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marko

Question regarding Tapes

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I noticed at Arena on Friday they only had a single piece of tape on the starting gate, and that was not exactly very taught, is this something new for the 2018 season or was this a one off where maybe they forgot to order some tape and only had one bit to hand?

Starting gate tape has always been two lengths of tape joined by droppers at various points.

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Perhaps Nillsson has taken them as down payment :P

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9.3  A Starting Gate, operated solely by the Referee, shall support easily breakable 2 or 3 cotton
tapes (not rayon, nylon, plastic or other material that may cause injury to a rider colliding with
them) that are tightly stretched across the track and directly above the Start / Finish line, which
must be clearly marked at all times. The lowermost tape must be between 50cm and 60cm
above ground level when in the down position. The tapes shall be attached with rubber bands
as loose metal hooks are not permitted.

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Personally I would like to see some thought given to an alternative to the tapes for starting races. With one televised race last season taking four attempts to get started it doesn't really help much towards attracting new fans to our sport. I wonder how many potential newcomers to speedway might have been watching that race, got fed up waiting for it to start and just switched off watching on TV or left the stadium.  But I would be surprised if many fans would vote to change the starting method as speedway is a bit set in its ways sometimes, as per the hullabaloo when the world championship changed to a GP system. 

Edited by macinter

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3 hours ago, macinter said:

Personally I would like to see some thought given to an alternative to the tapes for starting races. With one televised race last season taking four attempts to get started it doesn't really help much towards attracting new fans to our sport. I wonder how many potential newcomers to speedway might have been watching that race, got fed up waiting for it to start and just switched off watching on TV or left the stadium.  But I would be surprised if many fans would vote to change the starting method as speedway is a bit set in its ways sometimes, as per the hullabaloo when the world championship changed to a GP system. 

Most of the problems at the start are nothing to do with the tapes, they are invariably caused by the riders trying to jump the start. Whatever method of starting you have, there will always be a few problems as long as riders try to jump the start. 

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3 hours ago, E I Addio said:

Most of the problems at the start are nothing to do with the tapes, they are invariably caused by the riders trying to jump the start. Whatever method of starting you have, there will always be a few problems as long as riders try to jump the start. 

...I remember when the tape touching rule was introduced there were those who complained about slipping clutches drawing riders into the tapes until Pete Adams commented (tongue in cheek) that by replacing the tapes with barbed wire one would soon see how often riders would suffer with that particular problem!

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7 hours ago, macinter said:

Personally I would like to see some thought given to an alternative to the tapes for starting races. With one televised race last season taking four attempts to get started it doesn't really help much towards attracting new fans to our sport. I wonder how many potential newcomers to speedway might have been watching that race, got fed up waiting for it to start and just switched off watching on TV or left the stadium.  But I would be surprised if many fans would vote to change the starting method as speedway is a bit set in its ways sometimes, as per the hullabaloo when the world championship changed to a GP system. 

Why not put them in traps, just like greyhounds.  Then no need for tapes, therefore no false starts!!!! 

For the more serious amongst you out there .................... I JEST!!!!!

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I don't think you can beat Chris Durno and his elastic band with a spanner tied on the end!

Nobody ever jumps the start then! :D

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16 hours ago, Stainlesssteelride said:

Of  course you jest, you clearly know horse racing stools would be far better.

With horse crap  being thrown up behind the rider the start marshall will not be very popular  :shock: 

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On 27/03/2018 at 2:43 PM, E I Addio said:

Most of the problems at the start are nothing to do with the tapes, they are invariably caused by the riders trying to jump the start. Whatever method of starting you have, there will always be a few problems as long as riders try to jump the start. 

Is a jump start a perfect start ?

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