Missed opportunity?

[Jon C]

hmmmm?

Have Santa Pod gone for the full on 'council yard chic' here?

http://www.eurodragster.com/news/080123_1.jpg

I am generally supportive of the efforts of the management to improve the facility. However, I fear they have dropped a massive bowlock here. They have managed to change the look of the startline area completely. It no longer resembles a 1950's scrap yard, it now looks like a 2008 recycling facility. Functional, effective, but not somewhere you would pay 50 quid to take the family.

That image will now form the backdrop for most of the startline photographs and TV coverage of our chosen motorsport for the next 20 years or so.

There was talk of a brick wall, with verges.

I am hugely disappointed.

Edited by Jon C on Sunday 20th January 13:23

[MotorPsycho]

personally I think it looks a 100x better than the old barn

there are various reasons it had to be done in the way it is

[cliff gould]

couldnt agree more jon.
also thinking that pro classes fire up in front of
the new garage/shed/whatever.
so if there is a problem on the track will they be able to get around us.
where as before they where parked in front.
sure we can move ,but will this slow the process down.
in the understanding safety vehicles will not be parked in there.
but the track cleaning vehicles.
just a secondry thought.

[Eurodragster.com]

Jon C said:

There was talk of a brick wall, with verges.

And that talk was crap.

I think we ought to give the place the benefit of the doubt until it is actually finished, i.e. the doors are put on and the advertising boards are in place. It will look a bit more colourful then.

Cliff, as I understand it this place is a garage for stabling vehicles overnight, and in between races. It is not going to be like Trumpton fire station with the doors flying up and the vehicles coming out when a clean-up or whatever is needed. The track service vehicles have their own positions on the facility during race days.

[cliff gould]

qoute:-in the understanding safety vehicles will not be parked in there.
but the track cleaning vehicles

didnt think the fire crew would be in there,as that would be dangerous and stupid.
i do give the planners some credit, tog.

[Furyous]

Doesnt look that bad IMO.

All they need to do now is get rid of the temp type heras fencing down the side.





edited coz I missed the word bad out !

Edited by Furyous on Sunday 20th January 14:59

[Jon C]

Eurodragster.com said:

Jon C said:

There was talk of a brick wall, with verges.

And that talk was crap.

Possibly the brick and verges. However DL-J used the word 'wall' to describe the replacement structure (ED 14th March 2007, 10th July 2007), and the structure cannot be described as a wall. Had I not seen the old structure come down in pictures, I would have assumed they had just clad over the old framework in the same way that the tower etc have been done recently.

I wait with interest to see how the doors can be made to improve the aspect. Jamie has done a great job, and I am in no way calling his workmanship into question. It just looks like so much of his other work, which can be seen in no end of industrial estates in the Kettering, Northampton and Wellingborough area.

[Eurodragster.com]

cliff gould said:

i do give the planners some credit, tog.

I should hope so. It goes without saying that safety vehicles are outside during the day. But the way I understand it, and maybe I didn't do a good job of saying so the first time above, is that the garage will be empty during race day because the track clean-up etc vehicles have their own stations. So you won't be having to move race cars out the way any more than you have had to before.

[HouseBros]

Just place some Lexan doors and then ,when the safety vehicles are out of this bread-bin, they would be able to place a nice folding grandstand inside

[Eurodragster.com]

Jon C said:

However DL-J used the word 'wall' to describe the replacement structure (ED 14th March 2007, 10th July 2007.

The original plan was for a wall made up of storage (aka shipping) containers in which track equipment would be stored. I am not going to get into linguistic semantics about what constitutes a wall. Anyway I rather suspect this plan, if carried out, would have been rather more aesthetically distressing.

The plan only recently changed to converting the old Barn to a garage and the first I heard about that was at Autosport last week (Lloydy's interview qv). Those who like to post on forums or E-Mail me hinting inside info also seem to have missed this change of plan somehow.

The brick wall and grass verges were a fancy introduced on another forum. And what have I told you guys about believing what you read on forums...

[cougarracing]

i dont think its that bad, it will tie in with the grandstands, maybe the comentary gantry can be refurbished to match. its a practicle use of space and im sure will look good when its finished. plus i can see the sound of engines firing up bouncing off it and making things louder!

[cougarracing]

ps i think my mail concern is where spectators are going to walk behind the barn, there can be alot of traffic coming and going from the pits so i hope theres enough space for spectators to walk without being run over.

[Tet]

I see no one's yet asked the obvious question: where did Tog get a time machine from?

(Take a look at the date in the URL for the photo...)

[Miss Corrado]

Ive seen the new "Shed" <-- my word, not anyone elses that i have quoted

...and i think it is really smart! Well done Santa Pod. People should reserve comment until they have seen it with their own eyes.

End of controversial post from me today.

[Eurodragster.com]

Tet said:

I see no one's yet asked the obvious question: where did Tog get a time machine from?

(Take a look at the date in the URL for the photo...)

The convention for our pictures is yymm and then the number of the picture that month. So this is the 23rd picture in January 2008. The _1 denotes "large version".

Right now if I had a time machine I would go back ten years and do something else

[NuthinFancy]

The new area looks great, fits with the rest of the tower area, keeps the place looking clean, tidy and professional.

Excellent work by Jamie Sneddon on the barn.. makes it look like a firestation!

[ian feltell]

cougarracing said:

ps i think my mail concern is where spectators are going to walk behind the barn, there can be alot of traffic coming and going from the pits so i hope theres enough space for spectators to walk without being run over.

there approx 2 metres wide walkway adj to the road with an armco barrier seperating the road from the pedestrian (last time i saw it anyway)...i've alway walked through the barn through the crowds.

[Miss Corrado]

cougarracing said:

ps i think my mail concern is where spectators are going to walk behind the barn, there can be alot of traffic coming and going from the pits so i hope theres enough space for spectators to walk without being run over.

No they will let the public get run over Adam. For those that don't want to get run over maybe they will keep everyone bank side from now on. I dunno..it's a possibility. The racers are higher than Yeaou and therefore will be kept away from all your nasty germs and fingerprints. Ha!

I'm sure they have thought about it Adam... nay fret m boy.

[cougarracing]

lol i wasnt fretting, i jus thought it would be rather ironic if someone got run over because of a change that the council brought in to increase health and safety! lol

[Nitroalkyholic]

I dont know, With the doors all closed and "Santa Pod Raceway" written across them in big vinyl signwriting and advertising boards across the top I think it would look quite good backdrop in photos.
Though I stand to be shot down in flames here I guess !!

Either way, its much better than what was there.

Darren