THSCC Forums

Likely not right place to ask, but why not...

Thoughts after driving the "new" VIR? New pavement, wider track in places, new start/finish, pit entrance and exit, etc.

Richard

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

The new pavement is excellent, but I've only driven on North Course this year. I'm curious to see how Oak Tree changes because T1 and T3 definitely changed with the added pavement.

I love the new pavement, very smooth and lots of grip. Smoothness is rewarded even more than it was before. It changes a couple of things. Someone named Krause did a write-up on it; he seems to know what he's talking about:

http://www.tarheelbmwcca.org/VIR%20Turn ... %20LLC.pdf

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

SOMEONE named Krause? For shame.

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BenchWarmer Motorsports

another one of those damn LeMons heads

just another Chump

we are an Autocross Club Dammit............

Joke


Head


Peter is pretty harsh about using the pavement past the curbing in T3 and T12.

It's my understanding from talking to track personnel that those areas are not a racing surface, so using them during a race would get you flagged. I did use them during my last couple of HPDE's at VIR, but did not use them at my race there. I'm thinking that going forward I will not use them.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

When we had the "safety" meet up/presentation at Long Road Racing recently I believe the topic of track boundaries and the pavement beyond the curbing came up. If I remember correctly Kerrigan Smith from VIR said how that is handled (allowed or not) is left up to the sanctioning body for a given race. I only watched a tiny bit of the VIR TUSC race from this past weekend (recorded, I just haven't watched much) and I think I saw some cars using those parts of the track and have seen similar at other tracks for large series.

I also got the impression from Kerrigan that they didn't feel using them was going to be the fastest way around.

Richard

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Given the new smoothness and increased grip, I felt like I could carry more speed if I didn't unsettle the car by hitting the curbing. In my second VIR outing this year I was turning 6 seconds faster laps than I was last year. I was trying for 8 seconds off when I put the car into the wall at Hogpen, and after that I slowed way down.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."