plum pud what did you think???

[brickkicker]

Well I know what I thought about the day but I thought id throw it open to everyone to see what the you all thought.
Ill put my opinions on a bit later when I get time (and will try not to upset anyone)

[Dave Brand]

Well, I had a great day - good racing on two, three & four wheels. The star turn for me was the fifties Triumph sidecar outfit - who'd have thought you could get understeer & oversteer simultaneously! The Formula Hondas were impressive as well - I knew they'd come good eventually.....

However.....clearing up first a petrol spill (car) & then an oil spill (bike) at the hairpin was farcical. We started to try & brush the petrol off with the one brush we had on post; right from the start several of us said that we needed to flush it off with water, that we needed more brushes, & that a power sweeper was desirable.. After a few minutes somebody produced a couple more brushes & three or four 50-litre-ish plastic drums full of water, which, as we expected, was effective in washing the petrol away, but as it took about five minutes to fill a drum from the only tap in the vicinity, we couldn't get a big enough flow to do the job effectively. When the power sweeper finally arrived, the situation was even worse, so we repeated our suggestion that a hosepipe would be better. A few minutes later a hosepipe arrived - it was just about long enough to reach halfway across the track at the apex of the bend, which of course meant that it could only be used effectively over a very short stretch of track. Both these incidents could have been cleared up in a quarter of the time with the proper equipment. In all fairness, this is not unique to Mallory - no circuit seems to have a proper strategy or the necessary equipment for dealing with fluid spills on a wet track.

[brickkicker]

Well after thinking about what happened this is what I thought about the plum pudding meeting.
The organisation was shocking, for a small petrol leak it took around 30/40 mins to get it sorted. The track was wet so we couldnt use plaster so we were told to get some barrels full of water tip it on the petrol and sweep it up, this worked to a degree although most of it was of the racing line anyway.
We then had the bike that dropped some fluid up at the hair pin again another long wait then they sent a van round to pick other marshals up to help with a bit of fluid on the track, but when they got there they were sent straight back (lack of communication to say ever post has a radio). Then we had a good few races the best was the second car race, then there was the fourth car race when the jaguar went in at the esses not a big of but didnt look good as it had tried to climb over the barrier, however the next post along thought they should put the red flag out straight away??? but then took it back in, so some cars slowed down and the rest carried on. This was a bit of an over reaction.
But one of the best moments was when one of the car races came out and a msg came over saying car number 2 must not start the race (the one that caused the petrol leak in there first race) but this message came from the ACU person (motorbikes) then another message came over saying car 2 WILL start from the back of the grid this one came from the MSA person. I think the one problem was to many chiefs and not enough indians in race control. Why the ACU tried to stop it is unknown but at least they were put in there place (no offence but they had no authority to try and do that)
But have to agree there was some great racing with the full grids (apart from the side cars <needed more>). And had a good time working with different marshals event thought most on our post I know as they were car marshals. But I will try and do a few more bike meetings next year as its great to watch the power of the bigger bikes down that straight.

[rick vaux]

So you going again next year then!

[brickkicker]

Oh yes its good it could do with one club having over all control, but I know that wont happen. And at that this time of year it gets dark quick and when you dont start till 10:00 you are already running out of time.
But its still a great meeting.

[Dave Brand]

A few thoughts on your second post, brickkicker. Sounds like you had a petrol spill as well as us, with the same difficulty in clearing it. Fluid spills on wet tracks are not uncommon; what annoys me is that every time I've had one to deal with the circuit staff react as though it's the first time it's ever happened.

One comment I would make is that in my opinion the standards of track cleanliness for bikes have to be higher than for cars - oil or whatever off the line can make the difference between recovery & a crash for a rider who gets things a bit wrong.

That false red flag was at the Bus Stop; we suspect that what happened was that he had heard on his scanner discussion of a possible race stop & anticipated a call which wasn't made. Now, at the last bike training day I did, the question of what to do if you put out a red by mistake was raised. The trainer's response was that you keep it out & live with your mistake - be prepared for a discussion on the error of your ways with the CoC! The reason for this is that if one or more competitiors has seen a red flag, you have some people out on the track thinking the race has been halted while others are still racing, a potentially dangerous situation.

If you do only one bike meeting next year, do a Bemsee meeting; you'll see how race meetings should be run - I haven't come across a club, bike or car, that does it better. The Bemsee marshals are a great bunch of folks as well!

[brickkicker]

I agree that if you put it out you need to keep it out I only manage to get to a few bike meetings a year mostly are new era and EMRA at Mallory and they run like clock work. I think the main problem was the lack of organisation in race control.
But if I only did 1 bike meeting it would have to be the side car festival at mallory.

[Lola]

I had a great day. Dont know if anyone saw me but I was there too. Helping out on startline. Was quite tough griding up 28 saloons with just two of us (and i am virtually a novice at this task). The racing was good and hope ill see a few of you next year.

[brickkicker]

we were overflowing with marshals on the straight we had 7 (cant remember being at a meeting and having so many people on one post).

[Dave Brand]

A dozen or so at the Hairpin.....just about enough to cope with the big oil spill!

[theracegypsy]

Originally posted by Dave Brand
A few thoughts on your second post, brickkicker. Sounds like you had a petrol spill as well as us, with the same difficulty in clearing it.

...or perhaps you were both on the same post and didn't realise who the other was!


If you do only one bike meeting next year, do a Bemsee meeting; you'll see how race meetings should be run - I haven't come across a club, bike or car, that does it better. The Bemsee marshals are a great bunch of folks as well!

I thought Bemsee is a Canadian club, someone put me right, or is it like BARC with regions both sides of the Atlantic.

[Dave Brand]

Originally posted by theracegypsy
I thought Bemsee is a Canadian club, someone put me right, or is it like BARC with regions both sides of the Atlantic.

Bemsee is the British Motor Cycle Racing Club (BMCRC). As far as I know there's no Canadian connection.

[mpj]

i thought it was a great days racing with both the cars and bikes providing exciting battles.
shame there were not a few more sidecars out there but can i suggest everyone goes to the festival of sidecars at mallory, it is a fantastic day with entries from all over the world.