Rain stops play

[Manky Monkey]

My brother Steve's slingshot dragster -on the right, in the pits at Santa Pod on Good Friday. First race meeting at the freshly laid, all concrete track, but rain stopped play.
I think they got a few runs in with the jet cars later in the weekend.
Photo courtesy of Callum Pudge.

[Tony oily bike]

Real shame with all the effort of the organisers and participants, but lotsa horsepower, slick tyres and wet track...... no real option eh

Be nice to see what the track looks like, and get feedback from drivers/riders re the new surface.

[Manky Monkey]

Yeah, I don't quite understand why concrete would be better than tarmac really.

[stinkey]

Doesn't melt in summer?

[Manky Monkey]

  I'm assuming it's smoother, (I think they polish it as it's laid), & maybe more consistent -less affected by temperature.

[Tony oily bike]

The new concrete surface is expected to be more consistent and predictable than the tarmac which should allow teams to be able dial-in their vehicles quicker/easier/better once they’ve got used to the new surface, and also, I believe, it gives a degree of alignment with the surfaces of most of the N American tracks.

The link to the write up gives a good overview of the work entailed (which included the spectator banking), and the time-lapse video of the work shows how much time and effort went in to keeping Drag Racing alive and kicking in the UK.
Visually it certainly looks the biz.
Such a shame that the Easter event was relatively cold and had so much rain.


http://www.dragracingeurope.eu/fiaedc/2018/03/20/santa-pod-raceway-completes-the-new-concrete-track/


youtube footage of the Easter meeting from the Santa Pod feed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0FcXFCYCJE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_XcnXa-mWw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEdjPLYFN5k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xura6sovJ8

[Manky Monkey]

I watched the time lapse video the other day. Quite impressive.
I'm not personally a fan of drag racing, or any other sport really -what?! Sacrilege! Burn him! but used to go along to Shakey, (Shakespeare County Raceway in Stratford on Avon), for the hotrod themed events cos it was basically a big, moving car show, (so much more interesting than just static shows). Santa Pod just doesn't have the same enthusiastic, grass roots atmosphere for me -too business like & organised! & isn't as well laid out for just mooching about, looking at stuff.
As our only proper drag strip now though, I whole heartedly support the revamp.