Kent Kings 2020?

[waco]

As Rebel 1 has said narrow straits are the problem creating tight entries and exits on the bends,,plus the cambers on the exits are bad..in my opinion.....

[False dawn]

7 minutes ago, waco said:

As Rebel 1 has said narrow straits are the problem creating tight entries and exits on the bends,,plus the cambers on the exits are bad..in my opinion.....

But apart from that it's brilliant eh? 

Seriously. As a Championship fan who has never been to the Kent track, I did think that I might just make the trip this year. Should I abandon my plans?

[Rebel1]

12 hours ago, teaboy279 said:

I ve got the meeting on dvd, and make Ellis track record nearly 1.2 seconds slower then the official race time of 56.1

Interesting, I have spoken to Les about that time but still believe that he started the clock late and had to give the time on the clock at the end. Time for timing transponders methinks! Ah well, tongue in cheek, no management will be keen to implement technology.

[Rebel1]

6 minutes ago, False dawn said:

But apart from that it's brilliant eh? 

Seriously. As a Championship fan who has never been to the Kent track, I did think that I might just make the trip this year. Should I abandon my plans?

False Dawn, no one can view it for you, but I am sure that you would not be disappointed here in Kent. The third bend camber is one that has been a bother and last season was flattened out a bit so was less likely to draw riders into the fence if they went in wide. Some of the issues with the track arise from the morning running of the dogs which precludes any work until after 2pm.

[waco]

False dawn the stadium it self is excellent ,,comfortable with plenty of seating under cover and a great view of the whole track..the problems I have mentioned do cause the odd crash,but the racing is fast and can be good,, and they have solved the problem of the curfew in the main,by having the parade before the meeting start time,,Hope this helps....

[mac101]

1 hour ago, waco said:

As Rebel 1 has said narrow straits are the problem creating tight entries and exits on the bends,,plus the cambers on the exits are bad..in my opinion.....

It’s a great shape of track but with too Narrow straights which makes the corner entries Really tight but If they banked All the corners a bit more And got rid of the negative cambers which means you can race into the bends a lot faster Without fear and probably create a lot more racing lines 

[arnieg]

15 hours ago, teaboy279 said:

I ve got the meeting on dvd, and make Ellis track record nearly 1.2 seconds slower then the official race time of 56.1

The Jan Graversen paradox!

After his track record was retimed on DVD it was removed from the Leicester programme

[False dawn]

28 minutes ago, arnieg said:

The Jan Graversen paradox!

After his track record was retimed on DVD it was removed from the Leicester programme

That is interesting. To a nerd like me at least, who seems to be a part of a dying breed interested in track records etc.
A technical question. Can you reliably time races on a DVD playback? Are there reasons why the recording or the playback may not be strictly in real time?

Edited January 7, 2020 by False dawn

[flipper11]

8 hours ago, False dawn said:

But apart from that it's brilliant eh? 

Seriously. As a Championship fan who has never been to the Kent track, I did think that I might just make the trip this year. Should I abandon my plans?

I don’t think championship standard riders will have any problems, riders like Ayres, perks, Hume, Morley, Bowen etc absolutely flew around there last season. The adverse camber on bends 3/4 seems to be sorted now. For me the only thing that needs doing to improve racing is to widen the back straight, this would make the exit of bend 2 faster as some riders have to lock up slightly if they go too wide in the bend. This work was definitely in Lens thoughts but whether he will have time at the end of his ski season to do it remains to be seen. Have a look on google earth & you will see what I mean. 

[teaboy279]

10 hours ago, False dawn said:

That is interesting. To a nerd like me at least, who seems to be a part of a dying breed interested in track records etc.
A technical question. Can you reliably time races on a DVD playback? Are there reasons why the recording or the playback may not be strictly in real time?

I still love race times being a bit of a nerd, I would love nothing more then transponders being used universally. It's not exactly cutting edge technology anymore so costs arent prohibitive, and for those with no interest in times, it does nothing to detract from thier experience.

[False dawn]

16 minutes ago, teaboy279 said:

I still love race times being a bit of a nerd, I would love nothing more then transponders being used universally. It's not exactly cutting edge technology anymore so costs aren't prohibitive, and for those with no interest in times, it does nothing to detract from their experience.

I remember reading some years ago an article about Billy Hamill. This was in his days at Brandon so was probably 2002-3. From memory, he had a plan to set up equipment on the centre green which I assume was "talking" to a transponder on his bike. The idea was that, in practice, he could measure his speed at all points on the circuit such that he could then determine his performance throughout the lap. Having measured many laps and experimenting with different lines etc. he could then determine the optimum way to ride the circuit.
I wish I could tell you the end of the story, but I never heard anymore about it. Sounds like a good plan though, eh? And that was getting on for 20 years ago.

[Ben91]

1 hour ago, False dawn said:

I remember reading some years ago an article about Billy Hamill. This was in his days at Brandon so was probably 2002-3. From memory, he had a plan to set up equipment on the centre green which I assume was "talking" to a transponder on his bike. The idea was that, in practice, he could measure his speed at all points on the circuit such that he could then determine his performance throughout the lap. Having measured many laps and experimenting with different lines etc. he could then determine the optimum way to ride the circuit.
I wish I could tell you the end of the story, but I never heard anymore about it. Sounds like a good plan though, eh? And that was getting on for 20 years ago.

This is speedway, someone with a stopwatch will do. If that fails then use the second hand on the time keeper’s watch. 

[RobMcCaffery]

13 hours ago, False dawn said:

That is interesting. To a nerd like me at least, who seems to be a part of a dying breed interested in track records etc.
A technical question. Can you reliably time races on a DVD playback? Are there reasons why the recording or the playback may not be strictly in real time?

It's possible for video to run at a different speed to 'real time' so, yes, it is possible for minor changes in recording or playback speed to significantly change the apparent duration of a race. 

The other things that influence variations in timings are human reaction time, and even policy on when to start or stop the watch. I was taught to start as the first rider moved after the tapes rose, not as the tapes began to rise, and to stop it as the front wheel spindle crosses the line. We're talking fractions of a second but with the sport foolishly using timings taken to the nearest 100th of a second it is significant. Even taking times to a tenth of a second on manual timing is questionable given human reaction times and indeed even how responsive to the start/stop button a watch is. Having done the job myself there's a very good reason why I don't bother with race times when completing my programme ;-) 

Transponders are the way forward, but even then technology can cause problems. I was announcing at a then rare evening meeting at Eastbourne. They used a photo electric cell for timing. As soon as the last rider entered the final lap you had to remember to switch it on, then the first rider to hit the line would stop the clock. The track record went about four times in the first half a dozen heats. Charlie Dugard used to keep a close eye on stand-in announcers for good reason and would sit with me in the box just to make sure I could keep he standard up. After the track record had gone yet again he told me to 'adjust' the remaining times. "We don't want them injuring themselves going for the track record". I still wonder if it was down to the track being different at night or I wasn't operating the equipment properly. It was probably the latter. 

Edited January 8, 2020 by RobMcCaffery

[RobMcCaffery]

Now, what do we reckon on the Kings' chances in the CL? 

Edited January 8, 2020 by RobMcCaffery

[East End Fan]

1 hour ago, RobMcCaffery said:

Now, what do we reckon on the Kings' chances in the CL? 

The riders in the team are at least all "Racers" and not simply trappers.  So I think there will be some very good meetings.  The possible

inexperience of the team manager at this level might not help, but as the season progresses, that factor will become less of an influence.

Scott Nicholls to guide the rest is bound to prove a master stroke IMO.  Don't expect to win the league, but the rest will know that we've been

there. 

[teaboy279]

8 hours ago, RobMcCaffery said:

Now, what do we reckon on the Kings' chances in the CL? 

Think we will be knocking on the doors of the play offs, but a lot of team changes between now and then. Some of the weaker sides may make a couple of changes and look world beaters.

[TurnTwo]

I’d say a solid mid table team the reserves inexperience will cost Kent dearly. 7th place would be my bet 

[Rebel1]

On 1/7/2020 at 8:40 PM, mac101 said:

It’s a great shape of track but with too Narrow straights which makes the corner entries Really tight but If they banked All the corners a bit more And got rid of the negative cambers which means you can race into the bends a lot faster Without fear and probably create a lot more racing lines 

With the likes of Scotty putting it about out there I am sure that He and others will influence Len into prepping the track to suit their needs. I doubt Len has listened to anyone else, even Luke. Many words have been wasted out there over the manner in which things are managed. When Len shouts and only when, things take place. At times track staff know that the tractor needs to come out and grade yet the water bowser will  emerge alone. WHY! No more time would be wasted as one machine follows the other. 

[East End Fan]

18 hours ago, Rebel1 said:

With the likes of Scotty putting it about out there I am sure that He and others will influence Len into prepping the track to suit their needs. I doubt Len has listened to anyone else, even Luke. Many words have been wasted out there over the manner in which things are managed. When Len shouts and only when, things take place. At times track staff know that the tractor needs to come out and grade yet the water bowser will  emerge alone. WHY! No more time would be wasted as one machine follows the other. 

Rebel1,  you must be part of the track staff to have such knowledge.  Would be good to have your insider's view of things like track prep

and how things run behind the scenes.  Most of us are curious about such things.

[TurnTwo]

21 hours ago, Rebel1 said:

With the likes of Scotty putting it about out there I am sure that He and others will influence Len into prepping the track to suit their needs. I doubt Len has listened to anyone else, even Luke. Many words have been wasted out there over the manner in which things are managed. When Len shouts and only when, things take place. At times track staff know that the tractor needs to come out and grade yet the water bowser will  emerge alone. WHY! No more time would be wasted as one machine follows the other. 

I will never forget one meeting in 2014/15 I believe. Kent were behind. And it was heat 8 and len just watered his own teams gates lol. Safe to say that heat 8 didn't go Kent’s way..Leonard is just old school and I can’t see him changing his ways to suit others.