Am I lame or was there not F3 at Rockingham this weekend?

[Jamie P-E]

Mark, I think you're being a little hard of Katherine from what I heard she out braked herself and tryed to get round the corner but she caught that dredded curb and you know what happend next

[waspy]

Originally posted by bella
because there's some law about only using 1 corner of the oval per lap or something?

I understand that there must be a secondary impact FIA crash test carried out for cars racing on an oval circuit. There has been no such tests on any F3 cars so far.

[johndpeat]

Quote
"I understand that there must be a secondary impact FIA crash test carried out for cars racing on an oval circuit. There has been no such tests on any F3 cars so far."
The F303 Chassis are FIA approved for the oval and they could of had there oval race.I was a fear that the engine will not last ment the race on the oval was canned.There are going to try for next yeat though.

[Jez]

It was a good day's racing, although I only arrived 5 laps into the first F3 race. The traffic management was shocking. It took me 35 minutes longer to get in than it did for the 1st Champ Car race there, when the circuit admittd to major traffic problems. You'd have thought that the £1 advance tickets and hoards of teenie boppers heading for the concert might have made someone there realise it was going to get busy!

[Chigley]

Everone who is moaning about the length of time it took to get into the circuit obviously wasn't using any forethought!

The meeting had been promoted heavily on TV for the racing, ever kid (and adult) with any street cred about music knew that a top pop group were attending; the threads on this forum have repeatedly said what huge crowds Rockingham regularly gets.

So if people thought they could turn up for 10.00 and drive in they need a wake up call.

Forget the lie-in, the leisurely breakfast, reading the Sunday papers and cleaning the windscreen. Rockingham's popular, its on the map big time, so get up and get there early, ie at least an hour before race start.

Gives you a chance to get over to the paddock, see the cars close up and talk to the teams.

Even with ASCAR the place is busy with punters when we (the marshals) are arriving 1.5 to 2 hours before race start.

For a major meeting, well publicised and with loads of diverse family entertainment it was odds on to be busy on the roads.

If the crowd was 44,000 then I believe that Rockingham has yet again set an attendance record for a national meeting.

[Little]

Originally posted by Chigley
Everone who is moaning about the length of time it took to get into the circuit obviously wasn't using any forethought!

The meeting had been promoted heavily on TV for the racing, ever kid (and adult) with any street cred about music knew that a top pop group were attending; the threads on this forum have repeatedly said what huge crowds Rockingham regularly gets.

So if people thought they could turn up for 10.00 and drive in they need a wake up call.

Forget the lie-in, the leisurely breakfast, reading the Sunday papers and cleaning the windscreen. Rockingham's popular, its on the map big time, so get up and get there early, ie at least an hour before race start.

Gives you a chance to get over to the paddock, see the cars close up and talk to the teams.

Even with ASCAR the place is busy with punters when we (the marshals) are arriving 1.5 to 2 hours before race start.

For a major meeting, well publicised and with loads of diverse family entertainment it was odds on to be busy on the roads.

If the crowd was 44,000 then I believe that Rockingham has yet again set an attendance record for a national meeting.

Well said Chigley, im glad someone knows about it. Its pretty obvious that 44,000 wont fit in or out the gates with no trouble, its bound to happen anyway, theres no point complaining.

All year ive been arriving at 8, half 8 time. Perfect, no one there! Then leaving after all the ques have gone. (Well i do only live in Corby!!)

Sounds like a great weekend overall, I was sunning it in Spain (still here) so missed it ... but it´d probably be just as hot at the Rock.

[paulzinho]

Originally posted by Mathias
Jeepers! You Nelsinho fans are as blind as Scummi fans!

I mean: "Yep Nelsinho won race one and came 2nd in race two after reeling in Green, just ran out of laps!"

REELING IN GREEN? Green was storming away, and the little greasy haired feller only caught up with him thanks to the safety car. Gimme a break.

WOOOOAAAAAAAAH!!! I was only going by what Autosport said!

[sgrok]

Originally posted by mark ch

The F3 flying incident was also caused by not using the track. I flagging on the outside of the oval. Her stupidity could have caused a worse accident. F3 cars aren't designed for rallycross so don't use them as such.
If those floppy marker were truck tyres I bet the F3 would all get though too, as one touch would mean end of race

Fair enough the kerbs aren't meant to be used but that's no reason to make them serated. All rockingham has to do is flatten the kerb out , and put tyres there if they really don't want people to go on the blue and white bits.

Thing is 15 cracked tubs from the F3 paddock is just an unnecessary extra cost for drivers already on a tight budget and more work for teams with a week to repair the damage before zandvoort where they'll be representing the british motorsport contingent.

[Chigley]

Originally posted by sgrok
Fair enough the kerbs aren't meant to be used but that's no reason to make them serated. All rockingham has to do is flatten the kerb out , and put tyres there if they really don't want people to go on the blue and white bits.

Thing is 15 cracked tubs from the F3 paddock is just an unnecessary extra cost for drivers already on a tight budget and more work for teams with a week to repair the damage before zandvoort where they'll be representing the british motorsport contingent.

Maybe the F3 people will realise that the blue, white and green bits mean more expense if they continue to visit them. If they keep to the black stuff there is no expense involved. Can you imagine the lines they would be taking if the kerbs were shimmed or or deserrated. They race to the circuit defined by the permit and not one designed by the hot heads in F3.

Other formulea can use the circuit with the chichane without too!! much hassle, why pander to "prima donnas"?

[Mathias]

On the amount of time it took to get in, I spoke to some people who got there for 8 am - and, it must be said, had been issued with VIP parking tickets, but there were no VIP spaces left and they had to then queue for an hour to get in to the public car parking. That is WAY **** management.

But that aside, frankly, the organisation for parking was pitifully inadequate, and there's no excuse for them having only one entrance into the public car park, nor for the appalingly slow way in which the police and marshals were failing to shepherd the cars into the fields. This is the circuit that always seems to stand up and shout loudest whenever Silverstone has problems.

And apart from having to queue for over an hour from 10.30-ish, when I would have thought most people had arrived already (and, from what I saw of the state of the grandstands when we finally got in, I think they had), the management once you were inside the circuit was pretty sh*te too. There were too few signs telling you where to go (and we know how much Bernie hates that); you had to walk for miles along a dusty track, when it might have been a nice touch to be able to walk in along the banking; the programmes, AS EVER (it must be said) were too expensive and too flipping big to fold up and put in a pocket conveniently; there weren't enough catering trucks; the so called "shopping mall" comprised just five or six tents, two of which were only doing face-painting; some f*cking tw*t had left a triangle of security fencing blocking most of the footway at a key point in the pedestrian flow. I could go on, and I think I already have.

And if one more person suggests it'd be a good idea to have a F3 oval race, I'm gonna scream. If you want to watch oval racing, watch bl**dy oval racing. Leave F3 as it is - an exciting spectacle with a variety of challenges. The teams don't want it either. Bah. And pah.

[PaulSands]

I went to Rockingham expecting to dislike it but came away loving it..the view of the circuit from the Grandstand really cant be matched anywhere in this country and the option to go stand atop the pit garages added a nice, usually off limits, alternative...I had a great time.
I arrived at around 8:30am East Car Park 2 straight in no queueing whatsoever
Surely one oval race a year merely adds to the variety of challenges...I'm not a particularly big fan of oval racing but I am of high speed slipstreaming F3 cars
Programme was the same price as every other big meeting wasn't it?
Were the refreshments more expensive than usual though? it certainly felt like it.

[Muttley]

Didn't have any problems getting in or out, but I did arrive before 8am (with VIP parking pass) and left close to an hour after the GT race.

A great weekend, thankfully we had close to the best weather possible, just a shame the Marlboro Masters is so close, otherwise we could've had the proposed oval F3 race, that would've been good.

[Chigley]

And apart from having to queue for over an hour from 10.30-ish, when I would have thought most people had arrived already (and, from what I saw of the state of the grandstands when we finally got in, I think they had), the management once you were inside the circuit was pretty sh*te too. There were too few signs telling you where to go (and we know how much Bernie hates that); you had to walk for miles along a dusty track, when it might have been a nice touch to be able to walk in along the banking; the programmes, AS EVER (it must be said) were too expensive and too flipping big to fold up and put in a pocket conveniently; there weren't enough catering trucks; the so called "shopping mall" comprised just five or six tents, two of which were only doing face-painting; some f*cking tw*t had left a triangle of security fencing blocking most of the footway at a key point in the pedestrian flow. I could go on, and I think I already have.

Inside that program which is printed and designed under the F3/GT, BRDC auspices and nothing to do with Rockingham was one of the largest and most detailed circuit maps I've ever seen. It even detailed the one-way system in the pedestrian tunnels! How you can get lost when everything is located behind 2 adjacent grandstands I don't know.

At Silverstone I seem to remember there is more than a substantial walk from some of the public carparks. You can't walk in along the banking as its too dangerous!! as high speed hits into the wall testify. Try to imagine the flying debris if the GT or F3 leaders had tangled on the opening lap, it would not have been a pity sight.

When and what about has Rockingham, or any of its supporters, stood up and shouted about any of Silverstone's problems.

Is it a case that a few were well peeved because they arrived late having woefully underestimated the size and popularity of the venue that they were attending for the first time.

I'm not having a dig at the poster, but why when Bucks is less than an hour from the circuit arrive so late?

As I said previously Rockingham is a big player yet some people still believe it is small time concern. The circuits average attendance this year must be well in excess 25,000 which a lot of circuits would drool over the prospect of getting close to once a year.

[Dick Spanner]

From a different perspective, I arrived at 11:15 (abandon my lie-in? no siree!) drove straight into the front gate waved my VIP ticket parked up and was sat down at turn 1 10 minutes later.

[Jez]

I didn't have a lie-in but some of us have other commitments besides racing, nor did I have a VIP pass. I agree with Mathias re the parking organisation. The last 4 miles of my journey took 50 minutes - the same 4 miles took 9 minutes on the way home. 50 minutes, incidentally, is almost exactly the same length of time it took me from home to the car park for the 1st Champ Car meeting there, and only a few minutes more than it took for the June 2001 Powertour meeting.

[Mathias]

Erm, the point is that it wasn't those of us who are complaining about the queues that "woefully underestimated the size and popularity of the venue" - it was the organisers! There were 44,000 people there, and the grandstands didn't look more than half full. If you're giving away free tickets, and you've got a capacity that size, there is no way - no way at all - that you should assume that you can get everyone into the public car park through a single one-lane entrance. Castle Combe, for example, this year had "only" about 25,000 people, and, while I only saw 1 car park entrance (though there may have been others), there were 3 lanes, and dozens more marshals - and that's a tiny "farmyard" circuit, without all the resources that Rockingham boasts. Once you parked up, it was a short walk across the field, and straight away you were on top of the banking around the circuit to watch the action as you found your way round to wherever you wanted to be.

Now, if we'd all arrived as you early-birds suggest at 8 am, then all the queues would have happened then, instead of later! We carefully timed our arrival for the start of the Tuscans sprint race, to miss what we thought would be (a) the initial rush of people arriving for the start of festivities, and (b) the late rush of people getting there just in time for the 1st F3 race. (And, for info, only parts of Bucks are an hour from the circuit - our part is a good two hours, and not on good roads.) So there. Ner!

But I should point out that after the initial sheer flipping anger and frustration of our arrival, and following a few cool beers when I got home, my thoughts on Rockingham have mellowed a little. I was amazed by the view from the Grandstands - from where we were sitting in the morning, you could see almost the entire circuit, with only an interruption of about 100m in one infield straight. In the afternoon, we stood on top of the garages - fantastic view of the pits and home straight, and still reasonable views of several other parts of the circuit. I would strongly recommend to anyone who hasn't been, to go and see what can be done for spectators on what is, in many respects, quite a small scale. But, from our perspective, the organisation was, frankly, sh*te.

We swore blind we wouldn't go back next year, but we, er, probably will...

[Rob29]

Seems they (Rockingham)have learned nothing since 2001,when there was total chaos at both meetings I went to.The opening Historic event and the CART meeting.