Hi everyone

Our local track will be changing their racing surface since the carpet is starting to wear right to the concrete base. We are considering a switch to asphalt. The track is 24 X 60 and we run indoors with 4 cell stock. Our run line is about 90 feet.

My question is, between caps and foams, what would be the best choice? Which ones give better tire wear, which ones are most cost effective? Which offer most consistency?

Thanks for your help.

Been a while since I ran caps, but.....that's a foam tire track. Basically too small of a track. It takes a few laps to get caps up to temp and working, and by that time the dudes running foams will be gone......

if the track is indoors on concrete...years ago we ran a track that was indoors and they surfaced the concrete w/ some type of tennis court topping...that also had a slight abrasive in it...(I remember someone saying back then that it was crushed walnut shells)

It was COOL...it's wasn't carpet by any means...but was very cool~

If the track is flat i would say foam is the way to go..

outlaw44.....i don't know why you didn't ask Steve last saturday...you had one of the best knowledge person in the industry...anyway...there is no WAY caps would work on indoor flat small asphalt oval...foam(pinks-purple) is the only way to go...

moving your track to asphalt WILL be the last step to its closure...carpet surface is...less abrasive...low on cost(bodies...chassis)...and a good one will last long(GRCSR...10 years)...anyway...

Eric

Hi Eric

I did ask Steve what he thought about tires and he pointed me to pinks and double pinks for foams. I didn't however ask him about caps and that's the reason for the post.

And if you ask me, I would much rather stick to carpet. However after many attepts to reason with the owner about the move, he is bent on switching to asphalt because of how the present carpet is about to tear to shreads. I asked him why not just change to a better quality of carpet and he said he didn't wanna chance it with the -possibility- of having to replace the carpet again. So I guess if I want to race in Granby next year, I don't have a choice but to adapt...

If you can talk to the track owner himself and try reasoning maybe he might finally decide to just look for a better carpet, maybe your advice will have a bigger impact in the end result. After all, if the club stays alive, you'll maintain potential buyers for TQ Cell products...

ummm let see. I have raced both and let me tell yah asphalt eats foam tires. and like others have said on that small of track caps aren't the way to go. I think you should contact CRC about some carpet. that stuff should last atleast 5 years on that size track

CRC? do you have any coordinates?

www.teamcrc.com in Rome, NY... just a stone trow across the border from Canada.

Thanks guys!

...it may be due to size of the track, but I only get to run Carpet a couple times a year...but I see more wear on those two weekends than I do on our asphalt tracks. (I only run a couple times a month) but I can usually make it all year on 2 sets of tires unless I break a brittle wheel.

swtour, are you saying you can get a year out of two sets of caps on an asphalt track, or you can get a year out of two sets of foams. I can see two sets of caps lasting a year. But running foams on asphalt, they wear faster then on carpet.

I'm a 16 year capped tire racer,and I can tell you that caps are wayyy cheaper than foams,as for foams being faster,if prepped right, caps will hook up and perform as good as foams from start to finish on any size asphalt track,small to large.I don't know what you guys have against asphalt racing,but it's just as fun as any carpet.

I'd rather run capps also foams are too much work chasing stagger and such. I wish we had a indoor cement or asphalt track around here for the winter