Congo

From a late summer email from Friends of PIR:

The long-anticipated repaving of PIR has been given the green flag by the City of Portland. A contractor has been secured and the money has been approved both by the Parks Department and by the Portland City Council.

"This is the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people, but the results will be well worth the effort," said PIR manager Mark Wigginton. "The old surface is pretty well worn out."

The repaving will eliminate many bumpy sections of the track, and offer the opportunity to realign and widen a few key areas around the course.

"We're moving Turn 6 about 50 feet to the west, shortening the 5-6 transition, but lengthening the 7-8 area, and we're widening Turn 7 in the process," Wigginton said. "That will create a new passing area in the braking zone before Turn 7."

The repave begins on September 17, and will be completed sometime in October. The first cars on the new pavement will be the Holiday Lights visitors this fall, and racing is scheduled to resume in the Spring. This delay is absolutely necessary to allow the new surface to cure and solidify before the stresses of racing are reintroduced.

The new racing surface is expected to last 15 to 20 years before repaving again becomes an issue.

http://www.portlandraceway.com/masterplan.asp

http://www.friendsofpir.com/

2004 Star Mazda and ALMS video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSWnOEZ_rmc

pictures of development - http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3504470

schwank

ENZO!!!! I think I posted this one a while back. The main repaving job is finished. Most of the curbing is in as well. The big change is in T6 & 7. Each year they decorate the track with xmas lights and open it to residents at night. So that will be the first 'event' on the new surface... we're going for sure... too bad you can't break 5 mph

Check out http://www.portlandraceway.com and click on the track cam.

Here is a thread on vwvortex with lots of pics from a track walk: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3504470

MarkPcar

Wow, that turn 7 is going to make a huge difference - new passing zone and slower lap times. It looks like fun!

schwank

Heh, I just now noticed that you had the vwvortex thread in your post.

Doh.

Congo

Video of repaved, revised track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8ydmgbaJzQ

No Champ Car race due to unified IndyCar Series

Mazda Grand Prix of Portland Champ Car is history, but the July 25-27 weekend will still be a must-see event for fans of road racing. A Star Mazda Double-header, the Mazda MX-5 Cup cars and the VW TDI Cup series all will be coming to PIR as part of Northwest Speed Week. We are looking forward to a week of racing including bicycles, drags, motocross, motorcycles, drifting, a time attack and the three pro series.

http://www.portlandraceway.com/

schwank

Thanks for the post. The track is great with the new surface. Very grippy. And the new T7 is causing all sorts of craziness during races... 83 feet wide on entry, 43 on exit. The squeeze is on there... and it is more important than ever to nail that turn as the back straight is now longer for higher speed.

It's good stuff.

Charlie944

Terrific, I am planning on relocating out to Portland (soonest this year, latest next summer). I doubt the Callaway is coming out, (will more than likely be used towards a down payement on a house).

During the historic races out at PIR are there every any Group 7 CanAm cars from the 60's and early
70's present? Or does one have to travel to the Monterey Historics for that kind of venue?