Guys,
I can understand the frustration with the lack of proper tyres for the St. Ives track at the moment. I am experiencing the same problem. There is a simple solution to the problem, which in the long run, will save everyone a lot of money.
If we just took 10 minutes in between rounds to sweep the track, we would get a blue groove a lot earlier in the race day. With a good blue groove, we can run tyres that have little to no tread! There are great tracks outside of Australia that have the same great clay that we currently have. People actually spend the time sanding down the tread on their tyres both front and rear for more traction! If we kept up the track maintenance, we could easily be doing the same thing. Running bald tyres will save all of us lots of money. I noticed when I came out racing the other day there was practically NO track maintenance in between rounds. I noticed on the last race day that not many people helped with the track upkeep. I think this needs to be strictly enforced moving forward.
Here is my suggestion:
-If possible, water the track the night before racing
-Sweep the track before practice begins.
-Make practice an hour longer in duration. This will help with creating a nice blue groove on the track
-Sweep in between rounds and prior to the mains
Once people see the benefits of keeping the track swept, more people will be willing to offer their help.
Some other ideas I have for the track that are off this topic:
If we want to draw more attention to this hobby, we need to attract people when they see us racing. I can't tell you how many times I was marshalling and bystanders were asking me what car was in the lead? If they knew who was leading, who was in second, third, etc. By having numbers displayed on the cars, it would make it more exciting for them to watch. Why don't we have numbers on our cars? This is something so simple that we could do just to make the sport a little more exciting for all involved. If it's a matter of charging $1.00 more for each entry, I think it's well worth it. We want this hobby to grow, and this would be one simple idea to help do so.
Microphone "play-by-play": Have a look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjwYSTbu49w
Now watch the video again but turn off your speakers. Notice a difference?
By having somebody give the play-by-play over the mic it will make racing so much more exciting. Again, people will be drawn to the track to see what all of the action is about. Not to mention that it also makes it more enjoyable as a racer. Hearing that you are gaining time on another racer, losing time, or just listening to others battle it out just adds to the excitement of racing. I would love to see people volunteer to MC some of the racing; I'm sure everyone will enjoy it.
I've already shared my thoughts about the layout of the track and the lack of elevation changes, jumps, tabletops, etc. I have heard everyone's argument, and I agree for the most part. We don't want people breaking their cars because this lessens the enjoyment of the sport. We want new people joining our track and feeling comfortable that they can make it through an entire day without worrying about breaking their car. I completely agree with this, however, we can build a very technical track WITH all of these elements and ensure that people won't be more likely to break. If you run a motor that is too fast for your skill level, that’s a completely different issue, and that’s when you are most likely going to break your car. I think it's great the track will finally get a tabletop jump next month, and I think it's a good start of more things to come. From the way the tabletop was described to me, it sounded as if the takeoff portion was not going to be in view of the driver stand. I'm hoping this was just a misunderstanding of the way it was described to me. Hope I can offer my track building experience to keep new elements like this coming!
Cheers guys,
Jezza
P.S. Here are some great track layouts that I'm sure a lot of you will enjoy watching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81heh...elated&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3uTo...elated&search=
Tires
) 
I have to get to work 
Tires
and have to get ready for tamworth, 
hope you all have a good week end and will see you at the next meet, cheers Stuart, Jenny , and Louise. 
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