Grattan Yesterday...

Let's just say that place is sketchy. Maybe I'm a big vagina but the pavement definitely needs some work. There were guys out there going way faster than I was comfortable with. I still had fun and as always STT runs a tight ship. It was great seeing some staffers I haven't had a chance to see and ride with in a couple years. The track in it's current state definitely makes you exercise some self control and throttle discipline. If the pavement doesn't get addressed before WERA goes there make sure ya'll wick it back a notch or 2.

 

That's what ya get for not showing up to Summit to race

 

I'd love to race at that track but for the foreseeable future my travel time is limited because of family. I'm working on fixing that with getting an RV hopefully for next season. That way i can just say "GET IN LET'S GO!" to the wife and kids.

 

What's wrong with the pavement specifically?

I was there not long ago and finished a rain race with a slick rear and a wet front. Seemed fine to me.

Then again, I survived Nelson Ledges.

 

You should take a WERA round to Gingerman. That place is in beautiful shape

 

Hug chunks of sealer / pavement missing out of turn 1. No way to really miss any of it or go around it. Wavy pavement variances in almost every corner. Oozing seepage of water that randomly comes out as the day progresses. I mean trust me I f-ing love Grattan and have a million laps around the place and I've been riding dirt quite a bit so trust me I'm not trying to be a bitch about this. But Grattan is boarder line dangerous in the state it's in right now.

 

Autobahn Country Club in Joliet has the same issue. Hasn't rained for two days and the track is bone dry but then the sun comes out and halfway through the day the track is covered in random puddles.

 

There's a reason no one races there... and it's a shame because it's one of my favorite tracks.. I know CCS went for the last time a couple years ago after everyone swore up and down they'd show up and then half the classes didn't even have enough entries for a full podium...

 

for me personally, the armco on the outside of the final turn/pit entrance needed to be moved way back. too much chance for a really bad last lap, last turn incident. the other things like the seams and the potential for an errant ghost riding bike crossing the track in one spot were way lower on the complaint list for me.

i did the evening track days there practically every week for a couple years, but i wouldn't race it.

 

Summit has a history of never being great. And I liked spinning Mongo's Mule 3 times in one of the corners in the rain there without even trying. Sad about Grattan, but I don't think the boys are going to repave it anytime soon with it being for sale? How was AHRMA's turnout at Gingerman lat year?

 

I think that Grattan was repaved at least 4 times from 1983 to 2001 if I remember correctly, while Slippery Pt. was just that for what 2o plus years?

 

I don't understand it either. The only tracks the CCS midwest guys want to go to is Blackhawk and Road America. Gingerman is such a fantastic layout and the condition right now is near perfect.

They moved the armco way back in Turn 11 several years ago. There's a huge sand trap there now

 

Summit was repaved about 3 years ago and it's never looked better based on what I saw yesterday compared to what I've seen and ridden on that course since I started visiting that place for spectating and track days (1997).

Big props to the new owners for finally getting that pavement right and formulated by a company that mixed it in a way to allow it to endure the environment up there in the winter, and what cars do to it in the Summer.