Slippy Carpet at new club. Advise
 

Hi all,

New club in the north east. bmscc. (oval racing)
We have a slight problem. We have a carpet that formerly belonged to a bowling club and has been rolled up for 7 years. It's in good nick and is a dense felt type carpet. Looks ideal. Only problem is its really slippy and folks are having a tricky time racing. This is the second time racing on it and very little improvement.

Any ideas?

Regards

Apricot

The only way to get grip down is to start getting foam in the carpet, run softer shore tyres in the short term and even though you are an oval club, maybe let the drivers use SXT or some other non oil based additive on they tyres.

This will help raise the grip in the short term and get more foam into the carpet.

Other things to consider are is the carpet dry? If it's been stored in a damp place, then there may be quite a lot of moisture in the carpet. If possible let it sit there and get some dehumidifiers on it overnight. And then make sure it's stored in a dry place.

Some folks wondered if damp could be the cause. I am starting to dismiss the idea as the hall has more heaters than you can shake a stick at and the carpet storage area is cold and dry.

If its not just because it has not been raced on before, then I would suspect the old folks from the bowling have been getting furniture polish or some such thing on it while they have been playing with their balls.

Some of the oval racing folks are very against additive but I suspect using it for a couple of meetings is the simplest way of getting the carpet to work right.

Another thought... when we first rolled out the carpet I stood with my trusty 14 stone on my heel and with a twist action ground at the carpet for a bit to test if the surface fibres would loosen.
They did not. It is a very tough felt.
I asked the Eco Trackway for a sample of the Track GT but that still not arrived so nothing to compare it to.

I suspect that there are a few things in play here...

It's the wrong carpet for RC racing. Just because it is felt-feeling and looking means nothing. Unless it is Prima GT or CRC Fastrack, the chances are it is unsuitable for RC cars.

It has been polished through years of having bowls played on it. The polished surface of the bowls has polished the surface of the carpet fibres and so there's no grip at all for anything as light as an RC car.

I would get some additive and spray it on to an area of the carpet. Give it an hour, and then run a car over it. If that gives more grip, you know what to do. If not, your guess is as good as mine! HTH :)

Is it possible to turn the carpet over, I think you cannot do this with proper Prima gt but it my help in this case.
Or on a lighter note get some buggy's on it with mini spikes, they will open the carpet threads up for you.

Grip will come up over time if its the right kind. Running additive will increase grip for people running additive but will probably reduce grip for people not on it.
Our club doesn't run additive and it takes a good 20 minutes of letting cars practice before grip comes up.