Road America repave

[Super Dave]

Are there any American tracks you do like?  Seems you've got a nit with every track I've seen mentioned here, and a couple other places.  And I'm not sure I want to know your grudge against Alan Wilson is.

Just observations, ignore if you please  ;D

Road Atlanta is cool.  VIR is on a short list of favorites.  Heartland Park Topeka has a cool layout on it's full course, but it hasn't been ran for a few years.  We'll see how their repave went.  

Sears Point is an awesome track.  If I were going to make a drive for a cool track, Sears Point is way neat.  But the AMA course is kind of stupid for set up.  Laguna Seca is Blackhawk with sixth gear and 900 ft of elevation change.  The pits are too small, etc.  But, it's an event destination...so...

I'm not the only one that seems to have a feeling of discomfort with some race tracks.  Even individuals that race cars have issues with some of those designs.

That, in turn, has lead to the work that I am doing with a Illinois engineering company in regard to a large facility that was sited recently in Forbes magazine.  

I don't hae all the answers, and no design is perfect.  But I think there could be better.  Pavement usually is related to what the owners ask for.  If you want cheap, you get cheap.  What more can you say on that?  

I'll give two thumbs up to the owners of Heartland Park for completely shutting down their operation to do the pavement work when it had to be done...in the summer.  If you can't afford do it right the first time, can you afford to do it right the second time?

Jeff...wanna tell us about your bent wheel...

If a race track is actually done right for motorcycle riding and racing, it is more safe for cars.  That's easy.  

[Super Dave]

He`s mentioned tracks he likes. And those Alan Wilson tracks are getting kinda repetitive....Dontcha think??

Yeah, but maybe he hasn't been to many tracks?  Remember back when, when you didn't care about the track...only that you were at a track.  And speed changes things too.  Ridin' a 600 at Daytona is one thing, but riding a 1000 on the banks of Daytona with the rear wheel spinning in 6th is a completely different story.  

Laguna scary on a MotoGP bike?  Lord yes, 'cause I can recognize some places where it was uncomfortable on a 600.

[motobenco]

"He`s mentioned tracks he likes. And those Alan Wilson tracks are getting kinda repetitive....Dontcha think?? "

Let's See,

Gingerman turns 5-6
Mid-America turns 2-3
Autobahn turns 8-9
Daytona 6-7? Try finding a track map of the new infield
Autobahn North turns 8-9
Miller Motorsports, looks like a few depending on the track configuration.

Now have a look at some other non-Wilson tracks and try to find some decreasing radius turns?  Those turns are fine for cars but can be tricky and even more dangerous on a bike. Thoughts?

[Jeff]

Jeff...wanna tell us about your bent wheel...

Very relevent to the conversation...  Brand new, 1st year pavement so piss-poor that I bent my front rim in the middle of a turn.

Pavement so poor that Keith Code will not return.

Thankfully we only have 1 weekend at ACC on the schedule right now (and I stress RIGHT NOW).

There's so much more to pavement than I ever thought.  BHF's repave has held up VERY well IMHO.  Other tracks, you might as well start from the ground up.

Road A has lasted a LONG time on the pavement they have now.  The new 'bend' has held up very well as well.  I don't have any reason to think they'd skimp on any pavement work they do, but there is always a chance, and frankly, it seems that there's more poor pavement laid than good pavement when it comes to race tracks

[Super Dave]

A decreasing radius corner isn't bad.  If you're riding correctly, the line that you follow will have a decreasing radius to your apex.  

A decreasing radius corner creates "challenges".  The trick is what lies off the track.

I think the trick becomes that if you haven't raced more of a "natural" facility like Road Atlanta, Road America, VIR, Road America, or Sears Point, you're missing something some of the beauty of what those tracks have to offer that doesn't have such a sterile, computer-generated feel to it.  

[weggie_man]

I don't think I'd worry too much about the pavement at RA. They can't afford to skimp on that. Their last repave was so smooth the pro riders complained they couldn't get any feed back on the suspension.

I haven't seen RA screw up anything in the 25 years I've been going there. Except for all the fencing but that's due to Indy cars and insurance companies. Ra had no choice.

[JBraun]

Road A has lasted a LONG time on the pavement they have now.  The new 'bend' has held up very well as well.  

Keep in mind that the cars don't run the bend.
If they'd just kick the cars off the rest of the track it would be in great shape... ;D

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

The repave will be contingent upon whether RA actually paid for the proper engineering to keep the track from breaking up under weather and load of traction.

No more car racing, no more problem! :)

[cbr806]

That, in turn, has lead to the work that I am doing with a Illinois engineering company in regard to a large facility that was sited recently in Forbes magazine.

You're so funny.  It was listed in Forbes recently but I supose they'd have to kill you if you let the name slip to common club racers like us.