Richard EVO
11-07-2005, 09:53 AM
The event last weekend at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, NV was a fiasco.* I blame Spring Mtn. track management for most of the problems, not the organizers, RedlineTrackEvents.* I have run many Redline events before, and they are generally well organized.* Chris and Nick seemed to be as much victims of errors by track management as all the drivers were.
The old part of the track (and the parking lot) had just been re-sealed with some thick black gunk.* It stuck to my RA1s like glue.* After a run session or two, I had thick, sticky tar on my tires.* On the inner half of the rear tires, it was over 1/4" thick and peeled off (with some difficulty) in sheets, as long as the tires were still hot.* As the tires cooled, the gunk got hard like plastic and much more difficult to get off.* After peeling it off the rear tires (thanks for your help. R. Tallini), I went back out on track, took about 5 laps, and when I came in, I had almost as much of this crap in my rear tires as before I started peeling it off.* I left early on Sat. and got a refund for Sun. (Redline was very nice about that).
But that's just the beginning.* Someone's spilled a bunch of fluid (coolant, I think) in the new hairpin, turn 5R.* Track management was not prepared with the right equipment or de-greaser (sandy stuff in bags), so it took an hour-and-a-half to clean up the mess and the track was closed all that time.* Also, there were numerous spin outs off track that required towing, due in part to the slippery re-sealed surface, as well as to most driver's unfamiliarity with the new track.* We waited in the hot pit for 15-20 minutes at least twice while cars were towed off.
Actually that's not the worst of it.* A Lotus Elise burned to the ground during the event.* :'( I was on track and saw the car on the dirt inside a turn with the engine compartment on fire.* I took a couple more turns, and then the red flag came out and we had to stop on track.* From my vantage point, I was fairly close to the burning car and could see what was going on.* There were a couple of small explosions and then the car became completely engulfed in flames.* They just let it burn down to nothing.* Finally the fire dept. came out and put out the remaining fire.* There were no fire extinguishers on track and no one from the track even tried to put out the fire.
I don't know the cause of the fire in the Elise, but it wouldn't surprise me if some of that tarry guck from the track surface got kicked up onto some hot part of the Elise, and started burning.* :tickedoff:
The old part of the track (and the parking lot) had just been re-sealed with some thick black gunk.* It stuck to my RA1s like glue.* After a run session or two, I had thick, sticky tar on my tires.* On the inner half of the rear tires, it was over 1/4" thick and peeled off (with some difficulty) in sheets, as long as the tires were still hot.* As the tires cooled, the gunk got hard like plastic and much more difficult to get off.* After peeling it off the rear tires (thanks for your help. R. Tallini), I went back out on track, took about 5 laps, and when I came in, I had almost as much of this crap in my rear tires as before I started peeling it off.* I left early on Sat. and got a refund for Sun. (Redline was very nice about that).
But that's just the beginning.* Someone's spilled a bunch of fluid (coolant, I think) in the new hairpin, turn 5R.* Track management was not prepared with the right equipment or de-greaser (sandy stuff in bags), so it took an hour-and-a-half to clean up the mess and the track was closed all that time.* Also, there were numerous spin outs off track that required towing, due in part to the slippery re-sealed surface, as well as to most driver's unfamiliarity with the new track.* We waited in the hot pit for 15-20 minutes at least twice while cars were towed off.
Actually that's not the worst of it.* A Lotus Elise burned to the ground during the event.* :'( I was on track and saw the car on the dirt inside a turn with the engine compartment on fire.* I took a couple more turns, and then the red flag came out and we had to stop on track.* From my vantage point, I was fairly close to the burning car and could see what was going on.* There were a couple of small explosions and then the car became completely engulfed in flames.* They just let it burn down to nothing.* Finally the fire dept. came out and put out the remaining fire.* There were no fire extinguishers on track and no one from the track even tried to put out the fire.
I don't know the cause of the fire in the Elise, but it wouldn't surprise me if some of that tarry guck from the track surface got kicked up onto some hot part of the Elise, and started burning.* :tickedoff: