A few years ago I was a track photographer shooting motorcycle races at 3 of the 4 tracks in Florida. Only 1 of these track was designed with rider safety in mind - leaving room for the riders to run off the track especially in turns. The others were designed for autos and the bikes were simply allowed to run there.
The track in Miami had this 1 turn that was really dangerous in that it had no run off room and a concrete barrier separated the flow of the racing bikes. One of the racers determined to do something about it. He convinced the promoter of of the club racing organization to match what money he was able to raise and the track agreed to match that total.
The support was so fast and furious that the track went ahead and covered the entire cost of an air fence for that turn. Good thing too. 2 weeks after the fence was installed a rider hit the air fence instead of the concrete and walked away with only a sprained ankle. It could well have been fatal.
Morale of the story - if you see something that needs to be done, go ahead and move toward fixing it. Chances are that others see the same problem but for whatever reason don't move on their own - a leader is needed. Other folks are likely to join in once movement is started.
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As a side note, over half of these track riders do not ride on the streets. It is safer running 150+mph on the track than it is on the street. Doing stunts, endangering the public on public streets is considered uncool by most track riders.
.............
Here's a couple of my shots.
The track in Miami had this 1 turn that was really dangerous in that it had no run off room and a concrete barrier separated the flow of the racing bikes. One of the racers determined to do something about it. He convinced the promoter of of the club racing organization to match what money he was able to raise and the track agreed to match that total.
The support was so fast and furious that the track went ahead and covered the entire cost of an air fence for that turn. Good thing too. 2 weeks after the fence was installed a rider hit the air fence instead of the concrete and walked away with only a sprained ankle. It could well have been fatal.
Morale of the story - if you see something that needs to be done, go ahead and move toward fixing it. Chances are that others see the same problem but for whatever reason don't move on their own - a leader is needed. Other folks are likely to join in once movement is started.
.....................
As a side note, over half of these track riders do not ride on the streets. It is safer running 150+mph on the track than it is on the street. Doing stunts, endangering the public on public streets is considered uncool by most track riders.
.............
Here's a couple of my shots.
