SUMMER 2009 ELECTRIC BUGGY RACE CALENDER/SEASON

[Wacker1]

I'm really pleased that the Hinckley Club has managed to get one of the 2WD Buggy Rounds for the West Midlands Off-Road Championships this year. I think that this will encourage Racers from other Clubs to attend our Weekly Club Off-Road Meetings every Saturday through the Summer.......so it should end up being very successful!

I'm already looking forward to Hinckleys Clubs first Off-Road Club Meeting on SATURDAY 2ND MAY 2009

I had an Email from Tom Yardy recently(our West Midlands Regional Rep), with the 2009 Race Calender, if anyones intrested.

HERE ARE THE RACE DATES FOR 2WD :

SUNDAY 3RD MAY 2009 - Kidderminster - ROUND 1
SUNDAY 24TH MAY 2009 - Hinckley - ROUND 2
SUNDAY 7TH JUNE 2009 - Ledbury - ROUND 3
SUNDAY 28TH JUNE 2009 - Oswestry - ROUND 4
SUNDAY 26TH JULY 2009 - Coventry - ROUND 5

[Gazza]

on SATURDAY 30TH April 2009

What calender you got Dean ? thats a Thursday

[Wacker1]

I've recently found out the West Midlands Off-Road Regional Dates for the 4WD Electric Buggies as well, if anyones intrested, here they are :

4WD

SUNDAY 19TH APRIL 2009 - Coventry - ROUND 1
SUNDAY 17TH MAY 2009 - Ledbury - ROUND 2
SUNDAY 14TH JUNE 2009 - Kidderminster - ROUND 3
SUNDAY 5TH JULY - 2009 - Stoke - ROUND 4
SUNDAY 23RD AUGUST 2009 - Oswestry - ROUND 5


There will also be another STONELEIGH SHOW(formally The Town & Country Festival) being held on Stoneleigh Park in Coventry this Year, which the Coventry Club is planning to do a 3 Day Off-Road Buggy Event there again. This will be on the August Bank Holiday Weekend :
SATURDAY 29TH AUGUST
SUNDAY 30TH AUGUST
MONDAY 31ST AUGUST

I think that after only a few weeks of the Hinckley Clubs Saturday Summer Buggy Meetings, many will want to enter this 3 Day Event that Coventry are holding, which will help promote our Club & its Racers, as a Premier Outdoor Off-Road Venue, as well as already being a very successful, highly respected Indoor Club.

[Dale]

Hi Dean,

As the summer season is nearly upon us again I wanted to call on all active buggy drivers to start thinking of ways in which we can improve on the offering this year.

We are of course working on the rostrum and have new ramps (which may need some work). I had considered having a bridge made for the loop (Dunlop style). Any offers of making this?

I think we were running short of pegs, so I will look to get somemore for this year.

If anyone has any good ideas, please PM me or drop a line on the forum for discussion.

Regards

Dale

[The mad1]

as i have never really been to the meets i am not to sure what you have already but i do have alot of time on my hands now i am at home looking after my wife so i will be willing to help out if i can
do have any table top jumps? or anything like that
do you race 1/10th trucks by the way ?

[Dale]

Hi,

Not really been into trucks, but might be able to accomodate subject to being electric of course.

We have a table top and we are looking to modify it a bit as well. I am going to speak to the college and see if we can get a digger down to make some grass jumps also.

Regards

Dale

[dogpinkscot]

hi dale

whats the word on a permanent rostrum is the school still not happy with the idea of a permanent fixture .I still have those aluminium scalold poles which we can use all we need is some planks to stand on

cant wait to buggy this year ...as last year was such a blast

there is an astro turf round at the coventry club this sunday for anyone who's interested in racing or even seeing what good fun buggy racing can be

ps im looking for a good set of losi xxx shocks if any one is selling a set

[Wacker1]

Hi Dale,

I think that we had a really good first Buggy Season last year, considering it was only organised a couple of weeks before we actually did it.
Having the new Ramps & Table Top towards the end of last Summer also improved things.......eventhough we need to make some Modifications to them.i.e. Strengthening & Increasing the Length of the Upslope & Downslope. We could also do with a couple more Ramps being made, possibly some kind of Rumble Strip as well, specially as we're holding the Second Round of the 2WD West Midlands Regionals........we want it to be at its best, to make Racers want to come back, for possibly another Regional next year
With the new Rostrum for this Summer, that will make it alot better for Racers anyway, as for your idea of having a 'Dunlop' Style Bridge over the Track, incorporating our Lap Counting Loop, I think that'll be great!........I know that Don Valley in Sheffield have used this idea for quite some time & works fantastically. This will not only make our Off-Road Track more Proffessional looking, but it will stop the Loop Cable from being damaged, as it wont need to be removed each time the Track is built/Packed away, due to it being permanently fixed inside the Bridge.

If Chris Child has'nt got the time to build or modify the Ramps/Extra Track Markings, then I have a very good Carpenter mate called Daz, that would be intrested in building them for the Club, at a reasonable Price. He could probably get them done within a couple of weeks, if given the go-ahead

Heres a couple of Photos from a few of the Tracks we had Last Year........incase any of you missed it :

[warr2]

Can't see the school being particularaly in favour of us digging up the area we race on to make jumps as they use it for various sporting activites, but would be nice to have some "natural" features in the track.

With regards to the bridge. We have used that sort of arrangement in the past. - We took 2 large cones, put a metal stake through the middle and secured the wire with gaffa tape.

Works well if done properly but there are a few potential pitfalls,

1) it 'is very easy to block the view of the track - particularly if using a solid bridge design.

2) The loop isn't as sensitive as it is further away from the transponders. - You have to set it high enough to clear the longest aerial on any of the cars present. - Humidity will also affect signal more.

3) you now have a solid object just off the racing line where you are quite likely to hit it at full throttle.

Permanently fixing the loop to a jump or a bit of matting is a pretty good way of doing things.

We had rumble strips in the past and to be honest they were more trouble than they were worth, fell apart quickly and just made things a bit of a lottery. - The solution was to fibreglass them.
This then destroyed all traction, and when it got wet they behaved like fibreglass pond liners. - No one liked them.

All in favour of lots of jumps, but can we look at covering at least the larger ones in something?
A bit of carpet or astroturf or grit / roofing felt on makes them a lot more driveable when wet.

We also use to have some rubber mats which we put over the edges of the jumps. They never sit quite flat, so this reduces issues with the edges sticking up.

If we could cut some steps in the bank / put some slabs down, it would also be good. - I know I wasn't the only one who fell down the bank last year.

Is there a working party planned before the outdoor season starts?

[Dale]

Hi David and All,

Some good points Mr Warr and they have been taken on board.

I like the idea of a Dunlop bridge and agree it may have issues etc, but sure we can work through them. No more ramps planned at moment, but would consider carpet on them for more grip. Dean also talked about having track going up sides of table top to stop sideways departures!

The rostrum plans have been submitted and the college seemed fine with them. The only questions were if a rail would be needed. The designs also included steps down the bank. The rostrum could be covered by our 20ft gazeedo in bad weather, so really we are making good progress.

Thanks for the offer Justin. We may well use the scaffolding, so keep us in mind.

I might consider looking at a rumble strip idea again. I agree it would need to be well made to keep in one piece. I thought about some tubing sandwiched between two bits of carpets. Can anyone make this???

We had looked at a sit down lawn mower, but to be honest they are a lot of money and I do not feel we can justify it at the moment. Maybe if the numbers look strong day one I might re-consider it.

Regards

Dale

[dogpinkscot]

hi dale we could trial build the rostrum to get it right even if we only use it for the regional it would be better than standing on a grass bank ive got the transport for the poles ? i would expect with the amount of poles ive got we could build a 12 person stand with a safety rail nothing too complicated

[The mad1]

Hi,

Not really been into trucks, but might be able to accomodate subject to being electric of course.

We have a table top and we are looking to modify it a bit as well. I am going to speak to the college and see if we can get a digger down to make some grass jumps also.

Regards

Dale

cool well me and brandon have both got elec trucks although i will be trying to find a couple of cheap buggy's but if i cant it would be great if you could make space for us

[stox217]

there's a mardave buggy i keep forgeting what it called tho there on ebay all the time

[The mad1]

ah the cobras they have been around since i gave up the first time i think lol i really like the look of the b4 tbh

[stox217]

yer thats what i mean! im not planning on getting a buggy unless one come's up for a very good price