EMRA Rds 1 & 2

yak

Well-Known Member
Hello People

The local motorcycle road race community stands to benefit from your constructive feedback. Please post up your comments on the weekend's events.

I expect that everyone appreciates that we are operating at a new facility, so let's work together to make the EMRA Castrol race weekend even better.

Thanks

(Personally, I really enjoyed the track and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. Agree or disgree: why?)

P.S. Thanks to all those who helped with the crash barrier pickup tonight. Let's carry this strong participation throughout the season.
 

sand.man

Well-Known Member
Had a great time, really enjoyed the track as well and expect it's only going to get better with curbing, grass, and the wall adjustments.

Changes I wouldn't mind seeing would be passing on the OUTSIDE of 3 to be allowed, and if possible have the metal poles taken down from the concrete barriers in turn 1. I noticed somebody at the end of today easily either removing or putting one back into the block, as we found out it may be possible to get up and over the air fence & tires.

And this one is volunteer capacity dependent but I think we need one additional corner station or perhaps re-positioning a station so that corners 5 & 6 are easily seen.

This one is just a quality of life suggestion but perhaps we should have a look at the way the pits are laid out and come up with an optimal way to set up our pits so that navigating them isn't like traveling through a corn maze.
 

M87

Active Member
A couple of thoughts as an observer.
I was under the impression that our current wall placement was final. Is there more room for improvement here?
On a slightly related matter, The initial plan calls for a pit lane and pit road that parallels what is now the straight from the chicane to turn one. Since it appears that it will be used as a pit road only, can that straight be widened ?
It would change the entry into one making it wider which might be an improvement.
To go even further, after the initial 100 yards of the pit road can it join the drag strip return road and enter the pits east of the grandstand? This basically doubles the width of the straight and we might be able to come up with some ideas that would make turn one more raceable.
I know...raceable is not a word.
 

Fireman

Well-Known Member
The wall layout isn't up for change. There are some changes that are still to be finalized in 1-3 and 5 however the FIA approval has already been done with those changes in mind

We will have a bus stop to be paved before corner 3 in order to slow it's entrance so that it can be open passing.

Corner 1 has the inside wall being removed at apex and 25 ft more runoff to be layed as well as a reshape between 1-2

Corner worker stations can absolutely be looked at however



Hope that clarifies.
 

DEFBOY35

Well-Known Member
the track is incredibly fun and fast. I think with the curbing and grass like ryan mentioned it will help as well.

honestly, i think turn 1 is not too bad of a corner, its a little rough, hopefully that can be sorted with top coating next year. but the blind corner kind of was fun. after a few sessions getting used to it it was no problem. and i think the exec made the proper move in making that a no passing zone, looking out for everybody safety. it is a much faster corner than i would have thought it to be originally.

I agree that a station closer to 5-6 would be a good idea, as they are very fast corners. it took way too long for anything to happen when Alex went down into 6.

other than that my only complaint would be, we are paying a lot of money for facility rental here, castrol could probably have the out houses sucked before the weekend starts so they are not nearly overflowing all weekend.
 

Fireman

Well-Known Member
I would like to draw out a map of the pit area and have people park in a assigned fashion as to make room for fire and service vehicles.

We can discuss it at our exec meeting. However if people are interested in a predetermined grid system let us know.

Also we have a PA system coming for next round. We hope to have a announcer, and a better way of communicating with our racers.
 

M87

Active Member
Thanks Justin.
That will make it more interesting for the people watching.
 

Cinder

Active Member
My opinion....looking good

Felt safer on the track with the change been made for round 1-2.
like you said Justin if inside wall of #1 is moved/removed and the back wall wider and configuration change is going to be great.

No passing in #3 was good,but like Sand man saying,outside pass in #3 is a great idea...

As far as start/finish line...between #4-5 is perfect, fell really safe and that give us a lot of room to spread a little before going in the technical portion of the track.

keep up the good work EMRA executives & volunteers !!!
 

fast316

EMRA Executive Member
it took way too long for anything to happen when Alex went down into 6.

I feel this is not totally correct. The bike was way off the track and the rider was up and okay, the race did not need to be red flagged. Part of the delay and confusion from the tower was trying to sort out why riders were stopping on the track with no flags out in corner 9. I guess because the riders saw what they thought was a bad crash? I feel the race was red flagged in an appropriate amount of time because of a combination of rider down in 6 and the tower being unable to sort out why bikes were stopping in turn 9.

As for placement of a corner station in turn 6, I'm all for it but please look at a map of the track and consider how and in what direction bikes exit turn 5. I think putting corner workers in a safe spot in turn 6 is trickier than it first seems.
 

yak

Well-Known Member
I like the pit parking map suggestion.

I was thinking if the rows were to run East/West instead of North/South that the visibility to the track entry would be better for more people.
 

SetUpSixRR

EMRA Executive Member
I thought the weekend went very well and the track is fun.

I think a corner station inside of T5 would be good if we have the volunteers. As far as Alexs' crash goes i think we may need to explain racing procedures again during the next riders meeting. AT NO POINT should you stop on a race track during a live race. Yes, Alexs' crash was bad and his bike was a yard sale but DO NOT stop at the next corner worker station because you 'think' he may be injured or that the bike remained on track, you are only making the race track MORE dangerous for the rest of us... Kyle, Neil, Me, Jon and Dana came around turn 5-6-7 at full speed, Alexs was standing, bike in the gravel, there was no red flag at the tower and none in turn 9 when we got there but there was about 5 bikes parked. I can't stress enough how dangerous that was. The corner workers and race directors make the call, not the riders. The corner worker told me that a few riders came to a complete stop and he didn't even have a flag displayed. The race should not have been red flagged either because from my understanding he got right back up on his feet and was ok, and his bike was off the track. Riders safety is more important than any race we will ever have and if Alex first and foremost didn't need an ambulance then please guys, obey the flags before you put other riders at risk. If you feel it is dangerous to continue racing, put up your hand get off the race line and take the hot pits off the track. Just like the rain questions... we race in the rain. If you feel its too dangerous just take yourself out of the race.

Anyways... I want to thank everyone who helped with the air fence tear down yesterday, we had a ton of guys and did the job in probably record time. The EMRA execs are out there every event setting up and some of us have important commitments and occasionally its just been a couple of us doing the job by ourselves, so when we see the big group of new and old racers jumping in to help it said a lot about the quality of people in the club. Thank you!
 

SetUpSixRR

EMRA Executive Member
+1 Jon

+10 for the start finish line between T4/5

and i think Todd has a great suggestion with running our pit rows east to west.
 

sand.man

Well-Known Member
Agreed Jon & Brian, that the race should have continued. I think having a corner station over there would have eliminated the confusion and "worry" from the other racers about Alex's well being and also prevented the red flag from being brought out because there would have been better communication from the corner stations to the tower or race director.

But you're right Jon about the careful consideration of the corner station. I think inside of 5 or inside of 6 should be well enough out of the line of trajectory of a crashing bike?
 

Ryno

Active Member
Inside of 6 is probably potentially a bad spot. If someone loses the front going through five due to the speed through 5 a bike would end up at the inside of 6.. Jon has a valid point of needing to be careful as to where we would put that station
 

Schramm

Member
I really enjoyed the track as well, it's fast and fun with a lot of technical bits.

+1 to a corner worker station NEAR 5+6, my main issue after the crash was finding who to wave to to say I was okay, the nearest corner worker station was way off in the distant at corner 7. I was wondering why the race got red flagged because me and the bike were off the track and I was okay. Right at 5 and 6 is tough due to the racing line and where the racers are looking at that point so maybe on the inside of the exit of 6, or a little down the straight. Or the outside of 5 behind the walls, but then you're so close to the tower flaggers it seems pointless.

I also don't like ANY of those steel poles sticking out of the barriers. Hitting a concrete wall at speed is one thing, but hitting one of those? For the most part, the other side is just grass and mud... I'd much rather tumble through that than break my back/neck/leg/anything.
 

sand.man

Well-Known Member
This would be my suggestion for corner stations:

3QvXSWb.jpg
 
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sand.man

Well-Known Member
The placement of the dots are a rough guesstimate, there should be lots of room at/near the left side of the track near the entrance of 6 I think?
 

yak

Well-Known Member
Ryan on the corner station's map the one at the entry to turn one is missing.

+1 Those poles need to go, especially in high probability impact zones.
 
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