August 2007
The site for this job was on the existing track at the Leisure Lakes facility near Southport in Lancashire. The track had changed hands several times since it was first built and it had fallen into a state of disrepair. The track was as little as 4m wide in places with sagging fencing and rubbish lying around the track. One of the previous owners had presumably been taking money for tipping. Holes had been dug in the track to bury rubbish and underneath one tabletop lay the completely intact body of a haulage trailer. local kids would ride across the fields and tear around the track and more often than not in different directions.
With a 13 tonne excavator, a 9 tonne dumper and a D5 bulldozer we certainly had our work cut out for us. Thanks to the sandy terrain it was clear that the material would push into position quickly enough. With the dumper and excavator taking away the rubbish the bulldozer could come through behind putting a shape to the circuit. 9m width was formed throughout the lap and with the rubbish out the way the track took shape quite quickly.
The track had just 4 tabletops all of which were a reasonably modest size. The smallest being 12m and the largest being 20m. It was important to keep it basic as the track would be open to the public. Around 6 ski offs were also in the new design and a section of 10 rollers were added in the lead up to one of the tabletops. Another reason for the modest number of obstacles was the sandy terrain, this would rough up effectively becoming an obstacle in itself.
This particular job was very rewarding to work on. The transformation of the site was massive and all in just under 10 days. On its opening 2 weekends the track did a huge amount of business and had quickly found itself in profit. The hard work of the new owners had clearly paid off. |
