Jeff's hot...

[spyderchick]

under the collar! 

Link to article

[Jeff]

Just wrote in what everybody else said...

[catman]

I dont race there but crash fests are expensive anywhere,life threatening everywhere  ,season ending for some who have put off many other luxuries like food rent etc to fullfill a lifes dream . If I planned to  raced there i would be very glad or Jeffs heads-up!Well written,well meaning,Jeff .John in NJ

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

But in the tracks defense, this was supposed to had been done before the LAST CCS event (from the way I understand it) and teh Asphault company kept balking and putting it off until it was convienent to them. If it was a scca or midwest council event the cars surely would had torn it up so bad it might had made them cancel any following event(s)

[Jeff]

again... "what the hell were they thinking"

Would this make the track better or worse DURING the season?

[r1owner]

The track could of said... "sorry, now is not a good time for us!"

[Racingxtc7]

Not sure that calling the owners "stupid" is the best thing, after all they did spend thousands of dollars trying to make the track better for us. That may have been the only avaible time to repave

[Jeff]

I didn't call the owners stupid.  I simply said that what was done at the track SEEMED stupid based on the time it was done and conditions it was done under. 

I appreciate everything they do, but in this instance it did not make the track better.  It made it worse.  Will it cure and eventually be better than it was to begin with?  I don't know.  I have my doubts, but we shall see...

If this was the only time for a repave and it made conditions worse, does that make the repave acceptable?  Seems to me that it would be a waste of money.  Then again I don't own any tracks....

[JBraun]

I agree w/ Jeff. I'm glad that they're willing to spend money, but I'd rather see them move a few walls or cut down some trees, or buy some airfence.
I was turning into T2 in fourth gear, taped, when I realized that the new pavement will ultimately make the entrance faster , but with the same bumps midcorner, and they didn't improve run-off.
I also think I'm getting older because I noticed that the walls outside T5 and T6 seem to be closer than I remember.
I guess the bottom line in my opinion is, I'd rather race a bumpy track with ample runoff than a state of the art, billiard-table-smooth polymerized surface with 15 feet between you and a helicopter ride.

[Super Dave]

I think there's always more risk loosing traction on rough surfaces vs smoother ones.

I couldn't make Friday or Saturday, myself, but my times on a very used race tire Sunday were fine.

The track surface temperature was 140.  Should traction be the same at that temperature vs something that is a bit more regular?  Obviously, it's not going to be as good as it would be had the temperature been less.

Crashes?  Most are still caused by rider errors. 

[zx10ragentorange]

I think there's always more risk loosing traction on rough surfaces vs smoother ones.

I couldn't make Friday or Saturday, myself, but my times on a very used race tire Sunday were fine.

The track surface temperature was 140.  Should traction be the same at that temperature vs something that is a bit more regular?  Obviously, it's not going to be as good as it would be had the temperature been less.

Crashes?  Most are still caused by rider errors. 

True to a point but the track was not as slick on Sunday but even so come on, youc ant say it was a good idea to repave that close to a race in the heat of the summer.

[Super Dave]

A repave that isn't during the summer would require weeks and weeks of inactivity. 

When Blackhawk was repaved in 2002, it was done in November.  It was able to remain idle for months.

As for a good time?  Yeah, but what do you want? 

I was already working around the bumps and stuff as it was.  Most tracks seldom do fixes.  I'm sure that the bump that bent Jeff's wheel while ON the track at Autobahn is still there.  I'm uneasy about blaming work to make something better when there are some things that are ridiculous.

Scheduling?  The staff and ownership of Blackhawk Farms set up two things to be done by a company very early in the year, March.  They didn't show up.  Track was shut down two other times this year.  Scheduling conflicts and weather caused those opportunities to be missed.

Polymer asphalts, which are used at Blackhawk, are not the same mixes used in parking lots, etc.  It's special stuff.  And a contractor that can properly put the stuff down is actually going to have other work too.


I think it's funny that there's apparently no way to win.  It's bumpy, it's slick, it's everything.