Organising a track race - without a track

i actually live in cornwall not london, in the smallish town of falmouth. we dont have any velodromes but lots of cyclists, due to nothing being far away, not much money and a greener lifestyle.

id like to have velodrome type racing event that people can come along to compete, regardless of bike style or ability. do you think this is possible without a real track?

im thinking maybe using an empty parking lot with crude chalk markings (still accurate though) however i dont know whever this will be allowed by the owners due to health and safty, or whever it would be worth doing.

what do you guys reckon? other than a parking lot can you think of another open space that could be used?

Depends what kind of event you are after having. If it's going to be a po-faces-and-lycra style crit race, or a family-all-welcome kind of event then you're going to need permission from the police, insurance etc etc. If its scamps, ragamuffins and ne'er do wells then organise an alley cat.

At east drinks we do a weekly TT,
somebody (on the forum) set up the idea and its been going on for about 3 or 4 months, now weekly.

there was also this... grass race, which was apparently good fun.
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread6451.html#post198195

not serious track racing but fun all the same.

it will be for adults as i cant really see it working for little-uns. it wont be super serious, but id like it to be competetitive to the point where people put their all into the race.

im concerned that whatever i do will have to be sanctioned by the police. i know a fantasic circuit by swanpool, that is both picturesque and a lovely flat well surfaced ring road, however it does have some speed bumps: http://maps.google.com/maps/user?uid=112590532145941682194&hl=en

also i think anywhere where there is residental drives onto a road will bring problems.

nice... my office has a project at the mo in falmouth community college. What day you doing it i may be down, and across abit?

We used to do races along the beach front, around Pendennis Point, over the playing field, down the steps (next to my old student digs on the beach front) and back to Gilly... that was mtb though, but it's a perfect stretch for racing along... bit busy in Summer mind.

i dont know im just thinking about the idea at the moment.

i reguarly do the penryn (home)- falmouth- swanpool - gilly- pendenis back to falmouth, to the chainlocker for a couple of pints of doombar, a surf and turf and a cheeky oggle at the barmaids post ride warmdown. i really love living around here for bike riding.

not sure where the playing feild is.

id like to do more of a fast lap sprint race, and the swanpool road is pretty much perfect. it even has the beach cafe or three macrel restuarnte for drinks and food.

mmmmm doom bar....

you can do some ye olde skool flat - track racing , or something similar to cycle speedway.

For that kind of race where youd be doing tight circuits, I reccommend enforcing the no brakes rule as it would spoil "the flow" and likely cause accidents otherwise.

Also have you heard of "sprint bikes" ?

They were an idea that popped in the late 80's (i think)

looked a bit like a childrens mountain bike, but with high end road racing parts stuck on.
Oh and most importantly, 20" wheels!

They were designed for racing around carparks etc,

it'd be pretty damn easy to build up similar bikes out of spare bits.

Maybe you could have a 20" track race around a marked out course in a large carpark.

The playing field's up by the castle... we used to nip across, then pummel down the stairs to come out on the beach side again, tricky for the dog walkers on the blind corners though... eek.

Grass track racing is the way to go I would say, soft landings for the kids and no traffic....the one posted above is not unique...it's actually well practised in the UK and is pretty common at Highland games.....

Most types of track races can be replicated on grass and it's suitable for most bikes....

Lower gears and slower speeds, but they'll be no risk of pedal strike or cornering problems if riding fixed, which you might get on street / car park style environment....

check out pics from the Mildenhall rally to see what it's all about.