Just talked to my girlfriend about this since she knows a lot about horseriding and is a biologist. In Germany all horseraces are countercklockwise as are track races, speedskating etc. She remembers a scientific study finding that racers are better, faster and more coordinated when running counterclockwise. There were tests with people left in a salt desert without means of orientation which showed that most people in this kind of situation tend to walk not straight but in a wide curve to the left. Magnetism or the human brain structure are possible reasons for this. So counterclockwise is more "natural"......
Michael Schmid Oberammergau Germany Tel.: +49 8821 798790 Fax.:+49 8821 798791 mail: schmid@zunterer.com http://www.zunterer.com
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] Im Auftrag von Jay Sexton Gesendet: Montag, 16. Juli 2007 18:32 An: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Betreff: [CR]Clockwise or no? Paging Ted Ernst
Ted Ernst hasn't chimed in on this one yet. If anybody would have the skinny, he would.
Jay Sexton Sebastopol, CA
There doesn't seem to be any pattern to the direction of racing. In US, almost all oval tracks [for any kind of racing; foot, bike, motor, roller skates...] seem to go counterclockwise. Motor "road" racing in the US is generally clockwise (tho' I remember Upper Marlboro, Md. was counter but it included part of a banked oval). European motor racing is usually clockwise including closed road circuits like Nurburgring, the old bankings at AVUS and Monza, and open road courses like the Mille Miglia. The banked Brooklands track in England ran counterclockwise. English and American horse racing seem to run counterclockwise generally, but Longchamps in Paris appears to be clockwise. I cannot deduce a rule.
David Bean
Arlington, MA
beandk at are-see-enn dot com