Chuck Branscomb wrote:
Stacy,
There two sections of the Phase 1 track that appear very dangerous for an HPDE type event to me: the part along the main straight where there is no retaining wall between traffic on the straight versus traffic in that big loop turn going the opposite direction, and the part on the back side that lines up with that loop further around. I'm no course designer, but I would assume they are going to build a retaining walls with energy absorption features (tire wall, etc) between these sections of opposing track?
It might be fine for a test facility course as is, but for running an HPDE with many cars on track, etc, the probability of a really ugly impact bewteen two opposite direction cars appears real. As the recent CMP death showed, track owners should assume the worse will happen and a car will leave the track anywhere for whatever reason.
Here's a picture of the section on the back side I'm referring to:
NCCAR is upgrading the facilities to ensure safe events with multiple vehicles. We're all anxious to see how the NASA event goes in a few weeks. (As far as I know, it's still on.) But yeah, Brad and I both explained our thoughts on a number of places around the track that needed addressing.
There are a few places on track where it kind-of doubles-back on itself, not the least of which is the large loop that ends up only about 30 feet from the main straight.
Simon Cobb visited my event last week at VIR and he assured me that things were progressing to make the track as safe as possible.
Oh yeah, in case you missed it, I opened pre-registration this morning for my event there in September.
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