Pop Up Tent/Canopy

What is a good pop up tent to use at track days? I have a gift card to use and was thinking about getting one of those tent to use as shelter from the sun at track days.

It's been my experience that consumer grade pop-ups all get destroyed by wind eventually, so either 1) get a cheap one from Wal-Mart and just budget for another when it breaks, or 2) buy an expensive pro-quality shelter and make sure to cement the thing to the ground every single time you open it up.

I got one of those $99 specials from Wally World, I forget the brand, Time Up or something similar? Anyway it's been great. Go for the 'straight leg' version, there's a 'angled leg' setup that's ~$20 cheaper but $1,000,000.00 more aggravating to raise/lower. I got a skeeter net kit for it but that makes it a LOT more susceptible to wind sending it to the next county.

we have a $79 one from target, I think Ozark Trail. Its a "straight leg" setup, real easy to put up, 2 people, just grab opposite corners and back away from eachother and the frame expands.

Used have used it for a few years without issue. We almost always anchor it down by tying a rope from the peak of the frame in the middle straight down to a handle on the cooler, or something else thats heavy. I figure thats a good way to keep the wind from lifting it up. Didnt ever bother using the E36 M3ty tie-downs or stakes provided with it.

I use the EZ up I can buy at Wal Mart. As was mentioned you need to be careful of sudden winds, but it is cheap enough to replace.

Curmudgeon wrote: I got one of those $99 specials from Wally World, I forget the brand, Time Up or something similar? Anyway it's been great. Go for the 'straight leg' version, there's a 'angled leg' setup that's ~$20 cheaper but $1,000,000.00 more aggravating to raise/lower. I got a skeeter net kit for it but that makes it a LOT more susceptible to wind sending it to the next county.

This.

I've got two of them. The oldest is close to 6 years old with nary a problem.

I've been using a $99 popup from Walmart - I'm not sure if it's an EZ Up or something else. I do tie it down, but if the wind comes up the canopy comes down. The tiedowns have saved it from a couple of surprise gusts.

I've had it for about 4-5 years, no worries.

Yup, cheapies from Wal Mart. Stick the legs through the center bore of your spare wheels and you have 4 anchors you never forget to bring with you!

I've got one of the conduit and tarpaulin units. It's 10' x 20' and takes 15 minutes to put up, but it'll take a pretty good breeze when staked down. I used it for race weekends ,and would park the race car under it and tie all four corners to the car if it got to the point where the stakes wouldn't hold it.

we use an ez-up epress 2 and have had no issues . I would say for stability try to get one with braces across the center. This helps tremendously on those 15mph plus days with the wobbliness factor

I have an angled leg one and I would suggest not getting an angled leg canopy.

They are a pain to set up. We call mine the "hard-up". They don't fit nicely with other canopys when you build a tent city.

That being said, its still the best $40 I have ever spent. Fits in the trunk of the Corvette, goes with me everywhere in the summer. Right next to the bag chairs and the can coozy.

Two of $99 Ozark Trail EZ-ups. One for a tent with the sun shade curtain thing and one with a skeeter net . . . So far so good; three tracks days, one week at Road Atl, one week in the Snow and many weeks in the rain.

I woke up to a pop-up tent this morning

I've got the EZ Up from Wally world for $90 or something. It has survived some really hellish thunderstorms and wind at several events and camping - like 50MpH gusts. the key is to really tie it down like it's meant to be - use real tent stakes on all 4 legs and then BIG tent stakes on the outrigger lines from the canopy top. I've been told that it's overkill, but I got to watch their popup sail up into a pine tree the same day while mine stayed on the ground. Spend the extra money to get some decent stakes theough, don't use the coathanger pieces they come with.

I like the EZ Up brand because I can buy add-on solid walls and screen walls that wrap around it. the solid walls are great in cold weather.

As usual, I'm the dissenter who says "Buy a good one once rather than a couple cheap ones, but buy it well".

I've been through a few cheap ones over the years, and seen countless balled-up cheap ones stuffed in the paddock garbage barrels leaving the track on Sunday evenings.

Funny story - I'm at NJMP w/ Trackdaze a couple years ago. Guy drives up in a little John Deere utility truck to dump the garbage barrel, which has the remains of a couple balled-up Chinese canopies nearby on the ground. He eyes my slightly faded but indestructible 10 years old genuine US made EZ-up and says "I wonder why the f*ck people who can afford Porsches and Audis always buy these sh1tty one-day tents?"...

My 1999, 10x10 pointy top US made EZ-up was $100 on craigslist, and it's a joy to use. I ballast it w/ 4 tie downs and my rain wheels. If I'm leaving the track overnight, I lower it all the way and strap it to the roll bar.

I've always used the EZ-UP tents at auto-X/rally-X events, but I use big water containers to weight the corners. I would use kerosene cans because they were blue:

Throw a tie-down strap through the handle and up to the support brace of the tent and you're good to go. Plus, if anyone needs to top off their radiator, you are the man.