New for Summit Point.. concrete walls!!!

Heard about some changes to Summit Point during the Papa Thiam Karting Benefit Saturday night in NorVA from a reliable source. Mrs Rain Director and I decided to check it out before returning home today. Yep, Summit Point is begining to look like Road Atlanta as BSR has recently installed concrete walls in certain areas. The walls are in 8-foot sections, about 12 inches think. They are lined with 1 'layer' of stacked tires. By stacked tires, I mean the 4-5 tires that are bolted together. You've seen them appear at Summit over the past 3-4 years.

From least to most worrisome the new walls are:

#4 - Turn 1. The outside of T1 is now lined with concrete. The wall is perpendicular to race direction, between the gravel trap and the earthen berm that separates the main track from the skid pad. It's there, although you'd probably not notice it unless you were upright and riding through the gravel trap at 140+ after missing turn one due to a stuck open throttle.

You should know it is there and lock your brakes and fall in the gravel trap. Don't try to ride it out through the trap.

#3 - Turn 7-8 , rider's left. Call it Rider's Left in the "left" part of the right-left-right "Esses". It's past the track access road where the "Baker" ambulance sits. There have been some crashes in that area, usually due to contact beteeen bikes or a ride-off in the wet back before the track was re-paved. This wall pretty much is parallel to the track.

It's there and you should know about it. More a potential problem than the new wall in Turn 1, although the probabilty of contacting this wall is low.

#2- Turn #3, rider's right. This wall extends from the 1st cut-off road to the "leading edge" of the gravel trap when viewed from race direction. Think of the location of the T3 hot tub and you'll get the picture. The existing earthen berm is still in place beyond the gravel trap at the end of this first section of concrete wall. At the "downstream end" (when viewed in race diection) of the gravel trap, where the track gets very close to the gravel trap, there is another section of wall. This second section at the far end of the gravel trap was in previously in place but no one really paid much attention to it.

I've seen bikes ride into the old tire wall in the area of the hot tub in Turn 3. The new wall is in that area. The far end of this new wall is problematic because the wall curves to the left as the track curves to the left. Impact with this wall is more probable than the wall in the "Esses".

#1 -The Chute between Turn 4 and Turn 5. Located on Rider's Left from a point just up-stream of the apex of T4 to the hot tub on Rider's Left in T5. This wall is about 400 feet long. The wall is about 2 feet closer to the track that the earthen berm. Presently it is lined with 1 "layer" of stacked tires.

This is the most problematic area. Although there is one crash on average per event in this area, T4 is the fastest turn. The track from T3 to T is is the oldest section of pavement and has the least grip. This is the area that has about 4 low-sides a day when the track is wet and traction is iffy. Bikes and riders have wound up in the trees after impacting the tire wall/earthen berm combination in both dry and wet conditions.

I'm not happy at all about this one.

There was no one at the track office to talk with about future plans. The source that gave me the information indicated that BSR is making sections of concrete wall daily. I drove past were the sections are stocked, and there are a goodly number of them. Where they will appear track-side is unknown. I fear the worst.

I was able to speak with the SCCA DC Region Chief Steward, Jerry Wannarka (edited to correct the name), whose group was present for driver training. He and SCCA were caught un-aware of these developments. He does not appreciate the wall in The Chute either. As he informed me, car people want 3 layers of tire barriers in front of the concrete with a 36-inch facing of material to contain the tire barriers when impacted. He understood my concern about bodies and bikes impacting the wall.

I'm not sure what the future holds.

Edited for typos/spelling errors
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George
THE Rain Director

[This message has been edited by Rain Director (edited 03-25-2002).]

 

This is sad news

 

Hey George, it was great to see you and Marge yesterday. And quit being so mysterious: I'm here trying to remember who was there, and could be your Cuban/Russian informer. Email me, or something. I'm dying here. Yeah, lack of curiosity is not an issue I've ever had to deal with...

 

You only have to hit that wall once, Jim.

 

Increasing the necessity for air fence!?

 

So you got that out of the way. Lucky you ...

 

So have I and it was horrible I got very, very lucky to be alive much less still racing. I definetly think it is time the racers got together to buy some airfence to make the tracks much safer. It doesn't sound like as of now we would need that much at Summit.

 

Thanks for the info. George. I don't understand how concrete walls are supposed to make the track safer. How much does concrete cost in relation to air fence? How many WERA members would be willing to pay a little more for their licenses and race fees in order to have air fence available at regional events? I would be.

Jess

 

I'm with Jim, we as racers pay enough friggin' money to go racing. I think its time racers stop buying shit that should be at the track anyway. It's really time to stop racing at venues where our safety is of no concern to anyone but ourselves. What's next??

Why don't the asshole track managers stop putting up concrete walls if they want our business. Airfence is not a substitute for run-off room. Hopefull if/when Rausch Creek opens, WERA will drop Summit like a hot potato.

[This message has been edited by Due North (edited 03-25-2002).]

 

Well it sounds like another Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Region track is about to bite it. Very sad.
I hope Beaver Run and Rausch Creek step-up development before the cost of traveling to the track become (even more) expensive.
Damn! I was hoping to do Roger's track day this Thursday (although, the weather is in question!), but now, who knows.

 

You couldn't add Airfence to the outer edge of this contraption, it would be lying in the track!

This is all depressing news. Looks like bikes aren't welcome at SP anymore.

 

I think that Bill Scott's e-mail address is [email protected] if I am not mistaken.

 

Thanks for the info, George...this is completely retarded. It's bad enough when serious accidents happen with walls in a place that people usually wouldn't come into contact with them, but putting the walls in places where people will definitely have a good chance of hitting them...hmmm...can't say I'm too thrilled about that one.

Just one more reason to love VIR...

LAG

 

thanks George. This really blows. Lets investigate Thursday. C'mon out and lets look at it before we race on it.

 

There is still enough room for an air-fence type safety barrier in the area of the Chute. Although I did not measure the distance from track edge to the wall, I'd say it is about the same as you find from track edge to the wall at Start-Finish at Road Atlanta.

My estimation of minimum amount of safety barrier needed is 200 feet, or 8 sectons of Air Fence/Alpina Safety Module. There is a need to 2 back-up sections, making a total of 10.

I'm thinking (yeah, I know, dangerous for me to do) and I'll post on what develops from my thoughts.

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George
THE Rain Director

 

Perhaps we cut a deal with SP - riders will raise 1/2 the cost of adequate air fence if he will kick in the rest (do in conjunction with SCCA). While track safety responsibilities should reside with the track owner, I think we know we can't rely solely on that (after all, they don't bounce off the walls).



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