IMPORTANT NEWS FOR CLUB MEMBERS

[bedsrcmcc]

Dear club members

The club has been given an opportunity to trial some carpet for the Summer Championships with the potential to maybe purchase it for keeps

I have sent an email today to you all. If you do not get it then I guess I do not have your email address, please send me a PM with it so I can add you to the list for future messages.

We are asking all Bedsrcmcc members to vote to either stay with the polished floor or to move to carpet. Please vote by replying to my email sent today or for those who didn't get it, let me know what you would like via here.

A new control tyre/s will be announced if we move to carpet as mini-pins and rally blocks will not be allowed to run on the carpet.

[chunkytom95]

i think we should trial it but me personally wuld like to stay on polished wood as each week is different in terms of grip and makes racing more challenging but i think we should give carpet ago

[N1CKMULL1N3R]

I think carpet would be good but wouldnt there be a big difference in speed from a rtr model and a faster model like a schumacher or xray.
also i have quite a few rally blocks and mini pins that have hardly been used and i would have to switch to some other tyres for the carpet.

[Ross]

I think Rally blocks will work on carpet,well they do on Micros anyway .
We could always have multi surface .

[learnerdriver]

My personal views on the carpet offer are as follows:
1. You will lose between 45 min – 1 hr in setting up and packing away
2. Storage is the BIG issue for carpet – ideally the rolls need to be stored horizontally. If you have to store the rolls vertically, you MUST roll them up precisely to avoid the dreaded wrinkles. Rolling up the carpet is the job NO ONE wants to do because it is difficult to do consistently. However, if you are storing the carpet horizontal, you do not need to be so precise when rolling up.

At present, the track surface is unique and offers something different as it changes from week to week but setting out does not take too long. Without the ability to store the carpet horizontally (which most clubs in the locality now do to avoid the dreaded wrinkles ) my vote would be NO

We would not need to ban rallyblocks as I have run them at both leighton AND mk on carpet to no ill effect. They are not as fast as slicks but work straight away whereas the slicks need to warm up. However, I do agree that we would not be able to run mini pins on carpet without damaging the carpet

[Jon R]

Hi guys,

I'm a bit divided on which surface to race on. Carpet racing is great fun and makes driving the car easier, but I also wouldn't mind sticking to wooden floor

I agree with learnerdriver that setting up and then packing away the carpet will will make us lose time in the meeting. The current run time of 7:00pm till 10:30pm might not be long enough. And I know a lot of people can't be there any earlier in the evenings.

Scott, I definitely agree with you that using a carpet would bring closer and more fun racing. As well as bring more people to the club which is always a good thing. But I also think for those who have not raced on carpet before a few things need to be pointed out.

• Higher amounts of maintenance will be required on the cars as they will pick up carpet fibres.

• Higher levels of wear will also be experienced from the increased grip and speeds, which might lead to increased numbers of breakages.

• Batteries will run down quicker due to the increased grip, so some people might need to change batteries (Sorry i'm not 100% sure what everyone is using). Motors will also run hotter.

Sorry I don't want to make it sound if racing on carpet is awful, as it isn't, its really good fun! Just wanted to give my opinions on both the good and bad sides

[bedsrcmcc]

Evening all. Back from hols so will see you all tomorrow (Monday).

Good points from you all. The wear rate and maintenance are all valid points and it is also good to hear that rally blocks will work OK on carpet with damaging the carpet itself.

Are the micros on minipins OK with less weight or would they also need rallyblocks or slicks?

At present the vote is in favour of carpet but not by much which is very interesting as many think what we already have is a great surface that really chanllenges us all.

I think it is fair to say that carpet would help keep the track in place during a race meeting. I also fully agree with comments about setting up at the start of the evening. This will only work if members help get the track ready.

[bedsrcmcc]

I am delighted to confirm that the members have decided that the club should trial carpet. We are therefore now discussing with the people who have the carpet to arrange to take delivery in time for the Summer Championships.

We will also shortly announce which control tyres are to be chosen for all members to select from.

Please note: NO TYRE ADDITIVES ALLOWED

...after all, this is not our carpet (yet!!)

[hashiriya]

Will we be on Schumacher tyres again? If so, Carpet dragons would probably be the best option without additive but if you do allow additive, it could be fairly open as the additive should level the field quite nicely

[bedsrcmcc]

Tyres will be confirmed this weekend.

[bedsrcmcc]

SST Rally 24/25mm wide - Yellow - Part No U6629
SST Rally 24/25mm wide - White - Part No U6630
Carpet Dragon - Part No U6690
Sorex 24 Revlite - Part XG-24BM
Sorex 28 Revlite - Part XG-28JB

Full details can be found here: http://www.bedsrcmcc.co.uk/club-rules.php

[chandler100]

Will we be able to race on the carpet before the start of the new championship in the open meetings to gain some experience on this new surface?

I had just got used to the wooden floor too!!

[Jon R]

Great news that we will running on carpet! I agree with Maz that carpet dragons will most likely be the tyre of choice. Are we limited on the insert we can run with them? And hopefully we do get a meeting or two to get everyone up to speed on the carpet in time for the championship

Also it might be an idea as its not our carpet yet (probably still a good idea if we do buy it eventually) to remind people to check the screws on the bottom of their cars. To make sure there aren't any hanging down that could cut the carpet. I know at my old club we used have a marshall quickly check the cars before the start of each race, we could also try this.

I wont be at the next few meetings so if you do get the carpet good luck and have fun see you all on July 5th

[hashiriya]

Good call Jon. The 5mm ground clearance rule become even more important now that the carpet will be in place to stop anything damaging the carpet.

I can't wait till the carpet is laid and the uncertainties are dismissed and we can start getting some additive on the carpet too to really bring the grip up. Should be great once that happens. I can't make th emonday meetings for the time being so I'm hoping this carpet will be in place sooner rather than later so that I get a chance to run on it before the next championship starts.

[bedsrcmcc]

I'm hoping we get the carpet in the next couple of weeks - might be just the one meeting before the Championships starts, but remember we all get to drop two lowest scoring meetings.

No restrictions on inserts but those of you who have been running tyres not glued before will need to glue them as they they will come off when running on carpet. The Sorex ones come pre-glued and make it easier for those who don't want to super glue their fingers together.

As to ground clearance, we already check each week for this but worth doing a double check on the screws.

As to additive, my worries with this is that if we did end up running it on carpet would it really make a difference for the vast mojority of drivers at the club? Probably not. We then have the issue of drivers not using additive correctly and quickly ruining the carpet. I've seen it at other clubs...

If some of you are really keen on additive then you'll need to volunteer to ensure no car goes on track with wet additive - that's if we ever run it of course...