modern track prep

[Tsunami]

13 hours ago, KN1 said:

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.

Best track prep arrangement was at Rye House probably about 2003/4 when Len Silver employed two small tractors, one with a small bowser on the back and the other one with a flat grader. After each heat, and whilst the riders were leaving the circuit on bend 1, the two tractors come out of bend 4 centre green and did a quick couple of circuits just before the next race riders were coming out onto the track. They took no extra time, but the condition and preparation was the same for all 15 heats. Only time I have ever seen such good preparation. Unfortunately it probably can't be done now, as the tractors were ready on the centre green area and also entered the track whilst riders were either leaving or entering the circuit. "Elf and Safety you know.

[IainB]

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. 

 

On 7/1/2018 at 12:04 PM, jenga said:

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

And the fans lol... self cleaning shale, what a brilliant idea!

19 hours ago, mac101 said:

stewart Dickson used to really soak Glasgow the night before after the sun had gone down on hot days then all Sunday morning 

Glasgow? Hot day? Cannot compute!

[Fromafar]

2 minutes ago, iainb said:

 

And the fans lol... self cleaning shale, what a brilliant idea!

Glasgow? Hot day? Cannot compute!

Sun Off's.

[Big Al]

How many tracks are on metered water supply now? The water companies are wanting/having to switch consumers onto metered supply so is that causing some reluctance to use methods such as soaking the tracks early morning. Then add-in the problems with shale supply, tracks breaking up, and it's starting to look bad unless the weather changes soon.

[balderdash&piffle]

1 hour ago, Big Al said:

How many tracks are on metered water supply now? The water companies are wanting/having to switch consumers onto metered supply so is that causing some reluctance to use methods such as soaking the tracks early morning. Then add-in the problems with shale supply, tracks breaking up, and it's starting to look bad unless the weather changes soon.

Up in Berwick they get the water from Simpsons Malt, it is the waste water from the plant which they take before it goes through the effluent meter.  As much water as they want for free, they still don't water it anywhere near enough

[tyretrax]

Shawfield has a bore hole from which water is drawn to water the dog track. Initial outlay was a few thousand pounds but I'm sure it  paid for its self after a couple of years.

[ragdoll64]

Have strategically placed sprinkler systems ever been tried?

[tyretrax]

1 hour ago, ragdoll64 said:

Have strategically placed sprinkler systems ever been tried?

At Shawfield we turned a sprinkler from the dog track onto the speedway track to water the starting gate.

[cityrebel]

When I worked at Wimbledon, we used to flood the track daily from Monday afternoon leading up to the meeting on Thursday evening, weather permitting of course. We had two huge water storage tanks under the centre green, which we used to fill the big water tanker to soak the track with.