Belly pan rule
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it hasnt been in the newsletter, and its not in the rulebook, im guessing its not something we have to do yet. but since every other club pretty much requires something, it's probably going to happen as john said, in the not too distant future. didnt you have to have one at daytona aaron?? with a diaper?? id imagine that something would be said at gunstock to us if that was the case. nothing a turkey roaster and some wire ties cant solve for a weekend though. i think you'll need one for summit though. im pretty sure wera requires them. i'll find out for sure tomorrow though for you. but im 99% on that one. even though i couldnt find it on the weravintage rules page.
jc
jc
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891 Posts
AHRMA dosn't require them.......yet. Most clubs and sanctioning bodies require them in an effort to keep in the good graces of track owners and managers. There have been heated debates in our local club over the effectiveness of bellypans. "They do nothing for a bike on it's side or tumbling." "Windage blows fluid out of the pan." "Why would an aircooled 2 stroker need one?" I also think the tree huggers figure in here somewhere. Ever been at the track during the first rain after a race weekend? "What's that rainbow sheen in the puddles?" Effective or not, I think bellypans simply are a way of conveying to track managers and owners, "Hey, we tried." Since our club adopted the bellypan rule(No turkey, pie or cake pans!!)there have been a few contained engine grenades, theoreticly saving the club a bit of money. Our track is actually owned by the Portland City Parks Dept. and they will charge the club an additional fee if we run longer than our scheduled time. With track time at a premium, nobody likes waiting for a cleanup in turn 3 nor does anyone want to be the first one to find out if the cleanup crew missed a spot. In my opinion it's only a matter of time before the rule is mandated accross the board including AHRMA.
With all this said, who wants one of our full fairings with integral bellypan? <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
Bret @ Glass from the Past
With all this said, who wants one of our full fairings with integral bellypan? <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
Bret @ Glass from the Past
i think something to remember is that we are not the only people that use the track. oil may have a different effect on superbike tires and performance and or also car tires. that and id imagine it leaches in different environments. like hot, cold, water etc...ive heard tracks surcharge clubs for not using them, i guess it would be the same thing as charging extra if you run over your alotted time. id rather not talk about the pros and cons and why they work and why they dont, but if it saves one person from getting seriously injured, its probably worth using. even if it does change the look of the bike. i dont think i could argue with any of you that i would put your lives at risk for the look of my bike. nor would i expect any of it from you. even if i ran a manx or period ducati. in 5 seasons of racing, ive only leaked oil once, and id still put one on my bike if asked or required.
jc
jc
I remember last year Aaron sat baking in the sun waiting on pit lane because a vintage car blew its oil on the track, So why dosn't the track require the cars to have some kind of containment system for them, in my opinion the cars are more likly to let go than the bikes are. Honestly I have never seen a bike blow up and loose oil at the track yet that caused a problem. Maybe when you lay one on its side and break a engine case you will loose some oil but isn't that expected? I have crashed, Aaron has,Johnny Boo has, JD has, Joe C? Mike? Did you ever see any oil pouring out of the machines? (ALL HONDAS MAYBE?)Even the all powerful BSA Racer is a leak ferr bike (sorta) CIAO!
i crashed in the chicane last year i leaked a small amount of oil from my bike. i think it came from a bad stator cover gasket. it was torn when i pulled the cover off. (who knows when it actually tore though) the bike was laying bars down the banking. upside down in essence. that was the only place i could think of that it came from and i found some residue there. i replaced the gasket and didnt get to race again for the weekend. ive not raced because i was weaping oil from my points plate gasket/cam seal too. the one time i did leak some oil while on the track it came from my cam adjuster not being torqued. it was blowing back onto my tire, boots and pegs. everytime i brought it to the attention of the corner workes and i even made sure to push people away from my spill in the chicane when i crashed there. i let the corner workers know anytime my bike has leaked anything. even gas. i know dylan wetsumped nearly his entire oil tank onto the track. i dont know if mike has ever broken a case open, at the track, but ive seen him do it "testing" in the parking lot. i dont think anything would have prevented oil getting on the track in any of these cases, but if asked, i'll put one on. i think the cars are just too difficult to have containment on. and those guys are like ahrma guys. alot of those cars were really expensive and they dont want to modify them anmore than they have to. did you notice even some of them dont have roll bars.
jc
jc
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