RATE the Track Addix GP weekend at MAM

[Jeff]

Just wanted to get everyone's take and see how you liked the weekend from a company/organization perspective.

[Jack_Brock]

I'd say excellent if we are taking into account that this is their first attempt.

They certainly had a few curve balls thrown at them and dealt with them well.  They do have a few kinks to work out, but I believe Track Addix may end up being the new standard for race organizations.  Congrats on a job well done, and I look forward to running the series.

[Jeff]

From my perspective I thought it was "good".

Things I liked:
Transponder/Timing/scoring system was very nice.  Cool to see the fast lap time on the race results
All day Saturday practice ROCKED!
Pre-entry allowing us to pay gate fee & everything

Things that could use improvement:
Race calls need to be consistent.  Give name & race number (middleweight GP, race 15 first call, etc).
Race results need to go up much faster.  4 hours is a long time to wait for results.
Number board for meatball flag needs to be larger.  I knew it was me but couldn't find the number posted for 3 laps.  Finally saw it in about 4"- 6" numbers.  That's pretty small at +100mph.

Another thing I was not going to bring up on the board, but I guess I will...  I don't know how I feel about Dean actually racing in the series.  From my perspective, if you're the business owner, you need to be working and making sure everything runs smoothly, not out racing.  It brings about the thought of "hey, why is he racing instead of getting our results posted?".  Probably more of a personal professionalism thought than anything real serious, but it's something that I thought of over the weekend.

[Snacktime]

I thought things went well especially for the 1st event. I personally would like to see some races moved to Saturday, but I'm old and sore as hell today. 3rd calls need some work. Sitting out in the sun for 15-20min before a race is not a good thing.
He has shown that he is flexible with the schedule (ala canceling TC and extending practice due to the hurricane) and may make some changes in the future. As far as him racing in the series, he has always said this would be a race series run by racers. I think it would give him a good perspective on what's going well and not so well, and it's not like he's cleaning up  .
I talked with him yesterday and he wants as much feedback as possible. So send him an email on what you liked and didn't like.        -Snack

[tstruyk]

I cant comment on sunday as I was in Race #1 and was out the door... but here are my thoughts on everything else.

First and foremost, welcome to a "make sense" race series.  Although it affected me by canceling the TC due to weather and shifting to a full day of practice (MAM let us run late) it suited the majority... made sense.  Getting the trucks out to drive and dry the track got us a line early.  Running no sessions until the track filled... it was all well done.

Like I mentioned I have no idea how the sprints went on sunday as I was gone, but from a personal experience leading up to that it seemed like a very smooth weekend.  I really didnt notice anything different from a logistic stand point that wasnt addressed ahead of time.  

Only negatives that I experienced... couldnt pay our gate fee when we showed up, where allowed to enter if we left a CC or DL with the gate worker.  One of our guys was concerned with this as we needed CC to check into the hotel and DL to drive there... he reluctantly gave up his race liscense as "collateral".  I dont know what the solution would be (yeah I know, preregister)  not a big deal, just a slight inconvenience.  the only other negative I could see was having to pull the transponder bracket and return it as well.  talked with Kim about it briefly, the reasoning was understandable.  I think I'll just buy one... cant be more than $5-$6 bucks.

I dug the scoring, very easy to follow and read, scored by fastest time was easy to see where you where (in the back haha).  Didnt see results for my GT by the time we left, but we where gone when the GTO was running.

As for Dean racing in his series... I dont mind it so much.  As long as there is enough staff to cover him and we/the day dont suffer for it I'm ok with it.  Now him running 7- 8 classes might be an issue but I am thinking he mentioned just doing the F40??  

4 hours for results could be cleaned up...

Crash pick ups seemed effecient.

Very kind and courteous staff (thanks again for the pizza!!!), big thanks for the heads up when the storms where a rollin in!!

Overall I give it an 8 of 10.  Not a "perfect" weekend... but lets be honest, when is it!

[extrakt0r]

4 hours is a long time to wait for results.

Jeff, I like the idea of posting all morning race results at lunch and all afternoon race results at the end of the day and here is why...

What if you have back to back races? Or what if the results are posted when you are racing...

If you need to protest and/or contest a race if you know they will be posted at a certain time, then you can go at look at them...I know 95% of the time it will not be an issue, but just having the results posted one at a time, all day can cause confusion and could mess up a race result...

I believe the weekend went very well considering...

I like the flexability of the TA staff when we had the rain on saturday and they extended pratice...I don't know if CCS Forth Worth would be that flexabile, or any other org for that matter...

I DO NOT like all races on Sunday...I had a bike issue in one race that cause me to miss my final 3 cause we couldn't get it fixed fast enuf with every-other-races on Sunday...

I would be happy if they ran GT Races and a few sprints Saturday and then the rest on Sunday...

Race calls were very early, sometimes 3rd call was made when the crash truck was still in turn #3, leaving us sitting in hot leathers for a few minutes...

[chasespeed]

I thought everything went good, almost excellent.  Everyone was nice in the office and had all the paperwork straight, any questions I had they answered. Tech was fast and grids got posted in plenty of time for my races. I want to thank the corner workers for getting my bike up and on the crash truck for me. Looking forward to the next race!

[Jeff]

Mike, that's an interesting perspective...  If we knew when they would be up, then we could work around it...  In fact, I like that idea.  The only catch where I don't like it is that I don't want to wait around until after the last race to get results for a race I run right after lunch.  Dunno what the answer is.

As everyone (including myself) has mentioned though, it was a very well run weekend considering how much logistical garbage there is on a race weekend.  Well done guys.

[Sobottka]

i say extend the time to protest and post results asap and run a few races on sat. i found the t/a staff very friendly and helpful and love the "flexability". 8)

[extrakt0r]

It is going to be exciting in 2 weeks to compare TA CCS to FW CCS at Heartland Park...  8)

It will be fresh in everyone's mind the performance of TA and will be able to compare to FW really well...

On a different note, I was wondering if I had an isolated incident with my Transponder...

Zip-Tied to my fork, my Transponder managed to rotate it's self around the fork and get stuck between the ram-air duct on my R6 and the fork...Thus not allowing me to turn the bars to the right, and if anyone saw me slow down to like 2:00 laptimes in the MW race cause I couldn't figure out what was wrong, will know what I am talking about...

It was on really tight, but I proceded to duct tape it in place so it wouldn't move again... 

[tstruyk]

I had mine on the fork and it was tight enough not to move on its own yet loose enough that when I turned my front end the body work or the fairing stay would push it around the fork... not much room to mount these, may have to go hard wired, more room with those.

[racrx451]

As it was my second race ever.... I had a very good time and thought everything went pretty smooth... I watched a race where a guy lowsided coming out of turn 15, he tooe a second to gather himself and then got to his bike, picked it up and pushed it off before anybody yellow flagged it... soon after it was red flagged for another crash in turn 3.... The only things that I had a problem with were trying to hear 1st, 2nd and 3rd call from the the pits... (I know I can turn to 105.1 but I didn't have a radio).. and during the riders meeting Dean had asked if we needed to go over the flags (I didn't need to until I saw a waiving white for rolling the paramedics?????? All in all, I had a fun experience and Im looking forward to Blackhawk....

[Burt Munro]

Couple of things that could use some explanation......

I'll take some of the blame for the delay in getting you on the track after the 3rd call.... but some of it was unavoidable.

I had set up with the announcer to give 3rd call after the Checker went up - making it about 3 min for everyone to get the Checker and get back to the Pit In entrance.

Sounded OK in theory until we had somebody run out of gas on the cool down lap and in another race someone broke down on the cool down.

The ones I'll take the blame for were the couple of times where I didn't see that we had a bike to pick up because it was sitting beside a cornerworker stand.  I should have held the 3rd call on those till we were closer to having the bikes heading in.

On the last 3 races we had riders request a short break due to back to back races.  On those we started a 3 min clock when the last rider was off the track and then made the 3rd call.  

I was trying to take the heat into consideration as much as possible and the last thing I wanted was for you guys to be sitting out there too long.  

After all, you guys pay your money to race and expect things to go right - no excuse!

You also need to realize that nearly everybody involved in key positions this weekend had never actually been in the hot seat of doing their job before at a race event.  Registration, Grids, Timing/Scoring, Control, Announcer, Race Director and Asst Starter - this was their first shot at doing this LIVE!   They had observed at races before but this was for real and they were expected to do it right.   On top of that they were using new software for Registration and Scoring tied into the AMB transponders that none of us had seen before.

Big thanks need to go out to Bill and Claudia Ritger who came in to help out in Control and Pit Out.  And also to Amy and Sara in scoring and Bill Feuhrman to help oversee everything.

After all is said and done...... was it perfect? NO WAY!   Did it go pretty well, all things considered?  DAMN STRAIGHT IT DID!  And no reason to think it won't be better next time!

[tstruyk]

hey Rick!

Cool to hear some behind the scenes impressions!  that sounds about how I figured things went... a little wet behind the ears but all in all pretty smooth!!

2 things for you personally... your supposed to wink right before you drop the green... for that I am keeping your scanner. and second... I am still waiting for the beer!!   

Nice job this weekend, always a pleasure to see you out there!  You really do give a sheet how you do your job... its appreciated!

[Burt Munro]

It was on really tight, but I proceded to duct tape it in place so it wouldn't move again... 

Hey Mike.....  was it on so tight that it might still be on your bike?
As of late Sunday night I heard that it hadn't been turned in yet.

[Burt Munro]

Guess I need to work on my beer for return of scanner hostage protocol. 

But I came back with the beer and you guys had already headed out to your $250 a night hotel room

I was so upset that I ended up drinking it all myself!

[Burt Munro]

I watched a race where a guy lowsided coming out of turn 15, he tooe a second to gather himself and then got to his bike, picked it up and pushed it off before anybody yellow flagged it... soon after it was red flagged for another crash in turn 3....   

and during the riders meeting Dean had asked if we needed to go over the flags (I didn't need to until I saw a waiving white for rolling the paramedics??????

Good point on both issues.

I saw the bike go down just before he came onto the front straight too and couldn't believe how long it took to get a waving yellow out,  It was addressed with the cornerworkers - apparently they had heard the call go out for the bike down in #3 that caused the red flag and weren't giving 100% attention to their corner.  No excuse!

The fact that the track has white flags on the corners for an ambulance flag instead of white with a red cross was a problem.  I also heard at least one corner being corrected not to wave the white flag - hold it stationary. (I didn't have a standard ambulance flag on the starter stand either, so it made it fun when it was time for the white flag lap!)

[251am]

 Overall, I'd say it was excellent for their first shot. This is considering the weather situation, how the staff went out on carts to get all to batten down the hatches BEFORE it hit, and the quick resolution found at the Sat rider's meeting as to how the schedule situation could be handled, and a general consensus taken as well. The 3rd calls when the pick up truck was still en-route was a little frustrating, but hey, as was stated when is it perfect. I love that track. The different wind factor was quite a fun variable to try and gauge going into T1.      or        I liked it. Even with sleep deprivation and heat stroke!        

[extrakt0r]

Hey Mike.....  was it on so tight that it might still be on your bike?
As of late Sunday night I heard that it hadn't been turned in yet.

No, I turned it in as I left the track  8)

[LMsports]

I agree that the weekend went very well for an inaugural event for this organization. Their staff pulled together well and made things happen that kept the machine rolling all weekend long.

I noticed most of the same little things that were previously mentioned. If the results are randomly posted as they were this weekend it made it very hard to check them and file a protest if needed. I would check back regularly and not find results posted, then when they were and I saw them there they were already final. I think tech needs to be a little more organized. A set place that is not a race pit with someone working the tech station all the time to take care of supersport tech requirements etc. I did like that it was next to my pit though when I had to get tools to take my bike apart for them! And finally as was mentioned before, and I'm sure will get more polished as they go is the calls to grid.

On a positive note, the announcing was better than at most CCS events and I think a good announcer does a lot to add interest for participants and spectators alike. We had quite a few customers, friends, and family out this weekend and it was nice that an announcer helped them follow along with what was happening on track. Hopefully as the series progresses and the announcer gets to know the racers better there will be some entertaining commentary to go with calling the action. Some of my favorite aspects of watching Moto GP and World SBK on TV is the commentary, those guys really enjoy the racing and it shows. 

The registration was the smoothest I've had all year.

[Burt Munro]

Mike Simone

I sent you a PM.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

Something minor I thought could be changed is the grid sheets, I like to be able to see the NAMES of those on the grid along with their plate number. Unless you have everybodies plate number memorized you look at a grid sheet with a bunch of numbers on it and have little idea who you are racing against and where they are in relationship to you on the grid. Again, a very minor thing, but something I always liked about CCS grid sheets.

***The following is meant as an opinion and critique, not criticism***

As far as the announcing goes I somewhat disagree with the "entertaining commentary" as being a wanted addition. If the PA systems were set-up so the speakers near spectator areas broadcast the commentary, that would be great, but that's not the case at the majority of tracks. Instead what you have is the entire PA system broadcasting the announcements AND the commentary, this leads me personally to trying to 'tune out' the endless chatter while in the pits at SOME events - which also leads to not hearing calls for races occasionally. MAM has one of the worst PA systems, you are either getting blasted by one of the few speakers that are set to nose bleed level, or your not close enough to a speaker to hear the calls for anything (and yes the FM transmitter is REALLY cool). For me, when I'm at my pit, I only want to hear something from the PA when there's calls for races and such - the rest just gets annoying. I like to be at my pit with my freinds and be able to bench race, talk, or work on stuff without having to listen to every word coming out of the PA. I think what would be cool is to have the "commentary" broadcast on an FM transmitter or on a channel the scanners can pick-up, that way if you want to listen to it you can by choice, but it won't be annoying those that are not interested in listening to it AT THAT TIME.

This isn't aimed at the announcing at MAM this event, it's generalizations which I think would help make a more enjoyable experience/atmosphere at the track for all.

[PJ]

I'm with Mike on the commentary thing at MAM. While I agree, it's great to have a good announcer explaining what's happening on the track, it was so hard to hear in the MAM paddock that every time I heard the announcer say Ryan Hall, I thought he was saying 3rd Call! 

Congrats to the Track Addix team and the MAM safety crew. A fine job done by all. Yes, there will always be room for improvement (who among us has ridden the perfect race?) but it was a great overall effort. Keep it up.

[LMsports]

I can see your point, and it would definitely be nice to be able to have someone that announces over a seperate bandwidth that would be broadcast to the stands etc. The main reason for having more commentary though is to make the racing more entertaining for fans. The more entertaining it is, the more fans will attend. With more fans comes more sponsor support and cheaper racing for you and me. It has to start somewhere.

[Jeff]

One area where I will give this announcer HUGE KUDOS is in the numbering of the calls. 

First call and Third call can sound a LOT alike with background noise.  So for him to have the experience to say "First call race X, call number ONE race X" was wonderful.

I did go and have Claudia ask him to give the race number along with the class name so that I knew where I was at in the schedule.  He immediately complied which was great.

You could tell he was a car guy though since we were all in the "pits" instead of paddock, and racing "divisions" instead of classes. LOL...