3 Hour Endurance race at Calabogie?

[Robert Marshall]

More practice would be better for Calabogie. Like Peter said, the track is highly technical, difficult, and has 20 something turns. The other point being Calabogie doesn't have the luxury of great run off, so when it goes bad it could get really bad. We should remember that Armco was positioned as it is to corral cars, and it isn't bike friendly.

I am specfically thinking at the exit of turn 4 and specifcally Big Rock (turn 6), off camber, down hill, left turn - Armco track side.

Exit of Temptation (turn Armco 15 ft off race line at exit. If you lose it you hit the Armco, if you panic and lock the front you fall and take out the following riders.

Deliverance (turn 9) Armco at track side left.

Turn 12B , lots of high sides here.

Turn 16, left into the gravel pit,... front goes light or wheelies, just as you turn.

Wilsons (turn 20) on the front straight.

Turn 1, if it goes wrong at speed you are right into the Armco.

Anyways you get the idea. Most of us mere mortals require 2 full track days to figure out which way the corners go, and how to get relatively fast safely. I tend to do the odd Pro6 day and the DOCC rally's at the track. Having worked the crash truck I can say that when it goes bad at Calabogie it can be very bad.

So I would rather have more practice than a 3 hour Endurance Race.

That's my 2 cents.

[Robert Marshall]

That happy face in previous post is supposed to be an 8.....

[mccoy]

I just found out what Armco is. Does Calabogie use bottle bags?

[Robert Marshall]

There have been no bottle bags at Calabogie in the past.

If you get on You Tube and watch some of the videos, you will see what I mean by the Armco being close in all the wrong places.

[Ashton Bond]

Bottle bags aren't the most effective at high speed circuits. We are armoring up similar to CTMP, straw bales and some air fence. There's a small team of us working on that, but if you have on-site experience Rob, they'd very much appreciate your help. If you PM/email me I will put you in touch.

[Robert Marshall]

Okay Ashton, I will send a note your way. Cheers.

[Dewey]

Pro 6 offers 20 opportunities to ride Calabogie before the club RACES there.

While the Armco is a concern, I found the gravel your body slides on to be more "aggressive". I call it car gravel, to help slow down a heavy car, not a svelte physique such as mine!

I don't think 2 days are required to "come up to speed", but it might take five 20 minute sessions just to remember where you are at a given point in time.

I have lots of trackday laps here and while that helps, it is not racing. The difference between running at trackday pace and racing especially at this venue is vast.

Just sayin'........

pd

[racerdude413]

I also have a lot of laps at calabogie and i know the Armco is there, and is it is not that far off, but i have to say i have not seen any people/bikes hit the armco at speed, and there is always a lot of crashes at calabogie, but they don't lead you straight for the Armco unless you crash in a weird spot or way. Of course there is always a risk of a weird spot/way so we can never be too safe...

[Ashton Bond]

Is it bad that I really can't remember seeing any Armco? LOL

[fmcd]

Is it bad that I really can't remember seeing any Armco? LOL

That's a good sign. You're getting older like the rest of us and the armco thing is another example of look where you want to go, not at the armco.

The trackday thing is far more useful than people think, to commit the track flow to memory frees up some brain room to get on with your race face thing. Takes lots of laps to build the automation software and probably best NOT at race pace for the reasons Ashton illustrates.

And it's Wintertime. What else is there to do but overthink things?

Cheers!

fmcd

[Percy W]

Just to put this one 'to bed'......we will be running a 2 hour race at Calabogie , the same as the 3 other rounds.
So, keep building those pre72's and get out there!
Can't wait to get started!!

Percy.