The club has recently started a program of upgrades to the track and surrounding area in preparation for the forthcoming rounds of the National series.
With Peterborough hosting rounds 1 and 2 of the National series on April 30th and May 1st the time frame to get the required work done is tight.
Work behind the scenes started even before the Phantoms were awarded a double header National. Generally speaking the track flows well and has a good variety of obstacles for all abilities so no major changes were thought necessary but following a recent winter Regional the first thing to consider was to make the track better in wet conditions. We rebuilt the last straight in early 2010 using new techniques that have proved to have worked well in all weather conditions so the same techniques are being used all around the track with the main emphasis being on the 2nd straight.
The "big doubles" get a make over!
After lots of discussion and site visits work started on the 2nd straight and 2nd straight spectator area on the 26th of February. So far 300 tonnes of materials have been brought in and already more is required! The step up out of the first corner needed to be made wider and a little longer so work started there first. The jump was given a layer of type 1 granite, reshaped, made a metre wider and a metre longer, then the straight between there and the big doubles was given a hard core sub base topped with type 1 granite, then on to the big doubles which have also had a little tweaking to the shape. The next step is to continue along over the step up step down in to turn 2.
Whilst all this was going on 200 tonnes of dirt have been dropped on the second straight banking to raise it up to make even better spectator viewing. The plan is to create enough space for gazebos to be placed from the exit of the first corner right along to the second corner, all with great views of the track. Once complete we should be able to accommodate close to 60 3×3 gazebos around the track, all with mostly unobstructed views.
Work is ongoing and will be complete before the National rounds. We also have plans to construct permanent pens and weather proof a few other areas on the track along with some other tweaks around the site.
Pictures of the work can be found on our Facebook page which we will keep updated as work progresses.
Tags: track work
