You guys are a terrible influence, and I'm known to make dumb financial decisions like this, instead of saving some money over the winter lol....unfortunately I crashed yesterday so now I need to fix my bike in the off-season ....no more out of state trips for this year.
Layout - Road Atlanta Speed - Road Atlanta Facilities - Barber Safety/Runoff - Barber Fun Factor - Road Atlanta Track Condition - Road Atlanta (by a hair) All subjective of course, but Road Atlanta is hard to beat for just a flat out fun track. You'll be wowed and in awe of Barber, but to me Road Atlanta is one of, if not my favorite track. Ultimately, either track is a winner.
Well, I pulled the trigger on the Barber weekend in November. To be honest it mostly came down to the fact there's a Gingerman bike night this Friday, so I won't be jonesing for a track fix as badly by the RA weekend as I will be by mid November. I'll be the guy in Intermediate with the "WEEEEE" license plate who'll be riding like he's lost for most of Saturday, feel free to say hi.
One other minor thing to consider is cost. The track day itself is pretty much the same, but once you get to Road Atlanta all you need to worry about is gas and food. At Barber it's $35 a night to camp, and $35 a day for power. I love Barber and I understand paying for power but the camping fee to sleep in my enclosed trailer is kinda steep. So the million dollar question is, which one? I say do Barber this year and Road Atlanta next year. Us southern folks are pretty fortunate to live so close to so many great tracks. It's why I moved to Atlanta in 2004.
Well just from a fun factor riding the track, I'd say Road A for sure. Barber facilities are certainly nicer and newer, on the other hand they are a little too picky on just about everything but if you think about it if they were not picky then it would look like Road A which is a shame that its deteriorating like it is because the track layout is awesome. Barber is pricey for everything because its nice, new, great facilities, museum that is outrageous, a new bridge to new observation area, great surface...customers have to pay for all that, that's just the way it is. I try to add one long distance track to my list every year, its just worth it to me. So far I have done Laguna, Miller and Mid-O in addition to all the Southeast tracks. Hope to add COTA, Thunder Hill and Sonoma sooner than later.