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-   -   Why is BRCA nat at RHR not on the dirt track? (http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150744)

DAVO 11-05-2014 12:35 PM

Why is BRCA nat at RHR not on the dirt track?
 
Hi is there any plans to run a BRCA national on the dirt track at Robin Hood.Just seems daft to run on the astro when there is a dirt track next to it. I have nothing against astro tracks and think there great but dirt/ clay tracks a few and far between in the UK. It would be good practice for our national drivers for when they race against the the rest of Europe/ world.i just wondered why the BRCA team did not choose (if they had the choice) to run a rnd on the clay track
Thanks Davey

PaulRotheram 11-05-2014 12:52 PM

I think it is due to weather.. if it rains during a meeting on a astro turf track, the meeting can go on longer with no track degradation, whereas an outdoor clay track mixed with wet weather could pretty much wreck the track, and with it the meeting.

I'd love to run at the track also, at this moment in time with a over full calendar of nationals, regionals, club series its hard to get over when there is a chance for the dirt track.

I could be way off the mark here.. but that's how i would see it.

DAVO 11-05-2014 02:00 PM

Surly it can't just be a case of No that track not an option incase it rains. Is it because you can only use proline tires if so I'm sure there must be a way around this as the last worlds was control tire event an was a success. I am unsure about the tire rules for a national mabe has nothing to do with it though.

tyreman 11-05-2014 02:24 PM

The club have to state which track will be used on the national application form

James 11-05-2014 03:19 PM

When a club applies for a national they nominate two tyres for that meeting (loosely - a dry tyre and a wet tyre).

We did put an application in a previous year for a national on dirt and if it rains and there is still time to switch then run on the astro. It was awkward to put into words and wasn't well received by the voting committee, it meant uncertainty and possibly having two cars ready for that meeting, plus tyres (at the time I don't think any of us expected having two astro cars as some do now!).

With our dirt track, its arguably better than astro if we have an odd shower as we can pull the covers over and the track restarts at the same pace as prior to the rain, however if we get a very wet day or prolonged showers you lose a lot of track time, whereas you can still carry on racing on a damp astro track if its drizzly all day, it's just a disadvantage to heats immediately after any rain as the track get quicker as it dries.

Dirt tracks are high maintenance, but when in top condition they're really good.
Astro is easier to manage and what most people are used to, even some of the American dirt tracks are moving over to astro, plus recently Yatabe Arena in Japan.

Dirt track driving is (I believe) harder than astro as throttle control is so much more important, a lot of people don't like that, particularly 2wd. RHR dirts clay is quote slippy and doesn't really groove due to our weather, this does however make it excellent on tyres, if we sugar it could potentially be a set per run or two, noone wants that.

DAVO 11-05-2014 03:41 PM

The reason I brought it up as I was looking at the tracks for the national series and there all astro turf. I would of thought a variation would make a better series with astro,grass and dirt tracks all being used.

buggy man 11-05-2014 05:56 PM

One thing iam struggling to understand James is why apply for a national with your Astro track and then when you applied for a Euro you applied with your Dirt Track ???

The weather won't change for that week when you hold the euro's so why not use your dirt track for a national

If its good enough for the Euro's then it must be good enough for a national or is it the UK Drivers who are not good enough for dirt :woot:

James 11-05-2014 06:48 PM

We did apply for a dirt national a couple of years ago but didn't get one at all. We suggested being able to move to the astro in the event of horrendous weather but it wasn't really liked by the committee making the decision I believe, so we went back to astro.

Also there's a lot of time pressure on a two day national to get finished, if we have a period with the covers on and nothings happening it means a late finish or curtailing finals. With a 6 day euros theres room to manoeuvre the schedule for rain breaks (which has happened a lot over many previous euros)(and worlds!).

I just think generally people are happy with astro for nationals, they know where they are with them..

NeilRalph77 11-05-2014 07:35 PM

I heard and this is only what I heard, that because the dirt is one track with one layout and can't be altered that this would give an excessive advantage to those drivers that have hammered the track continuously, more than just a home advantage as it's an uncommon track surface to the Uk.

And is that one layout not also the reason the dirt track has to be changed for the euro's?

Where as the astro is multi layout and can be alter any which way and is a surface common to UK racing.

DAVO 01-06-2014 04:10 PM

So anyone running the BRCA nationals who are not running a Schumacher KF is at a disadvantage then, been as all the tracks are super high grip astro :thumbdown:

teamtinky88 14-10-2014 11:49 AM

Hi guys,

I'm new to forums in general so forgive me if this isn't really appropriate for this thread!

This is my first year in racing and only did one national at Boughton, and this thread had me wondering why the majority of tracks are astro? Surely like others have said a mixture of dirt, astro, grass and other surfaces would be good to race on. The local club I race at is purely grass and it's brilliant to drive on, we've even had meetings where it's rained and been good fun and good racing.

James 14-10-2014 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAVO (Post 860272)
So anyone running the BRCA nationals who are not running a Schumacher KF is at a disadvantage then, been as all the tracks are super high grip astro :thumbdown:


I ran my KF at the oOple Invernational, it was better than my KR on the dirt, I finished 4th so not too shabby!


Quote:

Originally Posted by teamtinky88 (Post 881207)
Hi guys,

I'm new to forums in general so forgive me if this isn't really appropriate for this thread!

This is my first year in racing and only did one national at Boughton, and this thread had me wondering why the majority of tracks are astro? Surely like others have said a mixture of dirt, astro, grass and other surfaces would be good to race on. The local club I race at is purely grass and it's brilliant to drive on, we've even had meetings where it's rained and been good fun and good racing.

Dirt is extremely high maintenance, tricky when all clubs are run by volunteers, astro is so easy to live with from a maintenance and usability point of view in all conditions.

terry.sc 14-10-2014 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teamtinky88 (Post 881207)
The local club I race at is purely grass and it's brilliant to drive on, we've even had meetings where it's rained and been good fun and good racing.

I have raced at nationals on grass, and in the rain when you have up to 100 racers you can end up with them digging up the grass. I remember one meeting where it was so wet that the buggies dug holes on the corner apexes big enough to put your buggy in. You then had a bucket of water to try and clean the mud off it before you could do any work on it between races. With astro your buggy will come off wet but there will be no mud everywhere.

For the club with astro there's very little maintenance compared to grass, no holes to be filled or patches to be regrassed, no grass to be trimmed before the meeting. Races don't have to be scored round by round like grass tracks do due to the grass wearing away. Bumps and jumps covered in astro won't need repairing, and the start grid can be painted and won't need repainting the next meeting.

Grass might be fine for local club meets, but it takes a hammering at national level.

As RHR has said, while you can easily race on astro when it is raining, as the nationals run one class each day on a weekend if we have light rain all day then the meeting for that day would have to be cancelled.


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