No budget track building
Hello everyone, discoverinh and watching diecast racing made me want to host my own races since it's hard or expensive to join races due to my geological location. I want to build tracks but I don't have the budget for buying 3d printed tracks. I want to use coroplast for my straights but have no idea how I would make those banked corners. Any ideas or video tutorials are highly appreciated. Can't wait to post my track build soon
Discussion
You don't need 3D printed pieces at all...coroplast is great, cardboard works, whatever you have and can form and make smooth enough for action.
I would recommend browsing through the Track Directory and seeing which tracks look like something you want to make and see which ones are using homemade stuff rather than purchased accessories. There's quite a few that are cardboard corners and orange track straights too...I know you said your budget is small but orange track at the store is pretty cheap in sections.
- Just for consistency as well, how long and how wide is a straight section of a fat track? — RedBoarRacing
I'd like to second what the good Dr said. Maniac Motorsports is the epitome of grassroots diecast race hosting. Those guys represent the best aspects and ambitions of the hobby. Watch their YouTube channel and/or reach out to them here.
If you need/want crash racer 90 degree turns I'm pretty sure people have them just lying around. We could just send you some. Where are you located?
- I'm based in the Philippines so yeah there's that. While I do DIY tracks if I had a 3d printer it would be nice to bring the track to local events since they do host gravity races though on hw tracks and mostly drag race, I'm more of an open road track enthusiast — RedBoarRacing
youtube.com/@maniacmotorsports-24?si=MZ-6yPR1RA3J6zZU
Here's a link to my YT. I wanted my track to be more unique (and because I was on a budget too!), so I almost completely homemade it out of coroplast and poly wall. The walls are held on by hot glue.
Pretty much all the canyon tracks have been hand built using palight stuck together with super glue. It's a great product to work with as you can shape it more than coroplast and it's easy to cut.
- I have a question for the sidewalls, is it alright if it's in a 90° angle or should I set it to 100-110°? What are the pros and cons for each — RedBoarRacing
- I don't worry about angling the walls out. Mine are at 90 degrees. Generally the wall height I use is between 7mm-10mm except on corners where I increase to 20-30mm depending on the speed of approach to try and reduce rollovers. I also use a buffer wall, where the outside is solid, then there is a thin strip of soft foam, then a hard inner shell of a 1mm thick plastic. This helps absorb some impact for cars heading straight into the corner and helps reduce rollovers. — Chaos_Canyon
- I don't angle the walls out either — ManiacMotorsports
I was wondering if you guys can help me out and send me a layout template for 45, 90, 180, and 225 degree corners that I can print out and put on top of cardboard or pvc sheet so I can follow the shape and try to be as uniform as much as I can. Since I plan on getting 3d printed tracks I want it to be similar to the first track I'm building
I also had to use buffer walls (nice term) to solve a problem on my jamestown bypass track
I cut strips off of orange track and used the outer wall as an overhang to stop the flyoffs and roll overs
had to use 2
a simple diagram to explain
dr
All of mine are custom and everyone is slightly different depending on the space I had for the turn, so i don't have any templates sorry. If you want to add any bank to the turn at all, you want to make the actual turn less than what you want then pull the ends in - see below. This pushes the outside edge up, adding bank to your turn.
- Much appreciated! I'll try to apply this concept for my banked corners. Can I also ask if you have a copy of a fat track straight on how many cm it is wide and long? — RedBoarRacing
welcome to the insanity
this is a start,
a great build thread on the cheap
www.redlinederby.com/topic/build-journal-pine-hill-rally-course/6920?p=1
maniac has done an amazing job, even goes over pit falls
dr