Speedweek 2014

[David Leikvold]

This one looks like a winner:

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=GH1073

I had one kind soul spray my face a couple of times, which was great, but within a minute the sweat and sunscreen had trickled into my eyes and was really stinging. Wipe your face first!

There's nothing to stop those tow bar cradles being designed to be very close to the ground for heavier bikes and include a ramp that could be put back in the tow vehicle.

We bought a couple of the 10L cardboard casks of water. They were much more useful than the 15L plastic containers. The bladders also wrap well around block ice, suck the cool from the bottom of an esky and can be shoved into the small esky we took to the start van with us every day.

[BONES]

Mossy you may have a few problems but you are dead right.

I didn't see your tow hitch but it is similar to mine. Only about 75mm off the ground and I can push straight on to it.

We did the same getting ready for a run and had no problems .

I can't work out why people were in their racing gear ALL day waiting for a run
I doo think we should look after ourselves
I will race anytime but I do think after march is not suitable
Cheers Bones

[GodSilla]

On the subject of the heat, I found the Sunday prior to race week the worst.
I was raised in South Australia, so I am accustomed to the dry hot summers, but on the Sunday at the DLRA campsite I had probably the worst day outside ever.
I drank more than 5 litres of water, and somewhere over 15 cans of beer, and didn't piss all day. The humidity was what made it so extreme.
I have never been so relentlessly hot, on Monday on the salt surface it felt ten degrees cooler (although it was probably comparable).
These conditions can occur in outback SA anytime from December to April, but February is generally the hottest month.
The other problem in those conditions is that refrigeration ceases to be effective. I was storing beers in Kev Saville's fridges, which usually work very well, but the heat was so extreme that the refrigeration in both units was struggling. My absorbtion fridge just stopped functioning altogether. So trying to get cool drinks becomes a struggle too.
I can empathise with Chris and his teammate, out at the DLRA camp the extreme heat was just stonking with no relief.
Such is life in this country, and we can't control the weather, we can only be prepared as best as possible.

[momec3]

Hey Mossy,
Thanks again for letting me hijack your thread to vent my spleen.
I think I got my point across and kicked off some debate.

Godsilla, I agree. Sunday was the worst day I ever spent at the Lake. We did not expect humidity.

Chris Hanlon

[Rob]

There's a very simple bike trailer at about 2:12 in this video. It'd be easy to flat pack and bolt it together on the salt and doesn't need a ramp.


Click here to learn how to add YouTube Videos to your phpBB forum

Cheers,
Rob

[ROSS BROWN]

Thanks for that Rob.

Can make that up from bits already lying around here...
Will slightly modify ...
Consider it built..

Ross..

[ChrisACT]

Is there a thread around here for registering interest to do a bit of volunteering for 2014? I'd like to spend a couple of days helping out before I go racing. Seems the club needs all the hands they can get during the week. I can leave my racing until later in the week when it's hopefully a bit quieter anyway.

When do folks arrive to start setting everything up?

[hawkwind]

Chris there will be a register opened up closer to next years event with all the jobs listed ,pick one and sign up....... Most people seem to start arriving from the friday onwards but some get there as early as wednesday...from Canberra it takes 2 days to get there but I have done the whole trip in one go twice before and it takes around 26 hours. I usually leave on the thursday very early and generally arrive either late friday or early saturday.
cheers
Gary

[ChrisACT]

Thanks, Gary.

26 hours? It's about 1,600 kms. I know the last 150kms or so is dirt but ... seems a long time.

I was planning to leave about the same as you, Thursday morning bright and early. But if they need more hands to set up earlier than that, I could go earlier.

[Dr Goggles]

There's a very simple bike trailer at about 2:12 in this video. It'd be easy to flat pack and bolt it together on the salt and doesn't need a ramp.
Cheers,
Rob

I was about to say, "Seldom Seen Slim has a beauty".... yeah, that's the one.

Nice work Rob.

A little reflection , we need to tilt the tone here a little more toward what Rob just did, don't bleat, offer a solution, show people the answers....

Cheers everyone

[DLRA]

Is there a thread around here for registering interest to do a bit of volunteering for 2014? I'd like to spend a couple of days helping out before I go racing. Seems the club needs all the hands they can get during the week. I can leave my racing until later in the week when it's hopefully a bit quieter anyway.

When do folks arrive to start setting everything up?

G'Day Chris,
I've already put the 2014 jobs register online and we haven't even got a date for the event yet!
There are a number of changes which reflect our learnings from this year and after talking to some of the officals there will be some more fine tuning, but its pretty much ready to go.

Note: its no longer called a volunteers register. I will be putting forward for changes to the entry form for entrants to nominate a job they will do as part of the mandatory information they hsve to provide

http://www.dlra.org.au/schedule.html

[Mossy]

Nominations in
Cheers Mossy

[Trevor : DLRA 136]

Howdee folks,
On the subject of hydration. We had a team of fifteen people and on the Sunday and Monday the team drank a 2oo Ltr barrel and 6 of the bottle packs (approx 18 bottles per pack). That equals a LOT of water. When I ran the car on Monday it was later in the day and yes it was bloody hot. The thick driving suit the underwear the over boots and the thick gloves were contributors to making one driver very hot and believe me having the hood up did not give a cool breeze as some one suggested. But, to my point, Preparation ..... Knowing it was going to be so hot I purchased a cool suit with this on and sitting in the car I was very comfortable. I also created an esky that plugged into the lighter socket of the support car, so soon as I started to get ready it was fired up and bingo instant comfort.

Additional to this from early in the morning a bottle of water never left me and all morning I forced myself to take in a lot more water than I ever though was needed. I was sick of drinking the stuff.

The body is a clever devise it will tell you if you are not hydrated sufficiently, Its the colour of you piss. Anything darker than a clear straw colour indicates the need for more water It really is a good indicator and if its cloudy you need to get a lot into you quickly and at that point you really should consider if its good to go racing at that point.

Hydration is not a now thing you must get hydrated early, keep at it and try to keep your core body temp low. Once you start to dehydrate and or your core body temp starts to rise its all a bit late to get it all back under control.

Prepare well, drink before you feel thirsty, and plenty of it also it is better for you only slighty cool not cold.. Use technology to your assistance ie things like cool suits. I actually kept it on during the drive back from the recovery. It was great. AND watch ya piss colour . There are charts available to assist (it might be a good idea for the association to investigate getting some. Mine sites use them) Use ya brain if you are not feeling the best take the day off, rest there is always tomorrow.

One final thought, I would sooner be hot and uncomfortable than be rained out. You can always hydrate and get cool, its a bloody big tent to put up to cover the salt.!!!
Best regards,
Trevor
Slaughter Motorsport.
F/BFS 136

[AuotonomousRX]

So far there has been a lot of ideas put on here and the http://www.dlra.org.au/forum/viewforum.php?f=16 thread.

Once the decisions are made and the new the Procedures documented, is it possible to have an "Entrant's Procedure Manual", maybe updating and renaming the Rookies Manual , (I could not do it all but I can assist doing updates) and this is sent out to all Entrant's with their Entry receipt.

The COVER should say in in big letters IMPORTANT DOCUMENT: READ THIS BEFORE COMING TO SPEEDWEEEK

This way all the info an Entrant needs to know get's to them well before Speedweek.

Something I am unclear about:

Is there a specific Speedweek Event Comittee?

Who is on this Committee (I mean the position held in the DLRA )?

When and how often do they meet leading up to Speedweek?

Thanks

Pete

[DLRA]

Pete I've been spending a lot of time with the rulebook over the last couple of weeks and found that there was mention of several committees and positions that we did not have documented on the Contact Us page of the website. So just this week I've added a few new sections that may answer your questions.
Now that a lot of the issues with the results have finally died down I'll get time to update these for all the new office bearers.

The Committee meet 3-4 a year.
The Event Committee, I don't think have ever had a formal sit down face to face meeting.

Committee
President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
Public Relations
Camp Coordinator
Rule Book Coordinator & Rules Committee Coordinator

Event Committee
Race Director
Starter
Timer
Chief Car Steward / Inspector
Chief Motorcycle Steward / Inspector
Fire Extinguisher System Specialist

Category Representatives
Special Construction
Vintage
Classic
Modified
Production
Diesel Truck
Motorcycle

State Delegates
We now have local delegates for membership and technical enquiries in most States.
Queensland
New South Wales
Victoria
South Australia
Western Australia

Contest Board
The DLRA Committee plus additional personnel appointed by the DLRA President.

Rules Committee
Rules Committee Co-ordinator (appointed by DLRA Board)
A representative of each category of vehicle or his/her designee (Special Construction, Vintage, Classic, Modified, Production, Diesel Truck and Motorcycle)
Chief Car Steward(s)
Chief Motorcycle Steward(s)

Technical Committee
Car Steward(s)/Inspector(s)
Motorcycle Steward(s)/Inspector(s)
Technical Committee Steward(s)

Record Certification Officer
Competition/Entry Numbers Coordinator