Landracing Forum
Bonneville Salt Flats Discussion => Bonneville General Chat => Topic started by: Seldom Seen Slim on September 21, 2014, 09:18:36 AM
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I'm starting this separate topic to make it easier to find out about the coming event at Bonneville. It's all yours -- post whatever you want, as usual, including questions and photos and reports of what's what and who's fast (or slow :evil:). Have at it, ladies and gentlemen. :cheers:
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At current Wendover time, looks like the BSF is getting a big dose of the liquid precipitation:
http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/wendover-ut/84022/weather-radar/341200
Gregg
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Storm total rainfall estimate is that so far only about 0.1 inch of rainfall to a trace over the salt flats at this time (07:30 Sun)
Lots of clouds but right now looks to be more of a drizzle than a rain storm.
Port of entry cam shows wet pavement on the last image (too dark to see anything on the others)
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Thanks for looking at the weather details and images for us all, Larry. Please keep at it - many folks want to know whether there'll be an event at all, and, if so, if the salt will be a: dry enough to race and b: long enough to allow high speeds. :?
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I80 web cam latest frames show it is wet enough for back spray on the cars as of 08:40
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/images/slc/camera/loopCams.php?camName=envpoe&numFrames=10
Storm total image covers from approximately 2:00 pm last night until 07:30 this morning.
Last hour saw just a trace on the race courses, but heavy rain about 30-40 miles north.
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What bothers me more about the camera's sequence is the complete lack of salt in the photo, not the rain.
I consider myself "new" to this sport and I even I can recall when salt abutted the freeway ramps. . . .
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Wow -- you must have been around for longer than I thought. :evil: From what I see the view shows the acceleration ramp from the westbound weigh scale on the extreme left and the deceleration lane for the first Wendover exit -- the one that leads to the far east end of town and Mike's store -- on the right. Was salt really that far up? It's been dirt there for all of the dozen or so years that we've been going, I think.
I just looked again and refreshed the link - and while I don't see evidence of rain at the moment, I do see that the pavement still looks wet. The forecast is fairly nice after today and tonight, but cooling off as the week progresses. Highs in the 80s for a couple of days, decreasing to the 60s by Friday and Saturday. WF/SW attendees: Take your warm jackets and long pants and extra socks and maybe even shoes that'll keep your feet warm. You don't want to be in Impound at 7.30 and warming the vehicle -- while your teeth are chattering, do you? :-D
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Ha! Only coming up on 20 years in the sport -- very new considering this is the 101st year of racing.
No, the salt was not that far up in that view, a lot of the salt was displaced by the road crews when they built the ramps, but I have photos that clearly show pockets of salt much closer to I80. Were the cameras pivoted 180 degrees that would be the most telling change. The attached image is from 1982 or 1983 -- the last great rainout cycle. . .
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I've got a great idea that might be of help to all of us racers.
Remember the tower across from the Salt Flats Cafe/truckstop? When we started going out to Wendover we'd see the flashing light for miles and miles, knowing that it was as the correct exit -- and therefore we had Bonneville in sight. Well, the light hasn't been used in years -- but the tower is still there. How 'bout if we arrange (= pay) to put a camera there and connect it to the internet? It's be pretty simple and inexpensive to put the camera in a weathertight and heated enclosure that's rotatable on demand. It shouldn't be too difficult to get the video signal across the street and into the truckstop or cafe where it could be fed into the internet. I'd expect the most difficult thing would be finding a skyhook to get me up there to attach the camera and enclosure. I'm not as spry about climbing towers as I used to be. The cost? I don't see why it'd cost more than a thousand bucks complete including the necessary camera and computer equipment. Oh, yes -- we'd have to get 110VAC out to the tower. We could easily use today's kind of two-way link to get the commands to it and the video back from it.
With such a bit of kit in place we'd all be able to see quite a way onto the salt. Sure, a closer mounting location would be nice, but the tower has many advantages including easy access and height and vandalism protection.
Who's interested in spearheading this project? :cheers: :cheers:
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I have suggested that sort of thing in the past. Would be happy to chip in some $ toward the camera.
One other alternate camera location would be to see if arrangements could be made to put it on top of the water tanks behind and just north east of the salt flats cafe.
Below a snip from google maps street view of the tanks I am thinking of. I think they have ladder access on the tanks, and presume power would be available.
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The Flashpoint guys will design, fabricate and donate the enclosure / mount for the camera. Along with the camera we should also include a weather station! We think y'all have great idea.
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Maybe solar powered like the highway construction lights. Doubt the camera pulls much current or the transmitter. I'm in for it whatever is decided.
Doug :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
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I (Blackhorsephoto) have already committed to donating $250 towards the initial hardware costs. I strongly support the idea of a remote weather station near the track location.
With a tipping bucket rain gauge we could eliminate a lot of guessing about how much precip fell on the salt (of course there is no cure for the fact you can't measure it actually on the course).
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The only drawback I could forecast for the solar powered device is that it might not have enough reserve capacity to keep the enclosure warm enough for the camera to function correctly during cold times - especially at night.
As for the tanks behind the gas station -- yeah, those'd probably be fine. The blinking light tower had power going to it in the past -- to make the light flash. I don't know if it still does. I'm sure you're right that it'd be very easy to get power to the top of the tanks, and that they'd be high enough above ground level to show some worthwhile information. Weather station with a tipping bucket? Great idea even if, indeed, the rain gauge wouldn't be on the salt per se. It's still give some information that can be useful.
I guess now that I've put my foot in my mouth that I'd best start working up some kind of equipment list and costs. I'll get with Mike Crawford, too, even though way out there is not his (city) property, I assume. But he's in the know enough that maybe he can point me to some wheels that would need greasing. :cheers:
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For warmth you can put a small low watt light bulb inside the enclosure (sort of like the ovens they use in electronics equipment) does not take much power to hold above minimum operating temperature. I suspect most outdoor video cameras are rated to near 0 deg F or so. As you mention would need a gell cell battery in parallel with the solar panel. Might touch base with the NWS who I believe owns the camera near the port of entry to find out what their experience (power consumption demand) etc is.
Would need a good quality sealed solar panel like those sold by West Marine for use on sail boats in a salt water environment. Except for little things like mounting brackets (stainless steel) and other one off items for the mount, most should be off the shelf stuff. Another option would be a wide view (similar to a go-pro) fixed view point camera that only updates like once every 5 minutes with a field of view that would include the bend to lands end, and then a good 1080P zoom-able panning outdoor camera that could be controlled by a few people to zoom out and get good images of the boat ramp area without becoming a pistol target for bone heads.
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I wonder how much heat the camera and weather electronics produce by themselves? :?
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Pelco is a very popular brand of outdoor camera enclosures. Options include heat and ventilation and even window wipers. I'd go with one of them for the sake of being so well tested and accepted in the commercial marketplace. I haven't looked but wouldn't be surprised if solar power for the thing is available. I'm not as concerned about the camera operating at low or high temperatures - as I am about the ancillary equipment like iris, perhaps zoom, and for sure panning. All needs to be considered and either accommodated or discarded.
I'll look -- you folks keep giving me ideas and thoughts you've come up with. Thankee.
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I am working so don't have a lot of time to do exhaustive research but I did find one outdoor camera that claimed to only draw 1/2 watt and could be serviced with 1.5 sq ft of solar panel.
They actually said 1.2 but in the case of solar I am very strongly inclined to over engineer capacity. panels get dirty, birds poop on them, the sun can be hidden by clouds for days on end, and as they age the slowly lose some of their initial capacity. Given this will be hard for us to service (unless someone who lives local is willing and able) better design for bullet proof reliability. I imagine panels similar to those you see on road side signs would be adequate.
It also depends on what sort of bells and whistles folks are willing to fund for the primary install. If it is a panning camera, the local government or state highway might be willing to chip in a few $$ if they can use it to pan around or piggly back another camera to view the highway if they have accidents or other issues they want to watch.
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Polycrystalline solar cells are preferable to thin-film types. They don't deteriorate over time like the thin- film ones. More expensive, though.
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
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Update on storm total radar info for today.
Looks like they got about 0.1 inches additional today between 2:00-5:00 pm
The composite loop shows that the basic wind pattern has changed. Earlier today the flow was coming out of the south east across the saltflats, but the latest loop shows a front has come through and the current flow on the race course area is coming out of the south west now. Hopefully that will push the wet out of there and get things drying.
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Here's the latest NOAA forecast. It looks like good drying weather isn't forthcoming very much for the next week. Not bad for the next couple of days, but Friday and Saturday's forecast highs tell me to remind everyone to make sure you've packed enough warm clothes.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=40.7371490590005&lon=-114.0375068349997&site=all&smap=1#.VB9eeufK7bs
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I checked the SCTA-BNI site, didn't see a pre-entry list.
Is there one available?
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I expect you'd have to get the answer from Stan Back. I don't know of one.
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Sorry -- I'm only an August SpeedWeek guy.
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From the SCTA facebook page. Not everybody uses the WEB or computers so please pass the word.
Speed Week at World Finals Update:
From your SCTA advance crew at 7:30 PM Sunday it's raining now. Speed Week at World Finals at the world famous Bonneville Salt Flats has been cancelled. The advance crew consisting of SCTA President Scott Andrews and Race Director Bill Lattin have reviewed the BSF race courses and determined that they are too wet to have any reasonable expectation of them being dry enough to provide a quality race course. We owe our competitors and fans the most accurate assessment and a real picture of the current and expected conditions. The SCTA wishes to thank all of our loyal racers, sponsors, volunteers, and wonderful fans for your undying support of the SCTA and the Bonneville Salt Flats. The entire SCTA and BNI Boards have worked tirelessly to give you the best Land Speed Racing experience and anything less than that is not acceptable to us. We look forward to being your racing choice next year, but for this year at Bonneville Mother Nature hold's the records. See you on the salt in 2015!
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I'd like to say a big thanks to the SCTA for a gutsy call. It sucks but at least we won't have to haul to Wendover and sit in a hotel and wait while they ummm and arrrr trying to make up their minds. SpeedWeek 2014 at SpeedWeek 2015 anyone?
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Planning to make my first visit to Speedweek in August of '15...................
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I can guarantee it won't be your last. :cheers: