Your ideas please

[Drew]

Joey D won his last TT at the age of 48, I still have 2 years to go woo hoo

How old was Mike "the bike" when he went back to the Isle? He was older than almost any two other riders I heard, but shit does get a bit exaggerated second hand.

[wharfy]

How old was Mike "the bike" when he went back to the Isle? He was older than almost any two other riders I heard, but shit does get a bit exaggerated second hand.

From the official Mike Hailwood website...
...his motor racing career ended abruptly in 1974 when he crashed his McLaren on Germany's daunting Nurburgring.

Disabled by his leg injuries, he retired to New Zealand, where he quickly became bored, and by 1978, at the age of 38, he was back at the Isle of Man, the scene of so many of his earlier triumphs, not only to race bikes once again, but to take on and beat the entire field. His victorious return to 'The Island' has been described as one of the most emotional moments of 20th century sport.

[slowpoke]

...... he retired to New Zealand, where he quickly became bored......

So many lines, so little time.........

[Clivoris]

Shit, nine pages is a bit of a read. Thanks for the input people and it's good to know that even if there are things you don't like about the race meetings, you still appreciate the effort we put in.
We use the long-track to add some variety to the season. If we can, we will continue to do this. Yes, it's harder and longer but I understand that some ladies prefer it like that. The concrete wall issue has been reconsidered thanks to Shaun, and in response we will be using an airfence there. The club carries the expense for this and we appreciate Shaun bringing the issue back into focus for us.
Longer races versus more shorter races has been knocked around for as long as I remember. We find ourselves trying to balance things over the season.
Race order? You probably wouldn't believe the number of requests we get from different classes to shift the race order around. We do the best we can with this. Our emphasis has to be on getting through the day's program, rather than getting tied up in knots over who is going to miss out if there is a problem. I know F1 have missed out, I also know that at different times, the non-formula classes have missed out so F1 could get a race.
We also like the idea of combining F1 and F2 for more races and just separating the points out. We will be looking at this more closely after this weekend.
I'm also really sorry for bikes that don't get to cross enter. This isn't designed as a personal insult. Just because someone else gets a break doesn't mean your missing out.
While I'm at this I should probably let those reading know that we will have someone at the track specifically to do spot scrutineering of bikes. It is unlikely that we will return to the days of every bike being scrutineered during sign-on but in the future we may try to get one or two classes through during sign-on, with spot checks during the day.
Please bear with us. There are a lot of us in new roles at the track and if we can manage to keep them on board and get some experience happening, things will get a lot smoother.

[CHOPPA]

Shit, nine pages is a bit of a read. Thanks for the input people and it's good to know that even if there are things you don't like about the race meetings, you still appreciate the effort we put in.
We use the long-track to add some variety to the season. If we can, we will continue to do this. Yes, it's harder and longer but I understand that some ladies prefer it like that. The concrete wall issue has been reconsidered thanks to Shaun, and in response we will be using an airfence there. The club carries the expense for this and we appreciate Shaun bringing the issue back into focus for us.
Longer races versus more shorter races has been knocked around for as long as I remember. We find ourselves trying to balance things over the season.
Race order? You probably wouldn't believe the number of requests we get from different classes to shift the race order around. We do the best we can with this. Our emphasis has to be on getting through the day's program, rather than getting tied up in knots over who is going to miss out if there is a problem. I know F1 have missed out, I also know that at different times, the non-formula classes have missed out so F1 could get a race.
We also like the idea of combining F1 and F2 for more races and just separating the points out. We will be looking at this more closely after this weekend.
I'm also really sorry for bikes that don't get to cross enter. This isn't designed as a personal insult. Just because someone else gets a break doesn't mean your missing out.
While I'm at this I should probably let those reading know that we will have someone at the track specifically to do spot scrutineering of bikes. It is unlikely that we will return to the days of every bike being scrutineered during sign-on but in the future we may try to get one or two classes through during sign-on, with spot checks during the day.
Please bear with us. There are a lot of us in new roles at the track and if we can manage to keep them on board and get some experience happening, things will get a lot smoother.

Sounds like some good ideas. Thanks for the air fence too that is great!

When you have a meeting could you consider rolling the race order each round, If F2 are first race then next round they are second and so on. 6 classes 6 rounds it should be a fair way.

The combined F1 and F2 makes sense!

[Str8 Jacket]

I don't envy you or any of the volunteers Clive. Vic Club put on an awesome event year after year and I think that the numbers speak for themselves. Every sport has its politics and this is no different so good on you and Dee for your responses ti this thread and your willingness to be frank and open about the situation.
It's nice to see a thread on KB that for once did not turn into a shit slinging match but actually a healthy discussion!

[lukemillar]

The combined F1 and F2 makes sense!

Only if it doesn't get oversubscribed! Would really suck to be in no man's land where you're too fast for clubbies but too slow for F1 + F2 combined. Maybe do bracket racing if the field gets too big?

[slowpoke]

The concrete wall issue has been reconsidered thanks to Shaun, and in response we will be using an airfence there. The club carries the expense for this and we appreciate Shaun bringing the issue back into focus for us.

Great intiative folks. It's not one of the crash hotspots but if/when it does turn to custard someone will owe you big time for the investment.

We also like the idea of combining F1 and F2 for more races and just separating the points out. We will be looking at this more closely after this weekend.

Brilliant! I might have to reconsider my Clubman's entry....aaah, who am I kiddin' Clubbies and me are perfect for each other.

I'm also really sorry for bikes that don't get to cross enter. This isn't designed as a personal insult. Just because someone else gets a break doesn't mean your missing out.

I know what ya mean mate, and if it wasn't the same people getting a break at every single race meeting you'd be right. But when it's the same people being short-changed at every single meeting then sorry, but they are missing out. "A break" implies a sort term stroke of luck or advantage, whereas cross entrants enjoy permanent favouritism. They should at least have to pay full entry fee for their cross entered class, to sit next to another entrant who has paid full wack while they've paid just $20 simply isn't fair.

As far as race order: draw it out of a hat/helmet on the morning. Can't be fairer than that.

Only if it doesn't get oversubscribed! Would really suck to be in no man's land where you're too fast for clubbies but too slow for F1 + F2 combined. Maybe do bracket racing if the field gets too big?

Nah, no biggie, Clubbies cutoff isn't set in stone and provided it too isn't oversubscribed I don't see the problem.

Even then if the clubman field is huge, would it be a bad thing to encourage extremely slow people to do a few more track days before racing? Is it right to let absolutely anybody who wants to race have a go with no standard set? Minimum standards, realistic for beginners, are set at other clubs I know of.

Depending on numbers an A and B grade could be the go. Might even be a good thing, giving folks who ordinarly never get to see a podium a chance to race for something shiny in B grade. Even if it's just aiming to step up to A grade or avoiding dropping to B grade or Clubbies would give folks a lil' extra something to race for, other than just the fun factor.

[cowboyz]

I actually thought there was a cutoff being the normal 115% which assuming at least one person is touching the 1.18 cutoff would make it 1.30 being the cut off. Or is there really none?