2011-12 DIR Winter Championship
 

The DIR Winter Championship starts at Craigavon this Wednesday 12th October. Classes for 2wd, 4wd, Juniors & Visitors. Season runs to Easter, best 9 of 12 results to count. Best 3 of 12 results for visitors. Earlier finish for Juniors. The new lap timing gear is fully ready to go.

Good to see 20 cars on the track for 1st Round of DIR Championship. Timing system & printer up & running without problems - ran out of USB ports on laptop to get PA/loudspeakers working but will have this rectified by the next race night. Also hope to get results up online regularly.

From memory last nights top 3's were:

2wd:

1: Mark Penney
2: Derek McCloskey
3: Colin Whelan

4wd:

1: Mark Penney
2: Cameron Scott
3: Derek McCloskey

Junior:

1: Jordan McCann
2: Jamie McCann
3: Pierce O'Conor

Best 9 of 12 rounds (between now & Easter) to count + best 3 of 12 for visitors, so still plenty of time to join in! :D

Ed did I not take third in 4wd ?? :(

Memory's not what it used to be! :blush: Jim has results, it will be sorted!

It should be possible to upload result files (I think they're HTML) from the BBK software to...somewhere. I can help sort out somewhere handy to stash them for all to see.

Yep,

The BBK software will generate HTML results, for one or multiple meetings.

MiCk B. :-)

didnt think it was bbk they had, it is something different they are using.

Ed, have a look for an Export or Save As option for results. Based on what formats are available, we can easily upload them either to the DiR site or perhaps a Google Docs account for general availability.

Round 1 Results are now up on the Drop Inn Racing website.

http://dropinnracing.website.orange.co.uk/

How are the overall points going to be worked out Ed?

We need to finalise who is entering what class first and take it from there.

Great racing last Wed night Ed. Thanks again to everyone to help make this happen.
Was really great to see some of the top touring car drivers there schooling us on how to drive buggies (damn them!)

However, this isnt a criticism of anyone - and is purely designed to help make racing better and more fun - I wonder if we could do a few things to help speed the night up?

It was 8:35 before the heats actually began, and 4WD final finished at about 11:25!
Thats pretty late.
Mostly, I think this was due to no track being set up again. I was there about 7:15, and was getting setup, batteries on etc, but alot of people were just standing around talking. Noone actually took responsibility for the track until much later on.

If doors open (as it says on the website) at 7pm then having the track open for practise 7:30 should be easily achievable.
(we dont even really need the timing computer for this I think)

Two ways I think to do this:
- have 3 or 4 people on a "Track Building Committee" who turn up a bit earlier to do the setup
- and/or; just keep the same track layout every week, and have a photo of it in a folder or something, so that no matter who is there, they know what needs to go where.
Personally, for me, this would be a big help, and give me the confidence to go ahead and get the track set out by myself if necessary. I dont feel I can do that at the moment as I dont have enough experience racing to build a proper track from scratch.

If this same track was kept, then it could be "altered" by keeping the pipes in the same place, but altering the mats, jumps and bump sections.

As I said, not meant as a slagging or anything - I love racing at Drop-Inn!
But maybe it can be made a bit more efficient and fun for everyone (including you Ed, who doesnt get a chance to race yourself, as you are trying to get people in to marshall and race as quick as you can because the time has overrun!)

+1 to what Andrew has said, the time thing would be a biggy for me personally as I travel down from Larne and I'm thinking of the guys from the south too. I would just add that a maximum of 4 track layouts are used in a year, changing it every 3 months/6 meetings. This way, building the track wouldn't be a problem for anyone. The pics in a folder idea is a good one for reference purposes for anyone not familiar with what the layout should be for that week. Keep it simple.:thumbsup:

Doors will open from 6.30 this Wednesday 23rd November at the Drop Inn Craigavon. (Thanks Chris). Track layout will be the same as Saturday's Irish championship race - thanks to Jamie for sketching it out. If u r free to get there early and help set it up please just turn up and get stuck in. With bigger numbers we need to get going earlier. Thanks.

Great job Ed, that sounds like a really good plan.
I'll certainly chip in and help where I can when I arrive.

Thanks!

Seems like we made progress on getting the track set up early, but our new technology caught up on us a bit later on in the night. Sorry for the delays, especially to those who travelled a distance. We have plans on how to avoid a repeat, thanks for your patience.

Hi Ed,

The timing system was much better than I expected for the money - looks like you boys got a bargain. Hoping to make another trip up before Xmas.
See you then

Will

Thanks for last night Ed.

Great racing and a really relaxed, funny atmosphere.
Had a great time.

...despite some racers having very suspect caravans in the shape of sweetie tins! :p

Another fantastic nights racing.

@Ed - congrats to you and the rest of the team Ed for really going that extra step in organisation and setup of the track.
Its a real tribute to you and the rest of the guys that the track is now regularly all set up and ready to go for us arriving, and the whole night runs smoothly and quickly, but is still relaxed and enjoyable.

Cant wait for next time!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Racing at the Drop Inn is a right laugh. Taking people's fastest time away for not marshalling would never work - nobody seems to really care that much about their lap times anyway! :)

Best laugh last week was when one of the younger newbies asked me half way through the night why I kept shouting out his name - he was called Dylan Marshall!! :lol::lol::lol: