Hayes Results

KevinJ wrote: it does not seem unreasonable that people take a couple of minutes of time to check them on the day.  That way the result is finalised at the event! ...  Maybe we can find a standard way of displaying these so people know where to look?

Kevin - Having on-the-spot results is one of the best things to happen since I started going to BHPC races (and I'm sure the long-suffering Larry the Legs will agree). However it will take a race or two for people to get used to quibbling on the day and a regular arrangement would help, eg an announcement at the start of the race along the lines of 'The results will be available from the 'Race Control' car 15 minutes after the end of the race - please take a copy and check your placing.'

Re: race numbers/length. I personally prefer 40 min to 30 min races, and I agree with DavidH that the Hayes track could cope with larger numbers (whereas Preston probably can't). However, I'm more than happy to let the organisators do what they're (not) paid to do, and am only commenting  since you invited comments.

AndrewS

We've had the same trouble at Lancaster, Alan, especially on Cyclefest years, when you get a lot of newcomers. It's easy to end up with too many in the last race. Probably best to put slightly more in the fast races as although speeds are higher they tend to be experienced racers.

I don't think Preston is too bad - it's fairly narrow but has very few blind corners and a good surface.

Geoff

Maybe the way to go is to keep a log of these experiences and use them for the following year.  I.e. number of entrants and the number of races (what happened and what was right/wrong) so that we can learn from them.  We should at least keep a log of what we see as max race numbers/track as a basis for the next race.

As for the race results - I agree we need a place for the results where people know where to go .  If that is the whiteboard then great.

I think that we should make it clear at the races, post the results at the races and resolve any issues at the time.

I will say that at the last race with 50 odd people it is hard enough organising the races in any case however with people constantly turning up/wanting to change races/etc it certainly makes it harder.

One thing that became evident is that that timing and the administration should be completely separate things/people/laptops/whatever.  It is almost impossible for people to do both (you get to the point of collecting times, when preparing for the next race and that is all too much of a rush).  It might mean that you can get the races closer together as well!

Thanks for all the comments on the races.  I'll try and keep a log of the races this year and the experiences so that we can use it as a basis for next year.

The number of races is a strange balance of safety, fun of riding, fun of watching, ease of going home, etc.  I still think we need to make more of the events so that people don't rush home as soon as they have finished and make a day of it. Not saying I know what to do to make this happen and I know people travel a long way and need to get back home, but that also means that it is a long way to travel for just a short race.

 

Instructions...

Possibly a trouble-shooting guide?

Spare battery?

Something to shade the screen... Tricky to see what you are up to on a bright day.

Don't know what the official time for Car battery life is but it was running from about 10:30 till the end (3:30 ish) so 6 hours on 1 car battery (Mondeo, courtesy of Howard) and the car seemed to start at the end of it.  That powered the laptop and I do admit that we only kept the printer on when required (sensible in any case).  So I would expect for most races it would be OK.  Although the computer will work off the battery, it is almost impossible to run it on full screen brightness and in daylight that is unusable!

I haven't looked into alternative battery sources.  I might try using a 12 volt battery (like one for an alarm) and seeing how long it will last.