dmoffitt

so ... you're just rambling to try and look smart on an internet forum?

cuz I doubt WGI is reading this / cares what you think. just my $.02

gums

Yeah, well I'm not. I hate WGI for that reason, those armcos are so 70's, any other track you're allowed to spin or go off, but not the Glen; it's a wreck. I'm not even speaking from experience, because I only drive the place 8/10s. Simple spins are can be disastrous here. Remember when Rod Millen was centerpunched between the armcos atop the esses years ago? There was simply no where to go, which was very similar to the thread that we all argued about with Sean's wreck; no where to go. A magnificent road course in the grand tradition is rendered more like a city circuit with those blue bushes. No wonder there was more yellow than green at the IRL race.

MTosi

For those who haven't seen it....


You are most likely correct, some how I doubt the france family or track managment will care until someone gets hurt..... however I happen to like the Glen, have spectated many times there and plan on running there quite a bit in the near future and it seems to me such an obvious problem, with such a simple solution should be fixed before someone (including the numerous people who post here) gets hurt because of something as stupid as a little rubber band around a tire wall..... It seems like a rather relevent topic considering how many people who post here run there and the more people that complain, and make the track aware of it, the more likely it will get fixed. I don't consider these posts "rambling" (many of my others most certainly are) and I'm not trying to "look smart", it seems to me anyone with two eyes and a fully functioning brain can see it is a serious problem....

JClark

Watkins makes money off of spectators. Spectators come to pro races to see cars crash. Hence big walls.

Watkins doesnt make much money from DEs and CR groups booking the track, so I dont see them changing a guaranteed crowd-pleaser so that we can go through a few less fenders and bumpers each year.

Just moving the wall back is easier said than done since they'd have to move the Corning bridge ($$$) and decrease a good amount of spectator space.

Just my $.02. WGI is my home track and my absolute favorite. It would lose a good part of it's excitement if you took the walls away. Half the fun is having a code brown once every 10/10ths/quali/full pace lap.

dmoffitt

lets just agree to disagree, I see no problem with racing having some dangers - OH NO you might wreck if you push it too hard, what a strange idea.

I'm not saying MAKE things dangerous, but hell, F1 guys used to race with leather caps and goggles, and they didn't ALL die

+1 my EXACT feeling

gums

That's all very pathetic reasoning, like they want you to crash so more spectators will come.
They set up that whole inner loop, but that took Tommy Kendall breaking his legs and then JD McDuffie losing his life. How many tickets do you think that sold?

Sean F

Yeah, I think you have to separate calculated risks that a driver takes from flaws in track design when it comes to danger. Every corner will have offs from driver error, mechanical, getting punted, etc. Question is does the track design magnify the result of the off. T11 has a feature that magnifies the issue by propelling cars back into the field...every time. Remember Joey Hands off at Mid-Ohio? Another track feature that needed to be corrected. Personally, there are other turns at WG that I fear more but it does seem like this is a problem that should be addressed.

Gary R.

Actually, besides T1, bus stop, and T8-10, which turns don't bounce you back out into traffic at the glen?

dmoffitt

I've even seen someone take a glancing blow there at the exit of the bus stop (e30 in a DE last year) and end up mid-track...

JClark

They dont want people to get injured, they want it to be exciting for the fans.

The tire wall/belt that is close to the exit of T11 grabs cars and spins them. No one is going to get seriously injured from that. People WERE seriously injured in T11 before the grass was replaced with pavement. People WERE seriously injured from T5 (Tommy K) before the bus stop was added. That also added a braking zone and therefore the best passing opportunity on the whole track = more fun for the fans.

Race tracks are a business and are run in a way that produces the most profit. Keeping club racers' original body panels dent-free isnt high up on the priority list.

Sean F

The ones that don't have belted tire barriers

MTosi

I don't know if you watched the same accidents I did? It seems to me the potential for serious injury in all of them was significant. Watch Bobby Labonte walk away, that was a HARD hit, he was clearly sore. The spinning isn't the problem, it's the 30 others cars charging along at 100mph+ when they cream you broadside and motionless in the middle of the track. I'm not suggesting we try to eliminate all risk from racing, or go overboard with giant asphalt runouts, only that the should fix a very stupid dangerous situation that has a very obvious and simple solution.

dmoffitt

still waiting to hear this "obvious" and "simple" solution (cuz last I checked moving the corning bridge and eliminating spectator area wasn't obvious or simple... or cheap)... oh wait I "agreed to disagree" didn't I

MTosi

Get rid off the tire barrier and the rubber band around it..... just like the way it was for years and when they didn't have this problem......

Flying Finn

+1 I don't you could just take the tire wall away and be done with that. In many cases that would be better (i.e. that Miata chrash) but when someone plows straight into the wall, then it's a different thing.
Maybe shorten the tire wall so that it covers the beginning (where you would go directly into the wall) and leave the reas with just Armco?

Other than that, I don't see much you can do unless you want to change the corner, delete seating which I don't see happening.