marty8405 - 14 July 2008 01:03 PM

I'm always amazed at the reactions to the Lime Rock race every year. Everyone is dumping on the track for the new configuration but they ran the first hour caution free and the other incidents were no more or less then what you might get on any other track. Granted they could have made the configuration a bit more open, but I would give them the benefit of the doubt and say that because this is the first time they used it there was no baseline to compare to. Perhaps they will tweak the track as needed. I'm a firm believer in the thought that the drivers cause the mayhem and not the track. Its the same for everyone, and many of them need to use thier heads more. Furthermore, there are some drivers that should not be out there, but thats an argument for another thread. Meanwhile, the place was packed, the new sections provided great photo and viewing locations, the food is good, there were more vendors then ever, and the race was very entertaining.....what more could a fan ask for!

I agree with you, you make some good points...and yet the track layout still sucks.
Tiny track + sub 1 minute lap times + making the last turn slower (safety first!) = yawn (for tv viewers).

Why does a sub one minute lap time mean the track sucks? What if they put in more chicanes to make the lap time over one minute? Are you saying the ALMS is too good to race at an historic 50 year old race track? Does every track have to have to be 4 miles long with long straights????

btw - the last turn doesn't have a chicane.

Well, the revised west bend gives you less speed coming out relative the the old one, so you can say it does.

But West Bend isn't the last turn.

gfastr - 14 July 2008 08:40 AM

RallyFan2 - 13 July 2008 10:11 PM

As I watched the race from Lime Rock today I wondered what the owner was thinking of when he redid it. As the race progressed I wondered what the owner was on when he redesigned it. I love the ALMS Series, but the new track seems, to me, to be much, much worse than the old one. In fact, the string of crashes were, unfortunately, predictable given the layout of the track.

As things progressed, it became apparent how little actual thought went into the new track. This new track is just an unbelievable mess. I hope the ALMS organizers have the good sense to tell the track owner that major changes to the track need to be made before any other events are to be scheduled at it.

I'm tempted to call this reply clueless, but I won't.

The changes to the track configuration were requested, and approved, by the American LeMans series. They were designed by well-known track architect Alan Wilson....

Let me stop you right there. I'm tempted to say clueless, too, but I won't.

I don't pretend to know enough about car racing to say what may or may not be wrong with Lime Rock's Sunday configuration. But I have enough experience to say that Alan Wilson can and does make mistakes.

I don't know how he got his foothold in the business, but he ain't all that and a bag of chips. I've run at Beaver and Barber--both Wilson tracks from the ground up--and both leave much to be desired. Wilson typically forgets he has to include a pit-in in his layouts, so they get appended as afterthoughs. At both places he makes too much use of blind rises and corner entries.

Keep chicane #1, but lets try something else where the second chicane is.

hugewally - 14 July 2008 08:52 PM

Why does a sub one minute lap time mean the track sucks? What if they put in more chicanes to make the lap time over one minute? Are you saying the ALMS is too good to race at an historic 50 year old race track? Does every track have to have to be 4 miles long with long straights????

btw - the last turn doesn't have a chicane.

Dare I say that any lap turned in less than a minute won't be enough to challenge a modern race car.
Yes, long straights are nice. Useful and entertaining even. LR is the sportscar equivilant to NASCAR's
Saturday night bullring specials. And, while many people enjoy that it doesn't do anything for me.
It's all personal preference-I don't care for LR but it doesn't upset me that you like it.
This is an opinion board.

BTW-I didn't say that there was a chicane at West Bend but the layout has been changed in such a way as to
make West Bend much slower. Shame. I think the last corner at Road Atlanta has been changed as well.
We continue to bear witness to the pussification of great race tracks.

Lime Rock did nothing to the last turn. Yes the car are a bit slower thru it because of the changes to the West Bend. Big deal, can you really see the difference in the speeds?

The last turn at Road Atlanta has been changed for motorcycles only, not cars.

"pussification" - I'd rather have that than reading about accidents injuring drivers. The 60s & 70s had enough of that for me. I guess the sanctioning bodies could slow the cars down instead of having the tracks make changes - which would you prefer?

I think you can see a difference in speed through the last corner. I used to see the cars dancing on the edge of traction
as they turned right at the bottom of the hill. the entry speed to the last corner has been reduced so the cars aren't
going as quickly through there.

No, I don't want to see any more drivers lose their life. but, the inherent danger is part of the fascination of motorsports.
creating safe yet boring race tracks is not the answer. and, to answer your question - if I had to choose one of your options I would choose slightly slower cars on fast, challenging tracks over the alternative.

I attended the ALMS Lime Rock race for the fourth straight year and it was more crowded than ever.
The ALMS series really does make an effort to be extra fan friendly.
Here's a photo I took on the grid right before race start, showing Dario Franchitti chatting with Gil deFerran.



You like access? That's access!

For more photographs I took at the event, visit my thread at:
http://www.simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2549834#Post2549834

Here's one more: