Thanks Bobby

 

Dell, here are two videos from Schattenbaum's July event:

http://www.vimeo.com/1397963
http://www.vimeo.com/1397657


steve

 

At the Schattenbaum event a couple weeks ago, most of the people I talked to that had done both Lightning and Thunderbolt loved both and said they found Thunderbolt a bit more challenging and interesting. I thought Thunderbolt was great and I'm looking forward to going back in October with Delaware PCA.

With that said, the whole facility is still very much a work in progress. The tracks are open but the remaining infrastructure has a LOT of work to be done and I was wondering how well they'd be able to pull off a major race like this with much still unfinished. It was encouraging while I was there to see they continue working furiously on completing the infrastructure. They've made a MAJOR funding commitment to make this a special place, and I'm sure they'll take lessons learned from this first race and make some adjustments on the track and the grounds as necessary.

Despite the current shortcomings for racing, for DE it is terrific right now and great alternative to Summit Point for those in the mid Atlantic area.

 

I recall the VIR facilities when we first used it in '01(?)....there weren't any, and we couldn't use the full track. And in '02, when we first used the full track, there were 7 PAGES of offs and accidents at the three day event I attended. In that case, it was almost all driver issues, but it made people wonder. Today, such questions would be laughed away.

I think many of us wondered how wise it was to host a major race one month after the racing surface opened, with no serious facilities, no plantings, etc.

 

I think Aiptek, but i could be mistaken.

 

Yes, I believe you are correct, though i'm not sure if it's a 720 or 1080.. Streak?

 

AJCJR wrote: The flaggers were about the worse I have ever seen. I believe they were SCCA and also training what looked like high school kids at the same time. We enjoyed watching them being told how to hold the flags, watching two trainees being told not to display a flag behind another flag so the oil flag could be seen and the best was................... when all 3 had there backs to the corner they were responsible for and a car had gone off behind them and rolled to a stop in the middle of the course at a 120 mph section. We had to yell at them to get a flag thrown.

 

Brian
That name sounds familar and if the one, is not popular with all the racers.

 

I've been to both tracks and like them. Thunderbolt in particular is a blast.

True - the paddock area for Thunderbolt is incredibly dusty. The facility itself is not finished. When Schattenbaum was there a few weeks ago, they were repaving a small section outside a classroom door with enough equipment to pave a super highway because there was a tendency for puddles too close to a door. It was funny to see 30 guys move a puddle. They are really making an effort to get this right.

Schattenbaum was one of the first groups there and the flaggers did not have raised stations. I think they hadn't figured out where they should all be.

I LOVE WGI and that will remain my favorite track, but I do like NJMP enough to go back to the Thunderbolt circuit this coming weekend and Lightning a week later and at least once more in October.

Oh yeah...... With an Air Chuck for Thunderbolt so that I can blow dust out of my car interior ()

 

Alan Wilson's name was associated with the original 4+ mile track that NJMP proposed but since it has been redisgned into 2 not connected tracks Alan Wilson is only credited with the design of the carting track at NJMP according to their publicity. They now state that Thunderbolt was designed by a "yet to be named celebrity track designer" and that Carol Shelby was consulted on track design.

 

That was a very strange and dangerous start. If the starter hadn't started the GT cars ... the DP cars would have caught them immediately and it could have been a real mess. I suppose the starter could have started the GT cars with a waving green and yellow ... not something I can recall seeing before ... but probably would have been appropriate under the circumstances. Of course, that's with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

 

Seems to me you just wave off the GT start, and go FCY to slow down the DP cars.

Of course I remember when we did split starts and I was in the second group we'd listen for the first group's start, and know there was no way they'd wave off our start, so we'd just go early.

 

Mine is 720 30fps, the new ones are 1080 and can be set for 30 or 60fps.

 

It seemed like there was ALOT of trouble if the cars were offline. At one point the track blew off the marbles and debris that were causing the trouble. My question is why wasn't the track clean before the race started? In it's first professional race it would seem that putting on the best face possible is a good idea. The track was dirty before the race started and only got worse as the racers drove on and off course. Even McDreamy made it clear that letting people by that were faster was a challenge due to the width and slippery offline conditions.

In one in-car conversation I think one of the drivers said t5 was breaking up. Too bad.

Overall seemed like a disaster as far as a professional (non-NASCRAP) race is concerned.

The track pushed the envelope and weren't ready. I do think that when the grass grows it will make a huge difference.

 

we watched McDreamy (or his co-driver) BLOCKING the DP's in the octopus. It was pretty comical.