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11/2/2011
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Chapin, SC
US
Edited Date/Time
11/22/2018 6:47am
I was watching Terrafirma 2 last night with Reynard and Dowd, they were ripping Southwick and basically hopping off the side of the track onto the side of a hill down a dropoff. It looked cool. I also remember seeing old footage of Gatorback and I seem to remember a section where the guys were jumping in a turn and landing while turning on the banking on the side of the track.
Fast forward to the 'half pipe' at Hangtown, which was pretty coo IMO.
It got me thinking...when it comes to keeping fans and riders interested in outdoors, maybe we are coming at it backwards with the whole "outdoors are for real men" philosophy as the justification for why people should want to watch.
Sure, national tracks are super gnarly and rough, as riders we get that but I don't know how well that translates to the less serious fan. Maybe we need to look at ways to evolve the obstacles so that the riders are truly doing things that can't be done in the confines of a stadium. And I don't mean the Fly 150 or 80 mph straights, I mean more creative obstacles. Let's see them defy gravity in huge inverted banked turns, cool obstacles like the half-pipe, jumps that intentionally set up onto walls similar to that old one at Gatorback, sharks with laser beams, loop de loops, who knows. I don't have the answers but I think if we took a more creative look, it could make for a cooler spectator experience and probably better TV.
Yes, I live in a weed-legal state. No, I swear I am not high!
Fast forward to the 'half pipe' at Hangtown, which was pretty coo IMO.
It got me thinking...when it comes to keeping fans and riders interested in outdoors, maybe we are coming at it backwards with the whole "outdoors are for real men" philosophy as the justification for why people should want to watch.
Sure, national tracks are super gnarly and rough, as riders we get that but I don't know how well that translates to the less serious fan. Maybe we need to look at ways to evolve the obstacles so that the riders are truly doing things that can't be done in the confines of a stadium. And I don't mean the Fly 150 or 80 mph straights, I mean more creative obstacles. Let's see them defy gravity in huge inverted banked turns, cool obstacles like the half-pipe, jumps that intentionally set up onto walls similar to that old one at Gatorback, sharks with laser beams, loop de loops, who knows. I don't have the answers but I think if we took a more creative look, it could make for a cooler spectator experience and probably better TV.
Yes, I live in a weed-legal state. No, I swear I am not high!
Poll
The challenge for a track owner for what I want is probably as a track ages, how do you keep it "natural"? I like how Glen Helen did it for the national a few years ago with this section (image below).
The Shop
I imagine you envision something even gnarlier than this?
There should be a truly hard pack, blue groove track. Something else with silly deep sand. Another that looks like a slot car track all the way around, etc. Yes, there would be bitching and complaining by the riders since that means not every track was ripped at 6" deep with the perfect combination of sand, loam, and clay with a cherry on top. However, I think that overall it would make for far more exciting racing as certain riders are always going to excel at certain conditions. Baggett might love the hard pack while Barcia and Plessinger might shoot up in the rankings when a sloppy, deep rutted track is presented to them. Maybe Tomac kills it in a crazy rough loamy track while Musquin tears up a technical, jump filled track.
I think that's one of the reasons that tracks like Glen Helen and Southwick are so revered. Everyone expects huge hills, high speeds, big jumps and rough braking bumps at GH. The Wick should always provide a surface that looks like a beach that was used for howitzer target practice. Bring back something like the old Hangtown, Saddleback or Steel City- there are certain riders that ate up those hard pack conditions.
Id say these 450's can do a lot more , but then there is the danger factor
Maybe the Could Let a couple guys that wanted to
Do some more opening ceremonies type stuff to really show what these bikes are capable of
If there isnt one, build it or adapt a current track.
Hell if you did that you might even attract some euro wild cards to learn from.
"Leveraging" ... enough with the business lingo, tired of hearing that way over used term at work. Seems anyone wanting to sound business hip feels the need to inject that every chance they get.
, i mean its ok that some of the tracks have them , Glen Helen millville, and i dont have a problem with elevation
But i dont really think its a must , imo it doesn't add anything to the racing, and when riding the tracks, i have Ridden millville and we actually have a track here in Minnesota that is more hilly than millville, just up down up down up down the whole entire track , not millville
This other track , but imo its not that much fun to ride,
You cant see the track from a spectator view and i dont think it adds to the racing,
so personally id take a track made on a flat field , with a nice layout. Some berms , preferably some sand , some whoops ,some table tops and doubles.
And a track that Spectators can watch the whole race.
Pit Row
That’s what I would like to see on the US Calendar
Post a reply to: MX Nationals -- are we really leveraging the possibilities when it comes to track design?