1.) Barber-I am spoiled and live 30 minutes from and know every bump and seam. 2.) Road A - Fast and I like turns 1 thru 7 3.) Tally- Tight and short can't make many mistakes or Mark and George will come up the inside without hesitation. 3.) Roebling- like the track not the owners/staff 4.) CMP- just a good track to far away from my house 5.) Jennings 6.) Nashville Tracks I think I would like that I haven't ridden yet. 1.) Mid Ohio 2.) Miller 3.) Laguna 4.) VIR
OK its not a stt track but the best track i have ridden on was Bridgehampton. It made other tracks seem trivial. the one mile front strait tested machine while the wide open down hill bumpy and blind turn one made men question God. http://bridgehamptonraceway.com/
Never been to Bridgehampton, but from watching a lap of the crappy car footage on youtube... Kevin, you've really gotta go to Grattan!
Gratten sounds nice swimming pool and all but nothing will replace the sand lot call the pits at bridgehampton, the only thing paved was the track. it had the worst amenities but no one cared because every weekend (only 4 a year) was monumental and every lap was epic. http://www.tomyang.net/cars/ferrari.html?http://www.tomyang.net/cars/ferrari253.htm
swimming pool?!?!? you mean the cee-ment pond? uhhh, yeah... Grattan is at best, a dump. but it has the most fun, yet challenging layout I've ever been on. 150 down the front straight, braking with the rear tire skittering on the uneven pavement into the blind apex, 85 mph, right hand turn one. back on the gas dwn to turn two, nevermind the cognitive dissonance of the myriad pavement patches as you begin your turn in @ t2 and swear to god that the front's sliding out from the kitty litter at the apex, but there's still plenty of traction and you're back trying to set up for T3, where turn in is as much an act of faith as anything; another blind apex corner, this time to the left, turn three is also off camber and down hill. set up too far inside and turn in too early, you're liable to run wide and off the track at the exit- look out for the pond! set up too far on the out side and you run out of cornering clearance and you've also just washed out your front end. Hit it right, though and it's nirvana, wondering how in the f@c# did i make that?!?! squirt back up the hill and late apex t4 for the sprint to T5, before which, you have to decide "do I have the balls to brake after the hump/jump?!?!?!" wait, wait, wait put the bike on the right side into 5, through the esses and into the bowl and out into T9, a fast, right hand sweeper which is more treacherous than it looks- I recall seeing a buell suspended 10 feet up in a tree after it flipped over the armco, about 2-3 years ago... blast down to the BusStop/t10, where you turn in and the pavement suddenly drops off, en route to the apex and then run up the hill, accelerating through 11 and 12- watch out for the dip in the logical line @ 12, btw and haul ass down the straight, back to t1. all the while, contradictory thoughts raging in your head: "this place is great! vs omg, this place is such a shithole!" the facilities would confirm the latter- hope you're wearing flip-flops if you use the shower... and the mind boggling array of blind apex and/or off camber curves will have you begging for more, if the sketchy looking pavement doesn't scare you away first. Also, it's a good idea to avoid the turtles crossing the track: some of them may be endangered, and you're liable for a hefty fine if you inadvertently kill one. Deer and geese can present problems as can night crawlers littering the track in the am, should it have rained the previous night, which can also result in latent springs appearing in the middle of the track, too. The people there are the bestest, though, from Sam and his family, to the best track marshall anywhere.* I haven't been back since last fall's partial repave- I heard it improved things quite a bit, but the place really needs a couple mill thrown at it, which will never happen, ever. Still, it's worth the 13 hour drive, at least once in your life. Cheers, Lance *unless he's, ummm, not free that weekend... :roll:
Great write-up of Grattan, Lance :lol: :lol: :lol: You've captured its charm like no one else could. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Damn, Lance, you're making me want to hit Grattan more than I already did! Quick question, is the pavement worse than Summit pre-repave?
I haven't been to either tracks since their respective repaves, but Summit main before the repave made Grattan look like Barber. IIRC, grattan's pavement merely looks bad...
:lol: That's about what I thought you'd say. Well, so long as there's traction, I don't particularly care what it looks like. I'm SO there next season. Edit: Oh, and to keep the thread on topic, I've only been to three STT tracks so far, and liked them all equally, for different reasons. LOVED Summit Main for the tight, technical, challenging stuff. T1 at Summit taught me everything I know about braking. I love Putnam Park because it's where I started out, and because you have to get your lap just exactly right to get a good lap time there. I love Mid-Ohio because it's a world class facility, because it's fast and flowing, and because unlocking its secrets has been such a blast to me this year. But there's no way I could pick a favorite out of any of them...
Tally!!! I will compare everything to the fun I have had at Tally. I have only been to tally. The other tracks look fun, just have'nt hit them yet. I'm just starting out so I feel like I should get my riding down before I go and have to learn something new. I just got my knee down two track days ago. But I really want to get into W.E.R.A. Hopefully next year.