Tracks

 
This section of our website will show tracks that we have built for our clients and our mobile track build.
 
July 2010

We have a 4.5m x 1.5m 3 lane mobile track which is available for hire for Birthday parties, promotional events etc.
Prices start from £250 for a 2 hour Birthday party.
Discounts and special arrangements can be made for long term hire.


Take a look at the pictures below to see how we built it.
Firstly we made up 3 sections, 1.5m x 1m of MDF with a 50mm x 25mm softwood frame.
 
Then the sections where marked out with the track design.
 
 
 
Once we were happy with how the track looked drawn out then we got on with the routing. Corners first with our home made jig.
The jig is a piece of 6mm ply wood cut at 1m long and 30cm wide.
We then drilled holes in the jig at the slot distance intervals. So if you want your slots 8cm apart, you simply drill holes at 8cm intervals in your jig. The jig ended up with around 6 holes to give us a good variation of corner radii. Looking at the drawn corners we found the centre of the circle and fixed one end of the jig at that point. The holes in the jig then lined up with where we needed to cut our slots. If you are planning on making a track for yourself then remember if using this method then place a 'stop' at the end of where you need the corner to blend into the straight, otherwise you may cut too far round and have to do some filling later. You can just see the stop in the picture below.
 
Once we had all the corners cut out then we simply just joined the bends with stright cuts. This was achieved by clamping a straight edge onto our bases and running the router along.
 
Because this is a mobile track we needed to ensure we could get the top surface level easily and quickly. To do this we routed a slot in the sides of the bases and when erecting the track we use a 6mm steel bar which pushes into the grooves and makes sure we have an even track surface.
The track was now sealed with a PVA and water mix to seal the MDF. Once it had dried the track was ready for apply the copper tape. Some people apply the tape after painting, biut we decided to do it before so that when the paint has been put on the tape and the paint are level. Also if you are using textured paint you will make sure the tape is flat if you apply it first.
 
The copper tape was applied by hand using the back of the thumb to flatten it down, then a wall papper roller was used to make sure it was well and trully stuck. In this picture you can also see the scenery has started to be marked out.
The copper tape then was masked off and the first coat of paint applied.
 
 
Once we were happy with the paint finish the masking tape was removed and the finer details could be added.
 
 
Because this is a track that gets used by the general public at fetes and shows we put a high side (crash barrier) all round to prevent the cars from shooting off and breaking on the floor. These sides also double up as supports to enable us to stack the track for transportation.
 
 
 
Thankyou for ready this track build. If you are planning to have a go at building a track and have any question about how we did things or would like a track built please get in touch.
 
 
 
 
 
Subpages (1): Rally Track