things to think about !

by **mbenoy119** » March 11th, 2012, 1:01 am

[quote=Lava]This may sound dumb-ish...
How about if one of those jet dryers they use in NASCAR were used? Not nessesarily to blow straight down & cause a lot of melting, but blown outward to melt/evaporate the fine snow dust? Then again I'm not sure how readily available those are either. Just a thought...[/quote]

That is an interesting idea, but I think it would be cost prohibitive based on the information available out there.

Average price of a jet dryer unit: $60,000
Fuel usage of about 200 gallons of Jet A fuel per hour: (currently 4.93 per gallon)
Plus, you run the fuel through a truck to pull it around.

Not saying it would not work, but honestly, where is that money going to come from in a sport that is barely making enough money to keep things going?

by **323Driver** » March 11th, 2012, 2:23 pm

If a method to blow the dust from the track is used, we need to make sure that the moisture / "ice grains" dont' compromise the effectiveness of the hay barrier. I remember hitting a wall years ago that had been installed prior to the final icing, and it was hard.
Chip

by **tifa_5_2000** » March 11th, 2012, 2:27 pm

why not just apply a bit of water?

by **bmf** » March 11th, 2012, 3:47 pm

Mix the water with corn syrup. This would raise the soecific gravity of the water/ice. Making it heavier and more pliable and less prone to dusting.

by **tp176** » March 11th, 2012, 11:50 pm

[quote=bmf]Mix the water with corn syrup. This would raise the soecific gravity of the water/ice. Making it heavier and more pliable and less prone to dusting.[/quote]

Plus with a little coloring (colouring eh) we could sell some snow cones or slushies with what we plow up at the end of the weekend!:B

Just kidding, but could be some merit to it!

Have you looked in to the cost of corn syrup? We use about 1000+ gallons per lap when we build our track. Figure about 2-3000 gallons mixed in during the mid/end portion of the track building....

Tony P
315-337-6399

by **bobspears1** » March 12th, 2012, 8:23 am

Greetings and Salute to all those Still attempting to make the sport safer. Speaking from the racer side now. It obvious as black and white to me-- we need to do some preventive maintenance in my opinion. After the call I received in December,this isssue has been paramount in my mind. Would anyone care to hear what I believe is nearly half of the problem? Back in our day,often the winning sled was not the fastest,simply, the driver had found a way to see by the changes he made in his gear,goggles, visor etc. This is what we see on any video or sprint races we watch. Machines creating steam vapor for the first few laps. Think about this; Sleds pull out on the race track warmed up; they do a quick sprint to the starting line,right.? As of that point they become a heat sink around the coolers, and now the raw aluminum is hot!! The starting green is given and away we go. To alliviate this I suggest that all sleighs be required to follow the pace sled around the very outside of the track where there is ample ice dust to cool and lower the heat exchangers temperature. A team of officials,at random pick a sled and look at the area visibly.If there is no "coolant" visibly stuck to the cooler, then we make a couple more laps. Additionaly, in sprint racing,a racer only has a few laps to get er done.That also creates problems. It is exciting to watch a sprint race,though the method is flawed, IMO.Consider this, quit doing it as we are, and go to a rolling start. Think,from stopped to WFO into a corner. Just asking for trouble,!! Perhaps the races should be a bit longer also. This method would allow the folks in the back the chance to catch up and take some of the kamikaze out of the race. From the sponsor or owner side of the fence, they will be able to determine who has the talent-skills,and also whom has the bucks to field a machine that may or may not finish due to lack of training by their driver-- Forgive me please for the length of this- its only part of what I feel will make things safer -- Bob

by **watcher** » March 12th, 2012, 9:37 am

How much Snow Dust do you think not only comes from the ice, but from the snow around the track, the speed and wind that these sleds are creating, are they pulling all the lose snow around the track and make its own mess for us? as i sat and stood in the grandstands this year, more at Weg then at Amherst, i was surpised on how much wind that was swirling around (high winds). watch the snow that was on top of the bails gone after the race. So the question i have is..... the dust just from the ice or is more from the suroundings of the ice?

watcher

by **Petawawarace** » March 12th, 2012, 9:38 am

Just my opinion, but I don't believe that the snow-dust has anything to do with the cooling of the sleds. It's all about how the sleds "chew" up the ice at speed. I don't know how doing a few pace laps will help anything, other than possibly create more snow-dust.

Bob, while I agree that a longer race would make it easier to come from the back if you do end up there, we are still racers, and adding 10 laps isn't going to make anyone drive less aggressive. Racers are racers and will race anyone , anytime.

The corn syrup might be an good idea. We need something that is VERY cheap. I'm not up to snuff with enviromental stuff, but would it cause any troubles here? Some one needs to try this and see if it works.

Jeff

by **Petawawarace** » March 12th, 2012, 9:40 am

Terry,

I don't think the extra snow helps at all, I'm sure it does make it worse. Even if it's snowing while the race is on, it makes it worse. But I don't think it will solve the problem...I have seen it sunny and near calm and the dust is still bad.

by **watcher** » March 12th, 2012, 9:46 am

Jeff, i don't mean that its snowing out, i talking about the snow that is around the track already, back side of the hay bails, snow in the infield. the snow that is swirling around hard and hard after each lap.

watcher