Changes to Heartland Park at Topeka

[tstruyk]

From what I've heard about Gateway, HPT is like a room with padded walls safe.

I would say its similar to HPT in that there are places where you can get hurt, but arent likely to crash hard enough to get into trouble there.

T1 is somewhat hairy... losing a front there or getting bumped off track could hurt.  I think SD crashed in T1 years ago.

Other than that the times you are close to walls are 2nd gear corners and are covered with airfence/haybails. (exit of 7 and exit of 9)

I would put GIR in the same level of safety as BFR... trade walls for tree's.

As for Jason I talked to him a month or so ago, give or take.  seems to be doing well.  Back to work, on blood thinners to keep the clotting controlled.  Still a smart ass.  His kid gave his shiny new titanium mesh forehead a dent with a head butt... definately his kid! 

What about Brad?  Anyone have any updates on him?

[Court Jester]

only been to HPT once and that was to get my race license before they repaved it. i hated the bumps and cracks and the huge rumble strips on the aprns. outside of that i thought it was a great track. but then i was going balls out either. just trying to finish the day.
they had an air fence up along the wall on the last turn. that was the only place i thought looked a bit ugly. but after reading all of this i'm a bit scared to go back in a few months. 

[Jeff]

As for Brad, I haven't talked to him lately, but he walked up to us at the Wegman auction and thanked us all...  I was absolutely amazed that he was up & walking.  I figured he was on the 2 year plan at least...

[Snacktime]

As for Brad, I haven't talked to him lately, but he walked up to us at the Wegman auction and thanked us all...  I was absolutely amazed that he was up & walking.  I figured he was on the 2 year plan at least...

That's good to hear. I live across the street from KU Med and went and saw him and Jason several times. He would'nt remember because he was still on a vent. Looked pretty bad. Again, really good to hear.

[Court Jester]

That's good to hear. I live across the street from KU Med and went and saw him and Jason several times. He would'nt remember because he was still on a vent. Looked pretty bad. Again, really good to hear.

from a wreck at HPT???
damn

[Spooner]

Great to hear about Brad!  I know he was in VERY bad shape!

Jester-I don't know that anyone knows exactly what happened to Brad, but he somehow ran straight off in 5 and hit the wall there.  I don't believe there was any air fence at all. 

[Jeff]

from a wreck at HPT???
damn

dude... he took a BEATING...

Still unsure what happened, but he hit the wall and perhaps the bike hit him, who knows, but he busted basically everything on one side of his body, plus a head injury...  He's done racing...

[Court Jester]

damn, sounds ROUGH... really sorry to hear that. 
at least he's still alive.

[Thingy]

Brad is doing OK.  He has healed pretty well, but is not up to full speed yet.  All of the breaks in his pelvis have made it sort of like one leg is a little longer than the other.  He also can't raise one arm above his shoulder.  This severely limits him in his work (building houses) but he is going to have another surgery next month.

Brad did not go straight off in T5.  He actually went off coming out of T5.  Nobody saw what caused him to do this.  Unfortunately, there was only airfence on the wall to protect a rider if you crashed going into the corner before you turned in.  There was no protection mid corner on.  The HPT director was very nice when I talked to him about Brad's crash and wanted to understand the physics of the crash so that they could protect better in the future.  Hopefully that will occur.

When I went out to the crash sight, I found that the wall was 45 ft off the track and was brand new.  This really surprised me since there was 100 yards of open field behind it.  It appeared that Brad left the track on the bike and then bailed as he headed toward the wall.  (based on the skid paths in the grass and impact marks on the wall)  Since he was traveling at an angle toward the wall, he actaully traveled 90 ft from the track to the wall.  The extra distance helps, but when you consider that you travel almost 90 ft in 1 second at 60 mph, he did not have much time.

Racing is a dangerous sport and everybody must make there own decisions on the risk.  Very fun track, but too many walls for me.  Especially when your friend dies in T5.  I'm just thankful that the medical team brought him back.

I am sure that he will come to some of the races to be my pit bitch.  He really enjoyed spending time with the CCS family during his short career.

[Court Jester]

well i don't know him at all. but best wishes to him non-the-less

[Burt Munro]

Concerning how HPT spent money on track improvements.....

With SCCA HQ being about a 1/2 mile from the track and the desire to host SCCA Championships at the track, it's pretty safe to say that  the primary concern in placement of new walls/rumble strips was geared towards what was best for sports cars.(read that as motorcycle needs being #2)

When we set up the Track for the CCS/ASRA races last June we used 17 sections of airfence.  That covered the most obvious walls that needed protection.  Many (most?) riders I talked with had no idea that there was much airfence in place as it tended to blend into the white concrete walls.

Regarding the new wall at turn #5....  I would have to agree that it was totally unneccessary for bike racing.  I haven't attended a car race since the new track work has been completed so I can't comment on the benefit of the wall for sports car racing.

Rick

[Spooner]

I gotta ask-why would cars want walls??  Wouldn't they rather spin off into a field rather than have a big crunch??