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Originally Posted by Ghost Racing in the wet is ok, but its the amount of standing water. If rain is too bad in F1 & Motogp the start is delayed. Those conditions for the last race in my opinion warranted an official to intervene and say lets give it a period of time to ease. |
Standing water can be a problem, but whenever I have encountered it in a race I have backed off (Snett in 2011 for example). A Hottrax decision about how much is too much standing water is the only way forward. I think they have to make this call on their own.
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Originally Posted by milesaway With the tyres we run that may not be that much, but they seem fairly predictable and the speed we can reach is considerably less. Therefore when we find that limit we will be going much slower, have more chance of catching it and hopefully hurt less if we loose it. |
This was exactly my point when this was discussed last year. Less grip = less speed = more time to react = better to build the skills to learn to ride in the wet (plus, any accident is at a much lower speed). Depending on how much standing water Matt hit, it could still have happened on wets, but his injuries could have been even worse
Dave, back on the original point, I don't think riders reps would help. I would certainly have volunteered myself, and I can't think of many conditions (other than snow and ice) that I wouldn't go and race in. In my eyes it was always an opportunity to level the field to my slower bike.
As for the "only another set of wheels/tyres" comments: I raced from an estate car with a trailer (it was the cheapest option for me, and if I had had to buy a van I may not have raced). Anyway, my point being that I already took bike, tools, Gazeebo, spares (including a set of wheels/tyres so I could practice on an old set and put new ones on for qually/race), food, riding gear, fuel and other bits and pieces. I (by that I mean my suspension and space!) simply couldn't have coped with "just another" set of wheels/tyres..... as it was, I didn't take spare fairings because of space.
As a novice I struggled enough with learning how my bike behaved, and with the rules as they are I could just go out in the wet and expect the same, but less... it is simple as it should be. We are all capable of getting our bikes around a race distance in one piece (wet or dry), it just comes down to how comfortable you are to push. Generally people are less comfortable in the wet, so they push less, and there are generally about the same number of finishers wet or dry. It is a choice to go out, and it is a choice to push. I don't think we can blame Hottrax for how much we want to push. However, I personally don't think Hottrax should allow you out if there is a lot of standing water, because this is particularly difficult to deal with.
In short - No wets, but maybe raise the issue with standing water with hottrax.