MT Buller wrap

[e72phil]

Yeah Darren, I was wondering about that car as I saw it in your gallery of pics. Glad he knows about us. Will be a nice car to have in the club. maybe he's a country dweller outside the city ??

[alexwebster]

nice pics Darren!!! Any chance you can send it via email to me alex@cbhl.com.au with anymore that you may have taken of us.
Cheers!

[TonyC]

Wow sounds like a great event. You can write your car AND yourself off at the same time. What sort of driving qualifications do you need to enter? Any?

This thread reminds me of one late last year when you southern lads were talking about a morning drive and it all getting a bit close to the wire. My counsel is caution - bad things can happen quickly despite best of intentions, and how would we all feel if this happened to one of us on a club outing? Its a family oriented club...isn't it?

Which comes back to another thread on driver training days in controlled conditions. Sounds like a very good idea to me as I suppose we all want to pilot these cars like they are supposed to be driven, but (me at least) dont have the experience.

My 2% of a $ worth

tonyc

[alexwebster]

tyres

Hey everyone,
thought that you may like to see what condition the tyres and car was left in after the Buller Sprint. The only thing I have done so far is take the stickers off, the car is still on the trailer, and it gives a good idea of what happened up there!!!!
Hope you enjoy, I am sure that there will be some comments after this!

[reedminor]

Gents,

Had a good chat with Dean Herridge today ... he was in the office...

When I get a few moments will post his impressions in the off-topic section... given he was driving a Subaru!

Justin R

[OBRUT]

" You can write your car AND yourself off at the same time. What sort of driving qualifications do you need to enter? Any? "

tony

yes, you do need driving qualifications - either a CAMS observed licence test or a successful attendance at a racing driving school. the requirements are quite high.

i also understand that the two guys in the GT3 are experienced motorsport competitors.

that said, accidents do happen. i've done 9 tarmac rallies with total accident damage one cracked front spoiler. do i drive too cautiously in these events - who knows? i don't think so. everyone has their own perception of risk. i can not think of any driving experience that i enjoy more than tarmac rallying. its certainly more risky/dangerous than circuit racing (which i also do) but, for me, more enjoyable/thrilling.

i don't think it fair to criticise the event because an accident occurred. if the conditions are bad then its up to the driver to adjust their driving. lisa relayed mark clair's comments - on his last run he noticed poor grip on the first two corners so he backed off.

[TonyC]

ryan

Previous posts suggested that the conditions on the day were very poor for racing. At what point do organisers have a responsibility to say...hey, things are sketchy here...

Or as you suggest, is it just up to competitors to assess that the tarmac condition is unsafe, not the organisers? That said I suppose I shouldn't comment as I have no experience, but when I watch F1 on tele I dont see the cars taking half the track with them on their tyres every lap - seems to me its usually the other way round.

Any case the thrust of my post was really meant to be about our club drives and their reasonably safeconduct. Sorry if offence caused.

tonyc

[OBRUT]

tony

thanks for the reply. i didn't mean to jump down your throat but i admit an accident of this seriousness leaves a few of us a bit touchy...

you also raised an interesting point wrt conditions. in circuit racing, organisers will usually stop competition to eg. clear oil or debris, assess track damage etc

however this usually does not happen in rallies - the conditions are a big part of the event. at best, you will get a notice at stage control (eg. oil on road at 2.3km or car off etc) if someone who has already gone through the stage makes a report. in my experience, it takes a completely blocked road to cancel a stage

as to club drives - i think a lot of people would actually drive a bit slower after they have had some driver training as they may well realise that they're currently running a bit closer to the limit than they think...

ps. you should bring one of your cars out to the track - i'll volunteer to instruct!

[TonyC]

Done - where and when!

tony