Swindon V Somerset Bank Holiday Monday At 5.00

[keef robin 551]

Perhaps if the new hi-tech stadium had a plethora of caravanette covers it might work, fair play to Berwick for trying covers, they don't get many fans so it must be a big expense for them.

Speedway and cricket are so exposed to the vagaries of the English weather, where in summer it rains 1 in 3 days. April is normally the driest month. The track staff do an excellent job.

It's frustrating for the club, staff, fans,and riders when a meeting is called off as theres so little racing as it is. A lot of money lost.

Perhaps the fixtures have been planned as they are because the club thought they would be moving into new stadium around now, and all the disruption with the building work?

Edited May 30, 2017 by beefy keefy

[A ORLOV 8,628]

Perhaps if the new hi-tech stadium had a plethora of caravanette covers it might work, fair play to Berwick for trying covers, they don't get many fans so it must be a big expense for them.

They want to put a roof on it, that would solve the problem, a bl##dy great umbrella would do.

[keef robin 551]

They want to put a roof on it, that would solve the problem, a bl##dy great umbrella would do.

 

That's why Cardiff is a great venue for the GP. I live near The Abbey but some others have to travel a fair way.

[Najjer 2,890]

If they were like the covers that are on the side of campervans that roll up into a holder behind the safety fence at the press of a button then they would be quick and easy to pull out and put away.

 

That well known invention called 'tarpaulin' - readily available on ebay (I bought some myself the other day!) and other places. I seem to remember I priced it up for a speedway track when someone said it would cost too much and it was around the £2,000 - £2,500 mark from memory. Hardly ground breaking.

[allthegearbutnaeidea 1,735]

 

That well known invention called 'tarpaulin' - readily available on ebay (I bought some myself the other day!) and other places. I seem to remember I priced it up for a speedway track when someone said it would cost too much and it was around the £2,000 - £2,500 mark from memory. Hardly ground breaking.

Spot on and it is reported that a club makes a loss of more than that per home rain off, at Berwick it was thunder, lightning and hailstones until around 6.20, so 40 minutes before scheduled tapes up, when I went in at 5 to 7 they was just finishing picking the covers up and then proceeded to sort the track out with first race starting at 20 past. Berwick is the only track doing covers and they are doing them successfully, away riders are all shocked and very impressed with it and our team captain helps to lay them down, as long as the rain has stopped 30mins before start time there is no excuses. Just prepare the track as you would in the morning water it then put the covers down and secure them before the rain starts, then proceed to lift them off when the rain has stopped and do your track grading to suit.

[A ORLOV 8,628]

 

That well known invention called 'tarpaulin' - readily available on ebay (I bought some myself the other day!) and other places. I seem to remember I priced it up for a speedway track when someone said it would cost too much and it was around the £2,000 - £2,500 mark from memory. Hardly ground breaking.

If it was as easy as you suggest every club would do it.

They need to be above the track so that two things happen, water runs off it easily and lets the track breathe, ideally hang it on top of the fence on the outside of the track.

Edited May 30, 2017 by A ORLOV

[allthegearbutnaeidea 1,735]

If it was as easy as you suggest every club would do it.

They need to be above the track so that two things happen, water runs off it easily and lets the track breathe, ideally hang it on top of the fence on the outside of the track.

 

It is as easy as he suggests, we put it OVER the track and hold it down with spair old tires, the lying water goes into the drainage/centre green if possible and then prepare track to suit.

[bruno 1,790]

Would just covering the bends and a short bit of the straights work?

If the bends are dry it would be a lot less work to get the straights sorted

[hagonshocker 1,956]

It is as easy as he suggests, we put it OVER the track and hold it down with spair old tires, the lying water goes into the drainage/centre green if possible and then prepare track to suit.

How about the rainwater that runs off the Swindon dogtrack? Our circuit is different to yours and covers aren't as easy to use as on some tracks ..another issue we have at Swindon is out drainage is next to hopeless so where covers work at Berwick they would work far less at Swindon

[Najjer 2,890]

It is as easy as he suggests, we put it OVER the track and hold it down with spair old tires, the lying water goes into the drainage/centre green if possible and then prepare track to suit.

Absolutely spot on. All this nonsense about the track sweating is exactly that, nonsense. The track is better 'sweating' than it is being 6 inches deep in water that's for sure! Most tracks are banked in some way or another from the outside in, gravity will always take the rain to the infield if the tarpaulin is layed flat on the track if there is enough banking.

 

An alternative is having it fixed to the top of the fence and having it pegged on the infield about 4foot inside the white line so all the running water remains a distance from the track. This can then be rolled up with tie backs holding it in place, or simply just dropped down behind the fence. With air fences nowadays it's not like it's going to block anymore of the view anyway.

 

It's the same old thing with speedway... instead of embracing something new and a potential solution, it's always just try and find an excuse why not to do it. To say it's too expensive for some tarpaulins, tie backs (if they went for that option) and tent pegs is just utter bull$hit!

Would just covering the bends and a short bit of the straights work?

If the bends are dry it would be a lot less work to get the straights sorted

The straights are even easier to cover than the bends are your sheeting will lie square to the outside fence.

[allthegearbutnaeidea 1,735]

How about the rainwater that runs off the Swindon dogtrack? Our circuit is different to yours and covers aren't as easy to use as on some tracks ..another issue we have at Swindon is out drainage is next to hopeless so where covers work at Berwick they would work far less at Swindon

Surely if the water goes onto the track from the dogtrack it will then go into the drains on the track? or at least run a little bit? I understand that but if you use the tactic of clipping it to air fence you would then be left with just some rain that has ran onto the track?

[Grachan 7,362]

Covers work. We've seen that at Swindon during a play-off semi-final where, apparently, there was one set of BSPA covers. Whatever happened to those?

 

Swindon got to use these covers and Poole never - the result of which was Poole was called off and Swindon wasn't.

[cityrebel 2,960]

I remember going to an England v USA test match at poole in the 1980's. The covers were used from the dog track and removed just before start time. The meeting was was run despite it raining for most of the day.