We can use the pavement but the curbing not so much. Not sure of a way to do it yet but I'm thinking on it.
I'd prefer it, it is better with it. But I'm not against running without if I can't come up with a viable solution.
Put a speed bump at the high speed kink....Live or die, your choice! Even on my 750 I have to go to maintenance throttle through there before giving it a squirt prior to the carosel.
I disagree. It's absolutely beneficial to have for the faster races. Maybe not so much for lightweights and what not, but even they have enough speed to find that wall if things go badly. I like that turn a lot and it definitely changes the track a little, but not in a bad way at all.
Few years ago maybe? It's happened several times. And up until the air fence, generally with semi-severe consequences. It's not so much just losing the front, but coming together with another bike who might attempt to make a heroic pass, entering the kink - rather than timing it after, on the brakes.
Iirc last time was more than 4 years ago - before air fence and before they made changes to that section. The fence used to be closer.
There was a rider that went in that direction last year right in front of me. Luckily he was pointed a little more toward the next turn before he crashed, but a split second earlier and he would have been right there.
Ask Emerson about that turn... he didn't hit the wall... but sure went for a nasty ride that took him out for quite sometime... And why... would you ask... It's a bad turn at speed... with a proven fix... .
FYI, there's a PIRC endurance roll call thread on the Endurance sub-forum if anybody wants to chime in.
Does someone really need to be f-ed up or die for a track change to happen? If its a known bad spot and a fix is possibly there, why not fix it? Hitting air fence is not really a solution when there is an option that keeps people far away from that wall.
BTW, just to be clear - my thoughts on the matter. I'd be happy to ask Emerson. I'm sure it'll be a discussion item in a couple days. Not sure he was taken out by that section to be honest - you might be mistaken about that. Last we talked about it I don't think he was crazy about the chicane. Different people that used it had different opinions about it. Some liked it. Some hated it. That section of track is not the same as it originally was. None of you were on that track when it was first built - no bikes were. It has actually changed to some degree twice that I know of. At this point, it's less likely than ever that you'd get near the air fence. OTOH, the chicane could actually put you into the infield hill and throw you back on the track at the exit of 17/18. Before you contradict that - let me just say that with cars I've seen that exact situation happen twice in that area. The pad for the chicane is very small, and the chicane is almost impossible to see until you get damn close to it. IMHO the chicane is OK for the fastest guys - but could actually lead to more problems for the less experienced. I personally don't really care either way.
