Indoor clay vs carpet

[DavidB1126]

I think clay is more better than carpet. - Change my mind.
Yes clay is lower traction, your cars get somewhat dusty/dirty. But there is more prep. And with that prep, I feel like your actually racing. Not to mention the formed dirt jumps make it more offroad style. As with carpet, there is constant high traction, no tire prep, but your cars stay nice and clean for the most part. Carpet is only known for offroad due to the ramps/jumps, as the actual carpet is on a flat surface. any comments on that? Anyone agree or disagree?

When I am talking about "prep" I am more talking about tire prep. Its mostly cleaning tires and re-applying traction compound after every run/race. But tuning can also be considered as prep. For tuning id like to do it before the race night actually starts, as its pretty hard to wrench while racing is happening (ie like if you have to marshall, ect)

 

[bill_delong]

I feel that clay is better for different reasons... I realize there are some carpet tracks which enable you to run slicks but I have never seen that personally. Tire wear on carpet is typically 1-2 race days before the tires are gone.

A proper clay track with a misting system will offer very consistent traction and you can run slicks which will typically last 8+ race days making clay far more cost effective.

Carpet tends to be more twitchy and your setup is extremely important where a clay setup is a little more forgiving due to having slightly less grip. You spend more time trying to take away grip with carpet and you're trying to find ways to add grip with clay, they are almost polar opposites in terms of setup.

That said, if tire wear was equal, I would prefer carpet, but my wallet tells me clay is better because it's more cost effective

 

[DavidB1126]

A proper clay track with a misting system will offer very consistent traction and you can run slicks which will typically last 8+ race days making clay far more cost effective.

At my local track, doesn't have a misting system but on days where there is no racing, or free practice and its getting to closing time, the owner waters down the track with a hose. Track closes at 5:30 for water down, whole place including hobby shop closes at 6, on normal days. Obviously race days (if at night) is open till about 10:30.

I was running my custom carpet setup on my car on clay minus added ride height tires and compound. Worked for me. I might change back to stock kit setup and improve from there if my buddies can't find a spot to set up a carpet track again.

While running on carpet. When starting out I was running Cactus Rears and Swagger fronts (this is all for 4wd btw). Swaggers worn down about id say 5 track days. After that I went to Pin Swag front and rear, that was fine for me up until September so id say about 6 club races on those tires. The Pins looked almost new tho, but lost grip around the turns. After that went to Fuzz Bite front and rear and oh my, super traction. Only 1 club race on that set so can't speak for wear. My buddies recommends Fuzz Bites from Jconcepts and/or ProLine Harpoon CR3. This was all on a Grey EOS (Euro Offroad Series) type carpet so not your traditional Black CRC as seen in most tracks in the US. Not sure if tire game is the same on both types of carpet. Seems like it is as they were running Fuzz Bites at the old old spot which was Black CRC.

For Clay, I been running Ellipses silver since December. So about 5 practice days and 2 Club race days. They started wearing down to slicks around last night after first round. Locals run slicks with compound (Smoothie 2's). I might keep this worn down set of Ellipses until I feel like I need a new set, which I don't know how long it will be.

they are almost polar opposites in terms of setup.

Yes, now if we were talking about Carpet/Turf and or Indoor clay/Outdoor dirt it would be somewhat the same?
If I actually think about it, I really haven't seen any Turf tracks in my area nor around in the US. We seen mostly more carpet and turf overseas and more indoor clay and outdoor dirt here in the US.
I watch "Roach RC" On YouTube and he explains everything racing. I think that there is more high traction Carpet/Turf overseas than Clay/Dirt is that the dirt and soil content overseas is less or worse than the US?

 

[bill_delong]

Outdoor dirt is all over the place, weather and prep makes a massive difference. For club racing they'll typically water the track and low turnout with less than 5 heats is no big deal but the closer you are to the water schedule the better the grip. If you're one of the last heats when the track is drying up then you'll need to tune accordingly. Big events will run the track dry and it will slowly groove up and you have to tune as the track changes condition. More experienced drivers can look at the track and will know what changes to make, this can make a huge separation in skill. I've seen times where the covered dirt track in my area will get enough humidity that they only need to water once and the moisture is trapped in the track all day to where we get grip that rivals an indoor clay track with a misting system!

Here's a sample of the turf track that was recently shut down, it was recycled turf from an athletic field where the harder the compound with the longer the pins the better the grip to dig in into the turf, I let Ryan Lutz test drive my car back when he used to be on the TEKNO team:

 

[DavidB1126]

Convo between a few of my racing buddies

My current set of tires are the first set of tires that I got for my buggy which are ellipse's. Those are around 8 runs old. 3 of those runs were race days, I think I can get about 2 more races before I need new ones, gonna go with smoothie 2s. But they are very pricey and always in backorder, because that's the go to tire these days for clay tracks. Ellipse's is the second most used, I think, or any kind of bar tire if that as they will eventually wear down to slicks like mine.

I haven't done carpet for so long. Hoping in the next few weekends I can get up to the local carpet track with my uncle. I have a race day old set of fuzz bites which should hopefully work on their track, but I think I seen cactus and cactus fusion being the most popular for 4wd.

 

[bill_delong]

On turf I found that hard inserts would cause premature wear AND reduce grip, the harder the compound tire, the better grip as the pins wouldn't fold over as much and generate more bite into the turf, plus a harder compound would wear longer.

We mostly ran open cell foams, in fact no inserts at all on the front, even with 4WD which typically have inserts.

A set of tires might see maybe 2-3 race days on 2WD roughly 3-6 race days on 4WD... where a fresh set of tires are used for mains, then after the 3rd main they are downgraded to qualifier tires.

 

[hood52]

I just got a set of those jconcept black foams for my buggy fronts, I'll try them when I need new tires. Jconcepts also released new front smoothies for the buggies. They have thicker reinforced sidewalls, guessing it's like already having side walls stiffeners in them. Remember the top guys will wear out tires faster than everyone else. They are able to push there cars faster/harder and usually do more laps in a race.

 

[Ramp addict]

Got to love clay, the only form of offroad racing where everyone runs slicks.
With carpet there's value in being able to clean your truck with an air hose.
Carpet or clay I love racing on high traction tracks.

 

[DavidB1126]

Thinking I am going to keep my slash for carpet tracks only.
On clay, idk if its just me, but I been having issues getting the gear mesh and slipper right, and also I feel like I cannot get enough of grip, or can't turn, or have lots of understeer in the corners. Idk if my tires are too soft (smoothie sct in the green compound) or if its because there is like 0 weight on the front end. 4WD SCT looks to be the best for clay as the weight is more towards the center and actually gets grip.

 

[DavidB1126]

How they "glue" and prep the surface

https://www.facebook.com/modlivemedia/posts/pfbid0ai33HYUAmjsyVwLqeMaHeGnbdjad74vUYgAHoRiGsZ5MhStHZUDwvWfurkxXyN45l