Is sand on a track a good idea?

[cheapskate]

Hi, built a little track for my son today in the wilderness part of the garden, the surface is a chalky clay, very little grass on it, when it's wet it will be very sticky, I was thinking of throwing a ton or so of sharp sand on it, anyone got an opinion on whether this would be a good idea or not?

[Shodog]

considering sand is what they make sandpaper with, I don't think that would be a good idea.  the sand with get in all the nooks and mix with grease and oils to make a sanding paste.  If you're going to drop a ton something, I would make it dirt so that was you could make bigger berms and bigger jumps.

Jim

[cheapskate]

am i allowed to post a photo on here? it might be easier if I show you what it looks like but I take your point about the abrasive nature of sand.

[Mad Ax]

Some people have lots of fun running their RCs on the beach - even classic Sand Scorchers, etc.

Sand does have a habit of getting in the gearbox and causing wear, so

if you're running on sand - only run RCs with sealed gearboxes, make

sure you use the fibrous pad between the motor and gearbox (rotors can

suck in sand and expell through the front vents into the 'box), and and

give it a good thorough clean and re-greasing ever so often, you

shouldn't have too many problems.

FWIW I wouldn't run on sand without stripping my car down afterwards to

clean everything up, and seeing as I don't like doing that - I won't

run on Sand much

IMO, anyway.

[mr_pushrod]

As has been said, sand works very well to make a grinding paste when mixed with grease. Don't do it unless you plan to strip your car down regularly and replace plenty of gearsets.

[Wrc action]

Tho I must say that sand is awesome fun to drive on espicallu small dunes etc like at the beach  - tho the full clean of our touaregs was a real pain. i would advise dirt preferibly of a clay nature or loam that way it will be less dusty and cause less wear to you cars mechanics.

regards Ryck

[Gruntfuggly]

If you're running something you are happy to replace parts on, then go for sand - it's a blast - I've run my Baja Champ on sand quite a bit recently and it's was awesome....

[cheapskate]

Thanks for the replies, the track is a small oval, probably no more than about 40ft, from top to bottom there's probably about a 4 ft height difference, one side is a gentle very short grass slope the other side is all chalky clay and does the height change in the space of about 5ft, just to clarify i was'nt intending to put down enough sand to make it a sand track, i was just gonna put enough down so that when it was wet it would take some of the stickiness out of the clay, i don't do cleaning, if you check out my post on the how do you clean yours thread you will see how I clean mine, but having said that i am using cheap cars (cross tigers at the moment but I am intending to buy a real Tamiya, just can't decide which one!!!)

[Cul-Tech]

Fine ground limestone will dissapate some of the clay and is not nearly as abrasive as sand.

[Wrc action]

ahh clay - The nasty stuff lol - We have a garden full of it and have found the best way is to dig in this uber cheap compost we got from the local tip. At a ludicrous price of 50p per bag [] and bout £30 delivered for 10 tonnes[] we have worked it in to our garden and the soil quality has improved no end. I run my cars on a small area of it under our trees and its very good, The soil we get due to being made of broken down vegitation is of a loam base meaning that its soft and well broken meaning quick drainage and limited wear due to its profile. Its great for the touaregs and my old TL01B buggy that I used on it, Able to spin the wheels and spin around as well as make jumps and ruts to change the course for your needs yet the particles being a loam are large and therefore will not enter your drive train and work like sand does meaning far less re-builds. espically with rubber shielded ball bearings. Hope this helps - Our soil comes from lower moor refugee site run by wychavon district council.

regards Ryck

[cheapskate]

Like the compost idea, threw a couple of bags on the worst clay bits and it does seem to make a difference, nice colour too!

 

[Wrc action]

yeah lol - I need to work on the little area that i can use for trailing. It will wear in quickly but its a cheap fix really.

regards Ryck

[RedFrits]

What you can also try is artificial grass. I had a balkony where I put this stuff on. It is sort of carpet but it lets water through.

[john45677]

well done here in the states  clay is what you want ,not only does it provide the highest grip for dirt driving,if you make the track, groom it, and let it dry out,than sweep it, you get a very nice almost 99% dust free high traction blue grouve track wich in my opinion is one of the greatest surfaces to drive on .When you are done driving you just pretty much use a air hose and blow your car off,really clay is not something you want to get rid of it is a real good forming dirt good for making jumps burms,etc ,etc .Down here in the states there are some indoor track's that use slick tire's on there clay track due to there being so much traction,i would just water it a little ,just enough to give it a slight tack ,honestly clay is are friend it's the best r/c raceing dirt you can ask for, as for sand if its a oval nix the sand thought,but if its a offroad track ,than a small sand trap would be cool just to give a differnet element in your offroad track,but i would not do the whole track

thx john

[cheapskate]

I take it you live somewhere it don't rain much John? Clay is great when it's dry, but I'm more concerned about the 6 months of the year when it will rain, and rain, and rain, and it will be dull and cold so it will never dry out not even on the surface, trust me you walk across the the open soil here anytime between end of september to mid april and you will go inside with several pounds of the stuff clinging to your boots!! Having said that I am gonna try and roll it, might even use a wacker plate on it, to get it as compacted as possible, but the compost dusted on the surface can't do any harm.

[rajicon]

Perhaps make the track raised higher than the surrounding ground. That way it will drain off better.

My mothers house had a patch where the water would run off the

neigbours backyard and under the fence. Her yard would become very

soggy.

We solved this problem for her by laying aggy-drain (agricultural

drainage storm water pipe). This is like normal 90mm drainage pipe,

except it has slots cut down it. Dig a trench about 2 feet deep. 

Place the drain at the bottom. Then place about 6-8 inches of fine

gravel (around 5-10mm round) around and over the pipe. Then fill the

rest of the hole with bigger gravel or scoria (around 10-20mm round)

upto about 8 inches from the top. Place the soil and grass on top,

bring it back to the ground level. Make sure there is enough soil as

the grass wont grow on the gravel otherwise, and you will be throwing

stones everytime you cut the grass. One end of the pipe gets connected

to your storm water, the other is capped. Try to have a good fall on

your pipe that is laid, somewhere around 3 degrees or roughly where the

bubble on a spirit level is about to touch one end. This will stop the

water from hanging. If you need to pack it up, use the soil/clay you

took out, packing it down with your foot.

This was cheap to do and she has never had a problem since. It gets a bit of traffic and doesnt go soggy under foot anymore.