Leaderboard

Morning All, Just like to say Good luck to all competing at Angelsey this weekend- may the best man win! Another great season coming to an end - a BIG Thank you to all those involved in organising the series. What would we do without you. Cheers Simon PS Happy Birthday to Plays-Kool & Lee Smith.

Looks like a massive attendance of the Westfield guys for this weekend's sprints The cafe and bar open on Friday & Saturday night for old and booze and to celebrate the last event of the season See you there!

So why don't you try speed series next year .......you will get the bug!!!!

Personally speaking I'm not impressed with the MSA's handling of either the tyres situation or ROPS regulations. IMO they are creating too many financial barriers for newcomers to enter the sport and experience sprinting. If I decide to sprint my Westfield again next year I'm now potentially faced with spending at least £750 this winter to comply with the new MSA regulations IMO the MSA are loosing touch with the grass roots of the sport and making it more difficult for a newcomers to compete on a budget.

What an absolute dogs dinner they are making of this

A few people have asked about this sort of thing over the summer, and it suddenly occurred to me I'd never seen anything written down, really. It just seems to be something we pick up from going on runs with others, particularly if they're from the biker community. There's not really a right or a wrong, and somethings change depending on group size. However, there are a few key points there work well regardless. make sure every one knows which the lead car is for any leg of the run, and that if overtaking (between Westfields) is practiced, (not really a good idea, see next point), that no one is to overtake the lead car. You change leads at halts only. every car is to maintain visual contact with the car behind there will be times when you temporarily loose sight of them, then slow until they catch up. Regardless, when you come to the next turn, you must wait wherever it is safe to do so, where you can be seen by the car behind you, until they catch up. Once the car behind has reached you, you should be able to catch the group ahead up, as they have all slowed once you went missing! If the car behind you doesn't appear after five minutes or so, hang on where you are, as the group ahead of you will see you missing too, and come back either as a group, or just a search party to see if you have a problem, at which point you can go back and search for the car behind you. - this is why overtaking each other is bad sometimes, it's hard to keep track of the car your following and make sure you've still got the right car behind! if the car ahead has a problem and has to pull over, then everyone behind them should pull over too, so that the cars ahead will realise and come back. There may be nothing anyone else can do, but this allows the group to reform and get back into the buddy convoy. Likewise, if you'll be leaving the group during one leg of the run, make sure the leader of that leg, at least, knows, and that when you peel off, you make sure the car ahead and behind realise what you're doing. There's nothing worse than sitting in a lay by waiting for someone that's actually gone home! Equally, there's nothing worse, especially for newbies or inexperienced members than suddenly finding themselves on their own in a strange place with everyone else disappearing off over the horizon. on long runs, it's a good idea to have prearranged stopping points where the group can reassemble if it gets separated. (This doesn't mean stopping for a brew necessarily, it might just be a handy petrol station to pull over at while everyone catches up.) If you have a really big group, say a dozen or more cars, consider having more than one leader and several small groups, with each leader having a map/sat nav/route guide etc Swap phone numbers before starting big runs! Thats the main stuff really, there are all sorts of refinements, from two way radios o giving out road books, but if everyone practices the basic "keep sight of your buddy behind" technique, everyone should be able to enjoy themselves without stressing over getting lost.

See you all tomorrow. Out of interest are we supposed to have entry tickets?

Jelly is made

Just watched sun set across the sea from Rhosneigr, amazing CU at weekend. Should be a great showdown for places on podiums.

I agree Terry, won't be many road going cars wanting to compete in MSA run events at this rate !!!

He was obviously reading out loud from the Japanese version of the manual rather than the English one. The word 'Honda' is very clear and the same in both languages. HTH

have you answered your own question LOL

I'm quite good at leading Martin (even if I do say so myself) and that's the first time I've lost the second car in the line Just goes to show don't allway's believe what your sat nav say's

Julie yes - Glenn no thanks

Haha - I just thought there was an echo on the forum Yes, some interesting cars there and a good chinwag too.

Yeah, we do similar. Jon, I know what you mean, but was deliberately keeping clear of speed and driving style comments - not because they're not important, they are, but just because it's a slightly separate thing and I didn't want to complicate the thread too much! At its simplest though, the "buddy behind" system, which AFAIK, originates from the bike world, always either kept the group at the pace of the slowest member, or provided them with ample opportunities to catch up, without feeling the need to ride outside their comfort zone - and get stressed out accordingly. The speed of the lead car in a (larger) group is an interesting thing though; you get the sort of reverse version of the "shock wave" effect you commonly see on the motorway when someone in a long line of traffic slows, and those behind each have to slow a little harder and a little more, till eventually someone has to stop! In the case of a large group of Westfields though, for instance, if the lead car is doing X mph, and accelerating briskly, each car behind has to accelerate that bit harder and go that bit faster to keep up. With a lot of cars, eventually you get to the point where people near the back are feeling pressured into very high speeds and are constantly foot through the floorboards when accelerating. (This is one of the reasons for splitting into smaller groups with a few "leader" cars; it doesn't matter if the groups get a little separated, you've only to keep up with someone two or three cars ahead!

And 'Yes' I am a "mad old cat woman who clogs up the internet with cat pics..." He was a big old boy...

...Forgot to add, some do like running more basic road tyres on their Westfields, and theirs nothing wrong with that. Most seem to do it for a combination of the lower cost of the tyres, and funnily enough, preferring the lower grip such tyres have. Of you are someone who likes to, ahem, get the back end out on public roads, then the trackday tyres have so much grip, it takes a lot of aggression to get them to slide and sometimes you have to be going fast, compared to normal road tyres.