Conrod / The Chase

[Chatters]

Clearly the solution is installing a Hamilton-esque chicane on Conrod .

[Pro Racer]

some footage of pre-the Chase, pre-concrete Bathurst and the year of the infamous 1-2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzcRJ...eature=related

[peckstar]

ahh my first bathurst memory

some nice footage there. lots of cigarette sponsorship at the front. you wonder how if cigarette ads were such a key part of my first memory i never grew up to be a smoker

the straight is definatly much more interesting now

[Pro Racer]

my liking the chase is probably just due to all my memories of watching Bathursts has been with the chase as part of the circuit.

[NewsStalker]

this should require no more than 5 paced laps (15 minutes).

Plus the obligatory 5 laps to work out if they have picked up the right car or not and another 5 laps to then decide 'well lets go with it anyway'! (Maybe a thread should be created to discuss which has changed Bathurst - and other races - more - the Chase or the safety car)

[DAVID PATERSON]

I've clobbered a few walls in my time and some are inherently SAFER. I'm very much against a wall of old tyres filled with earth, 6 weeks o and i'm still sore.

However, a wall of old tyres, unfilled, bolted or chained together is much, much better than anything else i've ever run into. It absorbs an enormous amount of energy and greatly reduces the risk of injury and damage to the car.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by NewsStalker

(Maybe a thread should be created to discuss which has changed Bathurst - and other races - more - the Chase or the safety car)

Good idea, but most of the young-uns (in terms of how long they've followed) love the pace cars, & would think it is boring without them

[browney]

I'm not sure what it means for safety but standing at the Chase is the best view I've had in a 'general admittance' area at a V8 track.

[niftynic]

Although I would have to concede that it would be 99% impossible, it would be fantastic to see a Bathurst race without the chase...

The extra slip-streaming opportunities, the "last-of-the-the-late-braker" duels into Murrays, getting the balance between high and low downforce.

I certainly cannot see how a bumpless conrod straight can be less safe than what is there right now, I suppose now that they've built those looxury apartments next to the chase it definitely won't happen!

What about a sprint round early in the year without chase, then Bathurst 1000 with chase? Or the other way around?

[Malfunction Junction]

Any slipstreaming opportunities will require a diff ratio that gives a little extra straight line speed. As it is, do the cars not hit the limiter when behind another car?

Can you imagine it? Free thought, choice and innovation in setup. These things are just not allowed in the black wiggle's world.


Edited 'cause I can't believe I didn't spell allowed proerly.

[db120176]

Originally Posted by Malfunction Junction

The near ideal (nothing is really ideal) tarmacing solution based on overseas experience appears to be approximately 5-10 metres of golf course standard grass followed by tarmac with a dimpled or even stony surface roughly approximating blue metal tarmac. Obviously you wouldn't use blue metal, I'm just illustrating the point. The advantages are;

- Nobody's going to cross 5 metres of grass to get to a low grip surface and gain time.
- There is high friction that will slow the car down. Possibly less than sand will, but we've seen that sand is ineffective.
- The uncontrolled car will be much more stable, leading to much reduced danger of it bouncing or rolling.
- The reduced friction may be a good thing, allowing a car to be separated from those around it and pass over the rejoin away from those it was in company with.

Thinking back to the Paul Radisich crash - would this help a driver with a stuck throttle?

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by db120176

Thinking back to the Paul Radisich crash - would this help a driver with a stuck throttle?

What I'm thinking in regards to that solution is to plant a bunch of corn or other crops. I've seen it on a number of south american tracks and does a pretty good job of stopping a touring car. It gives and allows a gradual deceleration, plus it's cheap and organic.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

What I'm thinking in regards to that solution is to plant a bunch of corn or other crops. I've seen it on a number of south american tracks and does a pretty good job of stopping a touring car. It gives and allows a gradual deceleration, plus it's cheap and organic.

Now that's thinking outside the square!!!

What about fire or snakes?

[Pro Racer]

Originally Posted by racer69

Good idea, but most of the young-uns (in terms of how long they've followed) love the pace cars, & would think it is boring without them

racer i'm a young-un who will buck that tren i hate the "late race safety car" with a passion and it can be shoved where the sun doesn't shine.

[NewsStalker]

What about fire or snakes?

OK then - make it sugar cane - kill 5 birds with one stone

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

What I'm thinking in regards to that solution is to plant a bunch of corn or other crops. I've seen it on a number of south american tracks and does a pretty good job of stopping a touring car. It gives and allows a gradual deceleration, plus it's cheap and organic.

Yeah...and the officials might get some Popcorn out of it from the hot components.

Ummmm once one car cut a swathe through the crop...what would stop the next one? (you can bet another would find the same way in )

[bestfit]

Originally Posted by NewsStalker

OK then - make it sugar cane - kill 5 birds with one stone

And with the leftovers they can make ethanol.

[racer69]

Some of the tracks in Britain feature long grass etc... on the outskirts of the circuit. At the Croft round of the BTCC a few weeks ago Darren Turner's Seat disappeared into, and few years ago at Snetterton there were 3 or 4 seperate instances of cars disappearing into the long grass, then re-emerging further down the track

Originally Posted by db120176

Thinking back to the Paul Radisich crash - would this help a driver with a stuck throttle?

Wasn't part of Radisich's problem was that when the car hit the sand the front wheel's left the ground for abit meaning he couldn't steer? Presumebly if it was tarmac this wouldn't have been an issue.

A side-effect of tarmac run-off though is that alot of mistakes go unpunished, and like alot of safety innovations can lead to more carnage.

Originally Posted by Pro Racer

racer i'm a young-un who will buck that tren i hate the "late race safety car" with a passion and it can be shoved where the sun doesn't shine.

I did say most, not all

Sadly your in the minority, alot of fringe viewers i know (on the rare occasions some motorsport comes up) say they'd be less interested without a safety car...

[NewsStalker]

Wasn't part of Radisich's problem was that when the car hit the sand the front wheel's left the ground for abit meaning he couldn't steer? Presumebly if it was tarmac this wouldn't have been an issue.

It all depends on how the sand is 'raked'. Many Australian tracks tend to 'rake' the sand into furrows - some shallow, some deep. The problem is that because this isn't a smooth surface, the car doesn't just dig in - it tends to bounce and has the propensity to bounce high enough that the car leaves the sand, thus the effect of slowing the car is negated ie launch the car.

Other tracks have a smooth 'sand trap' surface - in these cases, the cars, still bounce but, because there are no furrows, it is nowhere near as pronounced and the trap does what it was designed to do - retard the cars speed and dig the car in.

[Falcadore]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

What I'm thinking in regards to that solution is to plant a bunch of corn or other crops. I've seen it on a number of south american tracks and does a pretty good job of stopping a touring car. It gives and allows a gradual deceleration, plus it's cheap and organic.

Something flimsy and collapsible that absorbs energy as you go? Sounds a lot like a variation of catchfencing to me. You see a lot of it in early 1980's Formula 1 footage. An old idea, long abandoned.

[db120176]

Originally Posted by Falcadore

Sounds a lot like a variation of catchfencing to me. You see a lot of it in early 1980's Formula 1 footage. An old idea, long abandoned.

On occasion they would sling-shot back onto the track which probably led to this idea's design

[ozrevhead]

Originally Posted by DAVID PATERSON

Now that's thinking outside the square!!!

What about fire or snakes?

Popcorn

[niftynic]

Re-opening an old thread...

With V8 Bathurst just around the corner - and the showing of the minor parties in the federal election - I propose starting the "Make Conrod Straight Straight Again!"

Remove the dangerous high speed bumpy corner, lethal sand trap and boring exit. Return high speed slipstreaming, faster lap times and awesome late braking duels.

The main problem with the old Conrod was the last bump and the air being channeled between banks next to the track, now the bump is gone and the track and edges are much wider.

Revive Conrod Straight Now!!

[peckstar]

i prefer it the way it is now

[eduardo1]

Me too.

If you straightened Con-Rod - run-off areas at Murray's would need to be massively increased and spectators pushed further back.

Plus the cars are already on the rev limiter at close to 300km/h heading into the Chase. They're purposely not allowing them to go any faster, so all you'll have is engines bouncing off the limiter and detonating.

Btw, found out Monday night why V8Supercars is so loathe to change the diff ratios that would run to 310km/h. Apparently insurance premiums skyrocket if cars go over 300 kays consistently. Apparently 295 ok - 305 not ok.