Building a track
 

Got my first ZZ a few weeks ago and been have thinking about building a track. I live in a 1-bedroom apartment so I knew that I wanted something that was portable and easy to store. I was looking at the tracks that others have built and was going to use the pink foam insulation, so off to home depot I went. I was looking around and came across this Soft-Styles foam mat it comes in 2’ft. x 2’ft. squares that interlock and can be used for numerous things. They come in a 4 pack for $20 so I picked 1 up and am going to how it works and if I want to make it bigger I just by another pack.

Then I went to Michaels to look for some more things and got this foam matting, its paper-thin and comes in a bunch of colors and was on sale for 50 cents for a 12” x 18” sheet.

I got 4 black (road) 6 green (infield) 1 red and 1 white (candy strips)

Cost so far $27

Now all I have to do if figure out a layout and a barrier system.

Picture comming soon



Track pictures

Cool!
 

Hey there.:)

Nice to see yet another MN person here. (I live in MInnetonka)
Sounds like a good track Idea so far. Can't wait to see some pictures. I would need something easy to store too, with my 2 bdrm apartment. Then me an my roommate could race! Sounds like you could be on to something. Post how Zips handle on that kind of surface when you get a chance.

thanks
 

Thanks for sending me the link to your pics of the track so far. That felt-type stuff you got looks like it will make a good looking track pretty easily. My 2 cents.....nice layout - though looks like some sections might be kind of narrow. Would make for some interesting racing I guess though. Any barrier ideas yet?? I haven't browsed any craft or hardware stores just yet.

Alittle off topic but what parts of MN are you from I'm in Sioux Falls

Track is looking pretty cool. I wonder how they will handle.:D

Some of that stuff also i have, nice grip it has, yes.

How you secure it to the other foam mat, i am wondering?

Track tack
 

Yes I like the grip and it's easy to work with, For now Im pinning it down with stick pins beacuse the mat im using is 1/2" thick. I may just leave it like that or use double sided tape when I'm done.


Now for the barrier I got about 50' of 1/2" plastic wire loom from work that I was going to use. I just tried it and its not all the great. The car seem to stick to it instead of glance off :-( so much for the freebie. Guess I have to make another trip to Home Depot to see what I can find. Glad I only live a 1/2 mile away from Michael's, Home Depot and Wal-Mart :-)

By the way I'm in the Cities Area (airport)

my friend and I are also building a track, not sure what the surface is but the track should be up in about a month. Will take some pics with the digi cam.

Dose red dog give you better grip than bud?:D

barrier idea
 

Dutch,

I was surfing another forum and saw that a guy used flexable drywall bead for barriers, and it looks pretty cool. Looks like you could pin it in whatever shape you wanted to your track. He stated it was $1.25 for an 8 ft section. See some pictures of the track and barriers here:
http://home.wi.rr.com/cdconsulting/M...ack%20Pics.htm

Still Looking
 

Thanks PT,

I saw that track before also. I like the flexability of that stuff just dont care much for the look. (Im I being to anal ?) LOL

I'll keep looking for a while till I find something I can live with or maybe grab a some of that stuff and try to dress it up.
(mmmm paint fumes)

LOL! I wonder if there are drinking and driving laws in his state. :)

Pic's of track so far (testing phase)
 

oooooook I threw-up a quickie geocities web page and put some pics up of what I've done so far. There nothing special it may give you some ideas or you might have an idea for me to try.

Thanks to all who read and posted


My web page

Barrier Ideas!
 

Here's a few things I came up with while browsing Home Depot and Michaels:

At Michaels - a good idea here is balsa wood! (duh, exactly what every hobby or craft project needs!) They have a bin of various sized strips. Easily flexable is the 1/16 x 1/4 36" long strips. Also then easily paintable! Then for posts, there is a bin of wooden dowels. You could use the 1/16 size, and glue it behind your rail, or get the 1/8 size (or a tad bigger) and cut a knotch in the top of each post to put the rail into. I would think the small 1/16 dowels would be easiest, as you could jam them into the foam base - though a lot of glueing will have to be done!!

At Home depot - best rail for the buck - window blinds!!! Get aluminum or plastic ones. I saw a 60" one for like 6 bucks! Take it apart, and you got a ton of slats to work with. Affixing them so they are virtical on your track, im not so sure about (small "L" brackets over in hardware?) But im thinkin this would be a good idea. And cheap too.

Dutch,

Where did you find those interlocking foam pads? I did't see them anywhere. Didnt want to buy a 4'x8' sheet of insulation, as the smaller 2x2 size will work for store-ability. And dammit, Michaels by me was all out of the black thin foam sheets!! (probably for Halloween) Though, in the same isle, I thought, why not get the same size sheets, but in the felt material for infield/grass??? Would be a different texture than the road/track surface then....

Here is picture of my track real simple 1/2" plastic water tube 100' foot for $8 4x8 sheet 1/8" masonite and some astroturf and a can of adhesive. I laid the track out and drilled small holes along the lines then used small screws came up from the bottom and screwed through the board(pre drilled into the black plastic tubing. TWO PEOPLE MAKE THIS A LOT EASIER!!