Driftking... yes, he liked my del Sol better than 996 TT...
06-26-2007, 04:31 AM
#196
A Banned 'Haiku Victim'
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yo Bon, how is the R-F track over the weekend? was the temp good? it looks like a great track for GCC07. i remember hearing horror stories about giant rocks just off the tracks few years ago. has that been improved? ie, does it have decent run off rooms now?
06-26-2007, 12:48 PM
#197
Moderator and 993 whisperer
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Saturday was about 85-ish, but by about noon the wind kicked up something fierce, which brought on the sand storms. It was miserable to walk around at times. One flagger told us that he heard on the news that the gusts were up to 45mph! Funny stuff of the day: a Viper was passed down the Sunset Straight by a huge tumbleweed. We were having fun with that on the radios. Comments like, "Hey, that tumbleweed doesn't have a number on it" , "That tumbleweed didn't get a point-by", "Black flag that tumbleweed so I can bring him into the hot pits" and of course I had to add, "I don't have a tech form for that tumbleweed" and "That tumbleweed isn't registered -- he needs to pay me!" So we were able to at least keep our sense of humor.
Sunday was better, and a little cooler. The wind still came up, but it wasn't til more like 2PM, and it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Saturday. There weren't any serious sand storms like Saturday. The Viper went too fast through the slide and went off onto an access road, and broke his belly pan. Car and driver are fine, though. Driver hurt his pride a little, but no biggie.
Yes, they have made great strides in removing the huge rocks that used to line the 1.6 (original configuration) mile track of 2003. The bumps that are near where you hit the right hand turn that approaches the bowl have been smoothed out, but I still felt them. They don't have turn markers still, which is a pain. But if you look on the map, you'll see. Approaching turn 17 the track is really fubar for some reason -- it's as though they forgot to finish the tarmac there, which makes it hella hard to brake without your car getting loose. I hope they fix that before I see the track again. But overall, to answer your other question, yes, the run-offs are far more mild and more safe than when they first opened in August of 2003.
The facility is still archaic at best, but Jeremy (track manager and son of the owner) told me that next year they will have a new classroom, a driver lounge, and bathrooms with running water. At some point they will have a full-service kitchen too, which will make it so that we'll get better food. The food was okay . . . but two days of eating pulled pork sandwiches got on my nerves, lol.
Anyway, there's your report. If anyone has other questions about RFR, feel free to ask. I know there are still a lot of folks who have never seen it, and I'm trying hard to promote events there -- it's a blast!
Sunday was better, and a little cooler. The wind still came up, but it wasn't til more like 2PM, and it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Saturday. There weren't any serious sand storms like Saturday. The Viper went too fast through the slide and went off onto an access road, and broke his belly pan. Car and driver are fine, though. Driver hurt his pride a little, but no biggie.
Yes, they have made great strides in removing the huge rocks that used to line the 1.6 (original configuration) mile track of 2003. The bumps that are near where you hit the right hand turn that approaches the bowl have been smoothed out, but I still felt them. They don't have turn markers still, which is a pain. But if you look on the map, you'll see. Approaching turn 17 the track is really fubar for some reason -- it's as though they forgot to finish the tarmac there, which makes it hella hard to brake without your car getting loose. I hope they fix that before I see the track again. But overall, to answer your other question, yes, the run-offs are far more mild and more safe than when they first opened in August of 2003.
The facility is still archaic at best, but Jeremy (track manager and son of the owner) told me that next year they will have a new classroom, a driver lounge, and bathrooms with running water. At some point they will have a full-service kitchen too, which will make it so that we'll get better food. The food was okay . . . but two days of eating pulled pork sandwiches got on my nerves, lol.
Anyway, there's your report. If anyone has other questions about RFR, feel free to ask. I know there are still a lot of folks who have never seen it, and I'm trying hard to promote events there -- it's a blast!
