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imadodgyumpire said:
Merry Christmas DT, and Merry Christmas to all the motor board regulars. :thumbsu:






I intend on going to Avalon, on Boxing day, so I'll show some pics.
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I intend on going to Speedway City today to hopefully see another SA 1-2-3 to start speedweek :thumbsu:. Best motorsport event in SA for the year, closely followed by WSS Murray Bridge. Will be looking forward to seeing those Avalon pics. Will you be going to Avalon for WSS on the 30th?
 
AdelaideFan14 said:
I intend on going to Speedway City today to hopefully see another SA 1-2-3 to start speedweek :thumbsu:. Best motorsport event in SA for the year, closely followed by WSS Murray Bridge.
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Better than the Shannons National at Mallala? Surely not?*

AdelaideFan14 said:
Will be looking forward to seeing those Avalon pics.
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Already, I feel the pressure! Speedway virgin here. I'll be lucky to find the track!

AdelaideFan14 said:
Will you be going to Avalon for WSS on the 30th?
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Look, I said I intend to go. Circumstances may mean that I might not go tonight. However, I was also aware of the WSS meeting on Monday. I had been thinking on whether or not I should go to that instead, since it'll be a bigger meet (I have a budget, and I may also go to a day of the cricket). Needles to say, before the end of the year, I will go to a meet. Any tips?





*Not serious
 
imadodgyumpire said:
Better than the Shannons National at Mallala? Surely not?*

Already, I feel the pressure! Speedway virgin here. I'll be lucky to find the track!

Look, I said I intend to go. Circumstances may mean that I might not go tonight. However, I was also aware of the WSS meeting on Monday. I had been thinking on whether or not I should go to that instead, since it'll be a bigger meet (I have a budget, and I may also go to a day of the cricket). Needles to say, before the end of the year, I will go to a meet. Any tips?





*Not serious
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Was a good night last night, another SA Driver 1-2 to go with the SA 1-2-3 last year. Hopefully the drivers who had nasty wrecks last night are alright. Some massive damage. I haven't been to Avalon before, but I heard the facilities need an upgrade. As a first time speedway person, things you should take are:

- Camping chairs if you plan to sit on a grassed area or pillows if you sit in a grandstand.
- Jumper or a jacket as it can get cold
- Protective glasses as it get can get dusty for parts of the night
- Pen if you fill out the program

1) For a WSS night, you need to get to the track early to get a good spot. At Speedway City last night, the good spots were filled a couple hours prior to the meeting starting. Luckily they open the pits at WSS shows so you can fill time looking at all the cars and talking to the drivers or watch whatever they put on the bigscreen.
2) Don't wear really good clothes to the speedway as they will get dirt all over them. Avalon can go slick, so there will be a little dust until the track takes rubber.
3) Don't sit right up to the fence. Again, you'll be covered in dirt.
4) The best spot to sit at a Speedway (In my opinion) is in a corner as you can see more racing without having to look from side to side like you do on a straight. All the cars remain in your peripheral vision so you don't miss much. Also the higher up the better - less chance of being hit by something and means you can see even more. Not sure if Avalon has banked spectator areas like the big SA tracks do.
5) They don't like flash photography from the spectator areas as it is a dangerous distraction for the drivers, so no flash.

Would be a couple more things but can't think of right now.
 
A family commitment delayed my plans, but I was able to get to the second half of the meet :thumbsu: However, I didn't take the camera with me. The truth is, even if I did take the camera, it'd be hard to take any good photos unless you're in the infield. So I'm not sure if it's even worth taking the camera on Monday.

It made an impact to the senses pretty early :thumbsu: I was sitting at turn 4. It was a bit of a thrill hearing them halfway up the back straight, approaching the corner. I reckon it would be similar to hearing 80s/90s Indycars on the small ovals. If you get what I'm saying? At the same time, it was a little frustrating as I had no idea what was going on. Half the time, I did not know where to look. I didn't mind the Modifieds, I could be satisfied turning up to a meeting if they had them, and similar, with no Sprtintcars.

I was able to figure most of your advice on my own last night, especially the one to take a coat. Everybody? Remember to take a coat when you go to a speedway meeting!!!
 
imadodgyumpire said:
A family commitment delayed my plans, but I was able to get to the second half of the meet :thumbsu: However, I didn't take the camera with me. The truth is, even if I did take the camera, it'd be hard to take any good photos unless you're in the infield. So I'm not sure if it's even worth taking the camera on Monday.

It made an impact to the senses pretty early :thumbsu: I was sitting at turn 4. It was a bit of a thrill hearing them halfway up the back straight, approaching the corner. I reckon it would be similar to hearing 80s/90s Indycars on the small ovals. If you get what I'm saying? At the same time, it was a little frustrating as I had no idea what was going on. Half the time, I did not know where to look. I didn't mind the Modifieds, I could be satisfied turning up to a meeting if they had them, and similar, with no Sprtintcars.

I was able to figure most of your advice on my own last night, especially the one to take a coat. Everybody? Remember to take a coat when you go to a speedway meeting!!!
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Good to see you went! ;) That is a common theme with people going to their first meetings. I took a group of people last year to a meeting and the first thing they found was the noise. The second thing they found was that they always missed the crashes :D. Modified Sedans are good to watch, as are Super Sedans, Speedcars and Formula 500's. Did you get a program? The program gives you the running order, grids etc. Club shows aren't always that informative compared to a WSS night where they explain everything that's going on. For a Sprintcar night, they generally follow this format in Australia for the big shows:
1. Engine starts
2. Hot laps: equivalent of a circuit racers practice session. Lasts 4-5 laps
3. Qualifying: pre-meeting the drivers are put into pairs of similar ability and then they marble draw for qualifying order. Each driver gets 2 laps to post the quickest possible time they can. Points are given out based on qualifying results.
4. Heats: The qualifying order is inverted based on the highest multiple of the number of heat races per round. (For example, last night there was 4 heats per round of heats and 39 cars, so they invert the top 36 qualifiers and the quickest qualifier started 9th in his heat) Again, you get points towards your pointscore for the night. Heats go for 10 laps normally.
5. Second round of heats: They start the cars pretty much in the same spots, but if you were on the inside of your row in your first heat, your on the outside for the second heat and vice versa. Some Victorian Non-WSS shows however have a reverse grid of the previous heat, but the cars that missed the inversion stay at the rear of the grid I think.

At this point of the night, the points from our qualifying and heats are added together and a ranking is made of all the drivers by these points. The top 14 ranked drivers qualify for the main race of the night, called the "A-Main" or "A-Feature". In WSS Shows, the Top-8 Cars go to a shootout to determine the first 8 starting positions for the A-Main. I won't explain this as it only makes sense when you see it yourself. 15th in points through to 32nd in points are in the "B-Main", which is like the Last Chance Showdown in AMA Supercross and if you have more than 32 Sprintcars, you have a C Main and even a D-Main if you have lots of cars.

6. Features: The C-Main will be first (Unless there is enough cars for a D-Main) and usually lasts 8-12 laps with the first 2 finishing cars transferring to positions 19 and 20 for the B-Main. The B-Main is next and this usually goes for between 15-20 laps. The top 6 finishing cars from the B-Main "transfer" for the A-Main and will start from positions 15-20. The A-Main will be up now and this will go for anywhere between 20 and 50 laps depending on the meeting. Final sprintcar race for the night, as the winner of the A-Main is the overall winner for the night.

This video will help. Gives the general idea.


I normally watch everybody in the first couple laps, see who's making moves and watch them for a bit then watch the race for the lead late (if there is one). Last night at Murray Bridge was better than Speedway City. Was always a 3-5 car battle for the lead weaving in and out of lapped traffic. Was a last lap pass for the win where 2nd and 3rd passed the leader on the highline as the leader was stuck behind a lapped car on the bottom. Also rocked up in shorts and a T-shirt and didn't put a jumper on all night, which was nice for once. :thumbsu:
 
AdelaideFan14 I went back for the WSS. You know what? While I appreciate and respect it's performance. Unlike everyone else, Sprint Cars just don't get me going. Got pelted with mud as well, when I was close to the fence.

This might surprise, but similarly to the modifieds on Thursday, I actually got a bit of a kick out of the support class, which happened to be juniors of all things! Lucky for me, when I stood at the top of the banks, everyone would clear out in front of me, so I got a good look at it when their heats were on.

Track commentator "What were you doing from the age of 12 to 16? If you weren't in juniors, you were missing out." Never a truer word spoken! I was so envious!

As it happens to be that in speedway, I like the sedans more. Another meeting on Saturday, with Super Sedans, Super Rods, a demo derby. I should like this meeting more.
 
imadodgyumpire said:
AdelaideFan14 I went back for the WSS. You know what? While I appreciate and respect it's performance. Unlike everyone else, Sprint Cars just don't get me going. Got pelted with mud as well, when I was close to the fence.

This might surprise, but similarly to the modifieds on Thursday, I actually got a bit of a kick out of the support class, which happened to be juniors of all things! Lucky for me, when I stood at the top of the banks, everyone would clear out in front of me, so I got a good look at it when their heats were on.

Track commentator "What were you doing from the age of 12 to 16? If you weren't in juniors, you were missing out." Never a truer word spoken! I was so envious!

As it happens to be that in speedway, I like the sedans more. Another meeting on Saturday, with Super Sedans, Super Rods, a demo derby. I should like this meeting more.
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Fair enough. There are a few people around that are Speedway Sedan people and plenty of Speedway bike people. Was listening online to Avalon and it sounded like the Sprintcars were all running the cushion with nobody overly successful on the pole-line that didn't get taken out. Prefer that to what they did last year there when the pole-line was fast and the infield was faster. That Super Sedan Cup should be a good race. The most entertaining races last year in SA were nearly all Super Sedan Features, barring a couple Sprintcar Features. Just got to have a decent racing surface.
 

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