Thanks to everyone who showed an interest in this.

I *really* wanted to get this set-up, but the unpredictability of the weather of late has made it way too risky.

It would be impossible to run in the wet as the grass would quickly become a bog, and it could end up being a complete waste of time and money for everyone.

Unless anyone has any good ideas?

Cheers

Simon

 

Can't help the weather..

I'm still definately interested though...

Have you decided on a location?

Somewhere like (or near to) Bruntingthorpe might allow us to have some tarmac fun instead if the weather's bad.


Rich

 

That's a shame Simon.

Being as your GOD behind the steering wheel, I would of thought you could of sorted out something as minor as the weather!!!! The whole idea was brilliant, but you have a valid point about the weather. What we still need is a scoobynet get together, but what that could evolve around I can't think. Things like gokarting have already been done, so we DO need something different.

I would like to think about something along the lines of maybe the biggest meet of Scoobys in the country (a yearly event), with trade stands etc etc. Get the press involved (to promote scoobynet etc etc). Trouble with this is obviously the time required to organise it, venue etc etc. Perhaps this is something we could think about for next year??????? The Billing Aquadrome idea springs to mind.

I think it would be awesome for Scoobynet to bring together ALL of the respective area meets into one massive get together.

I looked into doing something similar a while back, by hiring out Santa Pod, but realistically that is not everyones cup of tea.

Shaun.



For FORD stuff, including other useful info

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>It would be impossible to run in the wet as the grass would quickly become a bog<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Simon,

We actually use a water tanker to wet the course when we run them over here.

The tanker goes out on the course several times during the day between runs. It does get a bit muddy, but hey, Subaru's go faster when they are covered in a thick coating of mud

I don't think you'd have any problems running on a wet grass track over there.

You do need to keep the course pretty tight though to keep the speeds down. The course should be mainly run in 2nd gear, this will keep the speeds down and prevent the chance for anyone having a major stuff up and rolling.

The major things to address are getting hold of enough cones to mark the course and sufficient stop watches for timing.

Richard

 

Hi Rich

The problem is rich, the ground has not had a propper chance to fully dry out, so it's really soft underneath. In the states, the ground would probably be hard and dry underneath, so wetting the top would be fine.

In addition the place we were able to do it at, will not allow it to be done if the ground is too wet.

Cheers

Simon

 

Bugger! Another reason to emigrate

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>The problem is rich, the ground has not had a propper chance to fully dry out, so it's really soft underneath. In the states, the ground would probably be hard and dry underneath, so wetting the top would be fine.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This image brits have of the USA always makes me laugh. The Pacific North West is wetter than manchester Simon. It has Rainforests for gawds sake!

If you can find an accomodating land owner then i for one will be there. Maybe rather than a BBQ we could have a Butty stall. LOL

 

oh poop I was rather looking forward to some grass fun.

We might have a late summer yet?

Ian

 

Hi Simon..

As John so succintly (sp) put it.. It ain't called the Pacific North <B>Wet</B> for nothing mate

However, it does all depend upon the land and its drainage.

The sort of place to look for is a field that is used fairly regularly as a car park.

The sites that are used here are the grass carparks for County Show Grounds. These would be similar to the grounds used for say the Builth Wells Show or the Bath & West. Those might be two spots to investigate.

Cheers

Richard

 

Hi Chaps

The main problem was that the only decent place we could find would not allow us to run if it was too wet, as it would destroy their field.

I also looked into using bruntingthorpe as they have some lovely grass, and we could use the tarmac if it got too wet, but they do not allow the use of the grass (well, not the use of the grass on purpose ), and it is way too expensive for what we want also.

I was really looking forward to this, and it's a shame .. but..

this is something we could organise very quickly, so if we have a good few weeks of sun, we could set it up again at pretty short notice. Fingers crossed.

All the best

Simon

 

The map of Bedford Autodrome I received recently has got 'Off Road Area' marked on it, but I presume that's for heavy duty machinery with knife edges and the suchlike?

What about if we could lease Drive It All's facility?

 

drive it all would be fabulous, but way too hard on the car to allow road cars.

 

Hi Simon

Just a thought but how about a karting event of some kind?
There's plenty of scope for differant things, it could be team/individual event and you could have a sprint/endurance event.
This would also be a bit more inclusive as the people who don't want to trash there own car around could still take part.

You could also use it to raise some more money for good causes.

What do you think?

Chris

P.S. Driving gods would have to have 25kgs of ballast added to even up the competition.
Also a location North of Watford would be good for all us Northern peeps.

 

I was recently at a disused US Air Force base in Oxfordshire (RAF Upper Heyford). Part of one of the runways is used by the Police for driver training. A load of us watched them training for a while and thought we were watching a student. Then they changed drivers and loads of cones were trashed each run so the first guy was the instructor! I'm sure they wouldn't mind loaning us the runway and the cones. Might be a bit hard on the tyres and brakes though. They also had large areas of grass (as do all airfields) that they might not too fussy about as well. Just a thought.


[This message has been edited by Jerome (edited 06 August 2001).]

 

You can hire out Brooklands airfield for 20squid an hour. Nice grassy bits as well. Its got a few stones on it, but its nothing a broom wont sort out.
astraboy.

 

Simon

Surely all attendees (participants and spectators) should accept that there is a certain amount of "weather-risk".

If the event is rained off then it'll be a real shame, but no-one's fault, therefore no refunds.

If everyone knows this in advance, then there shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, it may result in a big waste of time for you, if you go to all the trouble to organise such an event, only to have to cancel it.

If you choose to go ahead, I'm still in...

Rich

 

Erm,
I may be able to help here, Ive used a few farmers fields in the Bucks area for minicross, which we run in the wet, so I may be able to get a field, also, to add to the fun a few Honda Pilots and Quad bikes, if people are still interetseted and it's Ok with Simon, I'll make a couple of enquiry's ??

Paul M

 

Paul

Drop me a line on simon@scoobynet.co.uk if you would.

Thanks a lot for your help

All the best

Simon

 

Shaun.

The SIDC will be holding a 'National Day' next year and it will be a public event so any Scoobs can attend.
The wheels are already in motion so to speak.

Stef.