Don
Wish I could help you but we don't use radar or totaly believe in the
accucracy of it. There has been much conversation regarding the use of radar
for timing the Budwieser rocket at Edwards AFB some years back. We use high
tecc. Banner photo cells set at 132 feet apart with the certified
timer/computer accurate to 5 dec.points, we use 3 for SCTA & BNI records. I
think it would be very interesting to compare the two at El Mirage but I'M
not sure what the distance a radar gun would be at its best. For safety we
are back 600 feet from the track and won't let anyone go stand near the
track even there are a few photographers that would love to get that close
up shot, it happened at Bonneville one year when one snuck out there. He was
escorted from the salt.
Glen BArrett
Chief Timer
Don Kerr wrote:
> Listers/listees et al;
> On Thursday nite whilst traveling to a friends house, a police
> cruiser passed me going the other way.
> It was dark and around 10pm. The cruiser spun around behind and caught
> me up, lights an' all, so I crossed over to the left to a quiet side
> street and stopped. The officer informed me he RADAR'D me at 73mph. Now
> here's where it gets confusing.......I was following a pickup truck
> about 100 feet in front and had been from the turn we'd both made on to
> this road (65mph zone.) some 1/2 mile back. I told the officer that I
> find that 73 hard to believe as he said him self, the pickup he clocked
> at 63 mph. Now, I said "Whilst that may be all well and good, when I saw
> the reflective side strips on his car, an auto reflex made me look at my
> speedo, it read 62mph"......" don't know about that Sir , your speed was
> 73 mph, I'm not going to issue a ticket anyway but I would like to see
> you license and insurance verification sir". This I did and again
> repeated that,"...the speedo read 62 in my vehicle, and as you know the
> truck in front of me you got at 63mph."
> "You must have been catching him up sir."...........
> So later that evening I went down to the Police Dept' and there was
> officer ******.
> "You know', I said, "that bothers me to think you got a target hit at
> 73mph on a vehicle going 62."
> the other officer there said "May be you tires are off sized"
> Well that was not the case and today in the daylight I went back to the
> spot and guess what...?
> Right behind me as I approached the police car was I-35 over the highway
> I was on, around 500 yards or so back. The police car was facing the
> interstate traffic at a 90 degree angle,100 yards ahead of me, making
> him 600yards from the south bound interstate lanes. The thing is, does
> anyone know if a semi rig was passing at that point, would the radar
> target the largest, fastest object and record that speed even though the
> angle would have varied from 60 to 110 degrees across his line of sight
> ? You folk at the timing light should know, yes? I read somewhere that,
> radar guns latch on to fastest targets even further away than the
> principle target. Any comments ?
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