Track Redevelopment - Phase 1 - Overview
Weekend 1
Work started in earnest on phase 1 of the track redevelopment on Saturday 24th March 2012.
The work has been split into 2 phases to ensure enough time to get finished in time for the Summer Series and we got off to a cracking start thanks to the excellent planning and sourcing of materials by Andy Beaumont, 2 fabulous warm sunny days and some hard graft from: Andy, Colin, Cooky, Kaz, Les, Martin, Neil, Ryan, Wayne, Wes and Zoe.
Track efforts concentrated on the 'new feature' with design changing from a 2 level platform to a sloping 'wall of death' when it was clear that the original design was too high & flat when viewed from the rostrum.
Kaz & Zoe set about the cafe getting rid of a pile of junk and making the place spotless. Next job is a new door, a lick of paint and some new flooring.
Weekend 2
Work on phase 1 of the track redevelopment conitnued on Saturday 31st March & Sunday 1st April 2012.
This weekend saw the arrival of the mini digger enabling a serious amount of dirt to be shifted so work focused on building the new table top and flattening the area from where the old 'first double' had been removed. The soil from this area went towards the start of the up-ramp on the second jump in the new 'first double' on the way up to the new 'wall of death'.
Digger aside there was still plenty of graft required digging holes, concreting posts in, dragging astro around and shifting barrow loads of dirt for the new jump.
Kaz & Zoe painted the cafe, themselves and anything else that came close so the cafe is starting to really look the part. Kaz also field tested her rival to the McDonald's breakfast wrap and it went down a treat so you can expect to see that on the menu when the Summer series starts. Next jobs for the cafe are a new door and some new flooring.
Thanks to Aron, Andy, Colin, John (Wells), Kaz, Les, Wayne and Zoe for their hard work.
Next weekend will be the roller. There's lots of work yet to do so if you can come down to help it will be very much appreciated.
Weekend 3
Phase 1 weekend 3 of the track redevelopment was over the Easter weekend 6th to 9th April 2012.
This weekend saw the arrival of a few tons of soil thanks to John (our Landlord) and the roller.
On Friday the posts were trimmed down and the two 'lumps' before the left into the jumps to the wood section were removed.
Saturday saw the roller delivered. The table top ramps and top were rollered as was the existing banked corner where the astro was peeled back and some soil used to fill holes before replacing the astro, and rollering the corner. A new 'rumble strip' was started using plastic pipes partially sunk into the ground.
Sunday concentrated on the new double barrel jump ramps, getting the sides on, the dirt in place and then rollering the ramps to get the basis. John dropped the soil where the up and down ramps of the new jumps were to be made which made life easier but there was still a serious amount of digging and dirt moving done.
The next step will be to scrape the ramps and roller them again to get them the right profile before laying the new astro. Same for the table top.
Monday was very wet and this hampered progress. More pipes were laid for the new rumble strip and, thanks to the rain, the areas where water lies were identified with a view to getting some drainage in. As a test a ditch was dug to see how water would drain away from the area between the existing double before the wood section that is now the entry point to the existing part of the circuit after you come off the table top. The water drained away nicely so the next step will be to fill the ditch with gravel and make it smooth before replacing the astro.
Thanks to Andy, Lee, Les, Liz, Martin, Steve, Steve's lad and Wayne for their hard work.
Next week will see delivery of the wood for the wall of death and the new astro.
Next weekend will be the roller again and possibly the digger again with a view to getting the ramps finished, some drainage in and the track flattened. There's loads of work yet to do to finish the table top and the new barrel jumps and get the new track layout ready for racing. There is also plenty to do in other areas like the fencing etc.
So a lot of work yet to do and given that the 22nd April is the NRS and the weekend after is the 1st meeting on the new track, if you want to race that weekend then please come down to help. You effort will be very much appreciated.
Weekend 4
Phase 1 weekend 4 of the track redevelopment was 14th & 15th April 2012.
This weekend saw the arrival of the boards for the wall of death.
On Saturday the boards were screwed to the frame to complete the running surface of the wall of death, other boards were fixed to the rear of the frame and there was a fair amount of dirt shovelling and whackering to get the profiles on the new jumps and take some of the lumps out of the surface between the 2nd jump downramp and the upramp of the wall of death.
Sunday concentrated on filling in the drainage trench dug by Les the pervious Sunday (with a promise to Andy by Les not to dig any more unless we have a digger as moving the gravel nearly killed him), dragging a good few lumps of astro around to cover the track between the new table top and the new entrance to the existing wood filling in and flattening with soil as we went and a general tidying up to get things looking more like a track and less like a building site.
The end of the afternoon saw some more profiling and whackering of the new jump ramps and the first tentative test of the new jumps, wall of death and table top (videos below).
Thanks to Andy, John (Robinson) & Les for their hard work.
Next weekend will concentrate on flattening the new areas of track ready for laying the new astro which will now arrive early the next week, putting up the new fencing, finishing the tidying up of the track and putting the final touches to the cafe in preparation for racing on the 29th.
We will be having the roller again and the digger at some stage. There is shed loads of work to be done and we really do need plenty of boddies to get the jobs done if the tack is going to be fit for a really good day's racing on the 29th so if you want a great day please come down with your hammers, screwdriver drills etc. and get stuck in.
Weekend 5
Phase 1 weekend 5 of the track redevelopment was limited to just 1 day, 21st April 2012 due to the NRS round 1 being on the 22nd.
Work concentrated on flattening out a few lumps and bumps on the run from the wall of death to the new table top and also on the existing banked corner in readiness for the laying of the new astro which is turning up Monday 23rd April, just in time.
Other work was painting the boards on the sides of the new double and the centre board and back boards on the wall of death.
The fence topping was replaced on the majority of the fence adjacent to the car park and some strong plastic netting cut to size to replace the existing wire.
The final touches were put to the painting in the cafe so all left to do in there now is the new flooring, a new door and a couple of curtains.
Thanks to Andy, Ian (Fairnie), Kaz, Les, Martin, Wayne & Zoe for their hard work & a special thanks to Kaz for feeding us again.
With the new astro arriving Monday and the next race day being on the 29th there is still a shed load to do to get ready.
The new astro has to be laid and we need bodies to get that done. There will be a digger & a roller but we still need bodies to drag things about. The fencing has to be finished after the digger and roller have finished on the track.
Andy will be at the track Thursday, Friday & Saturday to ensure all is ready for a good day's racing Sunday.
If you can get down any of thoe days your help will be very much appreciated and you will be helping ensure that Sunday 29th is a great day on the new track.
Weekend 6 - The BIG Push
Phase 1 weekend 6 - The BIG push - is upon us starting Thursday 26th April and culminating on Sunday 29th April with the first race day on the new track.
Thursday 26th April saw the sidesof the new table top painted, some work on the fencing and a new drainage ditch dug (this one with Andy's blessing) to drain the corner at the end of the pit straight.
New heavy duty plastic mesh was stapled to the top 2/3rds of the fence between the parking and the track and the existing wire mesh, topping and gate removed from the section past race control. New wood was screwed to the top of the posts to form a solid new top and a new post concreted in to support the gate.
Thanks to Andy, & Les for their hard work.
Friday 27th will see more work on the fencing and other preparation for the big day on Saturday when the new rolls of Astro will be rolled out on the new track sections. More detail as we have it.
Andy did a sterling job and got 10 rolls of astro placed and rolled out as well as sorting some more fencing and making a new access to the track to get the marshalls out quicker.
Thanks to Andy and Ian (Fairnie) for their hard work.
Saturday 28th is Astro day! We will have a telehandler, mini digger (with a bit of luck) and a roller but at 1 ton a roll we need a lot of bodies to get it all rolled out and ready for racing Sunday. Please come and help.
Well, Saturday really was the big push! Pushing ton rolls of astro turf. We had the telehandler and a roller but no digger.
In a nutshell, everything that needed doing was done. The rest of the astro rolled out, the fencing finished, the tubing pinned down and the track tested. One shed load of really hard work. Enough said!
Many thanks to Andy, Cooky, Colin, Jamie (Parkinson), Kaz, Les, Millsy, Ryan (Lownie), Oliver (Tayor) & Wayne for their hard work.
The work's done, we have a track so c'mon let's race!