in other spots to keep cars inside the course, along with dirt burms and low lying areas. Some of the guys mentioned sweeping the track and I figured out a little bit on wetting the track down. Lastly, we have these big drum rollers that I'm guessing you use to flatten the bumps out with, but have no clue what we're doing with them. If anyone has any ideas or links to instructions about track maintenance, I'd appreciate the help.

I tried searching all over and only found one lame video of some guy yapping about track stuff, but it ended up being the equivalent of a Chuck-E-Cheese's training video and I couldn't watch more than a minute of it, so hopefully there are better resources out there.

Airbus 9e

To smooth out a dirt oval, I've seen pallets with nails driven into them and weighted used to drag the track to smooth the rough spots, but I'm not sure how this would work on an off raod track with jumps....I'd hate to have to smooth a large track with rakes by hand....

Gex_61

You've seen this on an RC track, or a full size track? My local RC dirt oval waters and packs their dirt as much as they possibly can, then they take a blade and cut it flat. Most RC dirt ovals I've seen are hard packed and swept. Most don't work the same way a full scale dirt oval car would. They don't weigh enough.

I use the same technique with my backyard 1/18 track. I'll water the bumpy section and possibly add more dirt and pack it down. Then cut it flat with a flat blade shovel.

The problem with using the boards and nails is that you loosen all of the dirt up. This means you have to pack it all down again when you’re done. With all of that loose dirt, you need to be extra careful you pack it right or you could end up with bumps again. If it's not packed down enough afterwards, the larger scale cars will tear it up again in no time. You will probably mix up a bunch of dirt clods too. These will need to be buried again, or broken down.

How you pack the track is up to you. You can use heavy objects, or buy machinery to do a better job. You will need to water it first. I would water it throughout the evening, and do track work at night. An overcast day is also nice for track maintenance. You will get the best results this way. Water the track several times so that it soaks in and gets under the surface as well. If you just water the surface, the wet dirt will stick to anything you put on it. Have you ever walked across a track and had the surface stick to your shoes? That's not good for anyone.

Airbus 9e

This was on an indoor dirt oval....

I'd actually think it would be better to have 2 tracks....1 for 10ths and 18ths, the other bigger track for MTs and 8th scale and bigger....if it's big enough for 5th scales, 18ths will look lost, and if it's small enough for 18ths, then the big cars won't work as well....IMHO...

Skunkworx

We have a dirt, off-road track with clay/dirt as it's material. It's really crappy to work with because it sticks to everything when it's wet, powders up like crazy when it dries, and forms rock hard clods in random places. We usually water it down, let it soak in/dry for a bit, then run the cars. I've been working on the track like crazy these last couple months and it's coming around, I just wish we had a better technique.

How exactly do you sweep the track down? Push-brooms? I tried a bit of that, but it seems to only expose the ruts even worse. I get out the flat shovel to level off any of the higher bumpy stuff, but it's like a never ending battle. Our track is gi-normous, so it takes a lot ofeffort to get even the smallest jobs done, but it's rewarding work so we don't mind doing it. It would just be nice to see results a little quicker!</p>