parkerracing

When I was there in July for the "soft" opening (EMRA) I noticed the soil surounding the track (fine enough to be silt, really). At the time I thought the hydroseed truck needed to be put on 24hr duty. I've changed my mind. The outside edges of the track need to be paved to keep that stuff off the track. The corner workers could hold a red/yellow all day. Put aggressive turtles between the track and runoff areas, but the dirt needs to be controled to keep from wrecking more cars. /:\

Mikelly

Yup, It was pretty bad today. Can't imagine running thru those dirt clouds the way they did all weekend...

Mike

BrianCunningham

I was there this week helping Gary out.
I rented one of Ian's Spec Miatas.
I was on the opposite course, there's two.
All I have to say is that I had a great time.
1st class facility.

MazdaRob

It needs some grass. There was so much dirt and marbling off line that if you got a little off line, you couldn't turn. That and the dirt storm that made it look like the Persian Gulf GP

Oyishdog

The Rolex race made the track look very narrow. I looks like the track is going to be a good one, but I think it just needs a little teaking...and some grass

It was a shame to see the Phoenix car knocked out on the first lap.

jfaphoenix32

NJMP has a lot of work to do.

The dust clouds were simply atrocious...

Runoff areas were soft, no gravel traps. No grass. Loys of loose silt and sand... Dry as the sahara.. The Koni Cup race had a 45 minute caution period to fix the outside pit lane guardrail after it took a hit from shane lewis in a hart Honda... (Shane was ok)

In the Rolex race a DP car spun in turn one, came out on track and stalled again after spinning again. His co driver Emerson Fittapalding stated on TV that they were having trouble keeping the car running... The car would not restart.... We just heard on TV that the driver was having problems with the car all weekend. The GT race was just green flagged as the DP spun... Cars went around hm in the dirt and JH never saw him as the dust cloud rolled around... just about nailed him headon in the cloud of dust...

Race over. Drivers ok. Broken RF control arm on our car. The CCW wheel on our car took a massive shot and never bent. Great job on the wheels John Purner...

Pretty disappointing for us.

John Shiels

from watching the race and the accident it looks like it opened prematurely at the minimum. Does look narrow as they said which may not be good for a HPDE. Few shots of the Rolex race showed the track littered with marbles and posibbly stones.

Timz06

Looks like the track was not ready. Scary at the start with JH's car running into the DP, they should have held the start. Glad he was not hurt, that was pretty lucky.

It was a fun race to watch. I enjoyed when Max Angellelli was blocking one of the DP racers, and the other racer put Max in the dirt!

Tim

Jim 47

You got that right John.

A few of us have had major negative first hand experience with the NJMP Thunderbolt course for a HPDE. While we did see lots of dust clouds, they were not as severe as those described during the racing.

However the "bridge turn", which is the right sweeper after a series of small but rapidly accelerating esses, was a MAJOR problem for at least 3 cars prior to any real racing. Three cars were destroyed at that turn, the last of which was Scott Pruett during practice, and as Joe stated above that someone hit the outside pit lane gardrail in that same "bridge turn" area during a race.

With all the dust and dirty track problems combined with one area that has caused repeated accidents and car destruction, it would appear that the track "opened permaturely at the minimum", especially for the non-professional drivers at a HPDE school. The track management did make a safety change to the pit lane gardrail prior to the racing this past weekend, but the stated purpose was to keep spinning or crashed cars out of the pits, which it appears it will do, but the basic problem of that section of track is unchanged, and there will likely be continuing problems at that "bridge turn" .

Jim

AU N EGL

Bummer Joe

Saw your car with JH in and next thing, that Sahara Dust storm cloud, and wham

Harvey Seigal should have waited a year or put sod down in some of the Key areas.


Loved the Brumo's go 'air born" over the hump.

John Shiels

hydro seed would grow in a few weeks they are just to cheap as they would have had to water it every day if planted now. Looking at the track in the race it doesn't look all that great. Being so narrow you would really have to wait for a point-by ALL the time.

At Pocono or even Lime Rock they are wide enough to go wide on the straights and blow by someone asleep at the wheel. Yea I know no point-by don't pass. Never been called for it on the wide straights going way wide. Someone would have to make a hard left or right to hit me.

What was top speed on that track in HPDE with a new Z?

parkerracing

John, that might be a bit harsh. They have had to pull a few rabbits out of their hats just to be ready to open in the first place. I for one will give them the benefit of the doubt through the end of the season. If nothing is done by then....

John Shiels

you don't open a bridge if it is not complete so don't open a race track. Scott Pruett has an accident and then they rush to install 250 feet of guard rail before the race. Shows me poor planning and track design. They rushed for the money where peoples lives are at stake.
Lucky the dust didn't get someone killed as no one had a clue where to go where it was up in the air. As dumb as we think NASCAR is in many respects I doubt they would let cars run in that dust.

Then to say once off in dirt warning, twice off penalty, and third time your out is how I understood what they said during the broadcast. Do they have a clue why ships in the war put up a smoke screen? Guess not they out race cars and more importantly people in the same position risking lives.

I also think NASCAR could keep the smoke down from tire design of compounds. That is a crowd pleaser so I think they do it.

Wicked Weasel

running at NJMSP this year I thought they opened prematurely. I can let the outside of the track not being completed go and I know they are working on making improvements as they get feedback from drivers, but the one thing I cannot let slide is the lack of training the Flaggers had prior to our HPDE.

IMHO NJMSP put all of us that day in great danger and should have realized how important the flaggers are for the safety of everyone on the track. No Yellow, Debris or slow moving vehicle flags came out on the first day on the track. Some flaggers were even looking in the wrong direction

I was glad that PDA stepped up and sent their guy out to help each flag station. Obviously Joe and crew realized how important they are.

GeorgeZNJ

+1, the flagger working the blind hill wasn't even visible at times. After the first lap we all felt that the transition at that spot in the track near pit lane was wrong, unsettling the car. After we found out about the ferrari the previous saturday, and then the wreck at the hpde we attended all at the same spot, the track people could have looked at it differently and realized that there was a potential problem brewing. That being said, it will be a first class track, in time. Better trained flaggers, better dirt/dust control, better designed pit lane entrance turn, all before the track was open.

BrianCunningham

be sure to let the flaggers know they need to move the station

speaking as an SCCA flagger.

John Shiels

Great flaggers are a basic requirement for safety. I would guess it was a collection of some ones close friends not experienced flaggers. I guess it is like The Glen where you cannot supply your own flaggers?

So what is the hot time and top speed at that track?

1lapRacer

I was glad to see that Scott Pruett was able to race and he appeared to do a good job on track. However, watching him get out of the car after the driver change really made me wonder if he should have been cleared to drive.

If he hadn't been in the car it would have hurt the teams / drivers championship and he proved again he is a truly a pro and a fierce competitor. Just was suprised he was given a medical to drive post concussion.

varkwso

He was cleared by his wife - that was even more impressive.


Sorry to see JH taken out in the first lap...

95jersey

They did hydro seed some areas, but since construction is ongoing it would probably just be a waste then just have construction machinery run it over. The weekend I went with BMW, they had union and heavy construction equipment all over the place. The track while not wide as Pocono (what course really is?), is wider than Pocono infields. It is no less wide than say Summit Point.

Lightning course is much better and up to speed than Thunderbolt at this point. It is interesting that they finished their school course first and not the course where they were planning to hold pro races?!?!

The run off room is actually VERY good in most areas, but it would be nice if they could import some sand or gravel instead of grass run off areas. Flag stations are difficult to see, if they build some small stucture to house them in, it would be a lot easier to see than some guy hanging over the gardrail.

Unfortunately we have not had rain in this area for a few weeks if not over a month, so everything is very dry, unfortunately bad timing in a dry part of the year. The dust was a huge problem in our event, but as long as you stayed on track, it was not a problem. I think only one car got smashed and it was on the back strait through a very fast right hander, not the turn Pruett hit. The flaggers seemed up to speed at our event.

Watching the race in person was awesome. Watching those DP cars braking SO late into turns is amazing. Since I had run the course the weekend prior, it was interesting to watch their line compared to mine. I could not beleive how late they were braking into turn one. I noted my braking line seemed another 100ft back compared to theirs.

To answer your question John about speed, I think I was hitting 140-150 down the main strait and this was being conservative on a new track. I hit that turn before pit road around something like 85-90mph + or -. They said the DP's were hitting that turn around 140mph. I can see another 5mph once I really get the track down, but no more than that and expect to stay on the course.

I did happen to pay attention to my G meter and saw 1.29G somewhere in the octopus, whch made my day.