Summer or Winter

[gsr]

i would much rather race vipers in the winter wether its muddy or not,, i didnt build a shed queen so whatever it takes to maintain the bikes will be done,, but it seems as though most of the viper population would rather ride during summer so why not try having a few practice days this summer and see how it goes??? the only problems i can see are the total fire ban days and the clubs that close for the most of summer but i suppose you could get around it by starting off around mid feb having a couple of months off during the wettest times and starting up again in sept that way we would all have plenty of time to do any repairs needed in the middle of the season and not have to rush to source parts and get them expressed to you in a week and slap them on the night before a race  either way the majority votes will win,, but there is no way in hell you will see me on a mx track in temperatures above 30deg 
Alex

[D project]

Like most others I would prefer the warmer months. It's easier to wash off dust than mud and beer always seems to taste better at the end of the day ;)The Viper crew has given us a good calender this year,with plenty of time in between the meetings. Warmer weather would encourage more riders to have a go,instead of looking at the forecast for rain and saying "carn't be stuffed''. We always have the regulars that support us, but it would be great to see some new faces. I can see Bill and Micks point about the distance,don't think I would do it either, if I was living in Bendigo.. Would it be worth taking a pole as to which tracks would be the favorites/best attended. I know mine would be Monza, Blue Rock ,Ravenswood, Wonthaggi, Barabool Yanakie/Yarram. I know some of these may not be possible but it's nice to dream
Jason.

[Suzukal]

Just a few points…

   Most other years, we’ve only had the odd wet crappy meeting but this year has been a beauty for wetness.

   Having races in feb/march sounds good, but try getting clubs to commit to holding a round prior to that year, it’s not going to happen. You have to wait for the first/second/third club meeting when most of the members are back to talk about it. Then you work out dates that won’t clash with everything else that’s on, when you finally get things organised, it’s almost april/may.

   Racing in spring/autumn is only possible if the clubs have those days available. Most of them don’t. The dates revolve around them, their club days, the Gippsland centre, the Vic Enduro series, the Four day, Hattah, mother/fathers day, the grand final, Bathurst, Phillip Island GP.

   If you have a six races series ( both Viper & VCM does), two a month, May, June, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec by the time you get to the end, it’s too hot & people are thinking about the work break-up & Xmas holidays. People tend to forget, when it’s cold, you want to ride in the heat but when it’s hot, you want to ride in the wet.

   I’d rather wash dust then mud, no piles of mud to clean out of the drains afterwards, no thrashed plastics, chains, riding gear, stuffed washing machines.
I don’t like the wet, cold, windy, crappy days racing, but I also don’t want to ride in summer when it’s 30’. That’s when you go water ski-ing ...or surfing??

   Watering tracks when it’s hot wouldn’t be a problem this year but in previous years, tracks weren’t allowed to use the water ( restrictions). One club has a problem with dust and will water the track in winter if there’s any thought of dust so racing when it’s hotter will have the water truck out every two races. Viper has 39 races to get through, if you add in every half hour with the water truck, the day starts getting long. Tracks that only have hoses are worse. You can’t get flaggies on race days and getting volunteers to water is worse.


   “Nothing wrong with twisting the throttle and having a dice, but leave the serious race face at home or go race moderns”. 
I hope you remember this and move over the next time when someone wants to get past.

    I have to stop now before I get carried away…..

[motomaniac]

  LOL Al ,you already got carried away but good job .You saved me having to write something like all that.
I remember last round of VIPER in Oct a few years ago had a low turnout as some of the guys went to Phillip Island instead. It came up in conversation that maybe the season shouldn't go past Grand Final weekend. Like you said you got Footy ,Bahurst,the Island,Cupday Weekend then the silly season ,xmas ,holidays etc etc.
As for watering a dry track ,that sounds easy but unless you stop the races to water you end up having to water sections during racing which isn't good . Do recall someone we know slipping off at Ravo a while back and he wasnt impressed and neither was the flaggy watering the track when he copped the abuse.

I dont like all the cleaning up after a mud race either but its been an interesting season so far and all good fun. My only request is that these guys not racing for the sheep station(where isit actually?) back off and let me take a few more holeshots

[FDR]

Winter for me, slip and slide & more importantly no dust.

Most guys i see at the races are unfit & overweight, racing in the warmer months will lead to riders getting badly dehydrated, some will require a mica unit.

Natural terrain events in warmer weather simply don't work, no water to keep dust down.

 

[Davey Crocket]

Maybe a silly idea, but why dont you guy's have your own track....ie...farmer Joe's at woop woop or whatever and then you have a permanent home....not so much at the mercy of other clubs....shit, there's plenty of beautiful places in Vic, shorely some farmer or greenie would/could donate a paddock to you guy's to build on....get some money from the Casino and whalah....she's cooking....put in the cafe/bar/restroom....just a thought...or is it more about racing on the old tracks?.....Summer racing for old guy's is fraut with danger...you'll be doing 1 lap race's (and upsetting worms) and usually 1 month either side of Xmas is too hard.....you'll never please everyone and this year even up here we've had a shitload of rain (so much for global warming...our winters been the coldest for years aswell)...it's always gonna be a hard one....even though it's summer, I reckon a first race day of the year would be awesome on Australia Day....more of a laid back day though, not too serious....maybe some fun races/relay etc...tell me to shut up if I'm rambling......(GMC has some awesome hills )

[bigk]

Looks like it's golf clubs for me then. Now Mr Stein, given that you have just put on public record that you prefer to ride in mud & slop, what were the reasons for NOT getting on the track at both Blue Rock & Monza again? I seem to recall a couple of Suzuki's which didn't make the track either Al? I'm still cleaning frickin clay off bikes from Monza!
K

[FDR]

K-Man never mentioned slop just slip & slide.
I have the clubs ready, when do the lessons start ?
Be warned you may get wet feet playing golf.

[motomaniac]

.farmer Joe's at woop woop or whatever and then you have a permanent home....not so much at the mercy of other clubs....shit, there's plenty of beautiful places in Vic, shorely some farmer or greenie would/could donate a paddock to you guy's to build on....get some money from the Casino and whalah....she's cooking....put in the cafe/bar/restroom....just a thought...or is it more about racing on the old tracks?.

we had an event just like that last weekend .It was wet on the ground the track was awesome and it was a great day.
The established tracks are good too but what can happen is that they need to be groomed for the oldbikes since thet get so much modern bike use and get very cut up.After grooming there's usually a layer of loose dirt around the track that just turns to slop when it rains on the day. not much you can do about a situation like that.

[kaw440]

clean air filters every moto, top end rebuilds to hot for poor old air cooled motors , people complaining about dust no one wants to water the track let alone do corner marshall , dehydrated riders cannot finish races so you see both seasons have pros and cons but the biggest problem is that the riders are not coming to race for what ever reason to cold and wet or to dry and hot this is the biggest problem that needs fixing

[Graeme M]

I have to admit not going to many races this year. I've been waiting for the right conditions. For me, that's a temp between 16 and 22, on a nice natural terrain track without any silly jumps, on a sunny day but not too sunny so there's not too much dust, at an event that's no more than 20 minutes drive away with decent fields to make it worthwhile. I think the problem is that the organisers just aren't listening to what the riders want... 

[Viper65]

well i don't know what the problem is... look at this beautiful sunny warm weather
was going to head over to castlemain for the viper meet tomorrow but it was cancelled - still not sure why
so i am off to toolleen for their club day just a short distance away
perfect riding weather!