+1 to that .. didn't know you could enter on the day

So far this year, my experience of Hottrax is they give us as much slack as anyone else. Sure we get the novice group on test days, but that's because a few moaned about being with the axe murders (rightly for a couple as they were punted off!!) so who else can they put us with?

I'm sure it's always been in their gift to pull races for poor conditions, maybe they just don't appreciate the difference between our tyres and wets. From what I hear, it was only the sat race at Anglesey that was the issue, and we had Snetterton last year, so possibly he answer is to help them understand the line between saf and not. And if he decision is made agree we won't chuck dummies

ouch!
 

Hi chaps,

I have to say I've always liked the Dunlops in wet or dry, and I've always considered myself a pretty good wet weather rider and always enjoyed the challenge of 'weather'.

with regard to my accident,,, did I take the standing/running water too fast?,,,,, Maybe,,,, if I'd have backed off a bit more maybe it wouldn't have happened,, I don't think I did anything particularly wrong, I didn't do anything I hadn't done on every other lap,,, I did feel that I was catching Andy 'Lightning' Challis and was obviously pushing to catch up, not wanting him to get even further ahead in the championship.

Basically,,, My fault,,, an error in judgement,

I'd not had any problems at all up to that moment, and it was just a small slide in exactly the wrong second.

with Hind sight ,,,, If the race was cancelled I wouldn't have been happy, But, Not hurt now.

I thought I could win that race and would have said "yep lets race" if I was asked before hand.

I dunno what the answer to all these questions is,,, sorry chaps.

Matt.

The rain is a lot worse here at Oulton than our last race the wind is forecast to get up too. Hopefully the lessons from anglesey have been hoisted on board. I love the wet but not sure if this race weekend will be on :( - for any riders, wets or no wets.

Yeh, for an extra £20 'admin' fee and providing there is space on the grid.
Worth it IMHO.

I might change my mind now, maybe wets is a good idea!!??!!

Yes - I'm having second thoughts on that particular subject too!

I have raced with most if not all of you in the past 3 years and like many people moaned when it was wet. However, all of my DD crashes (6 of them) as I said earlier where in the dry. I agree with the fact that whatever tyre is available you have to find it's limit wet/dry whatever.
I think a big part of the problem is the test days being mixed with people on faster bikes and using wets. Now given the income DD generates for Hottrax I would have thought some pressure/leverage could be applied to allocate DD it's own test day sessions?
Another thing to consider is that the weather is not just wet or dry. So making the tyre call 15 minutes before you race isn't excactly enjoyable. At Oulton on Saturday I made 6 wheel changes and 2 tyres changes and still got it wrong for MG qualy and MG race one so had to miss race one and start at the back of the grid for race 2. Then in Supercup race one started as a full wet race dried out almost straight away leading to a completley destroyed rear tyre (which costs more than a pair of DD Dunlops).
I assure a cooked wet rear in the dry is worse than using a slick in the wet.
So given the fact I had all the kit it still comes down to making the right or wrong decision sometimes at the last minute.

Not an issue for DD at the mo. :)

wets = stress!
 

I remember back to when I had my 999, I did a track day at Mallory Park, I missed the first session because it was wet and I had Slicks on,,, then I did 1 lap of session 2 in the dry with wets on, then it was lovely and sunny so I put my slicks back on, and you guessed it in the queue at the pit lane it rained so the wets went back on and it dried up at lunch time so I did 1 more lap in the dry with wets on, the whole day went like that and I was really miserable by the time I went home having travelled 3 hours each way spent £100 on the track day taken time off work and did about 6 laps on the wrong tyres and changing wheels all day long.

At the other end of the scale the 'team' in the tent next to me were able to change both wheels in about 3 mins and didn't miss a session all day.

What if the club decided when it was ok to use them?

I mean like call a wet race .. but only when it's really wet.

If the original suggestion was to call races if the conditions are too bad for the dunlops .. why not just make the call for all riders to change to wets.

half an hour before the race start if it's chucking down on a cold day with little or no chance of drying out .. quick text / tannoy announcement

Would save all the hassle of should I or shouldn't I

Decision would depend on a lot of factors other than just the rain of course

On the friday it was chucking it down and the track was drying in about 20 mins .. no need for wets

but on the sat the temp had dropped, the drizzle was constant and the wind was cold .. race 2 was always going to be wet.

The track plays a part too .. Anglesey is suprisingly grippy in the wet .. Oulton is a nightmare around druids and Brittens and not that great elsewhere

Oulton subtantiated my original opinion that the majority of riders appear to be circulating hoping not to fall off rather than racing

I was definitely racing and not circulating at Oulton in race 2. It may not be knee down chuck it on its side stuff but its still racing.

Having the choice is part of which tyres is part of the fun / tactics so restrictions of "it’s a wet race so you all have to put wets on" isn’t really the answer. Wet front dry rear etc. I think this thread is getting way too long and nothing can be changed before the end of the season so maybe we should just leave it well alone. Its aint broke, don’t fix it.

Tactics, arn't they supposed to give you fresh breath. :D

No offence but that may be your opinion .. it's not mine

And that's what forums are for aint they??

well said that man totaly agree

I think after Oulton I should have a pair of knobblies to put on, I might stand a chance of staying upright when on the grass:o

Think youre thinking of Tic Tacs Phil, dementia is a pain at times!

The tactics of DD are simple, if it's wet:- do you race or not, if you race then how hard do you push? If you don't then do you have a brew or a beer?

These were the rules when we all signed up so why do we have this conversation every year?

I know let's have wets, hang on, why not have a wet bike and a dry bike. That would save the wheel swapping issue!

Another brain wave has just hit me, let's use 1098s with traction control instead? That would make cornering in the wet safer wouldn't it?

While we're at it lets make it compulsary to have a 90ft Winnebago so we don't have cosy sleep problems either?

This only leaves 1 snag, how do justify calling it budget racing?

DD is probably the quirkiest series out there because of its rules and the great people who take part in it, I've had 3yrs of brilliant fun and wouldn't want it to change at all.

HERE HERE!! :)

Ditto

Well said that man :D

Thank you lord, some sense!!! That's the end of this thread then.

:lol: it's never the simple Simon....

that's the sspirit
 

x3!!

Incase you where wondering?

In prep for DSC trackday tomoz I timed myself changing the wheels on Toni's monster.
Tools and stands laid out ready and not rushing it took me 8m and 2s, is that about the length of the 3 tanoy calls ;)

Is that single or twin disc front end Neil

NGRRCs Final round of 2010 at Silverstone the Open class lined up on the grid when the heavens opened and the Race was then declared wet. The riders were given 10 minutes to change their tyres and return to the grid, this included getting back to the pits with the bikes on slicks and the track wets.
If it took 8 minutes to change the wheels that would leave 1 minutes to get off the grid and return to the pits and another minute to get back to the grid from the pits.
Only half the grid made it, our tyre change took around 4 minutes so it wasn't a problem as we had one person doing the front wheel (Me) and another person doing the rear, could have been a bit quicker if it was single disc, but I wouldn't recommend that setup on a Ex Jentin Racing R1

I like Scott's take on it so +1 more to that

done it countless times (at least 6 lol) racing at anglesey

got used to changing the wheels .. 10 mins to change both no problem (with my pit crew consisting of me, me and me)

always saw it as part of the fun.

and it beats wobbling round like a girl (no offence meant to girls who can believe it or not sometimes be able to ride bikes very fast)

Been on holiday for the last few weeks,missed all the banter, and wont be at Cadwell due to other reasons>

But I agree with this after experiance, I live in Scotland FFS!!!!

Racing in Scotland means needing to ride in the rain, but the stress of deciding if wet enough, getting wheels changed, sitting on the grid and thinking did I tighten that bolt/nut!!!!! It stopped race weekends being enjoyable for me. You change to wets, you then need to think about suspension set up, and you need to know how quick to push it on wetss

I travel to DD meetings because it is enjoyable, there are great people, regulations are controlled and monitored, and racing is fun because it is a simple as it gets.

And yes I do enjoy riding on wets.

SGD

See you at Donnington then Steve.