POOR SHOW BY SANTA POD

[podder]

Just returned from day two of the euro finals feeling very dissapointed. After a 4 hour rain delay this morning qualifying commenced at 1300 .After a shortened sportsman session the first round of pro qualifying was run. The track came round very quickly and improved class by class leading to some stout peformances by pro mod, pro stock ,alcohol and bike classes. Light drizzle returned after the first pair of top fuel dragsters and most peoples thoughts were .... thats it for the day. However the weather gods were on our side for once and after 30 mins or so another weather window appeared over north bedfordshire and our thoughts returned to the continuation of Top Fuel qualifying. What followed was an unbelievable display which defied description. Totally incredible performances in the class culmiating in the quickest run in uk history by team carter, a mind blowing early shutoff 4.61. After we had recovered from possibly the best first session ever in top fuel, the funny bikes had their turn . Fireforce then ran down the track and the second session was eagerly awaited. We were then told that qualifying was over for the day. The track was bone dry the weather was good the crowd were there gagging for action from what is supposed to be the showpiece of the european drag racing calender. Santa pod had informed everyone earlier in the day that they would run until the 9pm curfew which would have at least seen a second round of pro mod and possibly more taking into account oil downs etc. I simply cannot believe that santa pod could let a euro final meeting and crowd down in this way.The only reason i could think of was pure penny pinching or the total lack of adequate track lighting that the track amazingly still has after all these years.Half the lights down the track were inoperative and the portable lights in the shutdown area were not even turned on. What could have been a fantastic day of qualifying was spoilt by santa pods inability to organise and deliver a smooth professional event , and top of that SHORT CHANGE THE CROWD

[crikey]

Any idea what went into getting that Pro session run ? Any idea if another session was possible or not ?

No. So be quiet you ignorant tt.

[Bowler]

Well for a first post, it wasn't too bad. You actually started off quite well, but tailed off towards the end......





Try thinking about these words before you rant next time: "Dew Point" and "Driver Safety"





Oh, and you forgot to mention that "they" could have thrown the towel in when it rained at 6pm, but no, you overlooked this point.


You could also have mentioned that it takes nearly 3 hours to run a complete "pro" cycle, but again you overlooked that. So would it have been fair to give one class more track time than another?



Ultimately the decision to "call" the days racing is made by the Race Director and not the commentators, so blaming "Santa Pod" is out of order.





Santa Pod can be accused of many things, but Penny Pinching? Try explaining that to someone who is strapped into a car (or sat on a bike for that matter).....

[redvictor]

Bowler said:

You could also have mentioned that it takes nearly 3 hours to run a complete "pro" cycle, but again you overlooked that. So would it have been fair to give one class more track time than another?

This is the main point.
Seriouly now,you're bemoaning that you were short changed? Did you not see a complete cycle of pro qualifying?
I guess it's easy to stand on the banking not knowing what it takes to get a track that has been rained on good enough for a 4.60..
I'm sure your apology will be accepted by the guys and gals of the SPRC crew..

[NitroChrisUK]

it was an extreamly long day for me .. and i am just a spectator, to think what the track crews and teams have gone through boggles the mind. i was a little Disappointed when i thought we would not get the top fuel sesseion and wondered why they did not do it earlier... but the track did an amazing job to get that session finished .. in the end every class had 1 session .. i think that is very fair.

hopefully today brings better weather than predicted and we get 1 or 2 more sessions.


starting another session from 8pm never crossed my mind and that is for sure.

[crikey]

NitroChrisUK said:

thought we would not get the top fuel sesseion and wondered why they did not do it earlier

Why would one FIA class take priority over any other ?

[robc3303]

I agree that with only one hour left it would have been problematic restarting another round of qualifying and after such an amazing TF display I would have gone home happy. Although we can be critical of SP, looks like they really worked hard to get every one up the track (I was not there unfortunately, following on-line). Maybe they should have more lighting and an extra hour of night time racing would have been great, I certainly have fond memories of watching racing at Pod under the lights but from what I followed looks you got your money's worth.

However, this site is designed for a rant or two and I see this was your first post. Equally, sometimes when we rant we may not be seeing the full picture and we can learn from other points of view, if they are constructive.

[deafoldfart]

welcome to the gassing station Podder, i`m sure you will get along fine here

[veryoldfart]

look on the bright side

saturday and sunday should be busy

how would you feel as a sportsman racer, spending money and time preparing+traveling only to be told that - due to time constraints following loss of sessions - you can go home as the time remaining will only allow the FIA/FIM groups to run, after youve spen money paying to enter to race too

I remember the easternationals in 1977 or 78 when......oh never mind

[crikey]

robc3303 said:

I agree that with only one hour left it would have been problematic restarting another round of qualifying and after such an amazing TF display I would have gone home happy. Although we can be critical of SP, looks like they really worked hard to get every one up the track (I was not there unfortunately, following on-line). Maybe they should have more lighting and an extra hour of night time racing would have been great, I certainly have fond memories of watching racing at Pod under the lights but from what I followed looks you got your money's worth.

However, this site is designed for a rant or two and I see this was your first post. Equally, sometimes when we rant we may not be seeing the full picture and we can learn from other points of view, if they are constructive.

Ifs, buts and maybes.

If certain people had the faintest idea what they were talking about then maybe they could voice there opinion, but as they don't they should STFU.

Another one filed under "C"

[ribaric]

It is our (that's all of us in the "game") have a responsibility to try to get the knowledge of fans up to a level where everyone can understand how things work. Podder's post is entirely justified from a layman's point of view, those of you who are insiders have a much deeper understanding but there's the crux of it. We need folks like Podder to leave the track without feeling short changed, this can only come about if people like him get better access to a wider view of how it all works. We all need to help that happen.

[crikey]

ribaric said:

It is our (that's all of us in the "game") have a responsibility to try to get the knowledge of fans up to a level where everyone can understand how things work. Podder's post is entirely justified from a layman's point of view, those of you who are insiders have a much deeper understanding but there's the crux of it. We need folks like Podder to leave the track without feeling short changed, this can only come about if people like him get better access to a wider view of how it all works. We all need to help that happen.

The perhaps his approach should have been "Why wasn't there another session ?" as opposed to "santa pods inability to organise and deliver a smooth professional event" which is utter, utter bks.

[veryoldfart]

At the risk of being attacked (ha!) i would say that following quite a few visits to SPR one thing that does get on my 2 bob bits is waiting for a dry track and then the time is "wasted" with interviews on the start line or demos or wheelie acts, when dry-time is as rare as rocking horse dung, the ammased physchic energies os thousands of "F***** GET ON WITH IT" should be enough to move mountains (and yes, i know about image/sponsors/TV/promo, etc,etc)

still galling tho

[BankCrewJohn]

They had plenty of time to run some more cars on Friday night and with that crowd waiting all day it should have happened. It’s a good point about the lights too a bit of forward planning would off not gone a miss there especially with the forecast it would have given another option. It’s an interesting point about the dew and tough to call either way. Lets hope we either get more information about why it was called early - or the powers that be take note of the crowds reaction for the future.

Hats off to the track crew this weekend it was simply brilliant. Overall SP is going in the right direction it was good to see 9 fuellers there in times like these .. ….how about spending some of today’s gate money on a mains water supply Mr Director?

[Mark13]

crikey said:

NitroChrisUK said:

thought we would not get the top fuel sesseion and wondered why they did not do it earlier

Why would one FIA class take priority over any other ?

Crikey, I totally agree with what you say. All FIA classes should have an equal chance to run. However, many of those who come to watch are primarily interested in Top Fuel. This does not mean they are disrespecting anybody, it is just preference. There was a strong possibility on friday, that by leaving TF until last it was'nt going to run at all. I spoke to 1 Top Fuel team who totally agreed with the fact that all classes should get their chance but that the most important class in spectator terms is TF and as such would have been better run earlier.

On a wider note. This is a forum and inevitably you will get some opinions that are not very well informed. I have started a few threads, just to get debate going and have received some really nice pm's from those involved, explaining in some depth, the answers to my questions. For some reason you seem to be incapable of posting without becoming very abusive. Do you do this every time somebody says something you dont agree with? It does not encourage proper debate and contribution. It is also a bit naive when you dont know the people you are abusing and they do know who you are.

Edited by Mark13 on Sunday 12th September 19:43

[marksx]

I thought Friday was brilliant after the weather that came in.

I'm not well informed when it comes to track prep etc, and it is only my second time at the Euro finals, but this weekend has been fantastic.

Hats off to everyone involved for putting on a brilliant show.

[veryoldfart]

watched live on the web stream, with only about 600 others, it only made me hungry to go again after a layoff, well done all, especially andy carter!

[Tet]

redvictor said:

Bowler said:

You could also have mentioned that it takes nearly 3 hours to run a complete "pro" cycle, but again you overlooked that. So would it have been fair to give one class more track time than another?

This is the main point.

I've never really understood that argument. As a racer, I'd never begrudge another class getting an extra round in that I didn't due to weather and/or curfew. Surely it's better to run as much as you can? Yes, maybe some classes will miss out. But that's life sometimes. It's not as if racers aren't used to disappointment :-) I can understand not wanting to run a partial class, for many reasons, but to run a partial cycle? I don't see them problem with that.

I don't know the reasons why racing stopped at 1930 on Friday. But I do agree that it was less than ideal for the commentators to be telling the crowd that they could run until 2100 that evening and then for racing to stop an hour and a half earlier with no explanation.

Edited by Tet on Sunday 12th September 20:39

[HD Adam]

Tet said:

redvictor said:

Bowler said:

You could also have mentioned that it takes nearly 3 hours to run a complete "pro" cycle, but again you overlooked that. So would it have been fair to give one class more track time than another?

This is the main point.

I've never really understood that argument. As a racer, I'd never begrudge another class getting an extra round in that I didn't due to weather and/or curfew. Surely it's better to run as much as you can? Yes, maybe some classes will miss out. But that's life sometimes. It's not as if racers aren't used to disappointment :-) I can understand not wanting to run a partial class, for many reasons, but to run a partial cycle? I don't see them problem with that.

I don't know the reasons why racing stopped at 1930 on Friday. But I do agree that it was less than ideal for the commentators to be telling the crowd that they could run until 2100 that evening and then for racing to stop an hour and a half earlier with no explanation.

Edited by Tet on Sunday 12th September 20:39

Ding Ding Ding. We have a winner.

If the racing is stopped for "no apparent reason", how about the Race Director informing the commentators so that the general paying public like our OP actually understand the reasons?

That way they are unlikely to rant on forums and may actually turn up for the next event, thus keeping the place open.

[crikey]

Oh good another load of armchair race directors bleating on about how a race meeting should be run.

BankCrewJohn said:

They had plenty of time to run some more cars on Friday night and with that crowd waiting all day it should have happened.

WTF ! The crowd have waited all day so it should happen ? Ignoring all other factors like safety ?

BankCrewJohn said:

It’s an interesting point about the dew and tough to call either way.

But yet you are apparently able to call it. Amazing. You're good.

HD Adam said:

That way they are unlikely to rant on forums and may actually turn up for the next event, thus keeping the place open.

Individuals would stop coming because they don't like one decision a very knowledgable and trained Internation Race Director (of which there are only 2 in the UK I believe), assisted by a highly skilled crew, has made on one day at one event ? What fking idiots. Christ, nobody would ever watch any sporting event ever again if that were true. Football seems to be doing quite well for itself yet every referee in the country is blind through masturbation, apparently.



One valid point has been made in this thread (aside from the ones I've made obviously ) and that is that people should have been informed, and I don't know why they weren't. It's common practice at SPR for the crowd to be kept informed as much as possible as to what's going on, anyone who has been to any event will know that, so this was clearly a cock up of some sort that I doubt will happen again.

The point everyone is missing is the one I have made repeatedly on here, if there weren't so many people ripping apart the thoughts and actions of people far more skilled than themselves then maybe those people would come on this forum and pass on their thoughts and take the time to explain things that people don't understand.

Try asking questions instead of mouthing off all the time and you'll find you'll learn something.