The Rat to Race in NZ this weekend

[Tracy]

Hi All

Just read in the local paper that Paul Radisich will race at Manfeild on Sunday in the final round of the NZ V8 touring car championship.

He flies into Auckland today, then will be down at Manfeild in time for qualifying tomorrow. He will drive Peter Butlers falcon (number 800). It says a decision will be made tonight on how many of Sunday's races he will drive in (out of 3 races).

Could make the final round of the championship interesting, since the 5 leading drivers could all win it!

[Jack racer]

Interesting so he will block for Mark pederson. And probably have a go at taking Anderson out

[Antrodemus]

Yeah, last time i looked pederon's car still had 'Radisich' on the window from the 500 at ruapuna last year.

[Tracy]

Originally posted by Jack racer
Interesting so he will block for Mark pederson. And probably have a go at taking Anderson out

Oh well, as long as he doesn't take out John McIntyre I don't mind

[Warwick]

The last few times I've seen the cars at Manfield on TV they seemed to be running reverse circuit,I thought the circuit was normally used clockwise?

[Tracy]

The circuit was used anti-clockwise last time because it is safer for the trucks that way apparently (and it means that the V8's have sort-of 7 tracks instead of 6). This weekend it is back to normal clockwise direction - YAY (easier to see the cars to time them)!

Now all we need is the drought to hold for 2 more days (we've had no significant rain this year), although it is supposed to rain (well, it may only be showers hopefully).

[rocket]

good stuff at least he goes back to NZ a few times a year to race, a better effort than the other kiwis that race here in OZ

[Tracy]

Ok, he has been spotted at the track, but I don't think he has done any laps in the car (well, no-one told us in timekeeping of a change of driver anyway). Apparently he can still race, but will have to start at the back of the grid.

Rocket - yep, I agree, would be great to see Murph etc. race back here like the Rat does.

[Jack racer]

He ran the last race and went from last to 8th. Was to do with the contract with yellow pages.

[RaceTime]

Originally posted by Tracy
(well, no-one told us in timekeeping of a change of driver anyway).

Are they still using stop watches for timing at Manfeild or have you moved up in the world to the 21st century yet

http://racetime.com.au/images/timing1.jpg
http://racetime.com.au/images/timing2.jpg
http://racetime.com.au/images/timing3.jpg

[Tracy]

Originally posted by RaceTime
[B]Are they still using stop watches for timing at Manfeild or have you moved up in the world to the 21st century yet

No - thank goodness We have a computerised system since I've been there, and for major championship rounds we even have transponders Now all we need is the flash new building to be built and things will be great

[RaceTime]

Ahhh yes - the computer timing system:

http://racetime.com.au/images/timing4.jpg
http://racetime.com.au/images/timing5.jpg

Tried to get Manfeild to change over 3 years ago to an all transponder system - no-go - the 'current system' was more than adequate!

As for the other NI circuits - Taupo - well they didn't know what a computer was and Pukekohe....all I can say there is that they wouldn't pay a cent towards any timing system - they wanted the V8 organisers to pay for everything....

[Tracy]

Well, the computer system can't be that bad - the times were very close to the transponder ones. There was a query about one of the times on the transponders from the clerk of course, we checked on our system, and our time was only 5/1000th's of a second different. We were pretty pleased with that, and the time stood .

Until Manfeild gets some pretty heavy investors, I doubt there will be transponders permanently (although the loops are there obviously). Since motorsport is such a minority here, I doubt it will be anytime soon.

[RaceTime]

5/1000th's second accuracy from a computer based system? Me thinks someone is fiddling the time base of the computer!

Anyway - it doesn't have to cost the track itself more than $6-7,000 maximum if they implement it properly - so why they are delaying I have no idea as, again if it was done properly, it could actually be used to generate income during the week at test sessions...

[Jack racer]

The time keeping for the first manfield round was done on the vidio camera and some times where half a second diffent from the dash. Manfield badly needs money spending, even my home town kart track has transponders. But the time keepers are not to blame so don't bite tracy

[Tracy]

Umm.. not biting - just correcting the timing at the first round was done on the usual system, just not at the usual timing point as the cars were way too close to the wall and we couldn't see them!

Anyway, since I am not privy to any discussions on money spending I have not idea what they are planning about anything! Although I got the impression that the transponders were really expensive (like $400 each??? - all I know is they were pretty annoyed when one was temporarily lost), so even hiring for a weekend was costing a few thousand? Could be wrong tho, just a figure a heard the other day!

[RaceTime]

Transponders (AMB) are valued between $350 and $500 - depending on who is selling them and what markup they put on them.

But - as we had the same arguments in Australia back in 1993 - what price do you put on accurate timing? When electronic timing was introduced here the first thing that was stopped by it were the disputes and arguments.

Competitors will spend $1000 a meeting to continue racing just on tyres if they believe in it - yet they won't spend a once off $400 for a timing transponder which, if they decide to leave the sport, can be sold to another competitor - try doing that with used tyres....

Not having a go at you tracey - but I have heard this argument for nearly 10 years about the cost of timing gear - competitors (and organisers) seem quite prepared to let someone else spend $,000's equiping themselves - they are also very very quick to jump down their throat when something goes wrong but are not prepared to help themselves by buying their own $400 transponders.

[GTRMagic]

Maybe they should be made compulsory in various series regulations, like Supercar has done with their incar cameras....

[Crash Test]

I your point is fair and well for most competitors (i'll pay 99% who race reularly), but there was one bloke on the weekend who spent a grand total of $1000 on building a new HQ, then has to buy a timer... it's a bit of a laugh when 40% of the car is spent on the dorian! It's this end of the sport that gets knocked around by all of the BS, like having to replace belts every couple of years, rising entry fees etc etc.

[Tracy]

Hi All

I agree that the more accurate the timing the better, but it seems that here in NZ the tracks have the transponders and the cars use them for the weekend (could be wrong, but all the classes were lining up to get them, so I guess they don't have their own - although in saying that they all seem to have some type of timing system in the cars by the amount of equipment in pit lane).

Stop squabbles over timing - NAAAAH, not here, there were still various queries over times for the classes that did have transponder timing on the weekend!

After all, what would the CRO's do without having to run up and down the steps all day??

[RaceTime]

Originally posted by Crash Test
I your point is fair and well for most competitors (i'll pay 99% who race reularly), but there was one bloke on the weekend who spent a grand total of $1000 on building a new HQ, then has to buy a timer... it's a bit of a laugh when 40% of the car is spent on the dorian! It's this end of the sport that gets knocked around by all of the BS, like having to replace belts every couple of years, rising entry fees etc etc.

But there are alternatives and, besides, every one is in the same boat.

There are transmitters available for hire - I regularly hire them out ($55 plus shipping) a weekend - all he has to do is contact me. I often send them interstate so there really isn't any excuse.

Besides - if anyone wants to really get technical - the book says DATA-1 or no race...

BTW - you still haven't answered your PM.....

[RaceTime]

Originally posted by Tracy
Hi All

I agree that the more accurate the timing the better, but it seems that here in NZ the tracks have the transponders and the cars use them for the weekend (could be wrong, but all the classes were lining up to get them, so I guess they don't have their own - although in saying that they all seem to have some type of timing system in the cars by the amount of equipment in pit lane).

Tracey,

The transponders in NZ are owned by a guy from Christchurch (can't recall his name right now) - he hires them out to the track.

And yes - they do have their own systems - but there are numerous problems with them - the two primary ones being that they read out in the car only and - this one is a doozy and takes a good timekeeper to work it out without being told about it - wait till two beacons are placed at each end of the pit wall on the same channel - the competitor will regualrly claim the Official Timing System is slow because his in car 'infallible' system is recording times consistently 1-3 seconds a lap quicker than the official timekeepers! (Let me know when you work this one out...)

[Jack racer]

Shouldn't happen most won't read twice within 7-10secs. We get charge for the transponders in our entry fee and it has happen at at least 1 round of the summer series for the past few years we have to pay double to get them. And they didn't even put the transponders on the cars the time they where doing them with stop watches. We would be happy to buy our own if everyone agreed to it. If the times are out we have taken our dash times up and had them change the results.

[Crash Test]

Sorry, I didn't seem to get any PM. I've asked around the staff, and nothing has happened recently, some people who have always had problems are still having problems, but everyone else seems to be able to get notifications no problems.

A little aside to everything, this weekend there is a short circuit race meeting out at Morgan Park. The entry fee for the day is something stupid like $65, and you get an absolute truck load of racing... how long before someone finds out about this and ups the permit fee by a few hundred per cent?

[Warwick]

Most onboard systems will work on more than one beacon which is how you do split times,but the better onboard models you can program a delay from when the first beacon is tripped until they will read again so they dont pick up any others,and some also come with a extra display that can go on pit wall for the crew.

Guy in Christchurch is probably Dennis Chapman,I think he owns a set,Bike guys have the same setup Tim Gibbes owns them and leases and runs them at national meetings but is encouraging guys to buy there own transponders.

As far as facilites for timing,pits,track surface NZ is behind the times and most circuits need a serious upgrade,hopefully the Taupo and Manfield upgrades will go ahead which will be a good start,then they just have to bulldoze Pukekohe and build a real track instead.