Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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Jul 11, 2012 14:04:29 GMT
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Hi all, I was reading the thread about Le Mans Classic and the fact that people aren't allowed near the Mulsanne straight anymore, and it reminded me of the Tour Auto this year at the Circuit de Charade in Auvergne. I won't even mention that this circuit barely still exists today because of new inhabitants of the area complaining about the noise, but I'm talking about castrating safety rules. I wanted to get closer to the track as I almost never get to see a Porsche 908, a GT40 or a 250 GTO at full chat, but spectators were restricted to some small areas way off the track. I did try to sneak my way to the side of the track but got rejected every time, and this is just frustrating. Do I have to sign a paper saying that being killed by a flying old racecar is actually an honour? I do understand the concerns about safety but when it means that you simply don't enjoy what you came there for, there's no point in setting up an event at all. Some areas on a circuit are dangerous, but you should prevent people from accessing them instead of only allowing them into very few places. Have pics of the Circuit de Charade:     For example I went to the wall you can see on the right side of the pic. I could smell the tyres burning on hard braking, hear the exhaust of a Lancia 037 as it accelerated after the corner, and I got kicked out. Is that happening only in France or is it now a general rule? Do you know of any event that still retains the oldschool way of watching motorsports? Sorry about the rant  |
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,856
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Jul 11, 2012 14:07:37 GMT
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A lot of motorsport tickets over hear have a waiver on the back stating that the organisers aren't responsible for injury or death of participants.
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Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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Jul 11, 2012 14:15:59 GMT
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I wish it were the case a bit more often; but I'm not sure that in French law you can deny any responsibility like this, you still have to take safety measures that might always be deemed insufficient by a judge...
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Jul 11, 2012 15:20:58 GMT
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new inhabitants of the area complaining about the noise Unless the new inhabitants were forced to live there due to catastrophe, war or some other epic force, I would suggest a nice cup of STFU and a scan of the property pages. Boils my p!ss when people move close to a well-known race track and then spend half their life trying to shut it down. Almost as bad as that Canadian midget Bryan Adams. Your rant is fine by me, sir. |
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Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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Jul 11, 2012 15:46:10 GMT
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Garry
East Midlands
Posts: 1,722
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Jul 11, 2012 15:49:17 GMT
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Go to Cadwell Park, its a proper old-school track with bags of character and not massively altered to make it safer.
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Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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Jul 11, 2012 15:59:09 GMT
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Oops sorry about the kinda-big pictures. I'm used to forums that resize them (I'm not saying it's a bad thing though). I'll go to Cadwell Park sometime then, but I'll have to find an occasion to drive the 600 miles required |
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Jul 11, 2012 16:38:42 GMT
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Well, I live in Adelaide and usually attend the Clipsal 500 every year. It's a temporary street circuit right in the middle of the city, which runs through the parklands. They still let you stand right against the barrier all the way around the circuit. All tickets are printed with a waiver that the ticket holder acknowledges that "motor sport is dangerous and may cause injury or death", "the promoters are not liable" etc.  Because it's temporary, it's surrounded by concrete barriers but none of them are fixed in place, they just sit there by their own weight. Not as strong as the barriers which would be possible at permanent circuits. The barriers are close to the track as well. Almost the entire track has a square steel mesh catch fence about three metres high to catch loose tyres and car parts. The V8 Supercars are heavy cars as well, which is important to spectator safety because it increases the momentum. I think the cars are about 1600kg or so, and they are reaching over 200km/h on the street circuit. That's a lot of momentum.  Australia is generally pretty serious about Health and Safety and Public Liability laws, so I think that if kids are allowed to stand right behind the fences at a street circuit, then they should be allowed to do so at any proper race circuit in the world. The difficulty would be with old circuits if their fences and barriers are not up to scratch, as it would be very expensive to upgrade them. |
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Jul 11, 2012 17:22:38 GMT
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Cadwell's awesome, a hidden slice of heaven that really surprised me.
Watched the Long Beach Grand Prix a few months back and the story was similar to the Clipsal 500 - we stood right by the street-circuit fencing on the corners as Indy cars flew past, it was wonderful.
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Jul 11, 2012 18:19:54 GMT
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It's been 10 years since I've been to Silverstone for F1, but Becketts is/was about as close as you'll ever get to a race car doing 180mph as you could ever expect. Jaw dropping!
The RSSOC mag recently reported on something from the FBHVC where residents who had moved in nearby a local speedway club had taken action citing noise pollution. They won, but it was appealed by the speedway club. To paraphrase, the judge had overturned the previous ruling stating "The residents' predicament came about as a result of moving to an area where motorsport was an already established activity"...
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RobinJI
Posted a lot
"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Jul 11, 2012 18:51:11 GMT
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This is Wiscombe Park Hillclimb, it's pretty local to me, I'm a big fan because of how accessible it is, and the stunning location.  Hillclimbs often seem to be more relaxed, I guess it's partly because of the level of racing there, and partly because of the lower speeds, but whatever the reasons, it makes for great fun as a spectator. I've always thought that tracks in the UK are pretty sensible in terms of where they place spectators, most are ex-airfields, which tends to mean there's plenty of space for the organizers to get things set up both safely and with decent spectating. |
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Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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Jul 11, 2012 19:21:29 GMT
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Funny you should mention hillclimbs, I'll be going to one for the first time the week-end! I've been watching many videos and even as a spectator it looks like huge fun ;D Btw I appreciate that you posted a Cortina, very good car this one (I heard so).
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v8ian
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,768
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Jul 11, 2012 20:04:33 GMT
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First race meet I went to wasat crystal palace in the 60s, I was standing on top of a sleeper bank with all that was protecting me was a wooden picket fence,
As time has gone on the circuits undoubtedly got safer for the drivers and spectators, but at the expense of the spectacle, there is a huge difference watching motorsport from a few feet away and a few hundred feet away, Unfortunately its very tame now. not that I advocate the carnage that used to happen, I think F1 had a death rate of something like 3+ fatalities a year, but a real gladiatorial sport, which in many ways made it so spectacular, cars could touch, bang wheels and drive with bits missing without any detriment to their performance
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Atmo V8 Power . No slicks , No gas + No bits missing . Doing it in style.
Austin A35van, very different------- but still doing it in style, going to be a funmoble
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Jul 11, 2012 20:16:45 GMT
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On the Nürborgring you can still get very close to the track Sitting at the Adenauer Forst, having a cool brew, watching cars fly past and over the curbs is most entertaining ;D And of course you don't go there by foot or bicycle, as everybody, but the true motorhead takes a (off-road) tour around the Ring on the bed of the Ringmini's 4x4 Honda powerded Mini Pickup ;D Yes, I think there's still a presence of 'dangerous motoring' to be had at the Ring And I most certainly should go there more often... |
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in the 90's i worked at a large bus depot (over 300 of the bloody things) one of those cardboard houseing est was built right next door to part of the yard & right beside the workshops!
the residents started complaining about the noise!!!!
it obviously never dawned on them that this would happen when they viewed the house & were forced to buy it??
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theres more to life than mpg & to much power is just enough.
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