Suntan Sid
World Chat Champion
Joined: 07 May 2009
Karma :  
|
 Posted: 18:07 - 16 Sep 2013  Post subject: Scarborough Gold Cup Road Races, review! |
 |
|
Sorry this is more of a "Tell" than "Show"!
Mrs Suntan and myself went to to the races at Olivers Mount over the weekend. Never been there before, so we didn't know what to expect.
Costwise it boiled down to £50pp for the two days racing and practice, that included parking, but not the race programme, (an extra £5), I think the price was the same if you camped over night, although I'm not 100% sure about that.
Accomodation must have been booked up way in advance, there was nothing in Scarborough, ended up staying in a pub in Filey, on the Saturday night.
Many of the top road racers were there competing, John McGuiness, Guy Martin, Bruce Anstey, Michael and William Dunlop, Ian Lougher, Ivan Lintin, Dean Harrison, and others.
A full programme of racing, Superbikes, 600's, Supertwins, Sidecars, Lightweights and Classics, lots of 2 strokes FTW! 
The track is really narrow, and very steep in places, it didn't stop any of the riders going for it, big time, though!
Apparently Guy Martin had a big off in practice, taking out the barriers and disappearing through a hedge, he avoided falling down the embankment though.
Saturday the weather was excellent, no rain or wind and lots of sunshine, the outright lap record was broken a few times by Guy Martin and the Dunlops. Not sure what happened to John McGuinness, he didn't race, but we missed practice so maybe he'd had problems.
We watched at the bottom of the circuit, either side of the start/finish, the top riders were pulling monster wheelies at the bottom of the hill coming down to the chicane.
I was surprised that they were using the 1000cc bikes, considering the nature of the track, it really is very narrow, didn't seem to be holding anyone back though!
Here's a short video of the sidecars coming down the hill towards the chicane, it looks a lot slower on the video than it seemed in real life:-
Speedy
We moved round the circuit a bit later and watched from between the hairpin and the bridge going up the hill, it is really steep here, most of the bigger bikes were wheelying up the hill.
The weather forecast for Sunday wasn't good, it didn't turn out as bad as predicted but there were a few problems. We watched from just above the hairpin again, you got a good view of the straight approaching the hairpin and the drag up the hill.
It was dull to start with but no rain, then this happened,
Half the field taken out at the first bend!!  :-
Skittles
No serious injuries though.
There must have been something left on the track, on the exit of the hairpin, after the "Skittles" incident as a few riders went down in the next race.
The rain came down in the afternoon which caused a restart a few accidents and a few red flags. Once every one had changed to full wets the racing was back on!
A couple of the sidecars were really fishtailing going up the hill under WOT!
Some great sounds from the Supertwins, classics and two strokes! 
You can hear the race commentary all around the track.
There were a huge selection of bikes racing, even a Chinese bike that finished a couple of races!
If you do go, due to the nature of the track, you can only see one section of the track at a time, so you need to move around a bit to take it all in. If you've got any kind of mobility problems you would find it hard going, the paths through the woods are very steep, you'd be best watching from near paddock area, or staying on the top level.
There were plenty of food and stalls and the toilet facilities were good!
All in all a good weekend!
Would we go again?
Yes, it was well worth it, , you're very close to the track, nearly as close as the TT in places. Booking in advance gives you paddock entry so we would do that next time.
You can see the race results here:-
https://www.bikesportnews.com/news-section.cfm?newssection=3
____________________
"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!" |
|
jaymos
Borekit Bruiser
Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Karma :  
|
Posted: 18:34 - 21 Sep 2013  Post subject: |
|
|
Will go to this one year, but as I go the TT every year its hard to convince the mrs to let me go to another road race meeting.  |
|
Help & FAQs
Search BCF
Members
Groups
Events Calendar
rating
rating