SundayDriver

SCCA announced to day that the 2006-2008 Run-Offs will be held at Heartland Park.

Time will tell what the improvements do to HPT, but I have mixed emotions. Mid-Ohio is currently a much better track but it will be very nice to have it close.

earlyapex

It's going to be hard thinking of the Run-offs without Mid-Ohio. Do you have any pictures of Heartland Park? I'm not familiar with the track.

Why did the SCCA make the change?

Geo

Bah.....

The Ruboffs were only at MO for 12 years (including this year). They were at Road Atlanta for 24! I still think RA first when I think of the Ruboffs.

Rob 3

Whenever I hear about the Runoff's, I think of Road Atlanta as well, under the bridge, down the hill, and hang on!!!!
I think they are going to Heartland as its closer to SCCA National HQ, and being closer to the center of the country, more of an even tow for the coasts.

MikeQuig

Let's don't forget that when the SCCA moved their headquarters to Topeka last year it was not too much of a stretch to see this change of venue coming. How nice for them to have a great track in their backyard from which to oversee the pinnacle event of their season-the runoffs.

Mike Quigley
PCA "F" Class 911

dgz924s

It is about time! The area in red is the closed section that will be the new track. My question is how the new straight is going reconnect to the old Turn One. It turns off the old straight as is now. From my view it appears the wall that killed the driver is going to need moved and pave from the new str8 across the old str8 into the old turn 1. If that is the case this is going to be a VERY exciting turn coming off the finish line.

Mark.....Am I close to correct??!!

Geo

Looks like a billiard table. Yawn.

dgz924s

Geez....No Folgers in your cup this morning Geo!?

Actually a very fast track and can bite you real hard in the behind if not careful! Once paved this is going to be very fun!

SundayDriver

The 'new' track is pretty much the same as the full course is now. Info and a map here: HPT

There are certainly some issues that need to be taken care of for the Run Offs and there appears to be money to do so. Ray Irwin is speaking at our local SCCA race group meeting in a couple of weeks so I will get to hear a lot more.

My two gripes about the track are:
1) Bumpy (This will be fixed)
2) No high speed corners. (I would like to see some changes that speed up some sections.)

There are two safety issues that I see:
1) Front straight hill/turn is where pit out blends in. That is not going to work well with all the pit traffic at an event like the Run Offs (Practice and Qual especially).
2) No clear place to safely and fairly start the race.

Since SCCA has managed to run these events without my oversight for many years, I assume they are able to handle the issues and will give us a good venue for the event. So unlike others who will bitch about the selection and take shots at the track (especially when they have never even been there), I will wait and see what SCCA and HPT put together.

Jarez Mifkin

I miss them at RA as well Geo....once they left, I haven't been to one since.

tlark

From what I understand, bonds were or are being issued and secured by the city of Topeka which is 8-10 million. That will make a pretty good dent in improvements. It would be a black eye on the local government if the track improvements are not done right and the surface smooth because the 3 year contract for the run-offs will not provide enough economic impact to pay-off the millions spent. I won't be running on this track until the April DE but the view of the start/finsh was pretty good from the west berm above the old turn 1 & 2 and the south berm was real good for all the twisties.

Geo

Coffee? Ick!

Had my Red Bull though.

Flat tracks just aren't as exciting. But, what can one expect in Kansas?

dgz924s

There is some undulation at HPT not flat at all. Lets see....uphill carossel, downhill at pit in, up and down at turn one, new turn 2/3 is downhill left hand uphill small sweeper. The "Dip" and IIRC 11 is a slight downhill. I think there is a couple of turns that are flat but thats it. I had heard that it is hillier than MO?

David K.

It would be great to see it at the Glen.

SundayDriver

There are a lot of tracks that would make it very interesting but there are at least 3 things that keep that from happening:

1) They don't bid. This is a bid and award situation and AFAIK only MO and HPT bid on the event.
2) Many great tracks just can't handle the size of the event. There were ~750 cars this year and few tracks have that kind of paddock space.
3) It would be a very tough sell to move it to either coast due to the travel hit that many would take.