Well, I just got an email for PCA. I guess "confirmed" and "approved" doesn't mean that you are in. They said they weren't sure I was going to make it????

 

After watching this past weekend at the NASA event....it looks like the track could be upto 2 seconds faster

 

I know some cars that bested their previous bests by over 3 seconds (and these were "slow" cars)...so I'm thinking faster cars may see 3-4 second improvements.

 

Holy crap that is a ton of time. I'd be amazed if it was that much.

 

In my opinion, the slickest turn at Road Atlanta was T7 leading onto the back straight...if it gained a lot of grip now that the concrete is gone, it would be worth a significant chuck since you carry that speed with you all the way to 10A. Plus, I hear it's foot to the floor in 10A/B now, which is speed that you carry all the way to T1. It does sound like a lot of time, but I dropped 3+ seconds at Roebling, a shorter track, when they repaved it last year.

 

Hey, I hope you are right. I''ll be driving a different car, so I can't really compare to my prior times.

 

I think us "slow car" times dropped an average 2-3 sec's. a lap with more to be found. 3-4 sec's. over the next year provided the track doesn't change too much will not surprse me.

 

Agreed. VIR peaked about 2 years after it opened and it's been getting slower ever since (though I think it's plateaued for the most part now). I expect Road Atlanta and Roebling will do the same with the new repaves.

 

I was at Road Atlanta this past weekend and was very pleased with what they have done. I read about problems others had posted on the various forums but found some of those to be overstated, IMHO.

The things I noticed the most were:

Everywhere on track appears wider. Whether that's an optical illusion because of the darker asphalt or not, I don't know. It could possibly sucker you into a bad line until you become accustomed to it.

There is a set of very mild ripples on the inside of T4. I saw many comments about how the disruptive they were, but I found them to be a non issue in my car. I hug the inside of that turn so I had to run right over them and had no disruption at all.

There is a little washboard effect going on at the crest of the hill at mid track to track right just at turn 5, about perpendicular to the corner worker stand. It didn't bother my car at all, although I saw some cars in front of me get some wheel hop out of it (NASA AI cars).

There was a preception that turn 6 has more camber in it than before. Whether it does or not, I can't say for certain, but it has lots of grip.

Turn 7 is much better. All of the different surfaces are gone and it is much smoother. Before there were cement and asphalt sealer on it leading to all kinds of grip differences, now it is uniform. I was 4 or 5 mph faster going into T.10a than I was before. It was the launch off of 7 that did that.

T. 10a & b are smoother and can be taken faster. The gators are BIG at the extreme outside of them.

There is a dip in the track almost exactly under the bridge. You can feel it in your car so be prepared for that. I don't remember that being there on the old track.

The dip on the outside of T12 is no longer there. The turn feels about the same to me as before.

Overall the track has much more grip.

My best old time there was a 1:40.xxx in a street Z06 with T1 suspension parts. This past weekend my best was a 1:36.8xxx during a practice session in a Z06 with a complete T1 suspension. Part of the decrease can be attributed to the car, but a lot can be attributed to the track.

As Bryan says faster cars will probably benefit the most from the new surface.

 

Two days and no postings on this thread? Everyone must be putting the finishing touches on their cars. Mine is getting the tranny sealed up and a new clutch.

I think the engine is still warm from Barber, and I'm ready to go!

T&T only 7 days away...

 

I'm still waiting for final confirmaton. Heading up to see the cage progress and drop off my gear this weekend. Hopefully they will be able to clear some of the waiting lists soon!

If any of you can't go, please let Susan Shire know!

 

Funny, I'm putting in a new input shaft seal in my trans. I wish that I could make that T&T because I got all of 3 laps at VIR last weekend. That was my T&T

 

Someone I know ran with NASA this weekend. Here are his comments. Hope you find this helpful. I cant wait to get out there!

"Track has been repaved!!! Mostly great.

There is a bad bump in the bottom of the esses, just before turn 5, but it can be avoided. It’s the apex on the left side of the track, at the very lowest point of the track. There is a dip, about the size of a car. Low slung cars are bottoming out and scraping. Its just as you want to turn back right and set up a breaking zone for 5, so as you come out of the dip, the car is unweighted. Problem. Solution- get the left tire on the edge of the track. That will mostly straddle the dip and avoid problem.

There is another bad area. The long sweeper turn just after turn 3 at the top of the hill. Turn three is the right hander, that leads into the long left hand sweeper turn heading into the esses. I always kind of jump the rumble strip on 3, land, plant and get the car headed back in the other direction just in time to skirt the edge of the track all the way around the left sweeper. BUT, there is a series of washboard bumps on the left edge of the track there now that work together to get the car bouncing and hopping for 30 feet or so. Best fix I can find is to stay 4 feet or so from the edge of the track, (to the right!) but for me, and the line I take in there, its hard to get back out there and maintain my line in that turn. Still working on this one.

Overall though, its great. Even with the downsides, we easily took 3 and 4 seconds off lap times."

 

So do I set up the car for a smooth track or a bumpy one?

 

yes