Former Champion operators

[Fatgraderman]

We had hardly any trouble with the 8.3’s, other then belt tensioner and water pump. I did like operating the larger ones with L10’s and M11’s, but we did a lot of injectors on those. Only other issue was a couple popped exhaust manifold bolts.

 

[Welder Dave]

I seem to have stopped the exhaust manifold leak and the engine starts and runs great. I need to cut the blades straight and see how it handles the 16' moldboard. It will be a bit of a learning curve but I think will level things pretty nice. I need to learn how to do a compound slope on an oval track. Basically the straights can have a slight angle to drain water but need a higher banking on the corners. Any tips on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fatgraderman]

Oval track in the neighborhood of Edmonton?

 

[Welder Dave]

Yes, but only a 1/4 mile. Was originally going to be for bikes but the smaller car guys showed a lot more interest.

 

[Fatgraderman]

Yes, but only a 1/4 mile. Was originally going to be for bikes but the smaller car guys showed a lot more interest.

I had always hoped there would be something comparable to the legends cars or baby grand nationals for dirt. I guess they have mini sprints in Rimbey.

 

[Welder Dave]

I had a couple of micro sprints (600cc sport bike engines) on the track a couple years ago. They were fast. There are only about 7 of them though. They came out a couple years ago to try the track but it was too wet because it rained about 20mm at 2:30am. Since then they are are not interested in the track, apparently because they want a track all to themselves. The guy that runs them wouldn't even answer when I called or texted him. Apparently they claim the mini stock cars ruin the track. I think if the track is done right it will hold up for all types of cars. Had a legend car on the track too. There are 30+ Legends cars. Unless the micro sprint guys want to pay a whole lot more to have their own exclusive track, I need to cater to who shows the most interest and who has the numbers as far as cars. Mini stocks and Legends have the numbers and the track can work for them. One of the guys thinks if an event was put on the micro sprints would show up.

There's basically only 2 tracks they are using, Rimbey and Castrol. My track, if they want to utilize it has the added advantage that they could use it for practice and test and tune pretty much anytime they wanted. I don't know about Rimbey but Castrol only has a couple test and tune sessions during the year unless you want to rent the track for $1500 or so. As long as they had a few cars show up, my track would be available to them for so much a car. About the same amount I would make per car at a race ($30-$40). They could have affordable schools and try outs for people thinking about getting into racing. I think that would be a great way to grow the sport that most other tracks either don't offer or want too much to rent the track. A club could likely get better insurance rates for practice sessions too. It really sucks that there's so much politics involved with any type of racing, whether it's bikes or cars. It seems the faster they are the more BS you have to deal with. Having little kids in mini cars could become popular too because it's more affordable.

 

[Fatgraderman]

I guess the lack of “test and tunes” would explain why the 360 sprints used to show up at Sangudo the weekend before Castrol opened up. Car counts are so important. It wasn’t unusual to see 20 legends, baby grands or IMCA cars at the old Sunset Speedway. Whereas there’d be 5 or 6 late models.

 

[Welder Dave]

The guys that ran Sangudo are interested in my track. They're still hoping to get Sangudo back but it sounds like Sangudo is going to become a horse track.

 

[Fatgraderman]

Really?! I always enjoyed watching races at Sangudo. Was it still 43 Motorsports that ran it?

On a road, when I have to deal with super elevation (banking), I have to be extra careful where I put the windrow and it’s size. And it may help to articulate a bit. As opposed to thinking of the windrow going into the center of the board, you will be trying to get it closer to the edge. After practice, you’ll get so you can do it with little gouge or ridge. So you might feed the board in the center on the straights then get it towards the left edge on corners 1-2 and 3-4. You’ll likely have more angle on the board in the corners as well, especially when working uphill.

 

[Welder Dave]

I'm not sure the name of who was running Sangudo. The one guy said he could bring the bleachers to my track if I let him put his business name on them. The one thing I don't want is them just taking over the whole track where I have no say. My name is on the property so I'm the 1st one in line if there's any problems (legal or neighbors) with anything.
I'll probably just take small bites and try to push the windrow up from the middle to the top. I thinks it's best to do in layers with some packing in between. I'll dump the clay with the skid steer and track loader but don't know if I should try to roughly spread the clay with the skid steer to make a rough slope or just side shift the blade to take bites out of the piles without driving on them and move the piles to the top as I go? I guess I'd be packing the clay somewhat by taken bites out of the piles and then driving over what was spread. Still debating if I should cut the current blades straight or just put the serrated blades on. The serrated blades might help remove little rocks and hard lumps. Everything would be watered and packed so I don't think tiny windrows would be a problem if they developed. Serrated blades may work to scarify the track a little too. New to graders so not sure what works the best or is the easiest for a beginner.

 

[Welder Dave]

It would be real nice if I could get the instructor from the union training center to come and give me some tips. He's worked on tracks with compound slopes before and has a lot of experience. Don't think he's able to bring a new grader down again but just coming to help me shouldn't ruffle any feathers I don't think.

 

[Fatgraderman]

The description above was more for the finish you’d do before pulling the spike over it when preparing for a race. As far as roughing it in, you’ll kind of get a feel for that and feel it tightening up as you run it. Any time I’ve done a bit of a “build” (usually more of a repair with a couple feet involved), I’ve done it in thin lifts. Sometimes a well timed rainstorm helps with compaction. Some stuff I just wheelpack but obviously that’s small areas. Sometimes enough moisture to compact also was enough to stick to the packer. It’s nice if you don’t have to deal with piles, but if you do, you do. Generally the first time the frost comes out of it is an adventure.

 

[Welder Dave]

The clay could be spread out some when dumped on the track. The guy from Sangudo thinks the current surface should be dug up before adding more clay to it so everything blends together. I could cultivate it and water it if need be. Rain in the right quantities can be be very beneficial. Working with dry material can be a pain unless it's spreading topsoil with a skid steer. It's nice to be able to drive over what you've spread without packing it and leaving small ruts you have to repair. A little moisture to keep dust down is nice.