Feedback on the new carpet

[jnrtin]

We ran the new GT primafelt for the first time last night and I wondered what you all thought about it. I found there to be alot more grip giving problems with oversteer. It would be interesting to see how the different compounds of tyre and insert work on the new carpet and what you all find works best.

See u all at club
Joe D.

[RJAYS]

joe

early days yet, car set up needs changing
loads of grip, should be good racing

rj
chippenham model car club

[gaz_d]

Agree totally, early days, plenty of grip already.

Played with shell set up to free car up through the corners. Still set up for outdoors but wasn't too shabby.

Can only see things getting quicker, Thrashnalls on the bigger track :eek:
could be real interesting ;)

I think we need to sort track markings now, too many cars jumping over the guttering.....self included :o Maybe 63mm square downpipe along the straights and the higher speed sections. What do you think?

Gaz

[Andy M]

Gary,

The markings issue was raised at the Thrashnal meeting a few weeks back and similar concerns were discussed.

We had talked about getting new markings but obviously replacing it all costs and would the existing markings work with the square stuff?

My suggestion was to do what we did with the 12th racing and bolt an inverted bit of gutting on top of the "danger" areas. What do you think?

Andy

[jrc2005]

Just thought I'd comment on the track markings. We used to run the square downpipes you mention but we found problems with it:

1. Very unforgiving - especially for less experienced drivers, we used to have a lot of car breakages because their was no 'give' in the track if (when! :rolleyes: ) you hit it.

2. New drivers tend to just use them as guard rails, bouncing off them and guiding them along the track thus never improving their driving.

3. They take up a lot of storage space as they don't stack like normal guttering does.

4. Very difficult to mix downpipes with normal guttering - you could use the downpipes around the perimeter in isolation?

We're now using the same guttering as you do, and to be honest, it is the best solution. Looking forward to the thrashnals, should be good fun on the new carpet.

My 2 pence!

JC
WWMCC

[mcFabbers]

Thanks for the comments about the new carpet - appears to be liked by all and everyone is keen to get to grips (literally) with it.

Regarding track markings then as Andy Malone says we have the option to place an inverted piece of guttering at appropriate places. We will certainly aim to do this at the Thrashnal and hopefully give it a go at club nights, it worked well at the 1/12th meeting.

Stephen

[gaz_d]

Agree Steve the upturned markers definately stopped cars jumping over onto the straight at the 12th nat. There does appear to be a worrying trend for the drivers in the lower heats to jump the track instead of waiting to be marshalled. We could look into plastic strips like what we used at the 12th event, strategically placed, they present a larger flatter surface without the loss of flexibility which square downpipe has.
I know for club nights this could prove troublesome with the amount of track setup time limited. However we could easily have pre-prepared sections within the trailer now we have the room.
Might be a point for discussion on Tuesday

Gary

[JonboyGB]

There does appear to be a worrying trend for the drivers in the lower heats to jump the track instead of waiting to be marshalled.

All good points mentioned above. On Garys quote - while a solution is sorted with regards special barriers etc, why not just have a quick drivers briefing before the racing starts. The same kind of talk at the starts of the nationals. Nothing to heavy, just reminders about etiquette, letting a faster car through, if you crash and need to be marshalled then WAIT to be marshalled etc.

Only a thought like!

ps. loving the new carpet. can’t believe how much grip is there with slicks!

See you all tonight.

[mcFabbers]

Thanks for the various comments.

Tonight we had problems with the tape, this is probably primarily due to a low hanging bumper which is acting as a a magnet for the taped and even the welded joins!. We will be aiming to check the underside of cars for screws and other obstacles! To this end there will be checks in relation to 5mm ride height clearance.

With regard to the tape then because the carpet is considerably lighter than the previous red carpet it tends to move more easily and actually fold up at the joins. Hence we need to probably tape it down along the edges.

We will also try some Fibre galss tape to see if it sticks any better - worth a try.

Regarding drivers briefing then time is usually against us, but we will aim to produce some form of handout covering the various points and talk to drivers just to make sure everything is understood.

Keep the comments coming - it is good to have this type of dialogue.

[Andy M]

Hi,

I'm not sure about the top sweeper problem we had, I think this may have been a low bumper as you said. However I was watching Heat 6 in the final round through that middle section where the tape kept getting pulled up and it wasn't low ride heights that were doing it from what I could see.

It seemed more that the massive amounts of grip generated by the carpet were making the tyres reluctant to slide at all, when the car apexed (putting the largest load on the side of the tyre) the car was sliding but very very slightly, it looked like this scrubbing was so slight that the tyres weren't skipping over the tape but rather pulling up the sides even though it was stuck down.

I'm not sure how to correct this? Perhaps different tape? Or maybe try no additive for a week? I for one found my car grip rolling in the later rounds of the night due to the amount of additive that had gone down. I'm going to try some CS27's next week as the 22's I was using this week very very very grippy (a little too much).

Andy

[gaz_d]

I think education is a way forward. There is no doubt certain cars were running either low or had some part hanging down. I did notice the bodyshells of cars rubbing due to excessive bodyroll too. I think we could/should look into a quick run through covering some of the bullet points when we send out the handouts so that inevitable questions can be answered and all the drivers made aware of their reponsibilities.
The tape in the middle hairpin was coming up due to weight transfer on the cars.....we had the bump under the carpet just before the turning/braking point for the corner. We will have to make sure for next week that the corner marker is alinged over the offending area...as per the track plan as it happens.
I can take some of the responsibility for that last night having put the track out. Slapped wrist and will try harder for next week.

Overall, we have had 2 weeks of good close racing. With education and restraint, there is no reason why all races cannot become good clean battles, with enjoyment being the aim of the game. I watched some of the heats where drivers battled hard for 5 minutes without contact. They looked to be really enjoying it too, proving it can be done!

[Andy M]

Gary,

I agree, from what I saw the racing was much cleaner than before on the red carpet. Perhaps its just coincidence? Or perhaps due to there being more grip people are not sliding out of control into other cars as the go past?

I know that a couple of times in my race the added agility of the car meant I could avoid situations quickly without losing control of my own car and just dart around the incident instead of slamming into it.

I didn't see the top heat race but it must have been pretty close looking at the times.

Andy

[gaz_d]

Top heat was hard work, but I did watch quite a few races last night to gauge how things were going across the board. We have a broad spectrum of drivers and equipment and anything we can do to increase enjoyment should be pursued forthwith.
Track markings are still a theme and some work is still required in this direction ...I believe.
Still from what I have seen of the last 2 weeks.....roll on the Thrashnalls!!!!

[JonboyGB]

.....roll on the Thrashnalls!!!!

Hell yeah! Really looking forward to this series. :D