CenDiv Schedule Changes

Is anyone else less than thrilled about this? For the Mid Ohio races, they moved the Brat Bash up one week, put the WOR Games the next weekend after it (as a double, that's good), and then moved back the Autumn Classic one week. Back to back weekends of double regionals at the same track? Does that seem stupid to anyone else? Better hope you don't break anything the first weekend...

Also, since for some reason I've never understood, most of the people in CenDiv never race until the Freedom Regional the first weekend of July at Mid Ohio. This has really created damn near a two month racing season for a good number of people and has made an already busy and hectic schedule even more of one.

We also apparently have two new tracks - the Milwaukee Mile and the Nurburg at Joliet (or something like that) Does anyone know anything about these? Does the Milwaukee Mile have a "roval" I don't know about? Is the Nurburg at Joliet a renamed Route 66 Speedway? I think that's what it was called - never been there but there hasn't been SCCA activity there for several years.

...end rambling.

Kevin,

The track in Joliet is called the 'Autobahn'. It is not the old Route 66 track. Looks pretty cool!

http://www.autobahncountryclub.net/track.html

It was designed by the same guy who did Gingerman.

Regarding the Milwaukee Mile (which happens to be the one of the country's oldest race tracks!) It is a 'roval'. Here is an old aerial photo showing the infield:
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=11&Z=16&X=1044&Y=11908&W=1&q s=%7cWest+Allis%7c://http://terraserver.microsoft.com/im...7cWest+Allis%7c

I also found a Midwest Council link that shows photo's of the repaved sections:
http://www.fairpark.homestead.com/

The road racers run in the opposite direction as the oval racers (similar to F1 at IMS). This is nice for Honda's since the oval corners will pull the oil in the pan towards the pickup instead of away from it http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/smile.gif

This track configuration was used frequently back in the 50's & 60's but fell out of favor in the 70's due to poor condition of the surface, plus poor safety for the workers and drivers.

The infield course has been completely redone. The logistics of the worker safety/flagging stations, T&S, paddock, etc. are still being worked out and finalized before the first event.

I am not a big fan of 'rovals' but Milwaukee is unique in the shape/layout of the oval corners in that it is very, very wide (the oval track guys LOVE racing at Milwaukee for this reason). I drove a solo there many, many years ago and the oval corners were pretty cool.

My understanding of the Mid-ohio issue is that the regions are at the mercy of the track. The track basically says "here are the open dates....take it or leave it!". Most club tracks are that way, in that they schedule Pro events first, club events second. This tends to make the event scheduling at the Cen-Div round table in November interesting.

[This message has been edited by Greg Gauper (edited December 06, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by Greg Gauper (edited December 06, 2004).]

***but Milwaukee is unique in the shape/layout of the oval corners in that it is very, very wide.***

Roval's with the wide width corners is a very interesting topic. I raced at the Gateway International rovla the end of October 2004 for the first time. Part of the back straight is used, T 3 & T4 are used & most of the front straight are used same direction as the oval folks. The track is VERY WIDE through the turns while at the same time it wouldn't take much error & "whack" the wall would get you. It was on my mind for EACH lap.

Have Fun http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/wink.gif
David

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Greg Gauper:
[B]The track in Joliet is called the 'Autobahn'. It is not the old Route 66 track. Looks pretty cool!

Regarding the Milwaukee Mile (which happens to be the one of the country's oldest race tracks!) It is a 'roval'. The road racers run in the opposite direction as the oval racers (similar to F1 at IMS). This is nice for Honda's since the oval corners will pull the oil in the pan towards the pickup instead of away from it http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/smile.gif

My understanding of the Mid-ohio issue is that the regions are at the mercy of the track. The track basically says "here are the open dates....take it or leave it!".

---

That Autobahn looks like it's well on its way to being a great facility. Kind of hard to believe that some of the people who have been on it are comparing it to Barber and VIR. It looks like what BeaveRun was trying to become but hasn't. I just really hope we get the chance to run the entire track as one. Might have to pencil that race in.

That Milwaukee Mile track looks like a friggin blast! Well, maybe not for ITC cars (yawn!). Just mash the throttle down and hold on to fast corners - the Integra will love it! Hmm, might have to pencil that one in too. Geez, if I hit up VIR too next year like I'm planning on, that'll be new tracks #12, 13, and 14 for me. I still need to hit up Mosport, Lime Rock, Barber, and Waterford Hills too. Come on Super Lotto!

As for Mid Ohio, I know WOR has been trying for years to get its eent moved up and made a double. Maybe they just finally succeded. I just don't like the idea of having 4 events there in two months, and two on back to back weekends.

David,
Agreed...but that is one area that I think sets Milwaukee apart from most Ovals/Rovals (like Gateway). I have seen stock cars race two and three wide with no trouble at Milwaukee with lots of room to spare (one of the reasons that the oval guys love to race there...it has 'racing room' instead of playing follow the leader). And while there is a wall, I suspect that you would scrub off a lot of speed before hitting it, compared to say, the Kink at Road America.

OT - two of the best races I ever saw at the 'Mile were a) the old SCCA VW Cup series and B) the old SCCA Pro-Truck series. The VW's (comparable to an ITB car) could run the oval almost flat-out with just a light tap of the brakes to set the nose. This was on 'sticky for their era' Goodyear Eagle tires that would be consider 'hard-as-a-rock' tires by todays standards.

The truck guys (Archer Bro's/PD Cunningham/others) were a hoot to watch! They bump drafted down the straights but because the trucks were boxy and aero-draggy as hell, the trailing truck would pick up about 15mph when they closed up. The lead truck would get knocked ahead by 5-10 car lengths easily. Definitely not your little 5mph Miata love taps http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/smile.gif And then they went thru the corners two wide as clean as could be.

Kevin,

Somehow I don't think the entrance to The Mile's turn-2 will be boring! The only thing that worries me is the exposed pit lane wall at turn-1 (which is the normal pit-out for the oval racers). I suspect this will have some type of movable crash barrier similar to what they use for turn #4 for the pit in for the oval racers....

The Joliet track looks pretty busy, especially the longer combined layout. The track has some man-made elevation changes despite being located in Illinois. No real long straights and the landscaping looks pretty nice. Time will tell!

[This message has been edited by Greg Gauper (edited December 06, 2004).]