Hello,
I was wondering if anyone has some tips to save myself and some buddies of mine time/money on how to build a small track for mini z cars. We have looked into the interlocking tile but I am a tad worried about them, it looks as if the seems are higher than the rest. What would be some suggestions? Thanks mini racers in advance.

I used roofing tar paper and PVC pipe...cheap and enough grip for the rubber tires.

Yes Roofing tar paper works well, good grip.... I had a temp track, I took some misc, paneling left overs from a rv shop and grey taped them together.... then used good old Elmers wood glue and spread it thin over the paneling and unrolled the tar paper on it and layed stuff to weigh it down flat on it untill it dryed (24hrs) and it was a good track and I didnt have much more than 80 in the whole thing.
I think it worked quite well.

you can also just gray tape the roofing paper to the floor

Make sure you use iceguard if its outside. lol

after thinking if you are going to not leave the track down permanent putting it on paneling isnt a bad idea then you can just lean it up against a wall or hang it from the ceiling till you need to use it

I have been running on the interlocking squares for several years. They work great and were the insperation for the SRC tracks you can buy. But they can be pricey. If you have a smooth concrete floor in your garage or basement that can be made to work well with a smooth coat of flat paint ment for no-slip floors.

I have not used tar paper but its been used by many for public and private tracks and seems to work very well.

You can use PVC pipe, garden hose, wood strips or what ever you have on hand for barriers.

Good luck and have fun racing!:woohoo:

i bought 3/4 inch pvc for my track and laid out a 25 x50 track for about 60 bucks you really cant beat that price

Since the last time I posted we ran mini z cars on a track that was a 10x8, I took the track down moved onto the other side of the basement and built a 16x10 carpet track. We have a transponder system installed, 2 benches for pitting a air compressor to blow the cars off, and a flat screen to watch tv. We are running both Mini Z cars and the BRP cars. the brp cars are a frigin BLAST!!!!!

Since the last time I posted we ran mini z cars on a track that was a 10x8, I took the track down moved onto the other side of the basement and built a 16x10 carpet track. We have a transponder system installed, 2 benches for pitting a air compressor to blow the cars off, and a flat screen to watch tv. We are running both Mini Z cars and the BRP cars. the brp cars are a frigin BLAST!!!!!

What transponder system are you using?

Back when Mini Z's were really popular I made a track. It was 12 X 24 and we made a table. I covered it in Ozite and use a good rubber hose as the border. I just zipped drywall screws down through the hose into the table top done. We had a circle with and inter circle with a rotating wall to change it up to a road course. It was really nice I have it in storage I made it out of 2X6's and 3/4 tongue and grooved plywood. They say if your going to do it do it right :thumbsup:

What transponder system are you using?

I bought the Ilap system and using Laps free program.
We run the BRP trucks--V2M chassis seem to work best on my track. I can go bigger with my track but I want work space for my own kits. We have pit benches, A/C, fridge, flat screen,air compressor, Oh and the wife usually cooks for us on fri nights now.
Here are some pics...
Mike corner marshaling
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/thumbs/other_pictures_055.jpg (http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/30149)

Where the vacuum is now there is another pit bench with drop lighting
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/thumbs/ebay_pics_118.jpg (http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/30148)

Full track 24 foot runline lap time in the 2-2.5 secs
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/thumbs/ebay_pics_116.jpg (http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/30147)

Very Nice Set-up! How do you like Ilap?

Very Nice Set-up! How do you like Ilap?

You know I have to say it was an easy choice to make. They provide the absolute best customer service. Here is an example. When I purchased the system and installed it(very easy by the way) we put the cars on the track and it would only count every other lap it seemed, thought it was the location of the transponder system---tried it again same thing it would miss laps. Finally figured it out, we were going to fast for the decoder. The decoder is shipped with a min lap time recognition. I called customer support, they re wrote the software for my decoder to allow us to run under 2 sec lap times, emailed it wihtin a 1/2 of speeking with them and called me to explain how to install it. If it wasnt for that we wouldnt have raced and people would have not wanted to come back or put up with it.
I researched before I bought, I know there are systems out there and you can buy off ebay but in the long run buying from the original place and having direct contact with them sure did help out, I dont think I could have gotten that kind of fast service from any other place. I lap is awesome for sure...

Sweet track :thumbsup: That is a bull ring for sure

Thanks for the info gives me some ideas

Thanks bud, like I said we run your cars on my track and we LOVE them. The v2m is the way to go, SOOOOO smooth. I got lap times down to 2.00-2.05. It is def a little bull ring but when your local track closed down we met at my house a few times and said what are we going to do?----- CLEAN UP time and built a track. My garage is much bigger maybe I can move it in there and have a full size track and then some...

Bud thanks for the call and fast service:thumbsup:

You got a pic with a transponder mounted Ken? We are in the process of getting things squared away for a track locally for a few of us. So we are trying to get as many ideas as possible.

Thanks

Omnis
do you guys just run the 4 cell packs in the brp cars ?

Hey sorry I didnt see the last post about getting a pic, I will do that tomorrow night.

Yes we only use 4 cell saddle packs with super 370 AE motors, anything faster will be way TOO much on my track.

Ken let me know when you get the pics BTW does your transponders have to be mounted so that they are in clear view of the bridge?

sorry i didnt get back to you right away.. i have been SOOOOOOOO busy with mys kits and work, lol here ya go.
We havent had any issues mouting it elsewhere although it is recomended to have it mounted through clear lexan, I think you will be ok with waterbase paint or light smoking out of the windows.
I made a small lexan mount that sits above the servo and directly in the windsheild of my BRP truck body, no problems thus far. Just and awesome system, I wish all places to race were like my basement,lol we have a frigin blast. Oh and these are mounted with velcro...

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/thumbs/rc_pics_007.jpg (http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/30399)
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/thumbs/rc_pics_006.jpg (http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/30398)
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/thumbs/rc_pics_005.jpg (http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/30397)

Looks cool!

We have a track in Hueytown that we run the BRP's on and use the same lap count system. It is great isn't it?!

We have a 41' run line and will run it in 2.5sec. It is a plywood surface with the "grip paint" laid down on it.


The track:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/PICT0251.JPG

The transponders in the car:
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/PICT0254.JPG

Thanks for the pics guys. That is really helping us make up our minds

hey omni on your carpet track did you notice the cars kinda bounced around,if so will they wear carpet down to where it will be smooth?

the sv18's rear motor chassis bounced around A LOT!!!! and made for some hair pulling times and setup was more involved. I picked up a few v2m's and holy cow did they do the trick. If you dont have that chassis I would recomend it. Mid motor chassis puts the power down!!!!

you can get the rear motor cars to work it just takes some time to get the setup down,, play with tires and the rear diff, if you have the diff to tight it will for sure bounce the rear because its grabbing and spinning all the way down the straightaway.

as far as thinning out the carpet or making it smooth? The carpet has only been down for 2-3months now and cant give you a def answer on that, but I don't suspect it would be that big of an issue of thinning out or making it smooth with these cars. We have run on a very similar type if not the same material carpet at our local track were we have run SK cars,pan cars,trucks,f1's,legends,tc3 and even drifting cars for the past 8years... and just now noticing the carpet thinning out.. The fuzz has gone away for the most part on my track so that would indicate some smoothing but nothing major.

we have the v2m and runnin sliders on it we use dual disc slippers on sliders it spins the clutch all the way around they are fun to,as 4 brp cars we like 5 of us so far that are going to run them and havent gotten all of us together to run those,looking forward to it.thanks for the info and btw we loosened diff and it helped tons

uhhhhhhhh damn i love your setup