W.E.Rock Eastern Creek - 11th/12th August - Round 2

[MrsForby]

Two completely different comps!

Anyone able to shed some light on this???

I don't know that it's anyone's place to comment on this apart from the organisers. Anything else would be speculation and here say.

I was sorta hinting at the organisers filling us in...

[alexcliffo]

Two completely different comps!

Anyone able to shed some light on this???

I don't know that it's anyone's place to comment on this apart from the organisers. Anything else would be speculation and here say.

I was sorta hinting at the organisers filling us in...

Yeah, give the paying mob an explanation. Bring on Grafton though, as long as we can camp!!!

[OVERKILL ENG]

My 2 cents worth.

Courses were a lot better than I was expecting.Sean and I went out for a practice on the Friday and was a little sceptical as how they would make enough courses for the weekend.So a big Hands up for the courses over the weekend.

As for the fence unfortunately that was out of Sams hands and really if the sport is going to go to more of these sort of places than the fences will remain. Not many motor sports will let the spectators watch without being behind a fence of some sort.

From a team perspective the fence was good in the way that the teams could concentrate on competing and or repairing with out the risk of offending the spectators. What I mean by this is We get a very limited amount of breakdown time and sometimes teams are strugling to get there junk back together in time and you will have spectators standing around asking question etc. and you don't always get the chance to answer there questions properly and almost seem abrupt or not interested which is not the case.

Maybe Sam could before the comp starts each day have a some sort of tech inspection where all the trucks and teams line up in the spectator area for all the crowd to come up speak and take pics of the teams before the tracks start.Also allow the teams to give out stickers hats etc.

Anyway had a good weekend and a Big Congrats to all the organisers was well done.


SAM

[80lsy gq]

just to answer a few things for you guys....

the fence....yes it has always been there and yes we needed to have it there for this one....Eastern Creek is a race track and they deal with race cars..this sport is totally new to them and is a very big risk for them to allow us to run our event there..we agreed that we would take every safety precaution we could..including a debris style fence along with the crash protection fence(concrete barriers)..now that we have run an event there and they have seen what it is like there will be an opportunity for us to run with only a crash protection barrier next time..i will also be wanting to have the spectators in a different position which allows closer access and better views to the action...

food van is not our call...Eastern Creek Raceway, like every other decent venue has contracted caterers who have sole rights to sell food on the particular premises..

overall i think this event went bloody well considering the lead up time we had (4 weeks from the idea of doing it until we needed to have the courses down here) and also considering it was our first ever man made event....

i would like to say a massive thanks to Eastern Creek Raceway for allowing us to do this...bring on the Aussie Finals at Grafton on November 17 and the World Finals at eastern Creek Raceway in January 2008

dave

[nottie]

Awsome event and bowlsey Sam and the whole crue did an absolutly great job to pull this off in the time frame you guys had
From here i am shore Sam will just keep coming up with better and better coarses and obsticles.
Oh on a side note the shoot out coarse concept was fantastic. Just hope it stays.
For anyone who was there on the sunday arvo you would have seen a few of the buggys did try to park up in the spectater area so you guys were able to have a decent look at them up close.
But as shane said earlier Stick with us guys as i am shore the organizers know where they would like to improve things and realisticly it was a first ever of its type and will just keep getting better and better.


Oh and bowlsey It took under 12 hours to get home


Bring on Grafton

Cheers Jamie
hydrolink Racing

[MissDrew]

overall i think this event went bloody well considering the lead up time we had (4 weeks from the idea of doing it until we needed to have the courses down here) and also considering it was our first ever man made event....

Did you have time to shave in that 4 weeks or are you like a hairy gorilla to which POS would have stopped wanting to look at your bits

I have to admit I thought the after chat would have been how crap it was, BUT infact everybody I have spoken to have all said just the opposite and all have said it was fanstantic to drive on

Big arms up to the werock boyes for pulling it off. Hopefully it only gets bigger and better with each man made event run.

Also a big congrats to shane and zach, well done lads

Natural pics still look better

[hypo]

Natural pics still look better

even photochopped pix of u look like ass

[Troll00]

Great concept which is now a reality, well done to Sam and all the guys from WE Rock, now I have to get the homeless to all new level, had a shocker broke so much over the weekend but you get that when you abuse something long enough, did a crown wheel, front axel, rear tail shaft twice!!! Thanks to Sam K for making a new tail shaft for me out of left over bits I had!!!

[dirty harry]

who won pro mod ?

[moose]

Steve Grima(sp?) won Pro-mod , in Matt Dunks old faithful !!

started to think we werent there !!! (no fotos !! )

found some ...........................

1st big save for the week end !!!!!!


2nd save !!!!!


& didnt save !!!!!

[FireTruck]

from Maddog's pics... there ia a mistake on the board that was obviously corrected (Pete pipped Adrian):

[napsta]

thats cos it doesnt have shootout scores

[MISSFOURPLAY]

Very dissapointed not being able to catch up with friends in teams etc in the pits, view behind the fence was terrible, and the food even worse.
And I thought it was called WE ROCK, not WE CONCRETE RAMPS. And hearing the the Grafton and finals will be man made, I think this will be the last WE Rock we attend. Bring back the natural terrain.

[bazooked]

Very dissapointed not being able to catch up with friends in teams etc in the pits, view behind the fence was terrible, and the food even worse.
And I thought it was called WE ROCK, not WE CONCRETE RAMPS. And hearing the the Grafton and finals will be man made, I think this will be the last WE Rock we attend. Bring back the natural terrain.

ur loss.

[HIGH ROLLER]

Thats it

[FireTruck]

One who won't come back... pity, I'm sorry you feel that way.

As the man-made format evolves it will bring many thousands of new fans to the sport... hopefully some of these fans will also make the journey to the more remote natural courses.

Give the man made courses a chance... this was the first EVER Aussie man made event, and I think the potential is enormous. I for one am looking forward to watching the sport grow on the back of this concept.

S.

[ET4Runner]

Attended on Saturday, and as for my 2c:

POSITIVES:

- Awesome driving from the teams
- Great vehicles, you guys just keep raising the bar
- Great course set-up given the limited lead-in time
- Close to home


NEGATIVES:
- Spectator fencing and location
- The wind and dust in my eyes
- Not getting a closer look at the buggies and chat with the teams.



I went to Colo and Milbrodale last year and agree that the natural courses are better, and more 'spectator friendly'. This being (to my knowledge) the first (event on man-made course) of it's type in Oz, it is still a learning curve in the design & construction of the courses. I'm sure they will become more interesting and challenging as time goes on.

A question for the organisers:
How did the course hold up over the weekend? We think we saw holes beginning to appear from wheelspin spots on some of the 'ramps'.... )

I certainly appreciate you guys giving some explanation, and yes, totally understand the fence deal. As you said, hopefully the raceway will now make suitable concessions given the slower pace of these events, and allow a 'crash barrier' (waist high) fence.

In regards to spectators, I think they could have the viewers on the hill, south of the course. This would have given a view from two sides. However, the fact there was also a bike day on may have prevented this. Something to think about tho'.

I also like the suggestion of a 'viewing' or 'inspection' time before the event (if the competitors are okay with that of course), as the best way to grow the sport is to remember the punters who pay at the gate.

Milbrodale not on? That's sad. I hope a full (both sides without slanging?) explanation is afforded the punters on that one!


Certainly interested in the discussion here....

[MISSFOURPLAY]

Yeah sorry I have to say it is great that the guys are trying to get the sport more 'out there' and hopefully it works. But it just wasn't as good a weekend without the camping, the after hours drinks and catching up with all the guys etc etc.
Sorry again for such a negative comment made before but that is how myself and many others felt after the weekend.

[FireTruck]

All feedback will help the organizers make future events even better - keep it coming!

I wish more people were as enthusiastic about coming to the 'natural' venues... then they wouldn't have to bring the events to the people!

S.

[billsta]

i quite enjoyed the weekend...

i thought the spectators view was damn good, spectators gets to see both course from where they are, and its properly better then the pit area, so to speak... plus you dont have to run around the bush (although it has its merits) and duck and weave between someone when people keep standing on a rock in front your view...

the fence was a bit of a bummer, but it was safety issue and what the organisers were given... i think its jsut too bloody late to think about safety when something happens to a spectator... but the fence done have to be that high...
can you imagine what would have happen when the ORP mobile stacked it at the shoot out, i mean if the place was full of spectators... (hey that kid almost got wiped out by the bin...)

knowing the food was shit... so i went out to the pub for lunch on saturday... and i ate before i got there on sunday... i saw people brought an esky full of grog there, so i cant see its any harder to bring a couple of sandwich with them, so no complain there...

i like the pit area, but its a shame spectators didnt get to see the buggy upclose, but its only a site planning issue, maybe next time the organisers can have designated buggy parking area, fence off so competitors can work on the buggy without people breathing down their neck or kids being run over by a moving buggy, but fenced off close enough for the spectators to speak to the competitors, and take photos....

i think good work for the organisers and the competitors.... they all put on a good show... and what happened at panthers on friday night ??

cheers

[napsta]

I quite liked the ideas of competitors seperate from specators, meant things didnt go 'walking' during the weekend too.

Yuri, Rod Dirt and myself all bought our buggies out of the compound and left them parked where people could look at them on sunday, it would be hard to expect that tho whilst competing as with the tight schedule and no breakdown time you dont have much time to muck around while the comp is running.

[ann]

bout time i posted..

i enjoyed the weekend and in such a short time frame a big congrats to sam and the team for putting on a great show, keep up the good work, you have our full support

separation between the spectators and competing teams. this allowed us to keep the back of the truck open all weekend without general public having access to all the tools. also kept spectators from being run over and hit by flying rubbish courtesy of opw (thanks princess) - suggestion to overcome separation issues show and shine style line up first thing saturday and sunday morning in spectator area gives people a chance to look and gives kids a chance to have photos taken with their favourite buggys etc

on a side note i had friends and family come and only family that had attended previous events complained re this access. friends who hadnt attended events understood it as a neccessary barrier not uncommon in other forms of motorsports

courses were challenging but not out of this world dangerous, you dont need containers ten tall to be difficult, its about where you place the cones so well done

looking forward to the finals and worlds!

[Brendan-s]

For what it's worth I think Sam and the team did an awesome job. I reckon that for the sport and any sort of 4WD motorsport to progress to the next level, this is exactly what it needs. Sponsors don't come on board without plenty of spectators to view their logos. Spectators are more inclined to drive to Eastern Creek than to Milbrodale. More people = more sponsors = more money on offer = more teams entering = more people = and so on. Good job guys, you're pushing the sport in the direction it needs to go to be recognised as a serious motorsport in Australia.

[ferog]

Where's the new dates for the next rounds?

Might plan a holiday in Coffs around final time.

[largesuzy]

Where's the new dates for the next rounds?

Might plan a holiday in Coffs around final time.

WE Rock Rd 3, LCMP, QLD, 8th - 9th
WE Rock Australian Finals, NSW, 17th - 18th

[Mczook]

We at ABT are sponsors, spectators and competitors. We try to see if from all of these points of view.

• As a sponsor mindful of spectator numbers we were concerned but when you take into account Sam’s goal for the weekend this was not the ultimate result. We also believe city based events are a must, be it concrete or natural courses. I wouldn’t want to see the concrete course all the time though, however we believe it will help introduce new people to the sport.

• As a spectator the viewing points were below average. Because the spectators were looking down onto the course it was difficult to get perspective of what the competitors were driving and at the end of the day this is what watching rockcrawling is all about. Once we were able to go around the back it was a different story. This can be rectified by formatting better or more viewing points. The dust and wind suck on Sat but Mother Nature had the control of this one.

• Our team enjoyed the weekend as competitors and it was great for Shane & Zach to come away with a win. We agreed Sat was easier and Sun should be the standard. Once again we all felt concrete course have a future but we wouldnt want to be limited to these courses. Having pit areas for competitors not only helped with security, it also gave us structure and better organisation, plus the opportunity for competitors to catch up. One area of improvement could be the interaction with spectators however this is not just up to Sam its also a responsibility of competitors as well.

In summary room for improvement but a sound start. A lot was learnt from the weekend and this should be capitalised for future city based events!!

I have definitely been to worse I think expectation were a lot higher than in the past.

[terrazuki]

[terrazuki]

[MissDrew]

Who's is the 40 series one?

I don't like 40 series but it looks

[terrazuki]