Watering Plan for Private Track??

Ddub171
Posts
22
Joined
3/11/2024
Location
Stanchfield, MN, USA
8/7/2024 5:22am
Ddub171 wrote:
Buy a cheap trailer, put a few 350 gallon water crates on it, and water that way. I have a .75 mile long track, 55 sec...

Buy a cheap trailer, put a few 350 gallon water crates on it, and water that way. I have a .75 mile long track, 55 sec lap times. I put down 2800 gallons of water at dusk and ride the next morning, re apply during the day if doing a longer session. IMG 6724 0.jpeg?VersionId=FD2NB

AgileMike wrote:
I have tried this before with only one 330 gallon container.  Problem is it lasts about 7 minutes with a 2” fire hose then requires  a...

I have tried this before with only one 330 gallon container.  Problem is it lasts about 7 minutes with a 2” fire hose then requires  a trip back  to water source to refill. Each 7 minutes watered about 1/10 of track.   It would take hours and hours to water our track.  Maybe have to start over once you finished.

With 700 gallons on my trailer it takes 7 minutes to fill. When watering the track i have a mark on the throttle that is just over half and that gets me 1/2 a lap on my .75 mile track. By the time i water the second half and refill for another pass on the first half the dirt has soaked it in and is ready for more. Typically with my higher clay content soil I only need 4 fills if there is any moisture in the soil. If its baked i need double the passes, but at that point i typically just go to a public track until it rains again. Once i figured out limiting the throttle to get 1/2 a lap distance it made it super easy, in about a hours time i can have my track watered for the next morning. 

AgileMike
Posts
230
Joined
5/12/2017
Location
Fruitland, ID, USA
8/7/2024 9:21am

This is why I'm going down the fire hose route vs water truck.

I'll be into a large watering sytem less than 10k, including sprinkler/hose options.  It can be run by anyone old enough to pull start a 212cc Harbor Freight pump (think 12-13 yo).  A group of 3-4 riders can put down huge amounts of water in less than an hour the night before, and spot water during riding.  At our local public track we run (3) 20 minute sessions per hour.  When I'm not riding, I will park my bike by a fire hose location and spray it for 5-10 minutes and then move to another one.  I head to the pits for some water 5-10 minutes before my session starts and repeat.    Three riders doing this keeps the track almost perfect all day.

Here are the water truck options locally.  It would need a decently competent driver as there is 10k pounds of weight on these trucks.  Lastly, I'm trying to get rid of vehicles to maintain/service/etc, not add them.

image 320
8/7/2024 10:04am

I had four 3 inch Honda pumps that all tied in to one big 8 inch PVC pipe. I could fill both of our 2,000 gallon water trucks in a few minutes. We tried several methods, but the 4 pumps solved the problem. If you go the water truck route, make a smooth road next to the track, or you will be fixing water trucks.

8/7/2024 10:13am
TeamGreen wrote:
In agricultural applications…especially in those huge round hay field watering systems…I’ve seen Rain Birds that cover huge areas. They seem pretty damn efficient and the have...

In agricultural applications…especially in those huge round hay field watering systems…I’ve seen Rain Birds that cover huge areas. They seem pretty damn efficient and the have a helluva long reach.

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These aren’t the biggest examples…but, they’re the kind I’m talking about.

That’s what we were using at our friend’s track, but it seemed like we were replacing 2-3 sprinkler heads every week after a while. They work incredible, super adjustable and powerful, just wasn’t worth the cost and the hassle. 

The Shop

Falcon
Posts
12674
Joined
11/16/2011
Location
Menifee, CA, USA
8/9/2024 2:28pm

Whatever you calculate, leave room for more water. I had a friend who had a minicycle track in his front yard. We watered it with garden hoses connected to his hose bibs, which were driven by the well. I don't know how big his well pump was, but it supplied a reasonable amount of pressure to a garden hose; about equivalent to what's in my front yard for water pressure. 
Now, clearly, that was a lot less water than you are planning to put down, but I remember watering far more often and for a much longer time than I thought would be the case, even though we were only riding 50s and 110s. You basically had to have somebody watering at all times. As soon as he was finished with one station, the other areas were dry. 

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