I just got back from Heartland Park and was glad I ended up going. I was somewhat suprised at just how nice the weather turned out to be on Sunday, cloudy in the early morning, then sun till the late afternoon and a temp. in the 60's. I went with Paul James at the last minute on a bonzai run down to Topeka Saturday afternoon, raced Sunday, left Topeka about 7pm Sunday night, and got back to Rockford Illinois about 3:30am Monday morning.
The new front straight is not what I expected it to be, I thought it was just going to be a flat chicane in the middle of the straight. I went out on the track for the 1st time and saw that blind chicane cresting over that hill and was wondering how anybody was going to be going fast thru there. But after a session out on the track I realized you just had to have some reference points and you could fly thru there. As your haulin down the straight and you come to this chicane and you buzz close to the wall on the left then you flick it to the other side and crest over the hill using the tube sticking up at the apex of the turn (on the right hand side) as a reference point (since you can't really see the apex as you approach it) and you get real light on the bike as you crest over the hill and then you drift wide carrying alot of speed at the exit. The one concern I did have at that point was the lack of a gator strip or slight concrete berm of some type there. The track went from new pavement to mud instantly if you ran wide and off the track there. Other wise the new layout turned out to be a good addition to the track, and I think it somewhat changes the attitude of the track as a whole.
Thanks to the Irwins for the track redesign for the bikes and in advance for the future improvements they are planning also. Good job! :)
5:30 am...
I just got home... I am NOT unloading...
Was a Crappy weekend... was a great weekend.
All and all, I am glad I made the run down there... but CCS is not going to be happy with me when I call and chew them out for losing my registration!
Glad to hear you guys had fun (right?) I still wish I could have gone, I guess it was best for me on the $$$ part not to, oh and probably good since neither bike was actually ready, I did get them started this weekend tho!! ;)
Road America....
WOW! Results are already posted also!
WOW! Results on Monday morning from a Sunday race. Man, I hope thisf is the tradition this year! Sure would be nice!!!
Stumpy, pulling a podium on weekend 1! Way to GO!!! God Loves a Honda!
DanO pulling a win in MWGP, good on ya!
Anto - a couple top 10's on the new 1K... Hope she's broken in good for Road A...
Love it or Hate it. !!!
I think the jump on the front straight friday was a bit too much. Im very glad they ground it flat friday night.
They have sweepers, why couldnt they use them to clean the track ?
I think there's still an issue with the pit wall at the end there. Also, i didnt like how the exit to pit is too close toe the racing line.
And it really showed me how messed up my suspension is/was !!! I feel so ripped off.
Should be really nice when they finish it and repave! Too bad its 9 hours away.
First, I have to thank Mike Williams for pushing me off the fence and into his F-250 for a truly banzai run down to HPT and back. All in all, it was well worth it for a great day of racing.
Hat's off to CCS. I liked the longer sprint race format. And it was great to see the results posted online so quickly. Nicely done.
Kudos to the new owners of HPT. The new configuration adds to an already fun layout. Hopefully they will see the return on investment they deserve to do a sorely needed repave. The future looks bright...
It just feels good to be racing again, doesn't it? Can't wait for Road America.
QuoteI think there's still an issue with the pit wall at the end there. Also, i didnt like how the exit to pit is too close to the racing line.
I agree with you about the end of the pit wall, it should really be brought back a little bit to allow a slightly better approach to going over the chicane. In my opinion if your really flying thru there you can drift pretty wide at the exit, and if you went into that mud at that speed it would be ugly! It also sucks that pit out is where it's at and blends onto the course on the outside of a blind rise making it a potential safety problem for someone to rejoin after a meatball flag. I think that cutting the pit wall farther back and allowing a better approach to the apex of the chicane would help this safety concern so the bikes that are already at speed could hold a tighter line thru there more easily and not need to drift out toward the outside so much. But on the other hand I suppose that might make the chicane more of a potential passing area at the apex/finish line, which may be scary in itself, but would potentially make for some great finish line battles.
I'm curious to hear what other people think should (or shouldn't) be done right there?
Thanks for the results CCS.
Random thoughts about the HPT weekend.
New 1 day format may need some minor tweaking.... last race finished at about 6:15.... even after shortening the 15th race by 1 lap and the last 2 races by 3 laps. (to hopefully finish before the nasty looking squall line made it to the track) And without having any substantial delays during the day for cleaning up racing incidents.
Curious what everyone thought about the location of the start/finish line just before you enter the chicane at the end of the straight? Only had a few races where folks made a final lap charge down the straight to take the victory.... but I had visions of somebody trying to out gut the guy beside him for the victory and losing focus on how 2 bikes would make it through the chicane at the crest of the hill. How much of a change would it be to move the finish line up track 400-500 feet? I know this impacts the starts too where you now have the entire field trying to position for the chicane at a higher rate of speed. The current layout has to take into consideration what works best for the operation of the dragstrip too. How much could you re-position the starter stand/timing shed up track without affecting the needs of the dragstrip?
Was it a problem having the starter stand so far from the first row of the grid? I know the grid marshalls had a tough time being able to monitor the grid and the starter stand.
All these are workable issues that just need some fine tuning. Bottom line it was great to be racing again!
Thanks to the Irwins for making the committment for improvements!
Just rolled in the door! Hey it was a blast though! Loved the track! Just like the roads up here :)
Hey Jeff I christened the bike with a great lowside into a flip and filled every hole with mud! I learned it from watching you! Great first expert racing though! Glad that the incedents were minimal. NO RED FLAGS, Lets keep it that way!
Stumpy
QuoteHey Jeff I christened the bike with a great lowside into a flip and filled every hole with mud! I learned it from watching you!
LOL... Well good! It needs to go down once or twice to get the bugs out. Everything come out okay from your crash?
Hot tip... If you tweaked the subframe, check the bar that holds the battery tray. If it's not broken, I'll bet $10 that it's cracked. I just had 2 of them fixed... Definite weak point on the bike.
Any inputs on the track surface?
PS - Jeff, I like the new icon. When did you grow hair? :D
Thanks for the kind words Y'all..I will pass them on to those in charge of the event.
Results posting was made possible by home office staff being given limited access to the website, and a working phone line at the track for us to use. Our goal for 2004 is "Results by Wednesday, Points by Thursday". Since Tiffiney, Linda and I can upload them directly, this should be possible for most weekends. (A couple of times during the year we will be traveling straight from one track to another, so points will be hard to keep during those weeks, but results just require one of us three to get the info from the event to process and then post it.)
The Irwins are happy to hear all the positive feed back, they spent nearly $500,000 (as best I can tell) moving walls and making what repairs they could for us. It is much safer than anytime in the track's history, and it will get better when they get enough business to be able to re-pave.
Thanks for being there everyone, see you at Road America.
Kevin... very very cool that you can get access to post results in a timley mannor! Two thumbs up dude!!
I'll add my thanks. Other than registration taking a while in the rain (an overhang would be nice), everything went smoothly from my point of view. I'm glad we're not using the dragstrip any longer and the new hill/finishline will probably just take some getting used to. :)
Quote... Other than registration taking a while in the rain (an overhang would be nice), ...
Registration was a pain... They lost my pre-entry, so not only did I have to endure the line... I had to wait an hour for them to tell me they couldn't do anything about my lost enties.
Weather was a Bear, the drive was something else... but in the end, Sunday was a great sunny day ;D
I got wood for the first time and managed to get wood for all three races I ran!
It was the first race, while there was greif, I still am glad I went and I had a great time down there!
Had a blast guys, hope to see you all at Road America!