What worked and what needs to be changed for 2011

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What worked and what needs to be changed for 2011

Post by DLRA »

Alright before we all forget what happened last week, lets get it all down.
Keep the shiney side up........
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IN2VWS
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Post by IN2VWS »

The GPS track worked well, no problems getting a run on the track.
The test track worked well. Not sure it there is much that can be done about the teething problems on the timed track. I beleive the same shit happens at Bonneville.

I know the cost factor was a problem for this years event, but more toilets and showers for the lakeside camp would be appreciated.

An information booth at the canteen on the Saturday and Sunday, for Rookies, so they know what to do and where to go. It was my first year, and we weren't sure what was happening and when. Or, as an alternative select a CB channel with hourly bulletins and updates. Inbetween the updates, people can ask questions or directions etc. This can be manned by volunteers that know what is happening, or know who to ask what is happening.

What else didn't work...........yeah....the fcking rain. Leave that out for next year.
540ci
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Post by 540ci »

GPS track - brilliant!

Timing system on main track- troublesome, any chance of an upgrade?

Ladies toilet on the salt next year please. Some of the gentleman present had less than perfect aim whilst using the facilities. Ewwwwww!
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Post by PJQ2 »

Grease-up first: Thanks Greg for your help and tireless efforts during the week. You’re a Champ!

...small thing.
The path for crew vehicles getting to a race vehicle after a run on the timed track.

Going through the middle of the pits is a slow crawl with stop-starts for dawdling foot traffic that stop and stare at you like bunch of sheep. Frustrating when you’re in a hurry to reach a race vehicle about 12 klm away. Especially when you hear Northern Rescue say “he’s stopped close to the track... track closed.”

And no, we weren’t one of the rescue road offenders, tempting as it was. And yes, we stuck to 60kph on return roads. Going through the pits really slows down the crew vehicle.
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PJQ
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Post by gennyshovel »

I agree the GPS track was a brilliant idea, but I freaked when I had to cross it's slowdown extension when on the long track return road. (yep, I know, the plans were good,but the lake was too narrow)
On our sometimes troublesome timing equipment, a one off levy of $100 for ALL members may provide a wireless alternative ?
Maybe the current system cound be used on the 2nd (GPS) track one day (yeah,,we are stretched for manpower to run the show now)
I also agree the long track recovery was not so good, but again,,,all the best plans,,,,,
Despite a few problems, I recon 2010 was an excellent event, and commend all involved in its planning, and running.
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Post by Cookey »

The course layouts were altered on the Thursday when those involved in setting up the main track were given the task of laying everything out.
Peter Noy & myself saw that even with the re alignment of the long track as proposed by the 2 track committee that there was insufficient room to position the pits and second track south of the ramp.

We made the call that resulted in the set up as ran this year and given the situation feel that it worked out OK.
Not to say that this could not and should not be improved for 2011.

In order for the combined starting area concept to work it will require those responsible for laying out the tracks, pits area, service and return roads etc to be present well before the surveyor arrives to set out the coordinates.
This way the salt condition can be assessed and any changes deemed necessary made.

These tasks will be the most important ones to be done before anything else next year.

As far as the timing equipment is concerned I have forwarded all of the information that I received from Tag Heuer last year to our new president for him to follow up on.
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Tony Cooke
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BOB ELLIS
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Post by BOB ELLIS »

...small thing.
The path for crew vehicles getting to a race vehicle after a run on the timed track.

This was one of the few things left to be done on Sunday Morning,As everyone now knows,it got wet!And in the rush to salvage the meet on Tuesday,the recovery road didn't happen.Hopefully next year with NO rain we will have it done.

Before this thread turns into a "They could've done better" deal,please think about what 'you' did to help , and how 'you' can help make things better in the future.(Ideas , Volunteering , and most of all , being there helping)

THANKYOU to all that came foward to help the meet get underway,(You know who you are,big pat on shoulder from me & others that were there on Wednesday),but we still need EVERYONE to get involved in some way.

Cheers , Bob.
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Post by Rob »

Vehicles on the test track need to be slowed, particularly on the run back to the start. Working on the GPS start line gave us a first hand view of all those "80kph" runs.

Despite being mentioned in the meeting Wednesday it continued as did some big speeds on the return road. Shortening the test track won't work as more than one simply went out the back door.

I had one driver thank me for checking his safety gear before they ran on the GPS track as he had had 3 runs on the main track without being checked. A bike rider later said the same thing. :shock: This was on Thursday afternoon.

Not a b*tch, just candid observations that need addressing. I had a ball and think the meet went well given the conditions.
I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.
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Post by Reverend Hedgash »

Excellent work Cookey and all involved in setting up the tracks. GPS track brilliant, imagine this years event without it?

Its addition does hold some risks we definately need to minimise.

I am in the building industry for which you have you have to cater for the lowest common denominator and in the DLRA's case that means the first timer who hasn't gone to the drivers meeting or track tour. I know that isn't supposed to happen but it will and we have to cater for that moron so that someone else (who probably did the right thing) doesn't get killed. It's as simple as that.

I have some suggestions about the return tracks and happy to help make them happen.

Like many, our car is very low to the ground, and with no suspension it is virtually impossible to see the graded or ungraded paths and even the witches hats are blurry when on the path. When they are far apart and there are a couple of others around for other tracks it is actually very hard to know which ones line up with which ones. Even distinguishing green from yellow and red is tricky believe it or not.

I did go on the tour but it is quite different sitting high up in a 4wd, and we only turned off at the 4 mile mark, whereas in reality we drive down various other turn offs therefore it has to be super clear on first visit as to where to go.

It would be great to have a few signs such as, "To pits" with an arrow at relevent junctions and simply down the return track. As dumb as it seems I am sure all racers know the confusion that can occur down the far end after the excitement of a run, in a helmet and a vehicle and the more we can make it crystal clear the less likely we will have a bad accident and this seems to be a simple but helpful addition.



Secondly, when coming off the track it is hard to know if you want to stop and pack up your shoot or check your car where it is best to do so.

I finished my run and thought I was well clear of the end of the GPS track only to find out I was very close to the merging area so that was no good but I simply could not see where that track was lined up when in the car.

If we have marked parking areas then we will limit the time recovery vehicles will search for cars (itself a safety measure) as well as help ensure parking is done in a relatively safe place with room for passing etc.

This could include a tarpaulin for parking on as this would be a way to reduce leaking broken cars staining the salt.

Again, signage is good.

Also signage at roads crossing the return track saying to be careful or what that track is as it will help with orientation.


Finally, it was asked on the tour as to who gives way to who when crossing the paramedics track and the answer was not clear. It has to be that everybody gives way to race vehicles as the race vehicles vision in helmet etc is simply not good enough for any other thing.



Again, I reiterate what a great job was done by all concerned this year in getting this scheme up and running, but as evidenced by the number of wrong trackers it is yet to be crystal clear and it is in all our interests to make reduce this element of risk to as small as possible.


Happy to help make/paint/print signs or draw possible track layouts and rules to refine this.

We really enjoyed ourselves, my fifth time at the lake, feels like home.

Dik
Last edited by Reverend Hedgash on Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Last Minute Racing »

Was a great event but maybe a third shift of volunteers if we can get them as its a long afternoon shift. (I didnt mind as my bike was a DNF) but if it was running would have liked some more track time.
Also i think that keeping the GPS and timed tracks starting positions separated worked well as there was no confusion as to what track you were on or were lining up to get onto.

We might get some more volunteers next year because if you didnt read the forum or lived under a rock you might not have known what was expected.

Also if teams at least had their paperwork handy or even better had it filled out, Driver name - number, Car number etc, as some of them did just needing only GPS # and speed recorded on it, that would speed up things greatly i think. It was hard to communicate with some drivers that were belted in their vehicles with their engines running.

Only 50 weeks to go :D

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Dave
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Post by mint29 »

first time there - what a great time -

suggestions -

more toilets at the canteen...

a daily notice board - maybe at the merchandise area - e.g. - I could only stay till wednesday, and was looking forward to auction nite, only to find out on wednesday that it was moved to thursday.
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Post by Cookey »

What happens at the canteen and Lakeside Camp area is controlled by Mt. Ive Station who make lots of money from Speedweek each year. :roll: :roll: :roll:

I believe that they have been formally approached about upgrading the facilities but at present am unaware of their response. :?: :?:
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Lynchy
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Post by Lynchy »

Guys

I've started writing up a procedures doc from everything we learned on the GPS track and I've worked on the long course long enough to write it up for there as well. One thing I can see from experience as well as comments from Dave is regarding the volunteers. We were either swamped or there was no-one at all. What I will include is a register to be left hanging on the shelter where people can volunteer for a shift at times that are scheduled.

The register should show those who volunteered ahead of the event and blank spaces for people to fill in. We could make it a minimum of 2 hours per shift. At least that way if we don't have a spot available at the time someone asks they can put their name down for later. The GPS track was fairly resource hungry as you need a minimum of 5 people to keep it moving. 6/7 makes life easy.

Lynchy
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Post by Dr Goggles »

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who did anything. Cled, Brian, Bob Chris, Gaz, Carol Cookey and Rod....oh, and you Stan.....it doesn't happen without you


Most of the observations I'd have are from the perspective of driving our car...and not many people fall into our specific category of no suspension and minimal ride height... safety wise laying out the return roads so that they run it straight lines to large flags would suit our purposes better and I believe make them simpler to understand

I don't think the dog-leg in the return road was a well thought out idea, it just gave people who did want to speed somewhere to go tail out.....

Very , very , very few people went on the track drive, personally I think it should be a legal requirement. The very first rider who went down the main track obviously didn't and then ran the long track at under 80mph, and they lost him. Too many recov vehicles went down the fire road.
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Post by T-34 »

Mentioned it elsewhere - GPS track - awesome - especially as the start-line was at end of pits - A real bonus for spectators as they get to be closer to the action and actually see things happening / take pics / video etc.

Wristbands a good idea too - pretty sure they didn't have these last year - guess if they did - I owe you 20 quid from 2009 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I want to put a big congrats out to 'Kenny 2' - he seemed to be constantly towing loos around - I know others have mentioned that there should be more / should be cleaner etc... but that guy is a legend - its a real thankless task and he embraced it with good humor. Well done mate, I applaud you.

The new tread boards at entrance to lake seemed to hold up better then the old rubber strips. Good to see these ideas that were discussed after last years event put into practice - it shows that site / club / committee works

Only bad thing I noticed was that by end of week there were quite a few non-race vehicles on lake - most without tarps. Perhaps better signage at entry to lake would prevent this?
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