Blyton, 1st corner is it Safe ?

[Poultry]

I chose not to race last weekend at Blyton. (I marshalled instead)

Blyton has never been kind to me.

In the four times I have raced there, I have come away with damage on each occasion.

OK if you can't afford to write it off you shouldn’t be out there, but I think the policy Blyton has of lining the first corner with those half-ton bails of tyres is dangerous. It might as well be a brick wall!!

There is limited run off area to say the least. If you make a mistake that is it ouch!!

Am I alone in my dislike of this track.?

The first corner at Knock Hill, Croft, Pembry, Lydden,etc seems much wider and safer.

Phil

[silver bullet]

No you are not alone, Blyton is my least favourite track for a few reasons.

The trouble with the bales of tyres is, there is no give. If you hit a normal tyre wall there is quite a bit of give and you seem to bounce off. The tyre bales at Blyton seem to drag you in. At least one car has to be re-shelled after contact with them last weekend.
A little bit of redesigning and Blyton could be a great track, but at the moment it's a one line power circuit that has a tendency to wreck cars.

[Pug620]

Well I have to disagree i think blyton is a great track !

Allright it can be a little hard on the car at the first corner but i have never hit anything except a little rubbing when we all squeze together its all about racing within your limits and their is plenty of overtaking places 2nd corner , back section or out braking in to the 3rd corner

Dont blame the track if you go too fast into the first corner its just at the other circuits their is run off areas were if you do forget to brake you can get away with it.

All so Knockhill i take the first coner as the chicane onto the loose plenty of tyres their and not much space !!

Marty

[Barney]

leave blyton alone. it is a very fast track and so you need to drive within your limits. not change the track because it does'nt suit your driving

[HrRACING]

Agree 100% with Barney. First time at Blyton last weekend, and loved it!

[MiniMadness]

How about running Blyton in reverse ?

Therefore it would cutout the chicane as being the first corner. Comments please.

[flagwaver]

Silver Bullet, if you look around most circuits now, you will notice that tyre barriers are being replaced in areas where they are likely to be hit. The reason for this is that as you have said you bounce off tyre walls (often straight into the path of other cars). By using things that take some of the energy, but do not push you back out. This includes things like Recticel, large straw bales, crash barriers, concrete walls (although they do not yeild, they do not tend to push you out) & yes large bales of tyres.
As with any safety system/device it doesn't work in all situations, it is a question of risk assessment. Someting that you do as a driver, hopefully.
eg. how fast you take a corner, will be determind (one hopes) by the angle of the bend, road conditions the car you are driving and your own ability (or lack of it) etc.

[silver bullet]

flagwaver, I have no problems with crash barriers, concrete walls or straw bales. If you give them a glancing blow you just get a little panel damage, and not much more, but the tyre bales seem to drag you in causing excess damage.

Marty & Barney, most of the carnage that happens at the first corner is not due to people not driving within their ability, its normally due to trying to avoid the cars in front who have been doorhandling, spining etc. The people causing the accident normally get away without much damage, and the people following end up in the tyre bales or upside down on the infield.

The changes I would like to see at Blyton IMHO would make the track better and not take anything away from the speed or character of the circuit.
1. The big loose right hander in front of the spectator banking, I would make the base on the outside round towards the exit more compacted, at the moment its very soft and their only one line if you go off line you get bogged down. It should be more like Chessons at Lydden or Samson at Croft where there are several lines and lots of overtaking.
2. The corner at the finish line needs to be more defined, rolls of tyres to replace the plastic pipes stuck into the concrete. People are constantly cutting the corner.
3. The infamous first corner, slightly alter it so on the first lap there's a little more room on the inside, but leave the outside where it is so it is still a corner on susequent laps.

Blyton has loads of potential, there is room for many tweaks to the layout, and running it anticlockwise could be worth a try.

[bigted]

And lets not forget to sweep the straight clean with a proper sweper once in a while to get rid of all the settled dust from over the years.

[Twin Airbags]

I have picked up many car parts from the corner in question, many from just minor spins which the competitor would normally be able to continue racing from.

Phil has a point - despite his personal connections with the tyre wall in question!!

The bails of tyres at the bottom of the spectator banking have NO give what so ever. I know they are there for the protection of the spectators, and they do their job and Catch Vehicles! But you don't expect a driver to have a slight spin, to have a nudge into the tyres (what should have some give), and be expected to take their car home in pieces. Yes you would expect some body damage, but not a reshell job! Maybe a row of softer bails on the track side, just in front of the tyres would help? I know its more work for circuit staff and for us marshalls if a car has contact in them. But surely drivers would agree that delays in time taken to rebuild bails in a race, would be better that having to rebuild a rallycross car!!

[Guisbro Rod H]

First priority is to protect the marshals, I often take post 3 after the first corner and have had a car parked ON MY post. Now we have some tyre bails at post 3. Marshals are behind that first corner after the start. - Post 2

That does not prevent the smaller loose bags of tyres that were used to define the track edge on Sunday. These could be used where suggested by "Twin Airbags" and would hopefully eliminate serious damage to cars. The big blocks of tyres could act as secondary protection and that for marshals.

If we eliminated corner 1 after the start lap then it will become a Supercar drag race on big meetings. Lets consider the junior classes such as Junior RallyX, just look at http://www.rallyxpics.com/photo.php?pid=7374 and the subsequent pictures where a car finished on its roof and others in this so competitive class were broken and unable to restart. Other sources of pictures may be available elsewhere. Is the problem a double bend or just 3 or 4 abreast into the first corners?

Is the problem that it is a double bend forces somebody wide who then becomes the apex on the second part of the corner? The run off becomes the field is we make it a simple left-hander. Whereas other circuits such as Croft has a simple right hand corner (subsequently spoiled by a mini chicane) Carnage occurs on finals at Croft's first corner, so it may not be corner geometry. Last Sunday the entrance to this corner from the start was opened up by the CoC to make it more of just a left-hander.

I would need to drive the course WD (gently) to comment on the suggestion to run in reverse, but the wonderful tightening corner from the back straight would become a simple opening blast / drag. Marshalling Posts 1 & 3 might not have cars passing both sides as per Sunday which would be so boring.

[rallycrosscraig]

I'd agree, have only done two rounds of the BRDA there and both were carnage, in one weekend I think 5 cars were written off.

Why were they written off?
Simply because those solid tyre 'barriers' will trash your car if you get pushed off, and lets face it theres always a fair chance of getting pushed off on the first corner in rallycross!

I liked the circuit, fast and really flows nicely. But don't think I'd take a car back there just because of the risk of hitting one of them.

[flagwaver]

Written off is a bit strong & I can not think of any meeting at Blyton when 5 cars were written off & certainly not all cars that were damaged were damaged on the first corner.

[rallycrosscraig]

I was there racing and saw the carnage, probably still have the video too. July 2001 or 2002. Was not all at the first corner though, some at the right hander at the end of the straight aw well, mainly due to people pushing each other off in minicross and stockhatch.