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

  • Airport's high demands on asphalt and concrete techniques
    July 11, 2012
    Airport runway, taxiway and parking areas make high demands on paving requirements, both with concrete and asphalt techniques. Mike Woof reports. High quality surface finishes are required in airport environments for runways, taxiways and aircraft parking areas. Because of the speed at which aircraft take off and land and the massive forces exerted due to the weight of the aircraft, particularly during landing, runway structures need to be incredibly strong. The surfaces also have to be constructed to very
  • Surface quality a key trend in asphalt paving
    March 7, 2012
    Improved surface quality and improved machine design are key trends in the asphalt paving sector, Mike Woof reports There is a big difference in asphalt paving techniques in North America and Europe. In North America, the need to construct long stretches of highway quickly resulted in wide pavers offering high throughput capacity, with compaction equipment then being used to achieve the required density of the various courses. In Europe's highway construction projects, distances tend to be shorter and contr
  • Advancing asphalt paving technology
    April 5, 2016
    Asphalt paver manufacturers are meeting demands for high performance machines that can deliver a quality mat - Mike Woof reports Major manufacturers are rolling out ranges of new asphalt pavers designed to meet the latest emissions regulations for Europe, as well as developing models to suit customers in developing nations. The firms have designed many of the latest machines to meet tough new emissions legislation, although versions will also be available for less regulated markets also. Ammann has up
  • New asphalt compaction technologies boost quality
    February 28, 2012
    More sophisticated compaction technologies are now coming to market, offering a wide range of benefits to users