Sundrive

studiorat

Was out that direction last Saturday with the missus, she'd never seen the track or a track for that matter, so we stopped off to have a look. And woo-hoo there was racing on! Now we had a bit of time and I'll watch any bike racing, so we were up for staying for a bit. But the new fencing made it nearly impossible to watch the action.

I know the place was vandalized a while back, but this fence is bad news. I'd say it alienates the local kids further if anything and it's not vandal proof if you did want to damage the track again

Poor show, sad to see it up. Maybe next time we'll pop across to the centre field to watch it properly.

Beasty

studiorat wrote: »

Poor show, sad to see it up. Maybe next time we'll pop across to the centre field to watch it properly.

Not sure what you're expecting. Let the vandals loose and the track ends up being unrideable. Yes the fence is a pain, particularly as it prevents any "casual" riding, but what's the alternative? They have made great strides forward with the facilities over the last year and the only "poor show" is from the vandals who have on a number of occasions sought to wreck the track surface

And yes, all you had to do was await a break in the racing and you could have headed across the track and watched from the centre.

studiorat

The alternative could have been a better designed fence perhaps. I doubt it would stop someone intent on causing damage getting in in the first place. It really does separate the facility from the rest of the park as well.

I don't know who paid for the fence and I don't mean to criticise the people who run the track and it's events. But unfortunately it seems necessary to have the fence there, that makes me sad and that's why I posted my thoughts on the matter.

Beasty

The Council paid for it. It serves one purpose - to keep people out, and is specifically designed to be as unclimbable as reasonably possible

Bear in mind that the main spectators tend to be friends and families of participants, and there is absolutely nothing to stop anyone entering the centre field to watch (except people suspected of looking for trouble).

I would add that the problems with the track are real, and were very costly to repair. In fact it has not been possible to get the track completely back to it's previous standard because of the quick draining/drying tarmac used. I would also add that the place is still susceptible to vandalism - I had a bottle thrown at me (it just missed) on one of the track racing nights this summer

morana

yeah as Beasty said you just need to wait for a break and the lads will let you into the centre and you can get a good feel for the racing.