Has anyone built their own track?

[JMINDY]

Own a side lot that came with my house purchase. It is worthless as is has a buried pipeline running through it (you can see it's path through turns 4 & 5), can't build on it, heck, it's not even good enough for a garden due to water drainage. So with our pecked interest in karts & mini bikes...kids & I are thinking dirt track!

We want an oval track with the option of a road course. So...

Any other ideas for a layout? Corner lot with county rd on top and busy rd on right.

Any ideas on building it, beyond scalping it out with the lawn mover...

Marker ideas? (On the cheap) Thought maybe traffic cones when we are using it. Or maker flags.

Should we till in a path or just let it naturally develop with use? (maybe till just some of the corners)

Safety Ideas?

Just looking for some ideas/suggestions!
Here is our thinking of a layout... Trees marked in circle, Fence in blue line.

 

[firemanjim]

Wow! That is nice!! I like the look of it. Till it with a garden tiller? Heck no! Take too long. If you know someone with a tractor and tiller implement, then yes!! It makes an awesome track.....
If its fairly flat/smooth, just drive the courses lot and within a week, you will "see" it. The grass will be gone.... Take a different path in the corners to help root up a bank....
If you have high spots that make the ride sucks, just hit those with the garden tiller. Don't work too hard at it though, in time, it will all level out.
I wanted to make a track in the field next to my street. Spent 3 nights mowing with a push mower.... Rode it around for a week or so..... Haven't been back I'll post a link to the thread about it.....
Hope yours comes out better,and more used....

 

[Young One With A Manco]

We built an off road track halfway through my backyard for our bikes. I was halfway through widening it out this week for my go kart, my parents said no. Apparently, I have to wait until late fall when everything is dead. I'll try to find some pics. Basically, the whole thing was covered in leaves. First, we used the leaf blower to blow it out. Then, a hand hedge trimmer to cut everything out at head level. Then, the same hedge trimmer for cutting out vines and other things on the ground. Took all of 10 hours. Could have taken like 4 if we really really rushed, but we took our time and did it right.
I'll try to find some pictures...

 

[firemanjim]

http://www.diygokarts.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25655&highlight=track

 

[n3480h]

Sweet track, Jim! The acreage I live on is shared with my son's business - an excavation business. How fortuitous! We have one very flat dirt area about 80 yards x 150 yards, perfect for a track. We also have a 50 foot wide x 600 foot long hard gravel driveway, also mostly flat with a slight crown for drainage. The remaining land has 2 acres of grass and a very thick hardwoods 1.5 acre grove. I've been cutting a twisty trail through the grove, 10 feet wide. All of the areas are connected, so it's possible to drive a kart on an extremely varied course. Yup, I'm lucky. I think the grandkids will enjoy running the Fox II on this property for many, many hours. 'Course grampa will have to do some "track testing".

 

[firemanjim]

I like your style, captain...... (captain of the plane.....)

 

[JMINDY]

Wow! That is nice!! I like the look of it. Till it with a garden tiller? Heck no! Take too long. If you know someone with a tractor and tiller implement, then yes!! It makes an awesome track.....

Thanks Jim, your track looks cool! And I can't believe you push mowed it! I have a self propelled walk behind tiller, which is why I would only do little areas (like corners) at a time. Next door neighbor has a garden tractor with tiller attachment, perhaps I could borrow it...

Thinking maybe drag a mattress spring a few laps to rough up the grass. It's pretty flat but a couple spots will hold water on real heavy rains.

Just not sure on any barriers/markers? Maybe place some hay bales around the trees. Don't want to use old tires. Yet I don't want to be constently laying it out. Maybe just use marker flags until to takes shape. Pain to mow around though.

I think the grandkids will enjoy running the Fox II on this property for many, many hours. 'Course grampa will have to do some "track testing".

I have 4 boys that will probably put many hours on the track, not to mention us adults.

 

[firemanjim]

The mattress trick works.... Been there!
As far as markers go, after you cut it, why not use the fluorescent orange marking paint to lay it out. Once the boys run the track a few times, they will know where to go.....

 

[Axx3d]

I had a acre in my front yard that I didn't mow or do anything with. It dawned on me a oval track would be fun. So all i did was mow a big oval around through the tall grass. Then after a month of driving on it and racing 3 karts,mini bikes and dirt bike it has slowly turned to dirt.

So id just mow it and run it..

 

[gallagher19]

For barriers on your track you can use old tires which work great!!! We had quite a few wipe outs recently and the tires worked exceptionally well. No one was hurt and karts were great. No damage. Also straw bales work excellent !!! Good luck and enjoy. We love our track.

We did use the tractor and a disk to make the track initially. We do blade it after a LOT of racing is on it. We water it weekly. We also disk it only at the beginning of each year. All in all the track is great. The corners are getting a little banking in them from all the use which works awesome!!!!!!! Check out my video in a post below and you'll see what I mean.

 

[davidbooth1991]

Great idea. Man I wish I had land like that in england. You can't get anything like that unless you live out in the sticks and own a farm....when the kids get older they'll have their mates round ( ahem.....ten dollars for three hours..).. Only joking lol...

 

[Young One With A Manco]

If you go to a place like tire rack, or a couple car dealerships they have a stack of old tires out back. I think that tire places bring them to a special place, but the car dealerships might be happy for you to take them! Just ask nicely!

 

[OzFab]

All tyre retailers have to pay to discard old tyres; I'm sure your local will be happy for you to remove them free of charge...

 

[JMINDY]

Thanks for the suggestions! We marked out the outer oval on Sunday evening with marker paint and some cheap comes. Then took turns putting in some laps!

I'm not sold on the tire idea yet. First, it would take a bunch just to do the corners. Also, their bad for misquito havens and some summers they are bad here.

I like the idea of hay bales. I know some local farmers whom I may be able to get some hay/straw. Plus I think maintenance would be easier as far as moving around or weeding.

My only real concern for barriers is in the inner turns for the road course. Don't want a run away kart to go into the outer portions of other parts of the track, especially when we get multiple karts going. There is plenty of space on the outer sections to loose control and recover fine.

Was surprised that turn 7 & 8 are much faster than 1. Even got some drifting going. Turn 2 has some bumps that will need to be graded out, but I like that it is a hard braking turn coming out of that long runner.

 

[JMINDY]

Check out my video in a post below and you'll see what I mean.

Don't see the vid, but your pics of your framily racing are cool. Looks like everyone had a great time!

 

[TecumsehBuilderJDKirk]

Just built a track .017 of a mile

Its hard getting started.We used tires they are free! And most service stations will deliver them for free. We used a tractor with a tiller on back and then made a drag and a pallet drag.

 

[gallagher19]

Don't see the vid, but your pics of your framily racing are cool. Looks like everyone had a great time!

Here it is. Sorry I should have said to check out the link I posted earlier in August.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw5UIj8hs0k

 

[Scout]

If you do put tires down to mark the course, be sure to drill holes (use a hole saw) in the sidewalls so that rainwater drains out. That kind of water breeds mosquitoes and other pests.

 

[BirdFanatic]

lol pretty sweet we have massive tracks over here were people have dirt bikes so much the sides of hills are worn down there's jumps bumps dips ect

 

[JMINDY]

Took advantage of the Labor Day weekend to work on our karts and start our track.

For now we are just using maker paint, flags and cones. Will probably add tire barriers as time goes. I like the idea of using tire sidewalls (like what's used on highway orange barrels). They are lower so more forgiving to damaging the karts and it helps with not retaining water for inserts, but many be a lot of work creating them.

I had to till three sections and cut out a small tree root in order to eliminate some bumps and dips. Still have one section to work on in turn 1.

Tried dragging a homemade grader with fencing and concrete blocks. Worked a little before the fencing broke.

Turn 1

Turn 2 entering turn 3 or top straightaway

Turn 3 towards turn 4

Turn 4 & 5

Turn 6 (road) or Turn 7 (oval)

Turn 8 heading back into 1

Thanks for the suggestions and pics, I enjoy seeing what other people have done to their homemade tracks.