Sad to see endurance series fail

Nelson is pitch black except for a couple of light on pit road.
Many teams including us used fluorescent lights for our pit box and under our canopy. With the proper lighting on the bike, auxiliary lighting for the track is not needed. Riders were required to have glow sticks attached to themselves as well as the bike in case of off track testing so both could be found by corner workers.

 

Yeah, but that was in an era before lawyers ruined everyone's fun and recklessness.

Depending on where the event was held, it might not be as big of a concern, but I can't believe the 24 hours of Nelson didn't average 10 deer strikes a year... Then again, the deer population has exploded in the same manner that the legal profession has, so maybe it's more of a hazard now than it once was.

 

That makes sense. I just thought the track lighting would help eliminate a lot of the lighting issues for the bikes.

I would be all up for a 24hr endurance.

 

I don't recall any problem with critters, but I know it happens.
The last one was not that long ago, I believe it was 2008.

 

Dream crusher!

 

Minimum 5K in just tires and fuel. It sure sounds like fun but the numbers are scary.

 

It was a lot easier when the manufacturers were involved. A win could cut those numbers dramatically.

 

How about mini's.....a 10hr endurance race on Mini's! Low fuel/tire cost. lol I'd enter that too.

 

Mini endurance! Great idea Tuna, I'd be all over that.

 

I was on the pit crew for Paramount Racing at Willow (top running middleweight team) and they use 30 tires for the weekend. That was a rear about every hour, a few skipped at night, and fronts about every six hours plus a couple for practice. I changed about every one of them because there is no tire guy at 2 in the morning. Tons of fun, but I was glad I was not paying for it!

At this point there just isn't the support out there for the super long races. The day to night events were cool because of the lighting challenges, especially at Nelson Ledges. The last race at 8 hours long was about as long as most people would like an endurance race to be.

 

I agree. I would love to be part of such an event. I am sure I could talk Eddie into doing it to and Livengood.

It is too bad Nashville isn't still running. I have ridden there at night several times (STT used to have a night time track "day" every year). It was cool as shit.

 

what about Charlotte or Gateway?
both have lighting.

I'd love to try with headlights only. But the safety aspect is nerve racking to me.

 

There will be no 24 hr club endurance racing. PERIOD dot!

 

Part of the night race challenge is engineering your lighting, including whatever extras you can add on. For the last Nelson night race we had a pretty good setup with an extra driving light pointed right (more right hand turns). It worked good until the fairing bracket broke during the race enough that the lights were pointed down about 20 feet in front of the bike. Not good at race speed. Mostly you let someone pass you, and then follow them around using their lights.

Sean, how about adding the USNE dates to the calendar?

Not strictly Wera, but at least there is a series for races longer than 20 laps. We are looking at a trip to NOLA to represent!