Allowed to Build a Backyard Track!

[TBone77]

PLANNED TRACK LAYOUT AND LANDSCAPE (http://www.rc10b4.com/gallery/data/508/2259Landscape_and_Track.gif)

Well, I have permission from the wife to to take a small chunk of the backyard for a track. The catch is that I have to have the rest of the yard landscaped to make it look nice, but oh well. She has a buddy from highschool that owns his own landscaping business, so he's coming over tonight to help us plan some landscaping around our deck and the rest of the yard.

Anyway, my yard is 65' wide (standard-sized suburban lot) and I'm going to make two 6' lanes along the back stretch. Obviously this isn't a full-blown track... just something that I can build some technical features into for practice.

The gray dotted lines represent future explansion that I haven't told my wife about :D , assuming the current plan leaves the kids room to play. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I don't think the track will really detract fro the kids' play area... I mean, what's to stop them from using the track as a play area?

I'm going to rent a sod cutter to rip up the grass and then go from there. The back lane is just a straightaway that goes into a banked turn, and then the return stretch will have a couple obstacles. If it turns out that there isn't room for all 3 sets, then I'll either move the table top to the back stretch or remove the moguls. BTW, the track runs counter-clockwise.

Oh, the neighbors are gonna love me...

If anyone has suggestions or ideas, I'd love to hear them. Even though the track is pretty small, I'm excited about it. It will be nice being able to test setup ideas, tires, etc right in my own backyard. If expanding it to the gray dotted areas turns out to be feasible, it may not be half bad for two 1/10 electric vehicles to dual on. I just might have to buy the wife a transmitter :D .

[electro21]

I still live in an apartment, but when we get our house I want a track in my backyard also. The current setup will be great for suspension setup over the obstacles and the straight will be a good speed tuning section.

[paulicat]

Congrats!
Though it might seem small, there is nothing compared to having something in your backyard for testing purposes!
One sidenote though...in the area I live in (Toronto, Ontario area) 65 foot lots are nearly unheard of, standard on a new house would be more like 30-36 foot...apparantly land is at a premium here, so forget about any backyard test tracks :-(

[ducati777]

Looks pretty slick. Have you thought about crash barriers? You'll have rc's flying in all directions, even ones you didn't think it could hit.

[TBone77]

Congrats!
Though it might seem small, there is nothing compared to having something in your backyard for testing purposes!

Exactly... I think I can pretty much mirror my local track's driving conditions, so it will be really cool to have a proving ground for setups and tires.

Looks pretty slick. Have you thought about crash barriers? You'll have rc's flying in all directions, even ones you didn't think it could hit.

Well, our yard is fenced so the track will have barriers on three sides... I might put in a mulch bed along the fourth side (the side closest to the deck). I doubt I'll run tubes or anything because I don't want my kids tripping on them.

[Grant Tokumi]

6-ft lanes will be a bit narrow. But I like how you tucked the track snug way in the back of the yard to still allow for play room for the kids. Thats certainly a good way to make a dual purpose yard. Berming up against the 2 back corners may be a nice touch to create a banked turn.

One thing I'd be careful/aware of is if you put the jumps and tabletops in front, you may end up blocking your view of the straightaway in the back. I don't know where you plan to be standing while you drive, but consider your line of sight as you build up your track if you haven't done so already.