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Post by DuncVincent on May 1, 2003 20:17:40 GMT
Na,,,,that wont work alan.....remember i used to race XR2s,,haha
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Post by DuncVincent on May 12, 2003 20:58:46 GMT
A good race by everyone not having a bad crash in the bad weather!!  |
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Post by JapaneseElvis on May 12, 2003 21:15:42 GMT
I could be missing something (in fact, many people are convinced I am) , but how on earth could the FF Zetec race be declared a "dry" race by SMRC officialdom when in fact it was pi**ing down ?
Do the SMRC now have powers of Biblical proportions?
I think we should be told.
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Post by Catriona on May 12, 2003 22:07:16 GMT
Was it actually the SMRC who said that, or the BDRC? The FFords seemed to get a very rough deal all weekend, and for all people have (often justifiably) complained about the SMRC in the past, I've never noticed tham pick on the FFords (or any other series) anything like so badly any other time before this weekend... :blackeye:
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Post by JamesHerriot on May 12, 2003 23:22:12 GMT
GR, the BDRC were running the event but they put the SMRC`S Nick Clark in as clerk of the course for the scottish classes, the problem on saturday was him red flagging the 2nd qualifying session then bringing the cars into the pit lane, making them get out the cars then reading the riot act to them for crossing the white line at the chicane, now for those that don`t know when the zetec guys are approaching the chicane they CANNOT see the painted line because of the low seat height of these cars, they have to judge the correct line by placing the car between the tyres and the plastic bollard, last year Nick Clark gave the guys a hard time for sometimes hitting the bollards but on saturday he was well out of order to stop the session with over 1/4 of it still to run. If you can`t see the line then how can you be in the wrong for crossing it ? Onto sunday , we had all the cars in the holding paddock waiting for race 2 , the programe was at least 15 minutes ahead of schedule so we had time to play with, the rain had started but looked like it would clear and leave the track just dry enough for slick tyres however between the cars going round for two laps then forming up on the grid the heavens opened up big time and it was so obvious to everyone that to start the race on slicks was extremely dangerous, remember we had plenty time and the wets were sitting in the pits, they could have been changed on all the cars inside 5 minutes. we ran to race control and pleaded with them not to start the race but they just ignored us and started it as a dry race! how we didn`t end up with a bad accident i don`t know considering that they are driving these things almost blind because of the spray in the wet anyway and to put them out on slicks made it like racing on an ice rink. maybe its about time the SMRC explained to us what they have against F/FORDS !
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Post by Catriona on May 12, 2003 23:28:31 GMT
That sounds very harsh on the FFord guys there... I'd just assumed it was down to the BRDC not knowing much about the track/series, but if it was actually an SMRC guy in charge, then that's not good  |
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Post by akirkaldy on May 13, 2003 14:16:52 GMT
I am glad that we have this forum to let everyone here about things that go in other classes, Most people would only of heard us getting called up but dont know the reasons behind in.
As far as Nick Clark goes he is well out his depth and once he actually knows what its like to race he may understand our sides of the story!!
Race 2 on sunday went in my favour but while out in front i was trying to get it stopped, not for me but for all the newcomers that were out there, in those conditions i am surprised it did not end in tears!!
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Post by JamesHerriot on May 13, 2003 17:07:29 GMT
Alan you`re right, what a pathetic situation , you leading the race, driving past the pit wall hands off the wheel waving at them to stop the race and you were the one out in front with no spray to contend with, while we were outside race control shouting at them to stop it Nick Clark could actually be seen standing up there laughing at us, with hindsight i wish you guys had unstrapped on the grid and got out the cars, like you say the man has never even raced a car !
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Post by davefiddes on May 13, 2003 19:38:44 GMT
Sounds like Derek Butcher made a pretty brave decision. Maybe the powers that be will pay attention to his example...
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Post by Catriona on May 14, 2003 0:26:23 GMT
I am glad that we have this forum to let everyone here about things that go in other classes, Most people would only of heard us getting called up but dont know the reasons behind in. Yeah, I heard about the red flag on the radio a couple of times, but without James' post on Saturday night, I'd never have known exactly what had been going on there... it's fantastic to get so much of an inside view on things through this forum, with so many people around who are involved in the racing  Sounds to me like it's time to make it compulsory for officials to spend some time racing... the powers that be keep trying to encourage drivers to do a bit of marshalling to learn about things on the other side, so surely it'd be even more useful for the guys in charge to have some clue of what it's like for the drivers? All credit to Derek Butcher for making a stand... lets hope the SMRC take the hint that the owner of the circuit maybe might just have some kind of an idea of what's safe there and what isn't...  Dunno it'd be a wise idea for them to upset him too much, either... I don't know if he's got any standing in the SMRC itself, but the fact that he owns the only circuit they could race on must mean he's got some pretty considerable influence with them - lets hope he does, anyway, as the FFords seem to be getting a pretty raw deal right now. |
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Post by JamesHerriot on May 14, 2003 0:42:21 GMT
GR, you have a point about the forum being great for all of us to share what info we have, the drivers could take it even further and form some sort of union (for lack of a better word) so they can stand up to the biggoted attitude of the JOBSWORTHS in the SMRC, after all without drivers there is no motor racing !
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Post by NS-R on May 14, 2003 7:43:07 GMT
Problem is, if you want something done about it, you need to make a complaint at race control on the day and involve the MSA. I was at race control after the XR2 race on April 27th (see seperate thread for details) as that was another incident that put a driver in serious danger. I got an apology from Mike How but whether anything is done about it is yet to be seen... Regarding the white line deal, Iain Cowie was up in front of Nick Clark last year and he explained that even in a Caterham you cannot see the lines through the chicane. Iain was excluded and it nearly cost him the championship... Nick www.ns-r.co.uk |
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Post by akirkaldy on May 15, 2003 20:48:19 GMT
Nice write up in Autosport folks, nice picture for my sponsors too. |
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Post by Mike Hogg on May 16, 2003 0:24:31 GMT
Yup, in depth section for the club racers which was a nice surprise...!
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Post by Catriona on May 16, 2003 10:05:35 GMT
Very nice - I was just expecting the usual small column for everything Scottish, so great to see some proper reports there :up:
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