renvagn

Quetion? After watching the ALMS race yesterday and the major problems under braking (watching the cars bounce around was worse than Champ car on our terrific public streets) in to T-1, should ALMS refuse to schedule races at the facility until they resurface the track? I know the track has a funding plan in the works.

I know Brian Reddman's race at Summit was canceled due to track conditon and personnaly, I broke some turbo exhaust bolts there this spring and since the turbo is a year old I have to believe the pounding the car takes in to T-5 was the culperate. So having paid for all the cost associated with an event, I don't feel I should have to put up with a sub par facility and incur additional repair cost. Too bad since I like the track configuration, but I will stick with WGI and VIR and will wait until Summit gets it's act together.

So the question is, should we as individuals and regions boycott facilities that are in need of track repairs putting some preasure on them to maintain their facilities?

Geoffrey

As with anything in life, you are more than welcome to "vote with your wallet". While I don't necessarily like the bumpiness of Lime Rock, the fact that it is close to me means that I'm more willing to accept the bumpy track. I think we are so privelaged to have so many options within 8 hours for us, so why complain? We could live in England where it rains all the time, and I'd certainly take the bumps over the rain anyday...

John Brown

Should? Yes. Gonna Happen? No.

Phokaioglaukos

I instituted my personal boycott of LRP last year. I'm still waiting for someone to notice, and for the track to beg me to return. So far they have just suggested that I send them $100,000 and commit to a monthly payment plan. I guess they thought I'd be willing to pay for repaving all by myself.

I'd boycott SP too, except I'm going there for four more days this summer. The track is bumpy, but it's only a three-hour drive away. If I ever get that track car and trailer I may extend my boycott to SP and continue on down the road to VIR, but not this year.

smankow

so Chris's boycott of LRP is the reason they are going private

I've only been to LRP for one event. i was going to return, but the costs kept increasing while conditions decreased. I also wonder who gets to pocket all of the "track repaving fees"?

As for Mark's question, the cancellation of the Jefferson 500 was a good start to improving SP, but I don't see anything changing in the immediate future.

dgz924s

One can repave LRP every year and still end up on a washboard. I read an article a while back on the ground there and other Northern tracks on ground composition. LRP like others are constantly fighting winter to summer temps and poor beds for the tracks. The Germans had this issue so when they built the Autobahn they did it in sections 6' deep to reduce buckling. It is impossible to keep the ground from shifting so they combat it with a special surface and road bed thickness. When a section cracks or buckles they change the section. The ground at LRP is always moving so a rough surface is going to be there unless they spent millions to do as the design for the Autobahn. In Iowa we cannot keep our roads flat at all and it is much worse in the NE area.

If they pave, give it 2 years and it will be back to what it is now....no question!

LVDell

Watching the race really convinced me that I have no desire to trailer up there for a DE. Seems like a nice layout but the look of the cars going over whoop-di-dos practically the entire circuit was really bad. Makes me really appreciate VIR. Fast, smooth, and well maintained.

Geoffrey

I really did not appreciate LRP until the last couple of years. It is a technical track that rewards good drivers, not necessarily good cars. I'm not saying I don't prefer other tracks, but one should work with what they have...

ZAPmobile

While LimeRock has a certain historic caché, the reality is that it is one of the worst-maintained and most dangerous tracks (no run-offs to speak of). It is also one of the biggest rip-offs, because they are just about the most expensive track to rent. In spite of being rented out almost every spring-through-fall day, and in spite of having added a re-surfacing fee to the track rental for years now, nothing has been done.

Now, with the new country-club format, where has all that money gone??? They must be looking for people to join with expensive, exotic cars as a private playground. Wait until a few of their high-end clients with Enzos, etc. hit a few of the bumps and sections of bad pavement. I wonder how long their reputation will last.

The reason LimeRock is so popular is its close promity to several major metropolitan areas - New York, Hartford, Boston, etc. It is for this reason that several of the clubs have been willing to pay the exorbidant fees. For Margo and me, it was never worth running there after a couple of times and endangering ourselves and our car.

Add to the above that the few times we watched races there, the professional corner workers were anything but professional.

One of the reasons, perhaps, that LimeRock is looking at changing their format is the construction of other tracks, the one north of the Pine Barrens in New Jersey, for example.

If you really want to see how a professional track is run and a bargain, to boot, check out Watkins Glen with much more historical caché than LimeRock. It even includes truly professional corner workers in the track fee.

Matt Romanowski

I'm with Geoffrey. To really go fast at Limerock, you have to be a great driver. It has what I consider one of the toughest corners in the Northeast in the Downhill. If you guys really don't like it so much, don't go. It's not affecting the events there and the track doesn't mind.

LVDell

I hope I am not interpreting your comments wrong and if I do, I apologize in advance but it seems as if you have missed the point with the "if you don't like it, don't go" attitude. I think what is being said by many is that it is a GREAT circuit and one with history and it is a shame that it is so POORLY maintained. Great circuit, crappy surface. Of course you have to be a great driver, but you also have to be lucky as well. Your margin of error is lower there and as a result you say that only great drivers should be there. Kind of elitist isn't it?

Z-man

Believe it or not, Lime Rock is my favorite track -- of all the tracks I've driven on. (Other tracks I've driven: WGI, Pocono, Summit Point-all three, VIR, Mid-Ohio) It was the first track I ever drove on, and to me, it has a certain mystique.

Then again, I drive a lower-hp car, and the short technical aspect of LRP really prevents the higher hp cars from running away from me as much as a track with longer straights like WGI.

And it seems that everytime I go to LRP, I learn something new about it. Time and again. I guess that's why they call it such a technical track.

Further -- up until last year, my 944's suspension was bone stock. Up until last year, I never understood why everyone was complaining about the bumps -- I simply wallowed over them! But my new suspension is relatively light compared to what others are running these days (400 lb springs up front, 31mm hollow torsion bar in the back), so while the track is bumpy, it doesn't bother me as much as someone with a firmer suspension.

IMHO, for the entry level DE-er, who typically drives their street-driven Porsche with it's stock or mildly upgraded suspension, Lime Rock Park is an excellent learning track.

-Zoltan.

Geoffrey

LRP is not my favorite track by any means and isn't even close. Logistically it works and I can find things about the track to keep me interested.

ZAPmobile

We are not talking about how much fun LRP is, or how challenging it is. Want we are talking about is LRP failure to put money back into it's core business, the track itself.

Matt Romanowski

Some misinterpritation, but no big deal. I didn't mean to be elitist at all, just pointing out that to be really fast their you have to be really good. Everyone is invited!

I completely agree with the "If you don't like it, don't go" mindset. It is bumpy and could certainly be better, but the whiners remind me of the NASCAR drivers when they talk about how bad a track NHIS is becuase it's short and flat.