LEVERTON RACEWAY

[sparky-0]

Hi there is indoor pitting with mains available

[quarter throttle]

Originally Posted by telboy

G, its no good picking a txt fight about peoples spelling when you spell 'merely' wrong.

oh boy....

spell-check anyone?

haha just realised that ... anyway ... just because i spelt one word wrong doesn't mean education is wasted on me ... i do go to boston grammar

[paulsmith]

Thanks for another great event yesterday @ Leverton.

Excellent turn out for buggys too!

[tak racing]

Was ok, heard most complaints about the table top, could have just been the wind direction tho but it was difficult to get right, maybe a little too tall and the up ramp a bit to steep, tyres were totaled after 1 round, too much tarmac!

I will revisit as the wind seemed to play a big part in the table top problems.

Thanks.

[Darrane]

Thanks for your honest reply but i must reply the track is on its second outing so we do expect teething problems. The table top is not mean't to be easy to get right thats the diffrence between a good lap and a bad one. But the wind was a factor on the day which seemed to give you lift under the chassis as for tyres i have run two meetings and quite a few practice sessions on the same set of schmacher yellow mini spike and will be using them for the next meeting.Tarmac,the track on racing line is around 160 meters long the total amount of tarmac is around 30 meters of which 20 meters is in a straight line. Iam sorry you did not like the track as you are the BRCA regional rep which would have been a good endorsement for off road in the local area to bring new drivers into off road, but we can't please everyone. Thanks anyway for your honesty see you at holbeach on the 24th for the regional regards Darran

[paulsmith]

Just wondered if the video footage that was taken yesterday will be online (youtube?) any time soon?

[Darrane]

Should be mate Trevor is just doing some editing and hopefully in a week or so i will post on oople and the web site when its done hope to see you on the 17th Cheers mate Darran.

[paulsmith]

Cool, look forward to seeing it

Yeah, me and Robert will be there again

[tak racing]

Darrane,

Sorry I guess that sounded very negative, it wasn't meant to be, more constructive.

The tyres I ran had seen the best on grass but would still be ok for a couple of practice runs, after the meeting (5 runs) they had no spikes left on the middle 3 rows, if you ran a BRCA event the top drives would be putting tyres on every round and couldn’t afford not to if they wanted to run the best times, I don't see that as acceptable, let’s face it off road means exactly that, tarmac is not an accepted off road surface.

Anyway that just my view and I guess everyone else will differ.

All your facilities are good and it would be a shame to lose the opportunity of making it a good off road track, I know that’s very difficult given your restrictions and wanting to run circuit and off road.

The table top is a little strange, it seems to kick the car different every time even if you run the same lines, even the "good" drivers found it unforgiving and frustrating, not something that’s exactly asking them to come back.

I applaud your efforts so far but collecting constructive comments and thinking about them should make for a better track.

I will re-visit in the future and as for anyone who is reading this, please do not let my comments put you off from going and giving it a try, especially if your local as we have nothing else permanent right now in the area, but please give your views too.

Jim

[Good Hustle]

I've used a set of Mini pins for both the meetings that they have had at Leverton, the mini pins do wear quickly but i don't think it has a massive effect on the lap times. The first meeting my quickest lap was 23.89 (i think) and yesterday on the same tyres in the last run i got a 23.87.
I'm sure the mini spikes will last much longer than the pins and are very quick around the track, as proved by Paul Fox.

The tabletop is tricky, but that is why it's good, you can take it slow and safe or fast and risky.

Tbh i would be more likely to come back to a track that was difficult to master , than one that was so easy that you master it at the first meeting.
..But that's my opinion.

Excellent meeting again Darran and Ivor, Thank you.

[sparky-0]

We have already discused the table top and have plans to change it, Darran has done hundreds of laps but even he found it difficult because of the prevailing wind.
There is always a wind at the track so this is another reason why we are looking to change the table top.
it is diffilcult, due to running touring cars, not to run on tarmac but this is being looked into.
Thanks for the comments

[carter_213]

That was abit harsh Jim considering your meant to support racing in the mid-east region

The guys have done a great job down there and have a brilliant racing facility,ive been down nemorous of times and have had no problems with the table top.It carnt be inconsistant due to the fact its made out of sheeted ply by a joiner so the profile off the up ramp is very flat,

Regards the tarmac if they were to host a regional im sure it could be coverd with some more astroturf for the days racing,which would make the stright super flat! (unlike talywain this weekend!)

Im not having a go but dont judge a book by its cover,its alot better than some of the tracks were attending this year in the mid-east calender.

Great turn out this weekeend i hear darren? Ill be down again soon! Keep up the good work

[tak racing]

I do support off road in the mid east, and your comments about covering the tarmac obviously tells me you agree, Yea my first comment was a little harsh and I have oppologised for the initial comment, the second post is more realistic.

I guess the tabletop must have been the strong wind getting under the cars, my lads D4 seemed to cope much better than the X6.

I'd like nothing more than to be asking the club to host a 2010 regional and I'm sure I will if the great work continues.

Out of interest which tracks are you refering too for the regionals?

I think i need to revisit and see if my opinion changes, again it's far better than any thing else local and thanks to all at Leverton for the efforts so far.

Jim

[carter_213]

I do feel they could cover the strightaway for ''big'' off road meetings,but it wouldnt be an option for club days due to it been dual purpose. It can only get better with time i feel.

Regards to the tracks i 'dislike' i will keep to myself, its not my choice at the end of the day and i will support the region were ever they choose to race!

See you at holbeach in 2 weeks

[Robbiejuk]

How many touring cars are you getting on the same day? I would assume the numbers will have dropped a bit with everybody wanting to or having a go on the off-road sections.

From what I have seen I think Leverton have done a cracking job and look forward to driving on it soon.

Would someone like to send me some good quality photos to put on the me-or site? Plus guys we can always host any pre-booking forms if you require it Me-or.co.uk is always up for promoting off road racing in the mid east

[hulmeytc3]

hi,personally i think the track is great,tricky but rewarding when you get it right,the table top was difficult yesterday because of the wind,i actually took the safe option on it yesterday and set my quickest time yet 2 secs off tq,tyre wise i run yellow mini pins and have done 2 practices,2 full meetings(with practice) and will do the next meeting on them aswell which i think for the average club racer is a good thing,rob set the fastest lap 23.4 and overall tq 13 laps at the last meeting on virtually bald tyres,anyway just my pennies worth and see you at the next one if i can get a pass out!!!

[Darrane]

I would like to thank everyone for there opinions at the moment we are still getting around twelve touring cars, it would be nice to run on seperate days for the tourers and offroad but iam afraid touring cars would not pay for itself. I thank jim for his apology about being a bit harsh but to be honest he can voice his oppinon we need honesty to improve the club, i agree the table top was difficult no awful yesterday but i can assure you thats been the only day and we can only put it down to weather conditions. Now we know this we are looking into maybe making the table top shorter in height and which will then lessen the angle on the up slope this will be done by Sunday and tested. As for tarmac we are seriously looking at alternatives, we have tried to lessen the effect of the tarmac as much as possible but we can't just turn round to the touring boys and say iam sorry find some where else to race, to be honest most of them have just come in to the hobby and have been looking into running buggys so maybe another potential 10 to 12 drivers coming in to offroad so i do not want to just drop them.
As for tyres the type of covering we use seems to give loads of grip even with tyre wear down in fact the more wear the better the lap times in the case of rob 23.4 on nearly bald fronts myself yesterday 23.6 on the last lap of the last final on well used tyres and then good hustle doing 23.8 on worn mini pins. I know the top boys may change tyres quite regular but they do that anyway because they can while us minows after to be more careful, but i feel our track is a great leveller you do not have to get the best car best equipment to to do well we had yesterday a old schumacher bosscat in 2WD A Final(thats because it was 4 but its had it so can only get it to work in 2) with all the top boys at one point leading a final because he's a good driver not because of his equipment. Jim it would give me great pleasure to hold a regional next year if asked, we were tempted this year to offer but beacause we did not know if the track would be done and to be honest our timing equipment is a bit old we thought better off it. I can assure you myself and ivor will be in total support of the region as if the regional off road does well so will the hobby and the clubs of which we are one, we are ourselves booked into 4 regionals so we will be supporting the region.
Regards Darran Leverton Raceway

[bob33]

hi robbie i can sort you some pics out,wher do you want me to send them to?

as of tyres im not runing new there, i am bookd in for all the regionals and the nats so im just using the worn ones from them, i think the older tyres work beter than new in my opinion.

who have we got going on sunday? i no me and dan (crazy) chambers is who els?..

[TRICKYNICK]

Just want to say what a great days racing I had at Leverton Raceway!

Darren, Ivor & co have do a fantastic job creating a challenging and fun off-road track as well as keeping the original Touring Car track intact

The table top was a little difficult when I was adventurous and tried to clear it a couple of times but there WAS a strong wind blowing so when I took it sensibly it wasn’t a problem.

I’ve noticed a few people commenting on there being a lot of tarmac which was wearing the tyres too much, but unless you was really “throttle happy” and not driving senisbly then I honestly think that is not likely because after a full meeting my tyres were only lightly worn and I was running a 6.5t!

Really looking forward to racing there again this Sunday (please British weather don’t let me down )

[Crazychambers]

Seems that everyone is having a say, so I'll have ago!

In terms of tyre wear, originally I worrieid it was going to be a massive problem - tbh, its not that bad I think, I've managed a race meeting and atleast 2 race meetings worth of practice with one set on mini spikes, they don't look too good any more but they are still providing enough grip to lap quickly.

I also feel that the use of multi surfaces are good, it adds abit more challenge to the circuit, if it was all astro It would be like driving a touring car on the flat stuff. The only bit that maybe needs to be kinder in the acceleration onto the start finish, but it the tyres are getting killed then we need to learn to be less trigger finger happy!

The table top is a challenge, and I still mess it up, but I think that makes it quite a challenge, makes you have to actually think about what the cars doing in the air and control it to make the best landing (or not!). The wind is an unfortunate thing, we used to have similar problems with the touring cars and unfortunately is just the openness of the area and the wind direction tied together to make it unpredictable.

On another note, see you guys on Sunday! Hopefully going to be running both 2wd and 4wd (with very bald tyres!) if the new speedo turns up!

Catch ya soon guys

Dan