How to prepare a track for a championship Meeting (Read 2,443 times)

[schumaaka]

I have my own ideas on this however in going to so many tracks over the years I have found the people treat it differently at every track which is why we get a different result at each track.

Local guys will often say " Our Clay is Different " so we Lay it differently!!!!

Theres nothing worse than going to an event to find that its a slick track dust bowl from the second race.

And conversly a plowed paddock that is has only 1 drivey line is also terrible for everyone.

Drivers and the crowd deserve a firm drivey track that allows them to use the whole circut with very little speed difference between the outside and inside lanes. This is not rocket science.

Obviously track preparation takes a huge effort from often from volunteers, How does your track do it.

[Phil15T]

Its a secret and we use special water to make it grow its called spring water. lol

Cheers
Phil

[entonox]

Looking at the way some of the American tracks are done, with them watering the crap out of the track earlier in the day & up to a hour or so before the race meeting. Then they get the sprintcars, midgets or whatever to wheel pack. If you don't wheel pack you don't race. I know a lot of drivers take dim view on wheel packing a track. But sometimes it is best to do this to get the best out of the surface.

[woodart]

best idea Ive seen for wheel packing was a fleet of vw beetles with no guards and worn out hoosiers trundling around with the water truck for an hour before the meeting. lightly packed down ALL the track and sealed in a good amount of moisture (sounds like a recipe )

[schumaaka]

I should say how I prefer to do it.

You cant grade and prepare the track when its dry! The material wont stick together. It should be graded after the meeting or the next morning when the material still has moisture in it.

The track needs to be graded to the depth lower than the lowest rutts from the racing. Grade it to the depth that you want to use. If you grade it 2'' that all the surface that you will have until it slicks out 4'' and thats the usable track.

Grade it and repack it with an empty water truck. The harder that you pack it the less water it will take when you water the track. The softer the packing the more water it will take and the softer the track on race night.

Once this is completed dont drive on the track again.

Water using a cannon and dont drive on the track.

We water from the infield pole line and shoot the water to the wall and keep pouring it on until it starts running down to the pole. We leave this till it soaks in and repeat, then keep pouring it on, Thrusay, Friday and Saturday morning.

In doing it this way the track starts to swell as the water works it way thru the material to the depth that you have graded.

Its impossible to over water it. Pour it on till it starts running to the pole.

On the saturday I want the very top surface to dry out a little so that I can roll the track. I wait till as late as I can and normally 1hr before the track needs to be ready I start rolling the track with a 6x4 10ton water truck empty. I start at the wall and work my way down a wheel width at a time ensuruing that I keep my speed up so that the truck doesnt slide down the track.

The slightly dry surface allows you to drive on the track but the track under the crust it is soft and the consistancy that you have chosen( By how hard you packed it when you graded it).

The track squashes down and you are left with a firm track that will give you drive, the track is like plasticine. As the material is ripped off the track by the cars then it is thrown to the outside and because it is moist it will stick back to the material on the outside.

As the meeting goes on if the track is a little soft you may have to run the water track on the shoulder where the new material is being deposited to aid it sticking down and flatten out the lumps 2 laps as the new grade is coming out normally sorts it.

Following this requires a good grader driver and water truck driver with the time to put in, the end result is an awesome drivey track all night.

Now I know what your thinking, Bloody know it all Right!! I have been at race tracks since I was 11 with my dad when he raced ACU Heavy weight stockcars and he was also a machinery operator doing earthworks. I have done that work since I was 17 and because of this I have a good understanding of clay and earth works.

As a driver I have also been to some terrible tracks that are slick straight away. I worked hard to understand this and this was the reason why I built my last car to suit the slick tracks and only had to adjust it a little for the napier track to win.

There are some tracks that get it right and there are a few drivers that know how to achieve a drivey track like Denise Bolt, Ray Stewart etc and it can be frustrating when you get to the track and the first watering for the event is happening in the morning of the event, because you know that it going to be slick, or sloppy or both.

Yes I know what everyone says, "its the same for everyone", yes but is it to much to ask for a good track for everyone instead of a crappy track for everyone.

I have had several drivers want to know wether the track will be ok for the Champs in Cromwell or not because if it wasn't going to be they wouldn't come.

I have taken over the preparation of the track thru to the NZ Champs to ensure that the track is good for the Champs, even in the 30 degree heat of central.

We have already run the interisander series organised by Steve Williams and the Supersaloon invasion with the only complaints being that the drivers had to put more stagger on as the night went on as the cars where pushing in the turns. Everyone was set up for the slick.

They raced side by side right up till the final lap with cars still able to effect both inside and outside passes on a smooth drivey track.

The major failing at any track is when people prewater the track while driving on it. By doing this you either turn it into a bog and are unable to get the excess water out of the track or you compress the track to much which means that it will go slick quickly.

Here's an anaolgy that most will relate to. If you roll out a good scone mix on the kitchen bench without putting flour on the bench. You can pull the mix to bits and put it back together and it will stick back together thats your track surface.

Put too much water in that mix and then chop it up( By driving on it) and put it on you bench and what have you got, a pile of crap that you can roll as much as you like but you wont get the water out. It wont stick together all you can do is sweep it to the outside and then you will have the hard bench which will be greasy and then slick, Sound Familiar???

We have had a couple of people who voiced there opinions that I was doing it all wrong and the track would be slick real quick. It was pretty funny watching them deal with cars with a push on. If you want to know what the track will be like simply ask the grader driver or water truck driver, thats me, I wont try to trick you. If I say its going to be drivey and you think you know better then thats you call, you have to drive it but don't complain later if you get it wrong.

If you don't think the track has been good ask any of the Interisland Saloons or the Supersaloon invasion cars maybe they will put a post on here.

We are looking forward to the NZ Champs, and because of the above committments I WONT be racing a car at the champs, I'll be driving the water truck and the Grader, Cheers Shane

[Colin E]

A very good insight schumaaka, and makes sense. You obviously have the knowledge. Do you prepare the track to suit the classes running ie; mainly stockcars running and not too many wide tyred classes, do you prepare the track differently?

[Murray Guy (Grandad)]

During a point in the Interislander Saloon Series, North vs South,
Steve Williams (who has raced on likely more tracks in more countrys than most) made the observation:
"Cromwell provided the best track I have ever raced on!"
Who's going to argue with him? Not me! He's too tall, too muscle bound!

---

Personally, I have an issue with using our cars to pack the track to the excessive degree required on many an occasion.
Having choked all moving parts with clay and weighted the car down, inevitably the saloons are early up (if not first) in the program. Fibreglass panels are damaged, sign writing scratched.

The comment about VW's with Hooziers is a real possibility.
Many tracks in the States (according to 'the caddy') using such vehicles as a 'class of racing', generally owned by the track and drives are purchased.
Used to prep the track and introduce new folk to speedway!
Surely their has to be a cost effective alternative to using our race cars?

[schumaaka]

Dec 4, 2008 10:09:01 GMT 12 Colin E said:

A very good insight schumaaka, and makes sense. You obviously have the knowledge. Do you prepare the track to suit the classes running ie; mainly stockcars running and not too many wide tyred classes, do you prepare the track differently?

Yes the difference is how hard you need to pack the track for the different classes when you grade it, Bigger the tyres the softer you can run it the smaller the tyres the firmer you need to run it and tighter you need to pack it. Watering is the same process however with the firmer track the track wont accept as much water before it starts running to the pole.

One anomally is sprint cars, and modifieds. Because of there wings they can get a huge amount of drive off there LR rears so you have to be careful not to leave the track too soft mid turn as they will sweep the material right to the base in the first race.

Hence the reason why we are not running them on the NZ Super Saloon Champs meeting.

Race programming is the other important varible, Streetstocks running reverse rotation open the track back up which is great before the Super Saloons come out, that way we get a good track for all.

[schumaaka]

Dec 4, 2008 11:08:05 GMT 12 Murray Guy (Grandad) said:

During a point in the Interislander Saloon Series, North vs South,
Steve Williams (who has raced on likely more tracks in more countrys than most) made the observation:
"Cromwell provided the best track I have ever raced on!"
Who's going to argue with him? Not me! He's too tall, too muscle bound!

---

Personally, I have an issue with using our cars to pack the track to the excessive degree required on many an occasion.
Having choked all moving parts with clay and weighted the car down, inevitably the saloons are early up (if not first) in the program. Fibreglass panels are damaged, sign writing scratched.

The comment about VW's with Hooziers is a real possibility.
Many tracks in the States (according to 'the caddy') using such vehicles as a 'class of racing', generally owned by the track and drives are purchased.
Used to prep the track and introduce new folk to speedway!
Surely their has to be a cost effective alternative to using our race cars?

You are absolutly right Murray that meeting that you raced in Cromwell was my first try with the new clay and I packed the Track an hour early to be safe and as a result had to put water on the track prior to the racing, this would not normally happen and I don't envisage the need for track packing by the cars prior to the start of the meetings in the future.

For the Invasion I finished 2minutes early and the track didnt require any further packing by Cars, the track remained awesome and drivey the whole night.

[ross56y]

we here at westport dont use clay so its different
i have been helping some of the older wiser club members out with grading and packing theres alot of veiws and it takes time to get it right for you and the track
we had oxford over so there was 12 cars on track at times and it held up well
lessons learnt early water on a hot day 5 hrs before and be ready with leveling bars to take tops of and pack it down
the surface we use is a mix of lime crusher materal
when over wet is a sod to work with then becomes tacky and very driveably to hard a dusty so yep its a challange to work with and i take me hat off to all that get it right
ross

[sonic33]

Hey Shu. Can you come and live near Bay Park please.


In case some one from Bay Park is reading this and doesn't know it all. (I.E may still want to learn). Would your track prep alter for a meeting consisting of:

30 mini stocks
25 Saloons
30 stock cars
10 Super saloons and
20 Sprinters?

Raced on a three race rotational system in the order I have listed them.

At times the water truck seems to leave indentations on the BP track.

Xlent work down there by the way.

[GavS]

i have heard tracks in aussie use molasses, can anyone shed any light in this, how much ect ect

[schumaaka]

Dec 4, 2008 14:55:15 GMT 12 sonic33 said:

Hey Shu. Can you come and live near Bay Park please.


In case some one from Bay Park is reading this and doesn't know it all. (I.E may still want to learn). Would your track prep alter for a meeting consisting of:

30 mini stocks
25 Saloons
30 stock cars
10 Super saloons and
20 Sprinters?

Raced on a three race rotational system in the order I have listed them.

At times the water truck seems to leave indentations on the BP track.

Xlent work down there by the way.

No not really, Because of the sprint cars you have to put it in a little tighter when you are packing the track. Watering is the same, but it wont take as much because the material is tighter. Run the Sprintcars after the supers and then the stockcars to open the track back up.

This only works if you can grade the Track the next day and water thursday,friday and Saturday.

At the NZ Super Saloons it was the roughest track that I have ever seen for the first night and obviously hadn't been packed when it was graded.

So many people complained about it that my guess is that they got in a drum roller and flattened the whole track and let it dry out and man was it smooth and slick for the next night, so there are the 2 extremes, somewhere in between is what we all want, but as I have pointed out its a huge time commitment for those who do it.

He's some advice for those who want to suggest to there local track preparation crew that they should do it differently, be very careful because you may end up with a job out of it.


I believe that every national title should include in their budjet an amount to bring in a track manager to oversee the track preparation for that championship.



Cheers

[eliteoilstaranaki]

With the Modified champs at stratford this year and the way the place has been turning into a dust bowl with only 3 cars on the track at times, i dread to think what it will be like with 20 cars, what sort of track prep is done here at stratford and is there some points to be learnd out of this thread maybe ?? im not bagging the track just thinking of what it will be like to be a spectator with 20 mods running

[woodart]

excellent posts shane, as a fellow machine operator you'r quite correct in your track prep for your track, the big thing that seems to make the biggest difference in other tracks is the banking, and the amount of heavy ,narrow tyred cars digging ruts in a sticky track., followed by the wide tyred cars blowing the rest of the surface away after that first penetration of the track. your fantastic track is (by NZ standards) fairly well banked and that does make a big difference with the water runoff. unfortunatley with some of the flatter nth island tracks the runoff is very slow so the problem is the promoters would rather underwater with an eye on the weather and try and play catch-up 2 hrs before show time. so you have a hard base with 2 inches of slush that disappears in the hot laps slick city . im a big fan of banked tracks for that reason and its good to see that gisbourne and kihikihi have changed theirs. I cringe when a driver with a flat tyre drives around and cuts down into the track .that driver should be on water truck duty for the next meeting. keep up the good work

[percy]

Pretty much every track I've been to for a two night meeting has problems with the track on night two. Problem being the lack of moisture beneath the top surface. Once the top surface gets stripped away the dust flies and often the track becomes one lane.

I'm interested to know if much can be done between the two nights or if the key to a good night 2 surface is in the days building up to the meeting.

I'm also interested to know if weather conditions in the 2-3 days prior to the meeting change your techniques? Would persistent light rain vs blazing hot sun would require two different approaches to track preparation?

[Rusty]

S T I C K Y T H I S T H R E A D.
very intresting reading Makka

[Murray Guy (Grandad)]

I'm wondering why no tracks are covered, or part covered, between meetings?
Keep the moisture in, not exposed to the elements.
More consistant race surface come race meeting.
Water is becoming an increasingly precious (and expensive) commodity.

[schumaaka]

Dec 4, 2008 19:18:35 GMT 12 percy said:

Pretty much every track I've been to for a two night meeting has problems with the track on night two. Problem being the lack of moisture beneath the top surface. Once the top surface gets stripped away the dust flies and often the track becomes one lane.

I'm interested to know if much can be done between the two nights or if the key to a good night 2 surface is in the days building up to the meeting.

I'm also interested to know if weather conditions in the 2-3 days prior to the meeting change your techniques? Would persistent light rain vs blazing hot sun would require two different approaches to track preparation?

yes its the days leading up to the event the thursday friday and sat. if your racing on the friday then the watering needs to start the day earlier.

If you have blown away the top surface its likely that you started with the chopped up slosh for a surface ontop of a dry base. as the night goes on its swept to the side and the dry dusty base is left which nothing either the cars or the track surface will stick to.

We will have the track ready for the 2-4 practice on the Thursday. will pre water tues wed, thursday. Run the practice, Re Grade the track deep, re pack and then pour in as much water as possible.

End of racing on Friday Night, I will Re Grade the track for the Saturday event and again pour the water in.

Most tracks suffer because the depth that they are graded is either to shallow or they prewater while driving on the track which simply turns the track to mush which is then swept to the side early leaving the dry base and slick track city.

Weather generally doesnt make alot of difference, Rain on the track has little effect during the prewatering. Even if you get so much rain that you can't drive in the pits and the infield the track will still be to dry to race on.

Only when the track has been raced on can the rain cause a problem as too much will make it greasey.

Heat can be a problem and to get around this pre watering at night can help avoid evaporation and allow the water to penertrate.

Hope this helps

[Deleted]

Dec 4, 2008 8:23:46 GMT 12 schumaaka said:

Theres nothing worse than going to an event to find that its a slick track dust bowl from the second race.

And conversly a plowed paddock that is has only 1 drivey line is also terrible for everyone.

Drivers and the crowd deserve a firm drivey track that allows them to use the whole circut with very little speed difference between the outside and inside lanes. This is not rocket science.

Thanks for sharing your track prep knowledge schumaaka.

Below are some recent comments on this topic from WoO pilot Terry McCarl...

Jeff S. asks: First off, I want to say what a pleasure you are to watch when you're on TV or around the Osky/Knoxville area. You have always been a showman for the sport. With the financial situation that everybody is feeling right now, what changes do you foresee in the future of sprint car racing and in particular, what can sprint car racing in general do to grow as a sport? Thanks!

TMAC answers: Everyone has their opinion on how to make the racing better. We’re in our World of Outlaws meeting, and (Executive Vice President) Ben Geisler tells us, “We’re thinking about changing the format. You need to remember, the fans are important.” You think we don’t know the fans are important? I told him I’d fix the biggest problem. The format is fine. At a lot of the places we go, the track prep is horrible. I’m no dirt expert, and neither are Kinser or Schatz, but when we show up to some of these places, we ask ourselves, “What’s going on?” We laid rubber two or three times this year time trialing. Someone from the World of Outlaws can’t see that, and tell the track guys to water the thing? I wish the WoO would assume more responsibility for track prep. I understand not everyone is the Dunkin’s (Knoxville), and some nights they even have a down night. It’s dirt. Our biggest problem is track prep. Not just with the Outlaws, but with a lot of local tracks too. Once in awhile, the fans wouldn’t mind if you took 20 minutes to rework a track if it makes the show better. (Former WoO competition director) Bobby Jackson was the master of looking at a dirt track and telling the water truck what did or didn’t need to be done. Don Grabey (current competition director) worked with Bobby and has the same qualifications, but Ben and the WoO has him blowing up balloons and &*$#! Let him call some shots with the track prep. Elma, Washington laid rubber in time trials. That shouldn’t be. What a great track with great fans. They don’t deserve it. They’re not going to come back and blame the track, they’re going to blame the Outlaws, and that’s what happened. We could tell before the night started that it was going to happen. There’s no excuse. Now a fan says, “I paid $35 for that B.S.?” It has to stop.