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21 Aug 2009, 08:18 (Ref:2525393) | #1 | |
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The Circuits - Discussion on their safety or otherwise!
Simon, I find it strange that you are gagging to go to Goodwood and yet you declare Mallory to be unsafe to race on.....
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21 Aug 2009, 08:23 (Ref:2525397) | #2 | ||
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Maybe its his Lordship's pep talk that gives some comfort that people behave!
Also perhaps more relevantly someone who helped me a lot when I first started racing was killed in a race at Mallory so it has a bad feel for me..... |
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21 Aug 2009, 08:29 (Ref:2525401) | #3 | |
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Both have some of the last great corners in British motorsport and should be cherished, but no one is making us go to either circuit!
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21 Aug 2009, 08:34 (Ref:2525406) | #4 | ||
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Simon I totally agree and I am not saying someone is right or wrong to race at Mallory - its just not somewhere I would... a good friend of mine who has not only won at Goodwood but enjoyed a successful former career as a pro driver in single seaters and Group C reckons Goodwood is unsafe so it is clearly a personal thing.
I like Silverstone because it is so safe yet most seem to hate it - that is probably why I am normally towards the second half of the grid!! |
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21 Aug 2009, 10:37 (Ref:2525469) | #5 | ||
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Actually, this is almost worth a thread on its own because drivers do seem to have a 'thing' about certain circuits, often, and logically, as a result of personal experiences. I remember Robin Rew (Reporter/photographer for various mags back in the 1970s, and founder member of RSSOC) who pedalled the only genuine ex works Reliant Sabre Six (rather well too) telling me that he wouldn't race at Thruxton because he had lost a couple of friends there and thought it was too fast. This was all over 30 years ago, of course. More recently, another driver has told me that he was a bit uncomfortable with parts of Snetterton.
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21 Aug 2009, 11:59 (Ref:2525513) | #6 | |
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I have to admit that Mallory is the one circuit I feel unsafe on. I certainly feel much happier at Goodwood but maybe because my car is quite slow.
My favourite, Cadwell Park, is crticised by many as being dangerous. Personally I prefer the more challenging circuits. |
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21 Aug 2009, 13:17 (Ref:2525547) | #7 | |
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I bowed out of the HSCC event at Mallory this year largely because I'm not comfortable with the safety of the circuit. I've watched several cars destroyed coming out of Gerards and on the approach to the hairpin although the only spin I've had there took me to the outside of Gerards where there is a fair bit of room. Someone said in an earlier post that it's good for testing, but some of the worst damage I've seen was on test & track days.
I enjoy Cadwell however, although with all those corners and hills it ought to be one of the worst. Perhaps its because the trickiest bits are taken at relatively low speed or maybe I've just been lucky (or too slow to get into trouble!). |
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21 Aug 2009, 14:33 (Ref:2525579) | #8 | ||
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John,that is possibly a potentialy interesting thread.I personally think that before people are allowed to race in the UK,they should be made to drive a few laps of the 'Ring' just to get an idea on just how safe ALL of our domestic circuits are.I have 'lost' quite a few friends in road accidents but I still drive.
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21 Aug 2009, 14:37 (Ref:2525581) | #9 | ||
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I've decided to stop reaching out to people. I'm just going to contact them instead. |
21 Aug 2009, 14:42 (Ref:2525584) | #10 | |||
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21 Aug 2009, 15:05 (Ref:2525590) | #11 | ||
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But Comte,are there not 'Dangerous' hillside roads where you live? I'll bet there are some that you like to 'Play' on.Most circuits have been around for many years,some have been hit hard by the Safety Police and in many ways have ruined the appeal of the layout [Brands,Dingle Dell] for one. I'm only glad that the likes of Eau Rouge has not been altered too much since it was first laid out.We are still quite lucky to have some classic corners left,albeit with mass's of run off.Its the black bit that counts,not the scenery.
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Living the dream,Chief instruktor and racing on the worlds best circuits-The Nordschleife and Spa.Getting to drive the worlds best cars-someone has to do it, so glad its me. |
21 Aug 2009, 15:23 (Ref:2525596) | #12 | ||
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21 Aug 2009, 15:26 (Ref:2525597) | #13 | ||
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Terence, I do not disagree with you in any way. It is for the driver to drive on the black stuff and be aware of his immediately surroundings. If it is dangerous you should take that into consideration as you hurtle towards a corner. Having said that I must say sometimes one is grateful that there is something to slow you down.
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21 Aug 2009, 15:30 (Ref:2525602) | #14 | |||
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21 Aug 2009, 15:35 (Ref:2525604) | #15 | |
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Mon dieu!
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21 Aug 2009, 15:48 (Ref:2525616) | #16 | |||
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Ah !!!!! The brake pedal. |
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Living the dream,Chief instruktor and racing on the worlds best circuits-The Nordschleife and Spa.Getting to drive the worlds best cars-someone has to do it, so glad its me. |
21 Aug 2009, 20:29 (Ref:2525730) | #17 | ||
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As a kid I heard Graham Hill say he didn't have a favourite circuit, because that would mean by extension a least favourite which would immediately put him at a disadvantage there.
Thankfully us amateurs have the luxury of being slow at our least favourite. And we can pick and choose tracks. Eddy V's signature is "the older I get the faster I was." Think mine should be "the older I get, the more I like the big run offs!!!!!" Racing's only for fun, I expect to come home in one piece. I'm too old for bravado ;-) |
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22 Aug 2009, 07:24 (Ref:2525919) | #18 | |||
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I'm making this a new thread, starting with Simon H's post! |
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22 Aug 2009, 07:28 (Ref:2525924) | #19 | ||
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Good idea John.Whilst I understand Max'es point,I dont really think it's bravado as such,more like when getting a 'tricky' circuit right,there is more pleasure from it.
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Living the dream,Chief instruktor and racing on the worlds best circuits-The Nordschleife and Spa.Getting to drive the worlds best cars-someone has to do it, so glad its me. |
22 Aug 2009, 09:05 (Ref:2525979) | #20 | ||
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I'm sure this thread will run & run.....
I did a race at Mallory in 1989 when the Peugeot GTi Rally championship included a race there. As all the other events were stage rallies I didn't consider the circuit dangerous! I rolled the car into a ball in Yorkshire somewhere, and was genuinely scared of the speeds attained on the Manx rally, so I guess any circuit would have felt relatively safe! No-one has suggested Brands is unsafe, but it has seen at least 2 serious crashes during historic meetings this year, and Silverstone pitwall seems to feature in some unpleasant incidents too. I can see why Gerrards can produce some nasty impacts, but is it any more dangerous? |
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22 Aug 2009, 18:58 (Ref:2526219) | #21 | ||
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All uk circuits are massively safer than when I raced on them back in the seventies with acres of run of area and gravel traps replacing walls made of railway sleepers,however please dont ask for any more chicanes.Many of the nice fast circuits such as Combe ,Oulton, Snetterton ,have already be spoiled by these shunt creatars.It would be a great shame to see extra ones added to slow cars before the wonderfull fast corners at places like Mallory,Truxton,Croft,Brands GP. We all have a choice as to how hard we push and where.If the circuits are without challenge whats the point?
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22 Aug 2009, 20:14 (Ref:2526248) | #22 | ||
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Exactly the point. Most circuits were laid out to prove a challenge for car and driver.
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Living the dream,Chief instruktor and racing on the worlds best circuits-The Nordschleife and Spa.Getting to drive the worlds best cars-someone has to do it, so glad its me. |
22 Aug 2009, 20:52 (Ref:2526258) | #23 | ||
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I have only left the track at a very few circuits and have been lucky every time. Among them are Snetterton and Cadwell but my excursions have been at locations I would not regard as dangerous in the context of those circuits. That said I think Cadwell's Hall Bends are now less intimidating than when the banks were close and solid, does that now make the hairpin more dangerous because people arrive faster?
Dave |
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22 Aug 2009, 22:36 (Ref:2526300) | #24 | |||
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Actually, I would expand on this and say that a lot of the 'big' circuits are now safer than even 10 years ago, especially for us in Historic cars.
Having rolled my previous Alfa into a battered mess at Paddock at Brands, (and I quite agree with John when he says this colours your view of a circuit - took me 6 years to feel safe enough to race at Brands again!), my accident was caused by (well, apart from driving like a t5*t), the sideways momentum of a spin coupled with skinny historic tyres, and a deep gravel trap. Now a lot of said corners (Paddock is one, Copse at Silverstone another that springs to mind) have been converted to large grass runoff areas, they definitely feel safer to this Historic driver! Weirdly, although I am a complete chicken when it comes to risk-taking (I'd rather bring myself and the car back in one piece), my two favourite circuits to drive are Pau and Chimay! In the UK, my least favourite circuit from a safety point of view is probably also Mallory, mainly for the shunting possibilities before the hairpin (Alfas are thankfully, nicely balanced round Gerrards), followed by Goodwood (I love driving the circuit, but always feel the SuperShell building appears just a little too quickly!). Saying that, I'm at Thruxton in a couple of weeks, and always try not to remind myself that an accident on the back section means you probably won't stop till the A303...! Quote:
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22 Aug 2009, 23:55 (Ref:2526334) | #25 | ||
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I have experienced wet grass and concluded that, at best, it offers about the same grip as sheet ice. |
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