LRP - Construction Pics

[cdh]

taken 6/2/2008

click these links for large panoramas, expand pic in browser - big images (Johnny, if you need help with this RTFM )

Big Bend

Turns 2 - 3

Esses from hill

West Bend
_

[cdh]

a couple more

[oldredracer]

Thanks Doug. I'm gonna see for myself on Thursday but I was just gonna bring the Brownie.

[cdh]

it's something to see, got lots of very interesting video also. The pieces of the old surface make nice souvenirs

[dalyduo]

Where's Steve Kinser and his dirt track car? Or better yet Robby Gordon and Ivan Stewart in Baja trucks? Or a gaggle of dirt bikes? Ah the missed opportunities.

Thanks Doug. Nice shots. Great to see things progressing so nicely.

[dlippert]

As much as I have grown to dislike that place over the years, I will admit that it is a bit sad to see the changes to the original. But, I will get over it.

[cdh]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Or a gaggle of dirt bikes?

yes, some nice moto bikes would be the way to go, dirt piles everywhere would make for great launches - or as I said to Rob yesterday, some rally prepped Subies.

Originally Posted by dlippert

As much as I have grown to dislike that place over the years, I will admit that it is a bit sad to see the changes to the original. But, I will get over it.

copy that, most dramatic change so far is West Bend. I have to admit I don't mind saying goodbye to (most of) the
tirewall / berm 5 feet away from trackout curbs.

[GEORGE]

Thanks for the GREAT pics. I have never particularly liked the place and last fall's rain(ice) weekend cemented that feeling. Try as they did to try and change my mind....I never got over the feeling that a BIG meeting with the guardrails in the downhill or westbend or the uphill was in my future.
Try as he might, Ron and I did a lead-follow, and he gave me good marks for my line and speed, But.......It was still hairy

[dalyduo]

Understand your feelings George but it has been my experience that those who learned to rain drive at LRP have a leg up on most other drivers in the rain. Once you figured out a wet Lime Rock you weren't going to find many rain situations more challenging. So glad I had the experience and now I look forward to rain driving... (Unless my visor is fogged up! :-)

[LimeRockRacer]

I feel like an old friend has passed and been sent through a grinder....

I am sure the improvements will make for another learning cycle though. While I will miss some of the challenges and the wet line advantage, I will welcome the improved safety margins.

Great Pix Doug!

[cdh]

Originally Posted by LimeRockRacer

...While I will miss some of the challenges and the wet line advantage...

dang, I hadn't considered that. Running many, many wet laps there
was a distinct advantage for us 'locals'
__________ _ __________________

[oldredracer]

Originally Posted by cdh

most dramatic change so far is West Bend. I have to admit I don't mind saying goodbye to (most of) the
tirewall / berm 5 feet away from trackout curbs.

I won't miss it even after it's gone but that's because I haven't had all of it surgically removed yet.

[GEORGE]

I love that Lee Iacocca quote. Loved his new book. When I was younger and Lee would speak at the dealer meetings, I always anxious to get chewed out by Lee. I always went home energized with a big fire in my belly.
Sadly, when Lee left, the meetings turned into crap sessions and I haven't been to one in 4 years.

[Slowhands]

I'm also feeling a bit sad. It's like a down-to-earth, unpretentious friend staying fiercely independent for years and withstanding fads and trends, finally giving in and getting a glamour makeover. Yes, she's pretty, but does she still have the substance and character you loved about her?

I'll miss dropping the right front perfectly into that little dip next to the kerbing at the apex of 2, frustrating ("can you go any SLOWER?!?") push through 3, the slightly wider square of concrete that was the reference for the late apex, the way your heart was in your mouth as you just KNEW you were going to clip the tires at the crest of the Uphill (thankfully I never did), the way the car just planted through West Bend when you turned in right, and finally having the guts to flat the Downhill and hold on as the car careened around that adverse camber and big bump.

Found these on the net. Others at

http://www.amwmag.com/NO/Osca_World/osca_world.html

[LimeRockRacer]

Great Pictures Harsha.

I am really depressed now about LRP being torn up!

[tom goodhart]

Great pics Doug! Any sense from your visit how good the contractor is? I noticed they've taken it right down to soil. I hope they have good data/datums for where the new finished surface should be. I'm all for a new surface with improved safety, just hoping they don't lose the character of the old track.

[ORBlues]

>>I'll miss dropping the right front perfectly into that little dip next to the kerbing at the apex of 2, frustrating ("can you go any SLOWER?!?") push through 3, the slightly wider square of concrete that was the reference for the late apex, the way your heart was in your mouth as you just KNEW you were going to clip the tires at the crest of the Uphill (thankfully I never did), the way the car just planted through West Bend when you turned in right, and finally having the guts to flat the Downhill and hold on as the car careened around that adverse camber and big bump.<<

When the track was last paved, around 1991?, the surface was billard table smooth - for a few years - then the ghost of Lime Rock came back and started putting in the bumps and dips and other specific characteristics. Each decade brings changes to the track and ten years from now we will be having the same discussion. Like replacing worn out shocks, most people will be so thrilled that the track is smooth that they will wonder why they waited so long.....

ChrisZ

[cdh]

Originally Posted by tom goodhart

Great pics Doug! Any sense from your visit how good the contractor is? I noticed they've taken it right down to soil. I hope they have good data/datums for where the new finished surface should be. I'm all for a new surface with improved safety, just hoping they don't lose the character of the old track.

tough to tell but the equipment in use is plentiful and first rate. I was impressed with the depth of excavation in Big Bend. They are digging down a good 3-4 feet in places, laying down a heavy black sheet (plastic? carbon??), a layer of large white gravel, then I assume an asphalt mix of some sort. We can only hope a sprinkler system will be operational to soak different parts of the track when the sun is shining...

One thing for sure, it will be different...for a while

oh, and a very nice post Harsha, well put.

[BlackFireACR]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Understand your feelings George but it has been my experience that those who learned to rain drive at LRP have a leg up on most other drivers in the rain. Once you figured out a wet Lime Rock you weren't going to find many rain situations more challenging. So glad I had the experience and now I look forward to rain driving... (Unless my visor is fogged up! :-)

I learned to drive in the rain at Limerock back in October. Anyone remember that car driving around the track sideways in the sportsman group 3 qualifying?? I regret that the race(s) were not in the rain... That said the experience was amazing enjoyable and taught me so much. (even if I thought the car was wrecked like 6 times) I will forever look forward to rain races.

During the time I spent at Limerock working for Skip it became my home track. I was there almost everyday and took my three day there. Going back is always a very nostalgic experience for me. So many memories both on and off the track. Now I will be like the man whose childhood house has since been torn down, I cannot go home...

I look forward to seeing a driving the new track with very very nervous anticipation

[dalyduo]

Was at LRP yesterday (Saturday June 7th 2008) running in the six hour Endurance Karting bake off (High humidity and temps in the 90's) that a bunch of Juicites showed up for. Walked down to big bend and was very impressed with the progress of the work. All the big bend foundation is in place. The aforementioned white crushed stone base and what looks to be a concrete based stone mixture has been very carefully laid down with an impressive number of wooden stakes at frequent intervals to, I'm assuming, plot depth and pitch. There are deep trenches cut through what had been lake Lime Rock at the left hander for what is probably some sort of drainage system. The downhill looks untouched from a distance though I didn't get close enough to see if it's been ground down yet.

It is wonderfully strange to see the West Bend berm gone and the track area so open. It would also be wonderful if they could create a fan safe spectator berm from which to watch the new corner in the area before the infield bridge.

Standing at various spots around the track felt very little nostalgia for the old girl. For all practical purposes the old Lime Rock is now gone and the work being done is on such a massive scale that you can only marvel at the scope, speed and quality of the work being done.

No doubt it will be a very different place when it is done but the original footprint will remain with three other corner variations that can be mixed and matched to create lots of new challenges. The new entrance to the infield bridge has been thoughtfully carved through the existing foliage to create a new entrance space that feels like a nature trail that's been there forever.

No one cares more about this coming off properly than Skip and his team. Judging by the amount of work done so far I wouldn't bet against them getting it done. There's a lot still left to do but seeing how far they've progressed in two weeks I'd say they are close to being on track (so to speak) for the ALMS in July.

Sorry I didn't have a camera with me to record the progress.

[oldredracer]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Sorry I didn't have a camera with me to record the progress.

So I'm glad I brought the Brownie after all. Here's the run-off area at the outside of West Bend that...ah...some of us would have really appreciated a year earlier. Think of what this will do to/for you sight picture.

[oldredracer]

[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Paul/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/2008-06-08,%20LRP%20construction%206June08/LRP%20construction%206June08%20003.jpg[/IMG]These really ARE from the Brownie. No idea why the cameraphone chose green tint but .....

Taken at the top of the uphill looking toward No Name and toward West Bend.




[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Paul/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/2008-06-08,%20LRP%20construction%206June08/LRP%20construction%206June08%20002.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Paul/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/2008-06-08,%20LRP%20construction%206June08/LRP%20construction%206June08%20001.jpg[/IMG]

[OLDMAN]

I've been going to LRP since the 60s. I remember watching Dick Smothers, Mark Donahue, and all the Trans Am drivers going around and around. Although I understand why what's being done is being done, deep down I wish it would never change. It makes me feel mortal.

Two years ago I went skiing in Snowmass Colorado. One of my reasons for paying the extra for that place was to have lunch at my favorite restaurant at "Sam's Knob (elevation 10,340 ft)". When I got to the top of the lift the restaurant was gone, as was 16 feet of the top of the hill. It was the best view in Snowmass for almost 40 years and now it was gone forever. Somebody in New York, who had no connection to the place, had decided that the numbers made sense. I don't think I even rode that lift again. I haven't been back since.


OLDMAN

[cdh]

with the green glasses removed - I don't think your camera was a 'brownie'

[oldredracer]

some pics as of 13June08

New pit in and the downhill run-off won't happen 'till later.

'short straight' is between 3 and 4.



Former Morton Chicane-top of uphill


between 3 and 4


the former Lake Limerock


looking down the uphill