Dunsfold Park

TKing

Is this a flat circuit, no cheeky hills or anything? Also, anyone know the average speed for the friday night 4th Cat races roughly?

Cheers.

flegghighsmells

Hi TKing.

Dunsfold Park is a dead flat circuit. 1 lap is about 3 ish miles and very exposed to the wind. The pace is usually quite tame until near the end although anything can happen on the day. I've heard the pace significantly increases if the VC Meudon lot turn up. Expect an average speed in the order of 20mph. The final bend (which is very gradual like all the other corners) is a long way off the finish line, maybe about 800-1000m?

flegghighsmells

If you've not seen it already, here's the course info on the Surrey League website. The circuit is NOT the yellow line like the picture suggests but is in fact the grey line just in from that.

http://www.surreyleague.co.uk/courses/dunsfoldaero.htm

furrag

I went there recently to claim my final point before the seasons out to move up to 3rd cat.

Just under 25 mph when I did it. Headwind on the finish straight. 200w to sit in, 290w when on the front. Such an easy race though as people just love working on the front. 170w for the hour! Much easier than any other race I've done.

Basically, do no work, sit in, wait for the others to start sprinting early and then start your sprint about 200m and count your points!

Zoomer37

Furrag wrote:

Basically, do no work, sit in, wait for the others to start sprinting early and then start your sprint about 200m and count your points!

Christ, what a boring way to race your bike

on-yer-bike

23-24 mph. Timing the sprint at the end or avoiding getting boxed in is the tricky bit. The headwind can be tough if you venture near the front.

furrag

Zoomer37 wrote:

Furrag wrote:

Basically, do no work, sit in, wait for the others to start sprinting early and then start your sprint about 200m and count your points!

Christ, what a boring way to race your bike

Yup. The usual headwind for a mile on the home straight and a handful of riders who chase and do the work means it's quite a mind-numbing circuit. I don't think I've ever read a report of a successful break in the 4ths there.

3rd cat racing there next year promoted by Velo-a-Gogo. Hopefully with a few more tactically astute riders that aren't like puppies chasing a ball, it should be more interesting!

greeny12

Furrag wrote:

I don't think I've ever read a report of a successful break in the 4ths there.

Could equally be said of Goodwood and any other closed curcuit-style 4th Cat events, with the notable exception (in my experience) of Hove Park, where the "bunch" gets atomised after a lap by the difficulty of the course!

Basically, that's 4th Cat racing for you, but we all have to start somewhere...

Monty Dog

Dunsfold is very fast in places (67kph on the flat once, just tailed-out, not sprinting) but one of the worst circuits for punctures - the tarmac is very broken in places and there's lots of gravel. Incredibly, for such a flat, open circuit people tend to ride into each other too. I was marshalling an event there having ridden from home. Guy pulls in after a couple of laps with a flat rear looking for a Campagnolo wheel - I offer him mine. 2 laps later I see him crash in the middle of the bunch! $hit I'm thinking, the bu88er has totaled my wheel - luckily wheel was OK, he just bust his collarbone.

flegghighsmells

Monty Dog wrote:

Dunsfold is very fast in places (67kph on the flat once, just tailed-out, not sprinting) but one of the worst circuits for punctures - the tarmac is very broken in places and there's lots of gravel. Incredibly, for such a flat, open circuit people tend to ride into each other too. I was marshalling an event there having ridden from home. Guy pulls in after a couple of laps with a flat rear looking for a Campagnolo wheel - I offer him mine. 2 laps later I see him crash in the middle of the bunch! $hit I'm thinking, the bu88er has totaled my wheel - luckily wheel was OK, he just bust his collarbone.

OMG I heard about that! Luckily your wheel was left intact..... it sounds like the full force of the impact went into the guy's shoulder. Like you say Dunsfold is terrible for punctures. If it rains its 10 times worse.

All the crashes at Goodwood seem to happen on the straights as well. Me and one of my mates raced there and a guy did a spectacular super-man style catapult over his handlebars (in the middle of the pack). We were getting concerned when he hadn't moved from where he was 2 laps later (despite St Johns Ambulance being with him). All the crashes that seem to happen occur on the last straight (just before the chicane)?? Have no idea why? If anything you'd think it would be on one of the corners?

flegghighsmells

Furrag wrote:

3rd cat racing there next year promoted by Velo-a-Gogo. Hopefully with a few more tactically astute riders that aren't like puppies chasing a ball, it should be more interesting!

Sounds interesting. When are they due to happen next year?

greeny12

flegghighsmells wrote:

All the crashes that seem to happen occur on the last straight (just before the chicane)?? Have no idea why? If anything you'd think it would be on one of the corners?

It's becasue the chicane strings everything out so badly that if you're anything further back than top 8-10 you're a country mile behind by the time you get into the home straight. Consequently everyone is going crazy to get to the final corner up front, since it swings directly into the chicane.

Lots of nervous 4th Cats + scrambling for position = crashes.

To be fair, the three times I've done a 4th Cat event there the crashes occured respectively on the (wet) first corner, the curves at the top end and the last corner (on a day the chicane wasn't in use). Go figure!