modern track prep

[scaramanga]

I know its hard with the current hot weather 

but whats peoples views on the recent modern way of track prep where more  and more don't like watering anymore

 

[Ghosty]

Biggest problem is the "unavailability" of good shale. it is available but the quarries that have it will not supply speedway - because that have to many bad debts (non payments)

Yet another example how G.B. speedway is in self destruct! 

[OveFundinFan]

One way to appease shale suppliers would be to pay, say, 50% upfront, and the balance upon delivery. No cheques, credit/debit card payments only.

If suppliers have had bad deals then give them confidence with good deals.  If a track cant pay upfront, what chance do they have to pay in 30 days (or whatever).

The scourge of "small" businesses has always been late payers, non more so then bigger businesses being late. 

[cityrebel]

The IOW was a bit on the dry side on Thursday, but they are suffering from poor shale. They have a mound of the stuff in the pits which they are unable to use. I gather this was sent my mistake, and not because they are poor payers.

[waytogo28]

On such tracks it's speedway but not speedway racing.

[arthur cross]

Two points ....

Firstly, it's not just the heat itself at the moment that's the enemy of any track watering, it's the warmth within any significant breeze that's the really awkward but much less known enemy of keeping a hot-weather track damp.

At the start and end of the season, there's a barrier around 12-celsius that the temperature needs to rise above for a couple of days to stop a track being permanent sludge with no amount of breezes or gales at that temperature helping out much with the drying process because they're still too cold to make an evaporating difference.

The mid-summer equivalent at the other end of the spectrum is probably about 25-celsius plus any breeze , at which point it's a nightmare trying to stop a track being a permanent dust bowl because now the natural evaporation from the twin-angle of heat-&-breeze is faster than most mechanical watering..

Second point is that far too many tracks racing in the evening wait until far too late in the day to start watering, by which time it's too late to hope the first lots of watering will soak into the base of the track and thus make it harder for later lots of watering in hotter temperatures to tumble straight through the entire surface.

Of course it's costly to have track staff on duty plenty of hours before the start of the meeting, but (especially from mid-June to mid-July when the sun's at its highest level for longer hours) the track-watering really needs to start by 10am to have any hope of enough of the early water soaking into the base rather than already evaporating upwards.

One of the biggest ignorances among most folk (not just speedway fans) regarding the weather is that the temperature directly relates to whether the sun''s up or not - actually, it doesn't because there's a time lag of about a couple of hours.

In the early hours of its rising, the sun's effect isn't yet warm enough to burn through any overnight reduction in temperature which is why it still feels fairly cool around 7am on a mid-summer sunny morning - similarly, the hottest time of the day is around 3pm-4pm even though the sun's own power has peaked around 1pm-1.30pm..

So it's this sunny breakfast-time that's the key time for mid-summer watering of a speedway track.

Get going on it that early and it'll pay off once the riders and crowd turn up a lot later.

[771neil]

I was told one problem is the main suppliers quarry has now had all shale removed and can no longer supply. The new suppliers shale is bit different and not binding as well with the old stuff already on tracks. Plus watering is problem as in this heat you have to start soaking track 2 days before and keep doing it for 2 days to get to base which is expensive and some can t get on track for those days 

[foamfence]

12 hours ago, scaramanga said:

I know its hard with the current hot weather 

but whats peoples views on the recent modern way of track prep where more  and more don't like watering anymore

 

I think the lack of watering is usually down to riders. It isn't acceptable though that people should be going home covered in dust (we did in the old days) and often having their view of the racing obscured by dust clouds.

[junior fan]

27 minutes ago, foamfence said:

I think the lack of watering is usually down to riders. It isn't acceptable though that people should be going home covered in dust (we did in the old days) and often having their view of the racing obscured by dust clouds.

Absolute bollocks, do you know any riders, do you speak to any riders, they hate dry slick tracks, lack of suitable equipment is the problem from what ive seen and been told.

How many tracks have proper push graders, not ones pulled along behind a tractor, from the footage ive seen i would say Belle Vue do.

Junior

[scaramanga]

12 hours ago, Ghosty said:

Biggest problem is the "unavailability" of good shale. it is available but the quarries that have it will not supply speedway - because that have to many bad debts (non payments)

Yet another example how G.B. speedway is in self destruct! 

a good track man would mix clay into dry dusty shale to get it to bind

as for shale well I suppose you get what you pay for we all know everything in speedway promotion is done as cheap as poss in most cases

 

[Tsunami]

Get the water in early and let it soak in. If it's dark it's right for water, but when it goes pinky it needs more water. Simple. 

Mark Thorpe used to say that in New Zealand, they went in early, turned the taps on to flood it. and then had a barbecue. Stacks of water and put it in early.   

[scaramanga]

tony swales use to do that years ago  

soak it to the base  then top up as required

 

[Lord Lucan]

7 hours ago, foamfence said:

I think the lack of watering is usually down to riders. It isn't acceptable though that people should be going home covered in dust (we did in the old days) and often having their view of the racing obscured by dust clouds.

Ahh yes, the good old day's when being ginger wasn't as big an issue!!

[Jeanzi]

Put detergent into the water bowser to allow it to soak into the base better. 

[jenga]

that will help keep the bikes and rides clean and save on washing down kevlars and bikes. leaving more time to party .

[KN1]

Imo too many tracks now just dump water on within a couple of hrs leading up to meeting hence, no time to soak in, annoys riders and really does nothing to hold the track together,  as has been said drown it the night before or 5/6 am if possible, but another way you don't see in UK now is a light spray of water whilst grading every few heats to keep it together and dust down, Poole used to have a crop sprayer when speedy was there, perfect,  lakeside do it (do wish 2 drivers though) and dust has not been a problem, riders only dislike it when its dumped on the track.

[Baldyman]

Bob at Ipswich always starts watering the track well in advance , and we never get any dust. 

[tyretrax]

On 7/1/2018 at 8:58 AM, Jeanzi said:

Put detergent into the water bowser to allow it to soak into the base better. 

The detergent breaks the surface tension of the shale allowing the water to soak through quicker.

[mac101]

6 hours ago, tyretrax said:

The detergent breaks the surface tension of the shale allowing the water to soak through quicker.

Pretty Sure they also used to use old engine oil along with detergent to help bind it together and it also helped to hold the moisture stewart Dickson used to really soak Glasgow the night before after the sun had gone down on hot days then all Sunday morning up to match but still kicked up dust  halfway through the meeting a lot depends on the base type and clay shale content 

[tyretrax]

6 hours ago, mac101 said:

Pretty Sure they also used to use old engine oil along with detergent to help bind it together and it also helped to hold the moisture stewart Dickson used to really soak Glasgow the night before after the sun had gone down on hot days then all Sunday morning up to match but still kicked up dust  halfway through the meeting a lot depends on the base type and clay shale content 

With the total loss engine the oil went straight on to the track but the environmentalists put a stop to that. Track curators have been know to dispose of oil in the shale stock.