Skip to main content

Dynapac planer improves racing line

A Dynapac PL350T cold planer helped carry out critical demarcation work on the roads used for the famous Isle of Man's TT motorcycle races. It was used to remove the road markings on the isle in the Irish Sea in readiness for the races. The Dynapac machine is equipped with a special micro milling drum which contains 117 bits, compared to the standard 38, spaced at intervals of 3mm as opposed to the conventional 12mm. In addition, to avoid a sharp edge at the sides of the demarcation area, the drum is slight
July 30, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A 206 Dynapac PL350T cold planer helped carry out critical demarcation work on the roads used for the famous Isle of Man's TT motorcycle races. It was used to remove the road markings on the isle in the Irish Sea

in readiness for the races. The Dynapac machine is equipped with a special micro milling drum which contains 117 bits, compared to the standard 38, spaced at intervals of 3mm as opposed to the conventional 12mm.

In addition, to avoid a sharp edge at the sides of the demarcation area, the drum is slightly offset by 1 or 2mm at the edges, although very flat across its 300mm surface. This is essential to avoid any danger to the high-speed bikes.

The planer's additional 600kg of ballast on top of the cutter housing ensures the minimum vibration during milling operations and a much smoother and uniform result.

According to the isle's Department of Transport (DOT) maintenance team, other drums with smaller diameters cannot use the standard bit system, which means the Dynapac bits last approximately four times longer than competing drums as they have to use mini-bits.

The machine offers a huge increase in productivity over the previous and labour-intensive method used for line removal with standard blasting equipment.

The TT fortnight attracts around 40,000 visitors/year, takes months to plan, not least by the island's DOT, both in securing the route for bikes, which hit speeds of over 300km/h, and in ensuring the safety of both riders and spectators. House-fronts, walls, lamp-posts and safety barriers are all protected with air fencing and roundabouts are removed along the highly demanding 60km route.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Improving safety barriers for motorcyclists
    February 20, 2012
    Delays to better barrier safety pose further risks for Europe's powered two wheeled riders. The issue of safety for powered two wheeler riders (PTWRs) is a matter of some debate in Europe. Although Europe's PTWRs make up a mere fraction of the vehicle population, they figure highly in accident statistics. Safety provisions could be improved using available technology but a recent political decision has downgraded the importance of such a move.
  • Italian highway benefits from road recycling job
    October 3, 2014
    The latest equipment from Wirtgen has been used to recycle a stretch of Italy’s busy A4 Autostrada, one of the country’s most important highways. The Wirtgen machine was the first WR250 recycler/reclaimer to be delivered to Italy and was put to work on the A4 Turin-Trieste highway where it proved highly productive. The A4 Autostrada runs 522km from Turin to Trieste via Milan and Venice across northern Italy from west to east. The A4 is divided into five segments, the Turin-Milan, Milan-Brescia, Brescia-Pad
  • Advances in road milling technology
    June 4, 2019
    New systems developed for the road milling machine market will boost safety and efficiency
  • Compaction innovations from key firms
    June 12, 2018
    The major manufacturers are introducing an array of advanced asphalt compaction machines - Mike Woof writes. New compaction machines are coming to market from an array of manufacturers, aiming to increase output and efficiency for road contractors. One of the most notable developments is with Hamm’s launch of a production hybrid compactor model, while other firms say they are also working on similar systems. However, several manufacturers have introduced new and improved machines with superior performance t