Just recieved a well written and measured reply from Phil (I guess we all know its him now - lol).
There were obviously other issues going on with the day that were not apparent....
I'll post my question and the reply exactly as they were written:
"Hello Phil,
I wanted to make some comments about the TD at Cadwell last Wednesday, I was in the inters group.
Firstly, I'm sad to say that its the first time I have ever felt unsafe on a trackday - I think this is much more a reflection on some of the riders in the inters group than of the organisation on the day.
I'm sure you remember having to call the inters group in and rightly having a word with everyone over riding standards - I myself was shocked to be overtaken more than once by someone going 30 - 40 mph faster than me but overtaking me only 6 inches away at the end of the start/finish straight!!!
However the general lack of respect and lack of attention for flags was disturbing as well, more than once I was surprised to a lady rider cutting in front of riders into the chicane and then later - various riders overtaking while a yellow flag was waved.
Two specific questions I would like to raise:
1) The briefing being held in the holding area - in my opinion lead to too many distractions, I certainly found it difficult to concentrate on the briefing. Was there a reason for not holding the briefing in the club house?
2) This was the first TD I've been to where all riders in a group were sent out in one big group. I cant help but think the problems of the day could of been lessened by perhaps sending batches of 10 riders out 20 or 30 seconds apart or even spliting the group in half.
I hope you take these comments in the constructive sense that I have tried write them.
Regards - Frank L. Smith"
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Frank
Many thanks for your comments and I will try to address them.
It seems that all three groups had riders ignoring the flags. I myself asked for feedback from the circuit and sadly I'm still waiting for it. I pointed out to the Duty Manager that according to their contract, they are in charge of the activities on the circuit once the bikes leave the holding area and that if I'm informed of a particular riders behaviour, I can address the situation. It seems it is too much bother for the marshals to report back to Circuit Control or for Circuit Control to liaise with me so that the day can run safer.
I take on board your comments about the briefing. I had a walk into the club house and found that by 8.15 it was already very warm, we also had 105 riders attend the event. The combination of heat & bodies, I feel would have lead to a lack of concentration and possibly more incidents, however, with the track being cleaned and non-riders creating noise, I have decided that regardless of the items above, I will be holding the brief in the club house from now on.
With reference the group being sent out in one line or a staggered start. If you run a staggered start with 35 riders, the danger is that you still have bunching in the tight areas, but also, it only takes a slight delay and you end up with some riders on their out-lap and others on their 2nd lap. When this happened on another organisers event, they had a major injury.
All in all, it wasn't a good day from our point of view. From what we saw, the riding was selfish, the flags were ignored and some people think they are racing. For Greg to say something in public meant that he thought his safety was going to be compromised and he was glad when the event came to an end.
We will always try to run a safe day, however we do need the help of the circuit staff and feedback from our customers.
I will print this email off and show it to the circuit management when we go back in October.
My final comment is that next year our events list will be greatly reduced as we have decided to avoid those circuits that don't give us feedback. I expect to run about 30 events at Anglesey, Croft & Mallory, with all of the MSV circuits & Donington not being considered till I feel they are prepared to give me the feedback I ask for.
Kind Regards
Phil Darbyshire
www.tracktimepromotions.co.uk