Group Runs, never taken part in one before?

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I spotted the following on an insurance/bike site, while grabbing a coffee this morning, had quite a bit of relevant info in. (Though do bear in mind it’s from an insurance related site, So approaches things from that angle.)

Non the less, I thought, as we’ve not done it for a year or two, it might be handy to cover this sort of stuff again, for new members etc.

Riding skills: Why can riding in groups be so dangerous?

The link to the article is here

Please do read it, it makes a lot of very useful points, even for Westfields.

Its also something that both the leader and those in the group need to take on board.

One of the key things, that is just as relevant for us as bikers, is that once you’ve got more than three, maybe four cars, you get exactly the same speeding up at the rear situation.

It’s the opposite of that braking “shockwave” effect you see on the motorway, where someone at the front of a busy, packed lane, brakes mildy and a mile or two back, the last cars end up stopping!

When leading a group with a decent number of cars in, remember, as you get closer to the back, every time you accelerate, they have to accelerate harder and longer to keep up. If you’re averaging 50mph on a twisty road, they might be averaging 60 mph, or more. With a dozen plus, it’s easily possible for cars at the rear to have to travel at both licence losing speeds, and in a manor that will get them more than just a speeding ticket if caught, if the lead car is pressing on.

The other consideration, is that a group of that many single make cars is very obvious. So if the rear cars get pulled, EXPECT busybodies and “concerned citizens” to be stopping and helpfully telling the police that you were all driving like maniacs etc. You may just find the BiB at the scene deciding to charge everyone with racing and let the courts sort it out!

Be careful, be aware of what and who is around you.

There are several things that encourage the clustering of the group, one of the “worst”, is worrying about getting lost/left behind, not only does it encourage keeping up at all costs, including some very marginal and downright blatant traffic light abuse(!) It also causes anxiety and reduces enjoyment of those following.

What can be done, not everyone wants to know the detailed route, but make sure everyone knows the destination, or if it’s a long run, add waypoints, where the group can stop and reform.

The club always recommends the buddy  ahead system.

Quite simply, always make sure you have the car behind in site, (doesn’t necessarily have to be immediately behind you, nor visible every second, after all, you need to concentrate ahead, too.) If, you loose site of the car following you, slow, and allow them to catch up. If the convoy turns off the road you’ve been travelling on, try and wait either just before, or just after the turn, so that they will see you as they travel along. (It should go without saying, pick somewhere safe for both you and other traffic.)

Once they catch up, carry on with the turn. The car ahead of you, should have seen you slow, so in turn, you slow the whole convoy ahead of you, untill you’ve all caught up.

If the car behind doesn’t show up at all, try and hang on till the whole convoy has actually stopped, and the organiser sent a car back to find out what’s going on. Only then go looking for the missing person, they may have broken down, but they may have taken a wrong turning, in which case you can’t do much but carry on till the next way point.

And that’s it. The simple system above, while not perfect, will cope well with most potential issues.

The main places it falls down are in exceptionally heavy traffic, and going through bigger town/city centres.

If a run makes these things unavoidable, and you have lots of vehicles. Consider breaking the whole group down into fours or so, and meeting up at waypoints either side of the problem areas. Make sure each group knows the intended route, but it’s not the end of the world if they have to skip bits, as long as they reach the waypoint.

Overtaking (within the group).. A tricky one, on the whole, it’s not advisable, particularly if using the buddy in front system, as people loose track of which cars they should be seeing, even without the risks it can bring.

However, as long as you’re sure the car ahead knows you’re going to pass, and there is lots of room, and you’re sure the cars around you know the route, then it can be OK.  One point I would make though, is that to pretty much any bistander or other motorist, Westfields in a big group that’s traveling briskly, even if “legally”, that are also changing places a lot will look like racing! 

Im not aware of anyone ever getting a pull for that, but bear in mind if you do, the friends you overtook are likely to get pulled too, even if completely innocent.

As said earlier, Bear in mind who else is around you when you decide to not just travel convoy style

 

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Oh, and if you want ultra slick runs, (provided the cars aren’t too spread out it has an approx 1200m range), the Blue Tooth intercom system that @IanK (Bagpuss) brought along for our France trip was absolutely superb, with the lead car and end car linked via two way headsets, then you can constantly balance the run as lead car to make sure those following are still with you. Equally, you can let the back of the convoy know when and where you’re turning, while the rear car can easily update the leader that everyone is through the junction/roundabout etc.

The other thing we found out was that having matched sat navs, with identical way points in the front and tail cars again, reduced the “following” stress hugely, meaning you knew what was coming up, so could hold at what ever distance felt appropriate, rather than constantly having to keep the convoy tight.

[BugMan]

Great article Dave    

[andy665]

Good article

I have set up and run many convoys for manufacturers running new car launch events - generally with up to 12 cars in the convoy (plus lead and tail cars)

I would always recommend having a tail car that is in contact with the lead car so that stragglers can be safely and quickly rounded up

Running a safe and enjoyable convoy is not that difficult if a little common sense prevails - never run a light to keep with the convoy, never take a chance at junctions / roundabouts to keep up with the car in front etc etc

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

1 hour ago, BugMan said:

Great article Dave    

Thanks.

The other thing that comes across in the linked to article, that if I'm honest, I've only really just started to consider this summer, is that if you have new party members who are less confident, or less used to their cars, ideally they need to be kept up front, near the leader.

[BugMan]

Yea thats a good point, being I only have a few hundred miles under my belt in my WF I'm still very much learning the car, and would not really like to be at the back of a long train, as you pointed out things tend to "ripple" back in a convoy, which I used to see more on bikes what I was in my teens (long time ago)

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

I think it's something as AO's, we've perhaps not encouraged enough, I know I've been as guilty of it as anyone. Damn that red mist!

[Captain Colonial]

I’m going to say this with caution and experience here...choose carefully who leads or is even IN the group.  Normally it would be the AO to start with, but in tne excitement after a break, another may volunteer to lead.  This is fine, but there is sometimes a lead foot or risk taker who can really put things in jeopardy for all.  Choose the leader and tail gunner responsibly.  You’re having fun, but you’re looking after each other too.

i know of one group where they had a proper whack job, overtaking on solid whites and curves, late braking, doing well over the speed limit, etc.  He ended up running into the back of another member’s car on a run from being too aggressive.  (He also wrecked his car on two other occasions.). After that, he was never invited to join any more area runs.  So AOs, don’t be afraid to take control if and when necessary.