Track Tac

Looking for track advice please.....

4

496 BB

New member
Talked to a guy before thru PMs and cant seem to find it anymore. He was a promoter and believe his name was Ken??? Dont remember for sure.

Anyways we have a backyard track that is a 1/10 mile dirt oval. Real nice actually as it was done with heavy equipment, clay, banks slightly, and has a drainage and lighting system. Questions is about calcium chloride. Ive read quite a bit about it but just wanted to see specifically how it was applied and if it was pellets or flakes. Mix it with water or broadcast? How often? When do you water after application? We are going to start racing this coming weekend and want to start getting track prep going. We built a watering trailer to be pulled around outside of track with 4 wheeler with 300 gallons and a pump on board. Has a 16' arm to reach all of track and water it consistently.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Chris.
 
I would recommend flakes with either Calcium of Mag if you can get them, Either can be broadcast or liquified and will work, Key to either is ENOUGH moisture in the track before applied ( or it will back fire on you and suck the moisture out of the track and go REAL dusty ) , For Best results have moisture in the track run it in with your run in vehicles, then spray track again with say 4 to 6 bags in with water in your 300 gal tank, Re-Run it in with vehicles like 60 to 70 % meaning does not matter if you skip some, as soon as tire track starts looking dull keep moving down the track, Then Broadcast 10 bags while driving spreader like a kart would run the groove little wider of course, then on exits of turns go real wide, run it in again with vehicles it will at first get even more slimmey then it will start to run in, again only run same tire track until the shine leaves and it goes Dull looking, continue down the track until same, then get Karts ( as many as possible ) on it as soon as possible run them top to bottom, and keep karts on it as much as possible until it's sealed over ( which will not happen before all practice is over ), just as important once you start with karts they will only run the groove so to avoid a one groove track between every group, move them back up 8 to 10 laps to keep upper groove sealed as well, then let then loose for there normal laps. Volumes I gave you are based on track size and just a starting point, If once you start running in broadcasted flakes it does not make you think wow what for mess have I made you did not use enough, REMEMBER track has to have good moisture in it BEFORE and flakes goes on. Keep an eye on spots that hold moisture longer or shaded area's try not to hit those area's not quite as hard with flakes. Volumes and Timing is the key, pay close attention it will be a learning process, Sun shine, kart count, and temp outside, all come into play with the volumes. As far as how ofen that would be before ever race.
Volumes I gave you would be a good start for an actual race format, like 12 different classes, If it just a back yard deal for say just a few classes little less than half volumes of what I gave ya would most likely work.

Good Luck !! 717-712-3437 Ken just in case.

EXAMPLE Total process I just explained for a 1/8 th mile oval is 3 to 3.5 hrs, that"s on top of having good moisture in it the night before the event.
 
If you havent had karts on it yet, try watering the track good and have a small race to see what the track is going to do before you decide to go with the calcium....i dont believe its really needed unless its a track that just always gets really dusty. If it doesnt get dusty then it wouldnt be needed, in my opinion. Does your track just not take water very well, or not hold moisture at all? If its real clay then it should take water and not get very dusty. None of the tracks around here use calcium or anything like that, just water and rarely are they real dusty, usually only slightly and thats in daytime races where theres high temps and alot of karts, and on days like that the track gets watered halfway thru the raceday sometimes, to keep the dust down. Just trying to offer some other suggestion besides calcium if possible, that can get expensive, especially for a small track with few karts.
 
W5R said:
If you havent had karts on it yet, try watering the track good and have a small race to see what the track is going to do before you decide to go with the calcium....i dont believe its really needed unless its a track that just always gets really dusty. If it doesnt get dusty then it wouldnt be needed, in my opinion. Does your track just not take water very well, or not hold moisture at all? If its real clay then it should take water and not get very dusty. None of the tracks around here use calcium or anything like that, just water and rarely are they real dusty, usually only slightly and thats in daytime races where theres high temps and alot of karts, and on days like that the track gets watered halfway thru the raceday sometimes, to keep the dust down. Just trying to offer some other suggestion besides calcium if possible, that can get expensive, especially for a small track with few karts.
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How many tracks have you prepared? Ive been to lots of real clay tracks that get very dry, and very dusty. Lots of folks dont like when you have to keep adding water throughout raceday, why not just add calcium and be done with it.
Calcium is not expensive, at all.
 
OK thanks everyone for input. Ken please advise on this now or whoever else....

This is again a small track and all monies are funded by us and mainly the guy whos house its at. We have anywhere from 5-8 karts racing on it. We start at roughly 7 or 8pm and race till 12 midnight. We do features and heats and also lots of just mess around laps. The track does have clay in it. Not sure how much as I didnt ask. I know we have been watering it every hour or so last year and its annoying when doing with garden hoses. This year I built a track watering system so should be alot faster. It does get dusty. Main thing is its not consistent traction wise. Corners get dry fast. Is there any other way of doing this with just a backyard track opposed to the complicated way above? Can I just wet it good and broadcast flakes on there and let em soak in? Then add flakes to watering bin? Something like that? Thanks again.
 
496 BB said:
OK thanks everyone for input. Ken please advise on this now or whoever else....

This is again a small track and all monies are funded by us and mainly the guy whos house its at. We have anywhere from 5-8 karts racing on it. We start at roughly 7 or 8pm and race till 12 midnight. We do features and heats and also lots of just mess around laps. The track does have clay in it. Not sure how much as I didnt ask. I know we have been watering it every hour or so last year and its annoying when doing with garden hoses. This year I built a track watering system so should be alot faster. It does get dusty. Main thing is its not consistent traction wise. Corners get dry fast. Is there any other way of doing this with just a backyard track opposed to the complicated way above? Can I just wet it good and broadcast flakes on there and let em soak in? Then add flakes to watering bin? Something like that? Thanks again.
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Yes for that few karts, water it good Run it in, but 4 to 5 bags in your 300 gal tank, spray it again and re-run it in, that will hold for ya and make grip more consistent, water alone will not get it done.

Good Luck !!
 
Ken its been raining like crazy here for days. Can I get out there and broadcast spread the flakes without running it in a day or two before and it will soak in? Then water it the day of with the mix? Will that help any?
 
496 BB said:
Meaning rain will help us out in less watering in the future?
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Not in the future Mother nature helped ya this week, She's not gonna do that every week leading in.
Also meaning if it comes out to what your looking for, a gauge of how much xtra you need to apply that mother nature gave ya !!

Just some added info for ya as a guage, I also race my Fri night program Starting at 7 PM, and race till about 11 pm. We do not use calcium for a Fri night race, However we start watering Friday NO later than 10 am and DO NOT leave it dry out at all up until 6 Pm spraying out of 2 " water hoses, Couple thousand gallons every application, and Min 8 Applications total, doing that we can get it to hold never any dust and will stay tacky and build some bite.

Good Luck !!
 
most All local feed stores, agway supplies around here have them or can get them, Mag Flakes is nothing more than an top quality Ice Melt.

Good Luck !!
 
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