first race down

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Fred
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first race down

Post by Fred »

Well that's the first race over with. In general it ran OK although vastly over schedule due to some Admin and tech problems. One thing that held up the day was members not a. Having numbers on karts b. Having a different number on every corner of the Kart c. Not having a charged transponder d. Slow service of the food truck e.An extended drivers meeting. This may not seem a big deal but 10 minutes dealing with each problem soon adds up. Anyway things in general went well and driving standards we fairly good. We will work on the PA system to see if we can improve it for the next race and we hope we will have electrical power to the scales and timing tower. Also planned is to get the lap counter scoreboard up and running and the pre grid finally fenced and gated. To help with this we will need weekend volunteers. Any constructive feed back would be appreciated.

samk
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Re: first race down

Post by samk »

Fred:

My personal views on the first race is that it was professionally run! You and your staff of (volunteer) officials all need to be commended for the fine work everyone did! Over schedule, yes, but that was expected but with a brand new facility, there are always bugs to work out. Great job to all of the volunteers yesterday.

Other than what you had mentioned the only thing I can see as an issue is the congestion around the scale shack both on entry and especially exit.

The bugs will get worked out as we go along.

Gil & James
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Re: first race down

Post by Gil & James »

Fred, Volunteers, and Executives,

First we want to THANK you all for all your hard work! We have a Super Fantastic track at CKRC, racers were saying it is the best track they have raced at.

We will only get better as time moves forward and as we build our club and membership together. Share the passion of racing karts, it is a jewel we will promote.

Respectfully,

Gil, Janine, Jill & James.

moon
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Re: first race down

Post by moon »

First of all thanks everyone. Ya. Food truck mega slow very disorganized. But one thing. While racing there was alot of offs. And caused debris on the track. I was talkin to another member about. Maybe if theres an off. Possibly if we could hop in a vehicle or atv/ utv. And quickly sweep it up. I know we are down on man power. But i for one would volunteer. The sand is one problem. But the big rocks are alot worse.
Sr. 4 Stroke. Kart 311

stevea
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Re: first race down

Post by stevea »

moon wrote:First of all thanks everyone. Ya. Food truck mega slow very disorganized. But one thing. While racing there was alot of offs. And caused debris on the track. I was talkin to another member about. Maybe if theres an off. Possibly if we could hop in a vehicle or atv/ utv. And quickly sweep it up. I know we are down on man power. But i for one would volunteer. The sand is one problem. But the big rocks are alot worse.
Hey Moon

I am unable to race right now and because of this I was out there yesterday volunteering (I was working station 5 during all the races). This was my first race working as a volunteer and it was a bit of a wake up call as to what is going on behind the scenes during the races (things that the racers never see or hear because they aren't talking and listening on the race control radios). Anyway yes there were a number of offs and as the racers fought their way back on to the track they also brought dirt, twigs and yes sometimes rocks on to the track with them. Depending on where the dirt landed, often wind generated from the passing Karts was enough to blow the dirt off of the racing line (though I do remember at least one driver driving on too much dirt and getting a little squirrelly going into turn #2). So when there was some sort of obstacle (dirt, twigs and rocks) on the track, between stints I would run out on the track and do my best to clear the track in the small section I was exposed to. Perhaps I was one of the few volunteers doing this? So I am not sure how the rest of the track fared during the day. But we can't be clearing the track in the middle of a race. We can only wait until the stint is over. So the drivers are just going to need to deal with it during their races.

Also while we will never be able to prevent dirt and twigs from making their way onto the track, there is something that all club members can do when the track is not hot to prevent rocks from making their way on the track and that is to walk along the track and if you encounter a rock, pick it up and throw it off away from the track. I was doing this yesterday at the end of the day on my way back to the paddock from station 5 between turns #1 and #2. But I am sure there are still hundreds of rocks elsewhere on the track. If enough people walk the track when it is not hot and toss aside all the adjacent rocks, this issue will eventually go away.

moon
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Re: first race down

Post by moon »

Thanks for work clearing the debris up. And ya the racers will have to just deal with sand n stuff on track. Not much we can do untill the grass grows. I just thought id throw it out there. And again thanks too all volunteers and everyone else.
Sr. 4 Stroke. Kart 311

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Fred
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Re: first race down

Post by Fred »

With all the hectic chaos of the first race we forgot to put the broom in the posts. We normally sweep whatever we can in between races but I will never authorize a marshal to leave their post during a race unless it's for an emergency. Hopefully when we get some grass through this will be a non issue. We can lay as much seed as we want but unless we water it there will be no grass this however takes a lot of time and manpower to achieve. Steve is right and I have always said this that every racer should have to be a race day marshal at least once to see what goes on behind the scenes, it is very hectic with a great deal of radio traffic between all the marshals to tie everything in together.Unlike most of the racers there is no rest for the marshals other than lunch because we roll one class in and roll the next out so there is not even time to sit down. SteveO idea of picking rocks is good and on another work party we will do this again. The easiest way however is not to drive off the track !!

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Lonnie Ganz
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Re: first race down

Post by Lonnie Ganz »

Fred just want to second what Gil and James said. I thought it was a fantastic first day as well. The club has come so far in such a short time. Really amazing what we have accomplished.
I'm sure we will be back to your usual 100% on time racing schedule by race number two.
Thanks again to all the club members who have donated so much to get us racing again.

troubletitan
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Re: first race down

Post by troubletitan »

Fred you had mentioned that you will be trying to get the PA system operational. Does that mean the FM broadcasting for race days will be scrapped? I only ask this cause I need to purchase a radio...

Thanks

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Bainesy36
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Re: first race down

Post by Bainesy36 »

I thought the first race day was a huge success, even if it ran slightly over on the schedule. Well done to everyone for making this possible and I look forward to more fun as the season progresses!

The only thing I would love to see (or 'hear' I should say), is live commentary on the races. Obviously this would need to be through a PA system which is dependant on the Town of Strathmore I guess, but when I used to race motorbikes at club level in the UK, it not only added to the experience for me as a competitor, but it made a big difference for the spectators. I had friends come out on Sunday and they said how much the enjoyed the racing, but had no idea who was leading etc etc, as they're new to motorsports and found it hard to follow.

Of course, finding someone to commentate might not be that straightforward either, but I'm curious to know what people think about this idea.

Thanks again,
Nige.

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