New Track Design

[matarleton]

No. Number of pits dictates length of pit road. Sebring spits cars out a few feet before the first turn which happens to be a left hander and the pit road is on the outside.

Matt

[matarleton]

Decided we are going to leave it as per last revision. To bring the cars out farther down is bringing cars out into a much faster part of the course and potentially more dangerous. It is best to bring the cars out at a slower part of the course. If an incident is going to happen t would be best to happen at a slower speed.

Matt

[Alwaysfirst]

Personally I'd try to find some way of bringing cars out mid corner, where the raing cars would be tight in to the apex whilst cars from the pits would be on the far outside of the track. Whilst not ideal there are precidents for this type of pit exit, such as at the Valencia road course (not the street track) where the pits exit at T1 on the outside of the corner apex, off the racing line.

[matarleton]

The good thing about the last revision is it does work either way, clockwise or counter clockwise.

Matt

[matarleton]

OK. You guys have got me so neurotic about the pit exits/entry, I redrew the other one. Attached is revision 7. Tell me what you think about it as both an entry and an exit. We feel like the hairpin pit access could be used as both entry and exit so we want to do the same at the other end.

I don't have to worry about you guys being honest so rip it apart like you did the hairpin. It helps to get the creative juices flowing.

Matt

[LuiggiSpeed]

Originally Posted by matarleton

OK. You guys have got me so neurotic about the pit exits/entry, I redrew the other one. Attached is revision 7. Tell me what you think about it as both an entry and an exit. We feel like the hairpin pit access could be used as both entry and exit so we want to do the same at the other end.

I don't have to worry about you guys being honest so rip it apart like you did the hairpin. It helps to get the creative juices flowing.

Matt

I find it perfect.provided the dashed line is a solid barrier(with tire barrier or AirFence)

[matarleton]

The dashed line on the track is just to delineate the pit road from the track. The gray area is asphalt runoff area, tan is gravel pit. Do you see this design as unsafe?

Matt

[matarleton]

Red lines are walls.

[AU N EGL]

Matt

Time to contact a consultant.

Elliott Forbes-Robinson, lots of racing history, is designing tracks.

He did the new Highrock Track North of Charlotte NC.
http://racehighrock.com/home.aspx

or Allan Willson, who designs most of the tracks in North America

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Originally Posted by matarleton

The dashed line on the track is just to delineate the pit road from the track. The gray area is asphalt runoff area, tan is gravel pit. Do you see this design as unsafe?

Matt

Yes for all the reasons pointed out earlier. The racing line and the pitlane exit are on collision course. Keep the pits lane away from the track until it can rejoin clear of the racing line, as demonstrated in Post 71.

Racers will use ever inch of tarmac, and that would mean in this case running out through the pitlane exit line to the edge of the track...changing the racing line from the one you have demonstrated.
Unless you have a way to safely keep "on track" drivers out of the pitlane exit this layout is overly dangerous.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Excuse the double post, but to emphasise my point look at Interlagos the Brazilian F1 circuit.

THe image isn't great as it's cloudy and old, but there is enough to show my point.

The old pitlane is shown in Blue...it used to bring drivers out onto the circuit after T2 straight into the racing line.
The red line shows the current pitlane exit...there was nowhere closer to bring the cars out away from the racing line so they have now a very but safe long pit exit.

Yes there is evelvation changes to be taken into consideration at Interlagos, but the blue line exit is very similar to what you have in your current proposal.

[matarleton]

Actually, I have redone the track at this point in that same pit entry/exit area by removing the turn a portion from each straight and making it into a long carousel where the pit road entry/exit is on the outside of the carousel.

Matt

[AU N EGL]

The racing line, us where Other cars arn't

[matarleton]

Another variation but this time you get to choose. Which pit lane entry/exit do you like better... the green or the blue. Red lines are walls. Gravel pits are not shown yet. Your vote can also be contingent upon something like the certain size or placement of a gravel pit and/or tire barrier.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

As an anticlockwise pit entry the blue works fine, the green would ned come much further away from the track to allow sufficient run off before a wall.

As a clockwise pit exit neither are safe as both would project cars into the racing line.

[matarleton]

Thank you for everyones input. This has been a project, from the beginning, for racers and your input has been welcomed.

Will begin detailing the design and hopefully we can get it into the hands of the engineers to do the drainage plans and final prints.

Thanks again.

Matt

[AU N EGL]

Matt

Let me know when you get the land under contract. More then willing to help you out.

Tom

[LuiggiSpeed]

I'd be more than willing to travel up there to see it first hand and possibly serve as test crash dummy!!!

[matarleton]

We'll keep in touch.

Matt

[AU N EGL]

Watched the Grand Am race on the New NJ Motorsports complex and three things the announcers noted:

1: the track was 40 feet wide and was considered too narrow in many places

2: Drivers and teams do not like LONG pit exit roads. Time lost coming out of the pits was mostly do to long pit exits, not long stops in the box.


3. Not having Gravel traps( or as few gravel traps as possible) is a blessing. Cars can drive out or off the grass ( dirt in this case do to no grass growing) quicker

[matarleton]

Got the same things. The track width we are working with is 40' typical with expaned areas to 48' and 60'. We have gravel traps only in areas where a spinning car either would be carrying to much speed (don't want another Scott Pruett kind of crash) or could endanger cars on another part of the track. About 90% of our runoff area is grass and asphalt. I would say our pits are medium in length. Safety is the first concern.

Matt

[AU N EGL]

Matt

One of the greatest excuses drivers use for going OFF on a corner is:

"The track Designer just did not put enough asphalt were we race".

[matarleton]

Thats a good point. In fact, I was talking with one of the partners today about the race and said that they wouldn't have complained about the track so much if there was grass at the verge and/or asphalt in areas where drivers would typically run wide. They just hated it because ever time they ran off track it was sending a big cloud of dust saying " Look at Me! I just ran off the track!". I don't knowhow many times I have hung a wheel off... or four!

Matt

[AU N EGL]

and Matt you have never hung a wheel off to discourage a competitor behind you??

Nooooo We would never do that ..... ( whistling here )

[matarleton]

I have done some more changes but I do have the "approval" of a couple of sanctioning bodies. One big change was the mitigation of some wetlands to take out a wall and increase a runoff area.

Matt