Increasing petrol prices and cycling inspiration can create new cyclists.

[400bhp]

My best measured BTG was 8:51, but lap times there are so dependent on track familiarity (a lot of the sequences are blind) and traffic, that I probably only timed less than 2% of all my laps. It's generally accepted by long term ringers that it's far safer not to time. Some of my funnest laps were in pouring rain, with a completely empty track and sideways on every corner Probably no faster that 10 or 11 minutes BTG.

Absolutely. You lose focus on driving safetly.

I've only visited it once - on my first lap, just before the start it absolutely chucked it down. I saw a number of bikes past me on the opening straight. I'm sure you can guess what happened at the 1st corner

I know one or 2 people who get high 7's / low 8's but as per your reasons above, this is not achievable most of the time.

For a while I dreamed about buying a place near the Ring :drool:

 

[400bhp]

BTW-what car did you have VamP?

 

[VamP]

Sounds quick . What circuit layout is that on ?

The public day layout uses the Nordschleife only. I have also done some private days that combined the GP circuit with the Nordschleife, but TBH I find the GP track boring. You'd need a really fast car (like F1 fast) to make that fun.

It's not really all that quick, but at the mid-range of the serious ringers. Means you very rarely get overtaken. As 400bhp says, there's plenty of folk out there in low 8s, high 7s. Caterham and Elise drivers should be thereabouts or faster or exposed to public humiliation

I drove na estate car ffs.

 

[VamP]

For a while I dreamed about buying a place near the Ring :drool:

The dream! Great cycling country round there too.

 

[Linford]

As I see it, the only vehicles which can achieve the silly ultra fast times are the track cars running on slicks and having the enormous advantage of a substantial amount of aerodynamic downforce, and don't require a team of 10 people to prepare the car by pre warming all the fluids before spinning the engine over.
I am TBH more interested in vehicles which are road legal, part of a production run, and could be driven to and from the track, as the above says more about the technical expertise and money available to the people who designed, built and run the car teams than the skill of the driver (this is why I don't follow F1)

 

[Vikeonabike]

I have to admit my employer are moving in the right direction. They have reduced the fleet size down from 60 vehicles to 40 in my town and said we should be out patroling on bikes more . Not giving us any more bikes So we have to share bikes and they aren't been kept at the station we parade at! .

 

[tongskie01]

You have to be careful of ketosis if you work too hard without the food though

cant burn fats without the sugars though. hence the ketosis. if you work too hard u burn glycogen. if u work on what u can sustain to do for long periods and not burning out easily u burn fat. the only limitations is time.

 

[400bhp]

As I see it, the only vehicles which can achieve the silly ultra fast times are the track cars running on slicks and having the enormous advantage of a substantial amount of aerodynamic downforce, and don't require a team of 10 people to prepare the car by pre warming all the fluids before spinning the engine over.
I am TBH more interested in vehicles which are road legal, part of a production run, and could be driven to and from the track, as the above says more about the technical expertise and money available to the people who designed, built and run the car teams than the skill of the driver (this is why I don't follow F1)

It depends what you mean by ultra fast. High 7's can be achieved in many road legal cars. As a rule of thumb, I'd say achevable with around 220 bhp/tonne upwards.

 

[Linford]

cant burn fats without the sugars though. hence the ketosis. if you work too hard u burn glycogen. if u work on what u can sustain to do for long periods and not burning out easily u burn fat. the only limitations is time.

Glycogen only lives in the liver though in a way which the other organs can use it, and when released is converted back to glucose which the cells can use. The problem with just burning fat is that the brain cannot absorb and use the converted energy as it cannot cross the blood/brain barrier (if I read it right)

Wiki on it: -

Metabolic pathways
When glycogen stores are not available in the cells, fat (triacylglycerol) is cleaved to provide 3 fatty acid chains and 1 glycerol molecule in a process called lipolysis. Most of the body is able to use fatty acids as an alternative source of energy in a process called beta-oxidation. One of the products of beta-oxidation is acetyl-CoA, which can be further used in the Krebs cycle. During prolonged fasting or starvation, acetyl-CoA in the liver is used to produce ketone bodies instead, leading to a state of ketosis.
During starvation or a long physical training session, the body starts using fatty acids instead of glucose. The brain cannot use long-chain fatty acids for energy because they are completely albumin-bound and cannot cross the blood-brain barrier. Not all medium-chain fatty acids are bound to albumin. The unbound medium-chain fatty acids are soluble in the blood and can cross the blood-brain barrier.[2] The ketone bodies produced in the liver can also cross the blood-brain barrier. In the brain, these ketone bodies are then incorporated into acetyl-CoA and used in the citric acid cycle.
The ketone body acetoacetate will slowly decarboxylate into acetone, a volatile compound that is both metabolized as an energy source and lost in the breath and urine.

 

[Iainj837]

My daily commute is about 7 to 8 mile round trip, so it would be pointless driving to work.

 

[VamP]

It depends what you mean by ultra fast. High 7's can be achieved in many road legal cars. As a rule of thumb, I'd say achevable with around 220 bhp/tonne upwards.

Yep. Elise, Caterhams, a lot of the track prepped E36 M3s - none of these need to cost a fortune and will be high 7 capable. Ron Simmonds can pedal around under 9 minutes in one of his ancient 75s, and that thing only has a horse and a donkey under the bonnet.

I had a Scooby estate, KW Clubsport suspension and a lot of Whiteline suspension kit. Only 270 bhp, but a lot of torque and wicked handling. Not stripped out either, was my daily car. Was in process of putting a E36 M3 track toy together, but then relocated back to the UK so that went out the window.

What did you take down there?

 

[VamP]

Glycogen only lives in the liver though in a way which the other organs can use it, and when released is converted back to glucose which the cells can use.

Glycogen gets stored in muscle cells. This is the body's preferred go-to fuel store. Fat is used as a secondary fuel store, and has a limit on the rate at which it can release energy. Hence the bonk, when the glycogen stores in muscle cells run out.

 

[Linford]

Glycogen gets stored in muscle cells. This is the body's preferred go-to fuel store. Fat is used as a secondary fuel store, and has a limit on the rate at which it can release energy. Hence the bonk, when the glycogen stores in muscle cells run out.

If you believe the wiki on Glycogen, it only makes up 1% or 2% of the muscles mass as opposed to 8% of the livers mass. Also, in the muscle, it can only be replenished by glucose in the blood which is synthesized from glycogen stored in the liver when it runs low. WIKI

Blood can't hold masses of glucose, as normal functioning levels run between 5 and 10. Any more than 10 and the kidneys start to dump it in the urine (risky as it can damage the kidney funtion also hence the test for protein in the urine tests to check for damage)

as I understand it

 

[400bhp]

Yep. Elise, Caterhams, a lot of the track prepped E36 M3s - none of these need to cost a fortune and will be high 7 capable. Ron Simmonds can pedal around under 9 minutes in one of his ancient 75s, and that thing only has a horse and a donkey under the bonnet.

I had a Scooby estate, KW Clubsport suspension and a lot of Whiteline suspension kit. Only 270 bhp, but a lot of torque and wicked handling. Not stripped out either, was my daily car. Was in process of putting a E36 M3 track toy together, but then relocated back to the UK so that went out the window.

What did you take down there?

I took a Ring favourite down there - an E39 M5. Pretty bog standard and was on the way back from a European jaunt with a couple of mates (2007). I only tracked the M5 on one separate occasion - the brakes are simply not up to the job. But an absolute awesome car, nonetheless. There was a few being chucked the ring at the same time and one was being driven particularly fast. I went and had a chat with the owner later on-he had upgraded the suspension and brakes which explained a lot why he could chuck the car into the corners the way he was doing.

I no longer own a car - just rely on my wife's car now (a spec B Scoob Legacy so no slouch) and am in the process of selling the race car in my sig, which I am resigned to getting FA for . I don't have the time needed to spend on looking after it. IMO needs an average of a day a week to be spent keeping it tip top if being raced regularly (plus race days on top).

Still a petrolhead - just a bystander these days.

 

[VamP]

If you believe the wiki on Glycogen, it only makes up 1% or 2% of the muscles mass

Yeah, but I have (apparently) 36 kg of muscle on my body. So that's 540 odd grams of glycogen in my muscles good to go. That's a fair old amount of glycogen to be fair.