Hopefully everyone has managed to get tires but if not we've updated our page with some more options. The Proline and JC compounds are largely untested but recommended by others.

Sweep also has some nice Micro Dot tires (which come with foams) but we're still wear testing those! Best to get them from Sweep Direct though for price reasons.

Tires

As we’re finally nearing the stage where the track is in ‘race’ ready, there is a certain satisfaction(or relief!) that something you’ve planned for, worked on for months, sweated, bled and bruised through has come to fruition.

Looking back to just after states we were planning what to do with part of the proceeds we had, which was at the time, the entire bank the club had. We didn’t want to spend it all, needing to budget pretty hard to make sure the club didn’t go under financially again.

We’ve been looking at the ratty old carpet on the jumps and table tops we had which had served us well for their time but after a good winter and oil absorption were getting dangerous and toxic, as well as not looking or performing as well as they were. We found a small amount of Astro, easily enough to do the jumps so we started down that path. Logistically it became obvious that it was going to be very hard (and costly) to get it here from its far away location. Luckily David found another ‘stash’ for from an indoor cricket/netball field (Action Indoor Sports, Brahmer lodge thankyou very much). As it turns out, there was a lot more than we needed for that initial job, and we had the opportunity to get way more. Sadly, we only had a very short time(less than a week) to pick it up before it was to be disposed of. Of course, it was the weekend of Mother’s day also!

That week we had very frantic committee chats going back and forth. Do we get it to do the jumps, do we expand to the infield also or do we take the punt and get everything, knowing that we might cover the whole track, or get ourselves a rather large dumping fee or at worst have to store it for a while (knowing we have very limited storage at the track).

We decided to go all in, so then Jeff had to talk to RCRA to make sure we COULD do an Astro track within the rules, as if we can’t hold a State Title or Nats, that’s financial suicide for the club, no matter how much it would benefit us locally. After that was confirmed (we passed with flying colors as expected, the rules are quite good) we decided to get the Astro.

We grabbed all the Astro we could carry in sizes that were going to be useful for the track (but in hindsight we should have just taken everything). David and Jeff moved it all in 2 days via truck to David’s house (which was close by allowing us to ferry faster from Action Indoor) then later to the track once the dead line was passed and we’d had a breather. We piled it up neatly after the initial delivery. That was only the beginning of one of the longest build journeys we’ve had (since the initial move).

We then had to make sure the membership wanted Astro an a surface. We wrote up a survey and many drafts later, sent it out to our financial members. 100% of responses were positive, so we knew we were on the right path (over 95% of those members responded).

Our Oiled surface had gone as far as its initial install could go. There were so many cracks in it and the winter damage had well and truly started to show. We were looking at quite the repair bill and lots of work, and that was just the surface. We knew we still needed drainage (as it has since we began in 2014). So that was stage 1, get in the pipes. That took a while to plan, even longer to implement in the wet and mud but it’s done now (and it was nearly all funded by the proceeds from Food and Drink at the new Bistro at Mitchell Park).

Hot tip if you want to support the club, eat at the Bistro and tell them you're with the Car club!

We’ve installed it in a big kind of grid, with lots of capacity for water level holding and with a pump in the final drain, we can empty the system quite easily. This process took a long time with mostly just a two man team (Jeff and Mark King) chipping away. Adam Block, the Wilkins crew and Stuart helped out when they could as well as Chris Olsen and Pat popping in, which really helped out on the big job days. Once we had some aggregate to camber the track in the correct ways it became obvious that we had a bigger task than we thought but we made it though. Over ½ the track has been re-leveled now. Its a very good base for water flow and the Astro now. Let me tell you, working with that stuff is so much easier than wet Clay!

On top of all that, we've had to down tools due to the unrelenting weather, hospitalization and life. Somehow, even with mother nature fully gunning for us, we've managed to do it all without missing a raceday Saturday where we could have raced. We've still not held a race meet since May though!

Finally, the most recent working bee came around and we finally got the Astro down. Truth be told we nearly didn’t have enough (we were prepared to pad or gain extra pieces and we do have some more blue left). Turns out you can do all the math you want, but until you manage to jigsaw those pieces into the track layout, you’re never quite know for sure. We went with the track as it currently was, as its quite an enjoyable layout instead of going for the whole track as a single surface. We knew we didn't have enough big bits to do that. Next time Batman.

It was not perfect at this stage but the cars don’t seem to mind the cosmetic downsides. There is still quite a bit of work to do, but we're over the hump, it looks like a track, not a mud pit and potentially.

Testing on the track has been to see if there are any wrinkles or badly places joins etc (as well as testing wear and performance) and initially we found a few as we have not changed to a fully flat track and Astro is best done on flat. Wrinkles here and there or incorrectly overlapped edges. One by one we cleaned up and aligned all the overlaps/joins, moved parts around, re-arranged the main straight several times and we’re left with a track that is really clean to drive. Now the straight is pinned down and we’ve learned a good system for doing that, we’re ready to final pin the rest.

Surface wise, it was assumed we’d be medium grip at worst, as the small testing we had done allowed for a bit of wheel spin from standing start (in the wet). Now it’s out, that’s probably where we’d say it is, maybe medium-high in the hot weather. There is lots of consistent grip but its not High. You’re not on rails, you’re not turning on a dime and you can slip out if you overcook it or drive like a loon and you’ll understeer into the wall if you try to turn too fast. Perfect driving surface for racing. Drive well, control your throttle and you’re going to have a great time. It doesn't drive much different to the Oiled Clay on its best days, but it is the same everywhere. Your Dirt setup will work, but if you're running 4wd you will want to adapt to a higher grip setup otherwise you will be traction rolling in places (especially with Dirt tires).

The second Astro working bee resulted in a much cleaner and secured version of the Astro. All the extra and waste parts cleaned up, Sean R and Chris O did an amazing job patching the little missing sections from when it was a cricket pitch. We had a small army of helpers and it worked great, so much done.

Obviously we’re no longer on the ‘common’ tire group for Australia (which may change in the future), so we’ll be finding sources of tires from all over but we’ll get there. Wear is at an all-time low for carpet tires and about the same for dirt pins such as holeshots, it has never been this good before, even with the Oiled surface at its best. It has also never been this consistent. Hand on heart, this is the best racing surface we’ve ever seen and we’ve had some great track surfaces over the year (albeit for very short periods and at much greater dollars and people time). Sure, it’s not the Dirt racing of old but we haven’t been doing that for a while really with the Oiled Clay.

Hopefully the tire situation will resolve itself over time (having 3 major carpet events in recent months in Europe has not helped) and we’ll be smooth sailing. Luckily, we’ve tested normal pin tires and they are still quite viable in the meantime.

So from all of us on the committee, thankyou all for waiting and helping out when you could, we’ve managed something we originally only dreamed of. Once we’re done, come down and enjoy 1/10 scale racing like Adelaide has not seen in a long time if ever.

ARCR Committee

So we're really on the home stretch here. We have Astro on the track and its been relaxing in the sun all week. Its time to secure it down and do some clean-up on the infield (might even do some washing of Astro if we get enough hands). All this helps to make us Race Ready, which might mean we're able to run a practice the following weekend and a race meet the Saturday after that, which i know everyone is keen to get back into.

Get your name down to help and make it happen!

Entries

With the new surface going down this weekend (yes finally!), you'll want to start getting a set of shiny new tires for it.

We've written up a page on our current recommendations.

ARCR Tires

The main drainage is now mostly done on the track.

This last weekend's working be we laid down many tonnes of aggregate on the track surface to remove the final low (and undrainable) sections of the track. We also took the opportunity to level out and provide correct fall for other sections which have used a 'flow on' style of drainage, where water flows across the nearly flat track down to another part of the track (sometimes via infield sections) finally to a drainable area. Obviously this is not ideal and directing flow to drains and using the pipes as the transport of water is much smarter, faster and cleaner.

We've covered the new aggregate with temporary pieces of astro to protect from any public usage of the track this week.

We'll be getting on the track a few times in this week to prep for what could be, Astro day. So another working bee this coming weekend if you're free.

There are a few areas where we'll need to touch up as final stage of this massive project, but we're keen to get the Astro in place and really see where we're at after that.

Manpower as usual is essential, so come on down and put in the hours at the track.

More rain, more mud! The Power of Two has been deployed at Saturday's low numbers Working bee for more mud work. All the trenches are now back filled however.

Clean up is still going to take time with the work force being brought to bear however.

Works will continue intermittently during the week as time permits and each Saturday as volunteers are available.

The next big stage of work is the furrowing, leveling and shaping of the infield and track areas to make sure of the newly installed Drains.

Once that has been completed, it will be time to move to Astro preparation and deployment.

Our first big working bee last weekend was a success in many respects. However, we didn't get finished in time. Major works are done, its now time to clean it back up.

At this stage, there is no racing on Saturday due to the state of the track, luckily the weather was looking like it was going to turn on us again. We're still banking on some time to get on it this week, Thursday and Friday

However, if you're keen and free on Saturday, we'd appreciate any help you have. Many hands make light work.

After consultation with the membership, ARCR is moving to an Astro surface.

Sadly there is quite a process to make this happen. We're still going to need to update the drainage. Our track needs to drain no matter the surface.

We'll have at least two working bees (register to give us an idea of numbers via the entries page). We need to dig in a few more trenches and add a lot more pipe work for the drains. Long term we'll need to update the actual out pipe.

After that we'll need to assess all our aquired Astro and plan how to lay it down. The current plan is to keep the layout the same (as much as possible) and lay ontop of the existing hardend track. Infield to be decided.

What does this mean for you as a racer? Tires. New tires. You can still use soft pins, but Carpet tires will be where its at after you've used up your existing. We've been testing Schumacher Mezzo Yellow and Cut stagger ( for 2WD cars) and more brands to follow. This should greatly reduce your cost to race and have tires last much longer.

Short term, its business as usual if we manage to get a run this winter (Please mother nature!). But in a few months, we'd expect the track to be Astro, so if you are low on tires, Carpet tires should be your next purchase. Feel free to get in touch