So how is the repaved Road Atlanta????
03-12-2007, 09:56 AM
#2
Nordschleife Master
I was at RA this weekend with Peachtree.
First the good - Turns 1, 5, 6, 7, 10 (a & b), and 12 are fantastic. To me they felt much faster but I have no data to prove it.
Looking down the esses is quite different now, the wall are much further back.
In turn 12, they moved the paint lines at turn in further to drivers left. Thus, you no longer go over the paint, turn in and head for the apex. Instead, most cars where just about to the edge of the paint prior to turn in.
Now the bad -
Turn 4 - the old "groove" next to the left curbing is gone. Instead there is now a washboard of bumps. If you have a softly sprung car, not a problem. Tightly sprung and you have to rethink turns 3 and 4. What many ended up doing is to turn hard going into 3, jump the curb and then stay out from the left curbing in 4 (6-10 feet out). About 3/4 of the way through 4 you can then pull it back to the left and get set up for the esses.
The esses - after 4, you turn right and approach the curbing on the right. However, if you take a slightly early apex there you will notice a bump. That bump caused my front end to jump some to the left and was very unsettling. Thus, I had to change to a much later apex then usual. This allows you to miss that bump.
At the bottem of the esses, just and you transition from going downhill to uphill there is a large depression. There is no way to miss it, and if you have a very low car you will bottem it. By the end of the weekend there where noticable gashes in the road surface. They really need to do something about this soon.
Turn 5. In general the turn is vastly improved with the paving. However, if you like to get right up against the curbing at apex, you will find a very pretty big bump. It really didn't seem to unsettle my car much, but there were a number of complaints.
First the good - Turns 1, 5, 6, 7, 10 (a & b), and 12 are fantastic. To me they felt much faster but I have no data to prove it.
Looking down the esses is quite different now, the wall are much further back.
In turn 12, they moved the paint lines at turn in further to drivers left. Thus, you no longer go over the paint, turn in and head for the apex. Instead, most cars where just about to the edge of the paint prior to turn in.
Now the bad -
Turn 4 - the old "groove" next to the left curbing is gone. Instead there is now a washboard of bumps. If you have a softly sprung car, not a problem. Tightly sprung and you have to rethink turns 3 and 4. What many ended up doing is to turn hard going into 3, jump the curb and then stay out from the left curbing in 4 (6-10 feet out). About 3/4 of the way through 4 you can then pull it back to the left and get set up for the esses.
The esses - after 4, you turn right and approach the curbing on the right. However, if you take a slightly early apex there you will notice a bump. That bump caused my front end to jump some to the left and was very unsettling. Thus, I had to change to a much later apex then usual. This allows you to miss that bump.
At the bottem of the esses, just and you transition from going downhill to uphill there is a large depression. There is no way to miss it, and if you have a very low car you will bottem it. By the end of the weekend there where noticable gashes in the road surface. They really need to do something about this soon.
Turn 5. In general the turn is vastly improved with the paving. However, if you like to get right up against the curbing at apex, you will find a very pretty big bump. It really didn't seem to unsettle my car much, but there were a number of complaints.
03-12-2007, 10:02 AM
#4
Nordschleife Master
I heard that they will be rerolling some portions of the track, just don't expect that to be done before the PCA race there in two weeks.
03-12-2007, 10:03 AM
#5
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This tread has another's observations.
https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-and-drivers-education-forum/334865-road-atlanta-is-smooooth-sort-of.html
https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-and-drivers-education-forum/334865-road-atlanta-is-smooooth-sort-of.html
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03-12-2007, 10:07 AM
#8
Nordschleife Master
Originally Posted by paradisenb
What event were you at?
03-12-2007, 04:35 PM
#9
Burning Brakes
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I concure with Tim's apraisal and would add...The "bumps" are more like "ripples" and really... it depends on your line/speed and suspension. When passing on the back straight/moving over to the right... clearly showed the ripple effect.
R/A seems to have widened turn twelve... you stay inside the line on the left... the dip's still there at the bottom of the hill... but doesn't seem to unsettle the car.
Braking at the bottom of the hill just before turn 10 A... this section may have some ripples too. My car was somewhat unsettled due to brake pad residue on the rotors, so I'm not sure how much "chatter" was caused by the track. My students car had no issues here, he was in a C-5 Z06 braking from a bit less than ~ 140 mph.
The esses seem to have a bit more "sweep". In the past ... I just flicked/flicked the steering wheel, now it's a bit of a turn-turn, unless I late apex coming out of turn 4.
Turn 7 provides more grip... making it easier to rotate the rear end so you can "snap" into the back straight. Lots of fun in a new Z06.
03-12-2007, 06:11 PM
#10
Rennlist Member
I don't know how helpful this will be as it is not exactly "race" pace.
Here is an in car video from RA this spring with the new pavement.
This guy is a HWFMR canidate.
Enjoy.
http://videos.streetfire.net/search/...e801035203.htm
Here is an in car video from RA this spring with the new pavement.
This guy is a HWFMR canidate.
Enjoy.
http://videos.streetfire.net/search/...e801035203.htm
03-15-2007, 02:07 AM
#12
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Rennlist Member
Here's another Road Atlanta video from after the repave. This is from Group A at Panoz Track Days, a week before Doug's video. There's less traffic in this video, and uh, well I didn't kill myself or anyone else making it.
Road Atlanta March 4, 2007 (30MB WMV) I'm just using this domain to hold files, so you'll have to save this file to your desktop to play it.
Road Atlanta March 4, 2007 (30MB WMV) I'm just using this domain to hold files, so you'll have to save this file to your desktop to play it.
03-15-2007, 10:03 AM
#13
Three Wheelin'
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The good news is all the concrete is gone; the new surface is uniform and grippy. The sortta kinda bad news is the new bumps. Much speculation at the track re the quality of the job and the experience of the repaving crew/company and if and how the "bumps" can be recified without a total repave.
As always, the three day CCA event was outstanding; highly rec'd. We (PCA) can learn a few things from them.
Jack
As always, the three day CCA event was outstanding; highly rec'd. We (PCA) can learn a few things from them.
Jack
03-15-2007, 09:11 PM
#14
Burning Brakes
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my only complaint was turn 5 - perhaps its because my memory is shoddy since i hadn't been back since october, but if you take turn 5 the "fast" way, the car gets horribly unsettled and jumps all around.
i think part of the bouncing around could be solved if i adjusted my shocks a bit, but i didn't have enough time since i was only there for sunday. however, my car setup remains the same since before the repave, and it wasnt as bouncy back then.
i think part of the bouncing around could be solved if i adjusted my shocks a bit, but i didn't have enough time since i was only there for sunday. however, my car setup remains the same since before the repave, and it wasnt as bouncy back then.