ghoffman

"June 6, 2008 - Lime Rock Track Re-Paving Update:

The re-paving project began one week ago when machines began milling and grinding the historic 1.53 mile course. We started with Big Bend (Turn #1), the Downhill Turn (Turn #7), and the Front Straight. Check out construction photos here: http://www.limerockclub.com/take_a_look/index.asp.


Also, the old entrance - known as the Toll Booth - was knocked down to make room for the Optional West Bend Turn. Track construction will continue throughout June, and be officially unveiled for the American Le Mans Series Northeast Grand Prix, July 11-12."

John Shiels

hopefully they mill down the restrooms I liked the bumps there and the Tunnel Turn bump at Pocono.

Ojustracing

Hey I wonder if I can flip the guy $20 bucks to remove the speed Hump!!!!!!

John

Westwopper

According to picture 14, Lime Rock is now a dirt oval... It is the Springfield Mile!...

Hmmm maybe we can get the guys from Lime Rock to fix Summit Point....

the blur

I substained serious damage at summit from track debris.
smashed fender wheels, bashed A/C condensor.

BrianCunningham

lengthened the track? or another chicane?

EDIT: found the changes
http://www.limerockclub.com/about_us/track_map.asp

FasterIsBetter

I'm going to be at Lime Rock this weekend, July 4 & 5, with the Jaguar Club and VSCCA. They won't allow any "high horsepower" cars on the track before the ALMS races, so no Corvette this time. I'm going to be running my old Ferrari 308 instead, on street tires (no slicks allowed, either). Skippy wants to give the surface sufficient time to cure before ALMS.

I will try to take some pictures and report back on track conditions and the new setup there. Should be interesting. I'm going to be back at LRP with the Ferrari Club the end of July, and hope to be able to run the Vette, with slicks, then.

Westwopper

Sorry to hear about the damage. I was at VIR on Monday for Corvette Museum. Was told that there were huge surface issues. Called Summit and they told me "their track was in great shape. It was just resurfaced last year". When I inquired when the last time she saw the surface, she said a few days ago.... I'm supposed to do a track day there on my bike and from the pics I've seen, I'm pretty concerned.

Regards,
Tony

jaa1992

Sorry to report - unless they milled and paved it in the last two weeks its crap. Turn 1, where your outside tires should be looks like a darn coblestone street. Turn 5, crap, Carousel, crap, almost liveable.
I'd beleive the guy that had damage due to track debris.

tmak26b

Asphalt never "cure" 100% like concrete

Westwopper

JAA1992.... Seems that the advantage to bikes is they use less space. I could get to the apex (though 5 was interesting) and stay on "clean" track. It is tough to push a bike around all day in 90 deg weather...

FasterIsBetter

Well, I don't have a great report on Lime Rock, unfortunately.

Skippy would not let us on the track on Friday. He wanted to give it more time to "cure", so he threw us off and let his Skippy School use the track.

Saturday was very wet in the morning, and it had poured overnight. Apparently, the wetness from the prior week coupled with the heavy rain overnight Friday into Saturday morning undermined the new section of uphill at the end of No Name. So instead of the new twisty uphill, we ran the old uphill line, which is much better now that it is paved and the curvature of the lip has been smoothed out to minimize cars going airborne.

The worst of the new improvement, IMHO, is the new chicane in West Bend. You run down the back straight, slam on your brakes down to nothing, make an almost 180 degree right hander, into an immediate left hander. Almost no way to avoid the jarring rumble strips, and in the wet many cars were slipping and sliding all over the place. Speeds onto the front straight are considerably reduced, as you can't get much speed up going down the downhill after those turns. But I guess that was the idea.

There is now plenty of run-out if you miss the downhill turn, but with the chicane at the top, unlikely that will be much of a problem anymore for most folks. The new entrance to pit lane has not been built yet, so it's still the old entrance. And Big Bend, the Esses and No Name are pretty much the same as before. With all that work, there is still huge amounts of water ponding in the Esses and on No Name, plus a river running across mid-No Name from all the run-off from the hill. They must have employed an absolutely brilliant landscape architect/track designer to design all of this to preserve those horrid flaws. Oh well.

In the bargain, I couldn't take the Corvette (Skippy didn't want any "high horsepower" cars on his new track before ALMS). I'll be back there in two weeks with the Ferrari club for a two day event. Will be running the Corvette then. Hopefully, I can get some in-car video then.


Steve

the blur

I'm still holding true to my BOY COTT !!!

BrianCunningham

How's it looking for the race?

John Shiels

I'll never go back for skips 1/2 days bums rush he can shove it.

Westwopper

Track stayed down during the race. a few curbs crumbled and exposed steel (bolts?) which cut a few tires during practice. Otherwise, the track was better than ever, though I don't like up hill chicane and the west bend chicane...

John Shiels

probably rebar coming out of the curbs which never should have happen if it is that. Crappy workmanship especiall on a race track.

tmak26b

I heard most clubs will still go back to the classic config, they were complaining about the lack of speed coming down the hill. The pavement is awesome

Everett Ogilvie

Most of the ALMS driver comments I heard were that they did not like the new tight chicane....