Karting Question_Building a Slick Track

[pitcrew]

I have searched the web and haven't seen the answer I need so maybe someone here has the info:

I need to get some information on building a Slick Track for Karts. We have a section of asphalt, extremely abrasive and want to convert an area into a slick oval for single speed racing style karts (top speed 40mph).

We are thinking something the size of a Quarter Midget track, but the abrasive asphalt has no grip and eats the tires. The slick track would ease the wear and make for better driving (I hope).

I'm sure there's more than one way to do this, right now we are looking for the most cost effective way. Hopefully this will be something I can invite everyone from Karnac to checkout soon, but for now still getting the bugs worked out. Thanks

[cake]

This might help

There is a go kart track in snydersville pennsylvania called s&s speedways. There track is polished concrete. Not sure what that is but they put baby powder on it every once in a while to make it slicker.
Here is the link if you want to get ahold of them and ask how they did it.

www.ssspeedways.com

they are dirt modified go karts.
its an awesome track
30 minutes away from pocono speedway.

[BJ Cavin]

There used to be a track in Myrtle Beach, SC, that was supposedly "glassed" asphalt. At least that is the term that they used at the time. The track was an asphalt oval, but it was either milled or polished down to the point that it was very smooth. I believe it also had a sealer applied to it as well. That track has been gone for years now, but a friend of mine raced on it about once a year and loved it back in the early 1980's. So how smooth was it? If you ran your fingers over it it felt like rubbing across the hood of a car or truck. Very smooth indeed!

[SeminoleWind]

My construction company built a small oval in the backyard of a homeowner who had Jeff Gordon like aspirations for his kids.
We did "poured concrete" that was sloped about 3 degrees to drain water toward the center (infield). A drain system was installed in that area to remove any pooled water. The concrete was power trowled, like you would do a garage slab. We used a diamond blade cutter to cut grooves, top to bottom, about every 8 feet. We did this to control any cracks that may develop. We did the pour in 1 shot,(forms on the inside and outside only. I felt pouring the track in sections, with forms dividing the sections, would lead to small transitions (bumps) in the track. A clear commercial type (not something you can buy at Home Depot) sealer was applied a few weeks after the concrete was cured. The homeowner originally wanted to use an epoxy type application, but I felt this would not provide any grip whatsoever. Plus, the epoxy surfaces can get very slippery to walk on when wet. Some of the commercial sealers can be applied multiple times to achive the surface you desire, however, they may require some sort of binder before each successive coat.
Last summer, the same homeowner hired me to remove the track. It seems his kids were more interested in video games. Imagine that with today's kids! After over 2 years, the track had develpoed 2 small cracks which ended at the expansion cuts. The surface probably could have used another coat of sealer, but other than that, it was in perfect condition. After about 5 hours of Bobcat time and 3 20 yard dumpsters, my only speedway was no more.
Hope some of this info helps!

[pitcrew]

I appreciate all the info, I'd heard of the baby powder but I thought it was to make the track more tacky, now I know. Ideally we can seal or smooth the asphalt somehow, but we may have to cut the asphalt and pour concrete to make the turns. Thought about epoxy, but not sure if it would stick to the asphalt or hold up over time. I'm searching for harder tires, and maybe a bit of stagger would help, these karts are setup for our road course right now.