worst weekend this year?
 

oh bollox, what a weekend!

should have set my bike up for the wet...

I didn't really see the point in going out on Friday in the wet, Sat & Sun were going to be dry weren't they? and I have spent the last 8 weeks perfecting my bike for the perfect dry lap of Brands which as it turns out is bloody awful in the wet.

having just had the conversation with my son about qualifying meaning very little, having won races that I qualified badly for and not won races for which I was on pole by a long way. I wobbled round in the Qualifying at a very slow comfortable pace on a drying track with a full dry set-up, but apparently so did everyone else. I was surprised to be in 6th on the grid, only .9 behind pole.

Race 1 was a complete disaster, the organizers for reasons only known to them called us 20 minutes early BECAUSE IT RAINED! apparently the only bikes that don't use wets are the ones that should be moved into the wet spots. Being all the way down in the bottom paddock we only just had time to jump on our bikes and 'race' up through the paddock, to arrive just in time for the warm up lap. The race was a joke for me, and I promised myself that I wouldn't race in those conditions again.

Race 2 was even more of a disaster, for the same reasons as race 1, they called us 20 minutes early again BECAUSE IT RAINED again with no time to adjust anything again. I missed that race because I felt it was impossible to be ready in time.

I was so cross and upset, I understand the the weather is out of control, but to be called 20 minutes early because of the rain is unacceptable, and for me, unsafe.

Race 3 was obviously going to be wet so about 20 minutes before the race I lowered the rear ride height a bit, adjusted my tyre pressures, softened the dampening a little and ate a banana :) , I had a good safe race and came 2nd what a difference 20 minutes makes.

Then I dropped a motorcycle on my foot and ended up in the med-centre........

If only you had a BANANA before race 1 & 2 things may have being different
a second place in those conditions is a credit to you.

The calling races early was a total joke, why declare it a wet meeting and still allow people on the wrong tyres to change???
I feel really sorry for Chris Clarke's mate who was the only one to go to the grid with wets on, only for everyone else to be allowed to change. He would of surely won! If that were me they would've had to give me a winners pot just to shut me up.

Mmmm, think I may ask you to return the Avatar;)

Chris:burn:

AND... I'm gonna have to put up with Matt Larrett now he's beaten me at my home track.

I used to be conceited but now I'm AWESOME:))

Great summary and some very valid points, the type that the RC need to discuss with Hottrax

I have heard mention that either the meeting was declared a wet meeting or individual races were declared wet races, Trudi might be able to clarify this for me. Not sure if this was put out over the tannoy which was hard to hear in the garage we were in, normally I'm use to seeing a sign at the entrance to the collecting area if its to be a WET RACE (well that's how New Era and NGRRC did it)

The first time it happened on Saturday, 1st and 2nd on the grid had wet fronts on, I bet they were gutted after it was pulled off the grid. Generally I think the organisation is getting worse, how did we end up with a mix of groups out in warm up on Sunday, basically the girl in the collecting area was just taking tickets off people regardless of colour then letting them out.

I think the issue is, that races who use slicks & wets need time to change wheels. But races like ours who don't use wets also need time to make changes for wet weather. probably more so 'because' we don't have wets and therefore less grip.

if a 'slick-tyre' race should be given 10 mins to change wheels then so should we.

I think the idea of declaring a race wet when it is not, just so they don't have to stop it when it rains is wrong, if a race starts in the dry then it is a dry race. whats the problem?

I'm not asking that our races are stopped if it rains mid race, but a 10 minute delay if it starts to rain like other series would be nice, and not to be called early because of the rain is an obvious safety issue.

Is ten minutes long enough to get bikes off the grid back to the outer paddock, change the wheels and settings and then get back to the collecting area.
its barely enough time if your in the garages unless you have a pit crew ready and waiting.
If they were dry races then why did people turn up on the grid with wets, seems a odd thing to do.
Conversely if they were wet races why turn up on slicks and then why do the organisers treat it as though it was a wet race
Hence my question in the earlier post seeking clarification of the status of various races.

Calling us that long before our allotted race/time slot is wrong especially without informing us in advance that it could be a possibility.