NPG10 Suggestion Box

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ASRA AdminPermalink Reply by Bugs on December 6, 2009 at 13:25

One of the Canadian riders suggested sending bigger groups of riders down in practice, for example 8 instead of 4. Our thinking was that a bigger group would be more dangerous, but his response was that people ride more conservatively in bigger groups and that there are less crashes. And you can double the amount of runs people get.

Interested in hearing comments from people with experience of this.

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Permalink Reply by Duff on December 6, 2009 at 14:06

Bugs, even if you ran 5 or 6 instead of 4 it would make a huge difference in the turnover rate. One method that has it's pros and cons but was how the planet x games here in Oz was run was to have a continual flow of riders going down, from memory the second group of riders was released shortly after the first group and so on and if there was a crash the marshals would wave the yellow flag and we'd slow down knowing there was a crash and if it was an injured rider on track the red was shown and everyone had to stop on track.

Now the downside is that you can get real unlucky and have a yellow flag on forest during a few of your practice runs and sometimes people wont slow down when they're meant to but it's a continual flow of runs. Next problem is making sure the buses can get up and down the hill quick enough!

Anyway there's one suggestion.

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Permalink Reply by Duff on December 6, 2009 at 14:09

Thanks for sharing that Pat, so the start ramps and lights are already in Bathurst? Will they be stored at Carter Bros till next year and if so is it just a matter of getting them up to the hill?

Pat Team OBR said:

Micheal Reeve (didnt turn up this year) has 2 big traffic light set ups (red/yellow/green) just lying around, and said he would love to see them as start lights for a race, we could give them to Richard Powers and let him work his magic, and could link em to a horn/buzzer
Lets try and find a big shade sail (maybe with a sponsors logo on it) and string it off that big sign over the start line, set up a formal (organised) pit area
Richard Powers has some awesome ideas for filming / broadcast systems, its what he does for a living.
All PlanetX games had a marquee for riders at the start line, with water in it, I'm amazed we havent had anyone cook in there leathers yet, not a good reciepe to perform at your best.
The start ramps are still in Bathurst with Ian Carter from Carter Bros engineering, and have been improved with BMX style drop gates fitted to them to prevent false starts like I did in round one

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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by sean meaney on December 6, 2009 at 14:40

the one thing i was dissapointed by this year was lack of slide comp, it would be great to see sliding supported inside australia and it would take about 2-3 hours to run a slide comp, imagine sergio yuppie and fernando yuppie sliding down conrod in a two man final, that would something i would pay to see. Mount panorama has the perfect surface for sliding, its smooth but is that right sort of smooth that lets you break your wheels out endlessly it would be amazing to see some hardwheel happening on the mountain next year

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Permalink Reply by Robbo on December 6, 2009 at 15:12

Any extra comps would have to occur at night so as not to impinge on the already limited track time

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ASRA AdminPermalink Reply by bernie on December 6, 2009 at 15:39

Could we park a St Johns ambulance at the esses, where Mick had his ute, to speed recovery from esses and Forest Elbow?

A bigger turning area at the top might improve the frequency of the bus trips.

Some of those big cardboard "event" rubbish bins down the hill in the spectator areas would save the volunteers a job of picking up after everyone (assuming "everyone" can be bothered to drop their rubbish in a bin)

The Uni bar was a good venue.
Having the event just after exams is good for those still studying (was important for the Melbourne group).

Mountain top slalom was a fun little side-show, but it needs a lot more support if it is to keep going, and with the importance of down-hill there is risk that supporting slalom removes people resources from the main event.

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Permalink Reply by Sean on December 6, 2009 at 16:19

I agree with this idea, it seems to be standard practice overseas. Especially early on in the practice sessions I think larger groups combined with loud admonishments to be careful would work well. The counter argument is that Mt Panorama is more gnarly than many overseas tracks, but when you have a group of 20 or whatever going down together people will definitely be more conservative. Groups of 4 a maybe too similar to race situation, larger group sizes probably helps promote a different mind-set.

As far as more efficient bus service goes, there was not a set stopping point. Sometimes it was past the road block point and they needed to back in to the gravel area to turn, other times they stopped before the road block and were able to do a U-turn. Given that its downhill from the road block they should definitely stop before it and have an easier and quicker U-turn exit path.
Also one bus was larger than the other, if both buses were of the large size that would be great too.

Bugs said:

One of the Canadian riders suggested sending bigger groups of riders down in practice, for example 8 instead of 4. Our thinking was that a bigger group would be more dangerous, but his response was that people ride more conservatively in bigger groups and that there are less crashes. And you can double the amount of runs people get.

Interested in hearing comments from people with experience of this.

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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by sean meaney on December 6, 2009 at 17:56

a night slide comp would go off robbo, and would get some attention, the thing with sliding is you only need a small amount of room and any part of the track will work as its all steep and the right sort of surface
Robbo said:

Any extra comps would have to occur at night so as not to impinge on the already limited track time

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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Oliver Dowie on December 6, 2009 at 18:00

Need more hay bales. I slid into the concrete wall.

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Permalink Reply by Robbo on December 6, 2009 at 18:15

Where would you like more hay bales? where did you hit the wall?

Oliver said:

Need more hay bales. I slid into the concrete wall.

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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Oliver Dowie on December 6, 2009 at 19:31

Just before the dipper on the left side. Reality is, someone could potentially crash anywhere along the track. Mischo crashed after the dipper and slid along the wall where there were no bales.

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Permalink Reply by Robbo on December 6, 2009 at 20:37

Its unlikely we will add any more bales between the start line and the dipper. When we put bales on the inside of a corner people tend to hit them and crash because there is a bale there. Micho hit the bale on the outside of the dipper and slid across the road, unfortunately we can't build pillows all the way down the track. If you crash in the esses on a straight section you will rub the wall but you will only brush it you won't square it up. If we build bales in these sections than as soon as you nudge a bale you will crash hard. We put bales in sections so that you don't square up a wall. We design bales walls to slow the inertia of the rider, if we build walls to absolutely stop people getting through then they tend to feel like concrete anyway.

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