This thing can't get done soon enough. VIR pulled MAs usual weekend and gave it to Hyperfest so most likely no VIR for MA in 2023..
Resolute Motorsports Club Columbus, OH looks like they are taking the Ozark method with lots of Armco https://www.resolutemotorsportsclub.com/
What is the deal with armco? You'd think the car guys wouldn't like it either no? I mean a simple off track spin into a gravel trap, or grass runoff would be much better and cheaper for them than an expensive bodywork/armco bill, and the associated impact. It's not like it's impossible to build fun interesting layouts on these large chunks of land, there is usually always lots of room to work with. I'm genuinely curious why armco is so favoured.
I think the people that buy into these motorsport country clubs all think like track day riders. You want to go faster than you can (legally) on the street but are happy to circulate mostly at 7/10's, with the occasional squirt on the long stretches. Too some of them seem to be built to cram as many corners into a piece of real estate as possible. So run off is minimized. Go off track and wind up on another section, maybe going the opposite direction, or clear off the property. I think Apex Motorsport in Maricopa, AZ is pretty representative. (Altho' it may be an extreme case: last time I drove by it was about 80% Armcoed.
As it was explained to me - Armco is meant to redirect the vehicle after impact and slow it down (when struck at the right angle) and marshals can then push it out of the impact zone. When a car gets in gravel, they tend to sink or dig in and flip so they have to be towed or lifted out of the gravel trap which means they stay in the impact area. I'm not a track safety expert but I (semi) understand the logic.
It's an absolute copout. Yes, that is all true - but totally ignores that hitting armco is an impact to the driver/vehicle and sinking in gravel is not. So they're saying it's okay to get hurt as long as you can be moved out of the way quicker.
Sounds like that is the underlying logic behind that answer. "We don't have the necessary labour and equipment available to come extract your car from the gravel trap quickly, so we'd rather you just smack this barrier instead so we'll be able to get you back to the pits quicker and get the track under green sooner." , "oh and BTW here is a bill for track repair to the section of armco you damaged"
That and the underlying we didn't buy enough land or have enough money for gravel traps so armco it is. That's from the track perspective anyway some organizations are weird about wanting the armco.
On the topic of how these CC places are focused: Autobahn CC in Joliet IL has a few reputable shops running from garages there and I think IndyCar rookie David Malukis is a product of that place. It definitely seems more racing focused than many of these places.
elevation changes looks great https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/n...s-ground/?mc_cid=a1f8e784d5&mc_eid=4536b2ab53
A 10 acre skid pad lots of room to work with ... from some mages it looks like they integrated the track into the landscape where a turn on a ridge does not allow for a gravel pit. ... anyhow. maybe they just wanted to make it Nürburgring'ish ...
"Does not allow"? I'd have to see a DEM, but we are talking relatively small earth moving to make runoff, and a D8 can do that in a couple days max.