Gauging opinion on most popular surface for permanent indoor facility

[shaungooner]

Hi guys

I'm just trying to gauge opinion on preferences for track surface at a potential new permanent indoor venue in the East Midlands

We are seeing more tracks around the country now with Maritime, Midland Raceway, Silverstone and MB and the dominant surface so far seems to be the EOS carpet and tracks made up on a flat surface with wooden (carpet covered) features with the exception of Maritime who have switched from carpet to astro

These tracks are great and personally I like the way these tracks have been developed

However the EOS carpet surface is very different to that which we use when we go outdoors as the weather and light improves

So with that in mind I'd be grateful to hear of your thoughts on the following options

Option 1 - EOS carpet with wooden (carpet covered) features

Option 2 - Recycled astro turf with sand infill (hockey pitch style astro as used at most outdoor venues around the country), laid on a flat floor with wooden features covered in the same astro

Option 3 - Recycled astro turf with sand infill as in option 2 but laid on top of a profiled track to create undulations and jumps like a 'REAL' offroad track indoors

Option 4 - Dirt, little used these days in the UK but still the dominant surface in the rest of the world

Option 5 - New astro turf with no sand infill (current Maritime surface and previously used by Silverstone)

Option 6 - None of the above, give us your suggestion instead

[richm]

EOS carpet has very low tyre wear, which is very welcome for most racers as it makes things a lot more affordable.
I also hear that the EOS carpet is quite cheap. though have no figures, just repeating something I was told.

I don't recommend any astro option with sand in it, as it gets into all the moving parts of your car, and you will spend all the time cleaning it out of other parts of your venue.

Dirt would be awesome, but it may need more infrastructure in your venue to make it work. looking at the american venues, they have a combination of misters and blowers to keep the surface good. And whilst there are many venues that are dirt / clay in the rest of the world, the majority of surfaces over here are astro / grass.

I like the idea of astro over a profiled track, making it more like an outdoor track. but on the other hand, the big advantage of tracks like maritime that has movable jumps on a flat surface is that they can completely change the track fairly easily and quickly without any heavy machinery.

so i guess i am suggesting option 1 or 5

but a permanent indoor dirt / clay track that would be open for practice would be awesome.

[the dug]

Be different, clay/dirt would be terrific. Storm Valley was unbelievably good before it closed, problem there was the fumes from gas cars. Tyres lasted forever. Track was a bit small and location wasn't good. Be brave get dirt.

[bigt]

get dirty

[danDanEFC]

Not Dirt

[neallewis]

EOS carpet does wear tyres, certainly as it ages. It's still very good though.
People do dislike it until they find a setup that works for their car, then they get it.

These options are all kind of irrelevant as the track surface will be dictated by your budget and the available space to fill, unless you have a bottomless pit of money, and no requirement to recoup the outlay to get setup. What do the building owners say you can/can't do?

I wouldn't say dirt tracks are dominant now in the rest of the world. Yes in america, but that's changing as they realise the benefits in the shift to a cleaner more car friendly surface.

New astro or carpet laid on a shaped dirt style track would be interesting for sure.

I love racing on Dirt, but many here in the UK don't like it, unfortunately. Mostly due to tyre cost, different setup/driving style needed, and wear and tear on the cars. Other environmental factors decide how good the dirt experience is, e.g. size, cover, is it cold in winter, is pitting outside, etc. We have RHR Dirt, which is the best dirt track in Europe, but when it was open for smaller club run meetings, people wouldn't come, or won't pay for tyres, which made it difficult to justify the work needed to get it race ready. One of my favourite meetings on there was a Yorcc run club meeting when it rained and the track was damp and sticky. The grip was awesome and the tyres didn't wear at all.
You can read and learn from the issues that unfortunately closed Storm Valley.

Sandy astro inside is a crazy idea, why would you do that, unless you had a huge pile of free astro ready to go, and the manpower and machinery needed to lay it.

An issue we've found with a permanent track is people seem to not like the fact that a track isn't changing for every meeting. Elsewhere in the world they lay a track and change it every few months or once a year in the down season. Here we seem to begrudge the fact that locals get more practice therefore must be faster than a visiting racer. I just don't get that argument, when for any "bigger" race meeting the people who build the track before also get lots of practice beforehand as a bonus for helping to build the track. At any meeting someone will always have had a bit more practice, and it doesn't mean they will win.

Is it a club venture, or a track as a business?

[andrewc]

We started 1066 Racing two and half years ago as we wanted somewhere close to home to race; going really well but not a permanent venue. We currently use EOS carpet, we were using a mixture of industrial/office carpet and prima felt. (all for sale on here plug plug!)

Currently I'd say EOS tyre wear is two meetings, compared to one meeting on our old stuff for the really quick boys. The best thing about EOS stuff is not chasing set up all night...you used to start with new tyres and have a tiny bit of understeer, then would be nicely balanced, then move to lack of traction as the night went on, so constantly making small changes to car...but the old carpet was one third the price of EOS so allowed us to start the club, served it's purpose and exactly as Neal says I've not found my set up for EOS yet so currently favour our old stuff!!

We'd love a permanent indoor venue, as it's bloody hard work setting up the track, rolling out 30x18m of carpet etc, and putting it away after the meeting, but put simply we couldn't possibly afford the rent! If you can, and it's a decent size, then go for it and the very best of luck. I do think size matters, great fun racing on a big track, even if it is a pain to set up. Personally I'd go with non sanded astro or EOS carpet if you afford it. Like Neal I love the idea of undulating features, but it does limit track layout.

Here's a pic from our last club night. : )