# santa pod petition



## trackday addict (May 14, 2005)

Hi everyone,

Yep our first crash in Project GTST & it could have easily been avoided !

I'm absolutely fine thanks & the car can be repaired & will come back stronger. I am however livid at what was probably the worse surface i have ever seen in all my years of racing at the Pod - it's one thing not to have grip in the first halve of the track - it is unforgiveable though to have s hocking surface in the last halve & last 1/3rd when cars are hitting their big MPH's !!



See below a post I have put on the Santa pod racers forum:





After a 4 hour drive home a lot of time to calm down but i think today was absolutely appalling & here's why !!

2 years ago once cars starting see mid to low 8's I & others asked for the track prep to improve - especially down the final 1/8th due to various cars wandering around the track.
Was delighted at the time with the response shown when afterwards the track was prepped before everyone then ran & surprise surprise no real issues afterwards.

2009 - no major issues but the odd time when prep could have been better, so over the winter of 2009 we ask for various things to be taken into consideration, various ideas are banded around & a request for a committee put in to improve things going forward. By now times as low as 7.68 7 a real desire to improve racing & safety going forward.

The pod also shows a massive push to improve safety & brings HKS under MSA rules which means we the driver all have to spend cash improving our cars - it might hurt BUT what price safety so we do it.

We are told thanks for your input but no commitee & essentially no changes for 2010 apart from the fact we are also going to join you up with ESC - bigger fields + RWYB !!

Then we get this weekend - terrible weather on the saturday, no racing but with a decent forecast for the sunday. Loads & loads of street cars covered head to toe in mud due to the various quadmires of carparks - raises the questions around ok so how will they sort that for tomorrow as we leave the pod late sat pm?

We arrive sunday to bedlam, huge queues, cars caked in mud leaving car parks. One queue of cars being jet washed & then another lane gets opened up & doesnt matter how much mud you have drive straight through it's ok !!

So competition starts & timetable goes out of the window trying to fit 4 classes of HKS, ESC + hundreds of RWYB through, surprise surprise piles of shit & mud on the track but no one seems to be to concerend ! More & more street cars bringing mud & crap on & then the crashes start !!
No massive prep for the qualifying rounds - pretty much take it as you find it, poor old gary finds the end of the strip bloody awful & puts his car into the wall - we wait behind him next up to go.
A clean up, bit of glue gets put down & we run - cracking 60 foot of 1.14, good 1/8th of 4.8 & then on changing to 4th gear the car is sideways thanks to zero grip & i mean nothing, tyres baloon up & are away, try & wrestle the bloody thing & swap lanes about 3 times & then under the gantry absolutely NO glue at all & no real surprise to see the car 360 into a wall.

To say i am livid is an understaement - you apply MSA rules in relation to car safety YET you do not APPLY MSA rules to YOUR track preperation !!
This is NOT the 1st time cars have wandered all over the track BUT TODAY you had various warnings before the crashes started & did nothing apart from put as many RWYB cars down the strip with shit all over them !

Todays accidents could & SHOULD have been avoided BUT yet again greed & cash through the tills wins the day !
You advertise the HKS series as safety first. the fastest Japanese cars etc YET you cannot be bothered to prep the track properly ESPECIALLY the final 1/8th & 1/3rd which in my mind is outrageous ! you know that the cars are quick these days with some approaching 180 mph at the end so how on earth can you not make sure the final 1/8th is safe.

You cannot have your cake and eat it, you cannot expect the fastest japanese cars to run & bring crowds in whilst providing a shocking surface !!
We have NEVER had an issue in mainstream racing ever !

So who pays our repair bills thanks to your lack of organisation today & lack of a decent surface !!

I would appreciate a phone call asap from someone at the pod & a meeting organised, I will absolutely take this further if i have to, someone needs to make a stand or this will happen again & again to everyone eventually !
You either support the cars running in HKS or you dont - you choose
It was truly shocking today & i feel that strongly about it I am tempted to start a petition as why should I and others have to pay full whack to get our cars repaired & the POD do nothing to help & even worse they do nothing going forward & more people have the same problem or god forbid someone gets really hurt !! 



Here's the petition



Dear Santa Pod,

I either run my own car or watch Japaense cars at various events at the Pod & would ask that you urgently provide a suitable & acceptable SAFE surface for all of the cars running in any of the HKS & ESC Championships to run on. 

If the Pro Class cars & other classes in the series were to stop running I would feel very strongly about not attending future events.



Yours sincerley 





Tel 

Address





Could you please cut & paste the above & send me an email to [email protected]



Unless we do something now the classes will be killed for the future !! - please feel free to post this on as many bloody car forums as you can - why should we risk our cars & having to bankroll repairs for a rubbish surface !!



Huge thanks



John



p.s - will post some piccies up later


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## Boosted (Jun 5, 2008)

At least you're ok John :thumbsup:


I'm just gonna mail you now, ****ing Santa Pod just got a serious wake up call. You should get all the top drivers to form their own committee and you lot can decide what Santa Pod should do at meets. People power will win them over, especially if they think the top guys will boycott Santa Pod. Top cars bring top crowds, and they know that


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## Boosted (Jun 5, 2008)

Sent


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## Cliff J (Jan 8, 2008)

John, 

Firstly, great to meet you today. So sorry about your accident but glad you're okay physically. 
I've filled out the petition and emailed you. 
Lastly, the track was shocking, I have my own videos going up in a minute, although they don't show just how much work it took to keep a 430ish bhp Skyline from seeing the wrong lane and possibly the wall!!!!!! Terrible track today


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## trackday addict (May 14, 2005)

Hi Cliff - great to see you mate  

Well here we go ! 
such a shame as would have been a decent run, 4.8 to the 1/8th & plaenty of those last year usually = around 7.7 but they have to get the track sorted as it was shocking ! 






















































































































heres a clip

21032010043.flv video by marknjayne - Photobucket


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## R.I.P.S NZ (May 7, 2004)

WOW, that is terrible John and I'm really glad your OK, I can only imagine how you must feel.

Looking at the pix I notice a couple of things, I presume it was probably only a practise/qualifying run but is is actually very lucky your RT was as it was or that could have been very nasty with the other car at the end there.

I see in the first pic, your already well out of the groove, aiming right a bit and have some "left hand down" going on and it keeps getting progressivley closer to the center line with more "left hand down" as you get towards 1/2 track, did it feel "OK" at that point then just **** off?

Really hope you get it fixed and back out soon mate,

Robbie.


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## trackday addict (May 14, 2005)

Hi Robbie,

Yep a qualifier mate
The car was good till the 1/8th & then went into a tank slapper as hit 4th gear.
Was 100% full throttle for 5.0 secs, thank christ Leon was a bit in front or would have taken him out for sure.

The run before someone else stacked theres & they need to sort it out !


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## Madden (Nov 14, 2004)

Get the vids off your camera John. That will show how bad the track was when you managed to keep it straight


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## deep_space (Jan 27, 2010)

saW this too, and many other less powerful cars struggling, that place is in an appauling stae, will email you asap. glad there were no injuriues!!


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## Mookistar (Feb 5, 2004)

loving the fact it's still a 9.5 second run despite crossing the line sideways

mook


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## ShaggyR32GTR (Feb 29, 2008)

Glad yr ok John. 
Track prep was total shite yesterday and Santa Pod do need a wake up call. I did a run in right hand lane just before Gary in the RX7 went down, as i pulled 4th gear the car felt squirmy as hell. Myself and Malc (Blue34) spoke to the MSA officials in the scruitineering shed and mentioned the fact just as Gary came past us sideways along the wall!!!! WTF?? another crash?
Something needs doing if they want crowd pleasing HKS cars to run, the amount of mud and crap on track was a joke.

Petition signed


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## Irish GTR (Apr 23, 2007)

I know its a bad start to the year,but you just know that Project GTST will bounce back and break records again at some stage in the year.

You just know it will.


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## blue34 (Jul 28, 2005)

ShaggyR32GTR said:


> Glad yr ok John.
> Track prep was total shite yesterday and Santa Pod do need a wake up call. I did a run in right hand lane just before Gary in the RX7 went down, as i pulled 4th gear the car felt squirmy as hell. Myself and Malc (Blue34) spoke to the MSA officials in the scruitineering shed and mentioned the fact just as Gary came past us sideways along the wall!!!! WTF?? another crash?
> Something needs doing if they want crowd pleasing HKS cars to run, the amount of mud and crap on track was a joke.
> 
> Petition signed


Agreed, I have also posted on the Santa Pod forums... basically RWYB cars / mud / HKS series racers don't mix.. can't be allowed to happen ever again.

We also need a one way return road in order to get back to the pits before the next round! Not difficult to do just arrange some barriers to form a return route through the club stands and post a marshall or two at crossings.

We need more space in the paddock, and some information would be good so we know what's going on.

And move the entrance to the "muddy camping" field nearer to the main entrance to avoid most of the mud on the roadways in a stroke...


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## mattysupra (Oct 31, 2008)

sorry to hear about your car john. 

I have always found Santa pod to be slippy against stratford raceway. Now im using normal road tyres and running alot less power than some of you and could never work out why i have less grip on there track than i do in the rain on normal tarmac!

I guessed the reason was down to the track was prepped to work well with slicks etc and not road tyres? 

I run my car there once and was spinning up in 3rd gear with 400ish BHP (R34 GTR) Now my car wont spin up in the wet in 3rd so why does it at santa pod? 


Anyway, why are all the major events at santa pod? Why not Shakespear/stratford raceway? 

Do you guys have better grip at santa pod or Shakespear/stratford? 

Maybe the HKS series should be moved to stratford? I have never seen anyone hit the wall there and i go there alot more than santa pod that your guarranteed to see someone hit the wall!


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## G40tee (Feb 25, 2008)

John,

Absolutely appalled at the things im hearing about the track surface, especially as i read somewhere (possibly on your facebook status) that the track was apparently going to be properly prepped!

I didnt realise so many people crashed! That is ridiculous, also cant believe cars were going from the muddy fields to the strip straight away, that is asking for trouble with the cars that were lined up to run.

Petition on its way to you now.

Chris


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## ATCO (Feb 2, 2003)

Pod (when properly prepped) is considered quicker than Long Marston and having run at both generally would agree. The organisation at Pod is also normally better too, although the queueing seems to be getting as bad at both places! 

It has been suggested before that the HKS Series could be run at both locations to give it more of a 'national' feel, however I understand Shakespeare Management did not appear to be interested in a 'joint venture'. If that is not the case perhaps the relevant authority from their could post same on here? 

In the end, this is about getting matters straight at SP. As UK, if not Europe's premier strip people rightly have expectations of what it should be like to race on.

DaveG


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## Boosted (Jun 5, 2008)

ATCO said:


> As UK, if not Europe's premier strip people rightly have expectations of what it should be like to race on.
> 
> DaveG



Exactly..................spot on :thumbsup:


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## Blitz_Boy (Mar 22, 2010)

...pic waaaaaaaaaaaay too big...


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## mattysupra (Oct 31, 2008)

thats a nice first post. 

Maybe you could make it smaller tho as i had to go round to my neighbours house to read the other half of the sign!


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## Boosted (Jun 5, 2008)

What a ****


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## Chilli (Jul 16, 2007)

TOO BIG
:lamer:
clues in the wording in this thread (& the petition)
this accident was avoidable if the surface was prepped, numpty


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## Snowfiend (Jul 11, 2006)

Really sorry to hear this John, glad you're ok though.


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## g11ary (Aug 14, 2004)

Signed and sent


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## skylion (Apr 1, 2007)

John,

I'm really sorry to hear what happend, looks well scary from the photos. 

Last year I had the backend of my Skyline all over the place at USC 2009. I thought it was a problem with the car and had all the rear arms replaced. Thinking about it.. last year had similar weather conditions with rain and mud on the track.

Here is the vid: (Skip to 2mins...)
Ultimate Street Car 2009 | Team GTR

I'm going to be running even more power this year, so if the situation doesn't get better I won't be running at Santa Pod. This is a serious wake up call!

Shah


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## Ludders (Feb 6, 2004)

Here is the rubbish video I have. I was too busy watching John's car to notice where the camera was pointed!


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## Cliff J (Jan 8, 2008)

That's the 1st time I've seen the RX7 accident. Thats was just pure violence!!!!


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## trackday addict (May 14, 2005)

Well I'm glad to say that a meeting has been organised with santa Pod management for the 17th april to discuss the HKS Series going forward & also the events at the last competition.

A decision will then be made as to whether we & i'm sure the rest of the guys in the Pro Class & potentially other classes decide to run in it again dependant upon what is agreed.

I hope something can be sorted out to suit all.


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## R.I.P.S NZ (May 7, 2004)

Reece and I have spoken about what happened and something we think may be worth bringing up is the fact that they may not be giving enough credit to just how much power the turbo cars are making especially from 1/2 track, its TOTALLY different power delivery to the big V8s and you usually find the guys running/prepping the tracks are old school V8 guys with not alot of first hand experience with getting a turbo car down the 1/4.

Just an idea and might be worth mentioning I think.

Good luck,

Rob


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## trackday addict (May 14, 2005)

You are right to a degree Robbie & things have changed a lot over recent years with the power some of the cars are making & they make it very differnetly to V8;s etc.

i hope something can be sorted as it has been a cracking series over the years.

If not then we just run in mainstream.


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## max1 (Feb 24, 2002)

where will the meeting take place jb


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## Ludders (Feb 6, 2004)

max1 said:


> where will the meeting take place jb


.......and who is invited?


.


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## trackday addict (May 14, 2005)

Hi guys

Just got back after a few days away.
April 17th at the pod & all HKS drivers invited - details on the santa pod forum


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## Boosted (Jun 5, 2008)

Good luck with that John :thumbsup:


I'm certain if all you guys tell the organisers to "sort the track out or we won't run here", they'll have no option but to do it. They'll lose bundles if you guys boycott the Pod, and they know that. You lot just have to make them realise that you lot know that too.


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## trackday addict (May 14, 2005)

Well we can but try & i hope there is an answer

here's the first full length one i have seen from the day

YouTube - PROJECT GTS CRASH


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## Irish GTR (Apr 23, 2007)

trackday addict said:


> Well we can but try & i hope there is an answer
> 
> here's the first full length one i have seen from the day
> 
> YouTube - PROJECT GTS CRASH




If its of any consulation.......credit to you and your skills for managing to hold it for that long and scrub off so much speed before impacting..

Could have been alot worse,look at it that way.

What doesnt kill you can only make you stronger............as they say.:thumbsup:


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## trackday addict (May 14, 2005)

:smokin: lol - indeed 

In a weird way the car will end up a lot stronger as bits we thought about doing will now get done :smokin:

Just over the moon that the old girl is ok & not a write off etc, new rear quarter panel arrived today & rear bumper etc & we actually got away quite light in comparison to what could have happened.


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## Cliff J (Jan 8, 2008)

I keep watching that video back John, over and over in fact. It looks like you're only rolling by the finish line, but the speed comes up as 87mph, which is crazy and just shows how fast you were going before that for it to look so slow by the time you crossed the line!!!!!!!


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## hpt_simon (May 20, 2006)

glad to hear that 

as been said already, amazing how long you keep it there hehehe, i thought it was going to hit first time, that would of been horrible.

keep it up and good luck at santa pod.

simon


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