New COTA surface
#16
Rennlist Member
"Petrucci's team-mate Jack Miller said his Ducati's windscreen was broken by rocks and dust flying up from the track surface, ..."
Sounds like they have ground down the track some more since the Chin event earlier this month.
My car's non-wrapped parts (windshield, headlights, mesh grill, etc) had what looks like one year worth of track event wear over that single weekend.
Sounds like they have ground down the track some more since the Chin event earlier this month.
My car's non-wrapped parts (windshield, headlights, mesh grill, etc) had what looks like one year worth of track event wear over that single weekend.
#17
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I watched the MotoGP practice and qualifying today -- it's bad, the bikes are all over the place with major compression going around corners and braking zones. As they're coming down the back straight, there's dust coming up along the sides of the bikes kind of like the track was wet and spray is being displaced... keep in mind, they all ran yesterday and the dust is still on track! Lap times are about 1.5 second off this year even with faster bikes/better rubber.
Short of putting a new layer of asphalt on the surface, what else can be done before the F1 race?
Short of putting a new layer of asphalt on the surface, what else can be done before the F1 race?
#19
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Thread Starter
They ran the blower pretty much non stop for the chin event. The problem is that it just moves it off the track, only to come back on with wind. They need to vacuum the damn thing. How much can a big vacuum cost....
#21
I understand the bumps and I really hope the path of Harris Hill Road is not in COTA's future as to call that place bumpy is an understatement. In retrospect, MSRH is relatively smooth. It hasn't been paved in quite a while and I highly doubt it has been ground. I guess the soil around Houston is better than Austin - something I wouldn't have thought given Houston's clay gumbo.
The access road to COTA is *very* much like Harris Hill Road.
-Mike
#22
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I drove COTA for the first time at PCA club race this year. Those two bumps on the front straight in the braking zone are astonishing. The car is launched with brakes on and there is wheel spin on the down shifts!! I ended up braking after the last bump. Honestly, I cant imagine the F1 cars doing well there!!
#23
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Big street sweepers, the kind that spray water, scrub, then suck up the muck. Would take a long time even with 3 of them running side-by-side and frequent stops to dump out all the muck sucked up.
#24
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It's all the residue from the grinding process...
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www.peterkrause.net
www.gofasternow.com
"Combining the Art and Science of Driving Fast!"
Specializing in Professional, Private Driver Performance Evaluation and Optimization
Consultation Available Remotely and at VIRginia International Raceway
#27
Rennlist Member
During the recent Chin track weekend, this problem was much worse than "dust". This was the first group on track after the grinding. According to COTA, they ground 1" of concrete off some of the bump surfaces. That is a hell of a lot of grit, way more than jet blowers can handle. It was very damaging to everybody's cars. Some of the grit was 1mm particle pebbles, not just dust. Dust and tiny pebbles are in every crevice of my car from just 2 days on track.
#28
Front of my car took a beating with Chin that weekend. It was already rough, but noticeably worse now. Drove a garage mate's Atom, I think I still have grit in my teeth...
#29
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No exaggeration, it was so bad I chose not to drive on Saturday due to grit, it is a lot worse than dust. It did significant damage to a number of cars.