boy racing track in east mayo !!!

chele

they are building a track in east mayo for boy racing - it sounds class. The councillor believes it will take boy racers off the main roads and by passes and onto the specially designed track, do you think this will work?
I have my doubts, none the less a track would be super cool!!

Biro

As soon as insurance issues arise, that project will be scrapped.

po0k

link?

po0k

http://www.westernpeople.ie/news/story/?trs=mhsngbgbcw

chele

cheers for putting up the link. I think insurance could askew the situation. what do ya reckon? Do ye think boy racers will use it?

--amadeus--

This will not happen for the following reasons:

- Financially un-viable. Land needed won't be free, track will need to be laid down, barriers and sand traps built, lighting for night use, toilets and other facilities for spectators, car parking, track management system, etc. Cap Ex costs are very high (hundreds of thousands of euro) and ongoing physical maintenance will be high. Hard to see people paying enough to use the track to cover maintenance let alone recoup build costs and provide a profit

- Insurance. I hate to think how high the insurance rates would be for this. The drivers own insurance is invalid the moment they put a wheel on the track so they would need track insurance. Either they pay themselves (unlikely since why pay when you can road race for free) or it's part of teh track cover. That's before you look at 3rd party insurance for someone hit by flying debris from the track, for example

- Planning permission. Not a hope that this could get built without every homeowner in a 5 mile radius objecting

- Practicalities. Who will provide the (no doubt mandatory) first aid? As mentioned above why would people use this track if they can road race for free? How will it be staffed and who pays for that? Who is responsible for repairs if a car clips a barrier? What about if I have a nice expensive and new M3 and your cruddy Civic spins into me and writes it off, who pays for teh repairs?

This is someone flying a kite to look clever, nothing more.

chele

ya I agree totally, I laughed at the idea when I heard it and people at home thought I was being real pessemisitic. Reason Im looking for feedback is cos im actually from east mayo and doin a thesis on boy racing culture - im gonna go talk to the east mayo councillor about this idea. Its good in hynesight but it is real away with the fairies in realistic terms. I know he is trying to get the danger of racing off the road to improve road safety without quashing the sport of modifying cars and racing but I just do not see it making a change nor going ahead in the first place! is there any boy racers here that can tell me their opinion??

dp639

typical of the farce this country can be. Trying to build a track and get it up and running from scratch in Mayo but at the same time an existing track that is Tipperary Motor Speedway is being forced to almost shut down completely.

afatbollix

mayo motor club were looking to build a rally sprint circuit a few years ago.. cars can be got very cheep and all you have to do is add a cage and your set... its run under the motorsport ireland insurance so would cost very cheep... maybe a 100 euro entry fee...

last i hurd they were going to the sports council for cash...

--amadeus--

Funny enough I had thought of a drag strip as well. In fact my idea was twin drag strips with a "drift bowl" in between. The drift bowl would basically be a circular, fenced and gated area with a low grip surface (possibly even just painted concrete) that one car at a time could use for drifting. Certainly need less space and be a lot less risky than a full circuit.

Anto - only thing about a rally circuit is that the boy racers wouldn't be able to take thier own cars onto it.

woodseb

chele wrote: »

I know he is trying to get the danger of racing off the road to improve road safety without quashing the sport of modifying cars and racing but I just do not see it making a change nor going ahead in the first place! is there any boy racers here that can tell me their opinion??

you're right, whoever's into to their modified cars will only use the track for a couple of hours a week at the most and go for even more ridicolous mods and bigger engine for this. The rest of the week they will still be bombing up and down the back roads for kicks, only faster

colly10

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I always thought building a drag strip would be a far easier job. Even the worst drivers can drive in a straight line and a drag strip doesn't need as much work to keep it running as a full race track. Not to mention the fact that you wont need as many marshals, land and equipment.

Don't think a drag strip would work, it say it would get a decent bit of use in this country but probably not from boy racers cause few would bother putting something with 130hp down as drag strip and most are too young to get insured on anything much bigger.
Can't see the track working either, costs way too much to run and most young lads probably wouldn't have the funds to use it as much as they liked if you were to put the charges on them

chele

never mind the fact it prob is not viable, I think its apparent that the racers will race to the track and home from the track so I really do not see what the council are trying to achieve by doing this??

Robbo

Surely the clever thing to do here is to treat Knock airport as the historical relic befitting of it and convert it into a drag strip/drift arena?

Biro

Robbo wrote: »

Surely the clever thing to do here is to treat Knock airport as the historical relic befitting of it and convert it into a drag strip/drift arena?

Don't be silly.