AMS announces repave

It amazes me that we put man on the moon almost 50 years ago yet no one can come up with some sort of aggregate that doesn't make racing on new surfaces less than desirable for several years.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Have you found bitching about it to be an effective tool for change?

Seriously, what do you expect track owners to do, leave the surfaces alone until they're coming up in chunks like a South Carolina interstate?
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In the real world bitching can be a tremendous agent of change but with Nascar it normally comes down to the whims of Brian and whoever has his ear that day. I am philosophical about the repave at Atlanta as if it needs to be done then it has to be done but I understand the laments of those who wish there was another way.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Will you be attending many Atlanta races after March?
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I find a day-trip on Sunday to Atlanta to be too long a day for me nowadays, esp. since my father isn't physically up to it anymore and can't act as my co-driver.

However, I attend Atlanta when the race is rain-delayed to the next day. It's cheaper, the traffic is less, and the earlier starting time makes for a day that better suits my waking hours. I've done this for years and I don't see the repave making any difference to me. Indeed, moving the race weekend to late Feb / early Mar, with the increased chances of cold / wet weather, will affect my decision to go more than any other single factor.
 
Skoalbandit33 said:
It amazes me that we put man on the moon almost 50 years ago yet no one can come up with some sort of aggregate that doesn't make racing on new surfaces less than desirable for several years.
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That's debatable ;)

ANYWAY...I'm p***** about Atlanta being repaved. This has been the only 1.5-mile track over the last decade that has produced decent racing action. The tire wear at this track is only rivaled by Darlington, which in my opinion (and probably many others), is the best track on the schedule. And do you know why these tracks are great? BECAUSE DRIVERS HAVE TO F****** WHEEL THEIR CARS INSTEAD OF TAKE A SUNDAY DRIVE. This is the stuff that creates passing, not aero or progressive baking, or anything else. IT. IS. TIRE. WEAR. Wake the f*** up, NASCAR. WE NEED TRACKS THAT PRODUCE TIRE WEAR. Yeah...I'm p***** and so are the drivers.
 
Water weeping through asphalt seams is the result of a poorly designed or non-existent drainage system in the sub grade under the racing surface.
 
I assume they'll take what they learned at Kentucky and make similar changes. But we all know about assuming, esp. assuming what others do or don't learn.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
They're reporting that today, TMS is also going to announce a repave.
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Its needed, hopefully they can address the weeper situation.

We hate repaves, but it's more than just a new layer of asphalt placed down. Looking over the track is necessary for upkeep and especially after the harsh winter months.
 
"The renovation will add a new layer of asphalt over the existing pavement, an expansive French drainage system on the frontstretch and backstretch, and reduce the banking in Turns 1 and 2 by four degrees."

Sounds like they did learn something at KY about banking in the turns.

However, I thought the weeper / drainage problems were in the turns, not on the straightaways. Since there not taking the old asphalt up, it doesn't look like they're going to address those problems.

http://www.texasmotorspeedway.com/n...epave-re-profiling-of-current-1.5-mile-layout
 
I guess this is one more cookie cutter that bites the dust. Although now the trend seems to be just copy Kentucky instead of Charlotte.

Edit: This probably deserves its own thread too.
 
Reconfiguring one side of the track to have a bit less banking and be wider is interesting to me, and that makes it two tracks that have done this now. At least these intermediates are starting to distinguish themselves a bit and make things more interesting for the teams.
 
http://www.foxsports.com/nascar/sto...ave-were-going-to-have-to-look-into-it-030517

“I love all the positive comments we’ve gotten,” Smith said. “We’re just going to have to look into it. I’ll tell you with all the positive comments that we’ve had, it definitely causes us to re-look at our plan.”

The 1.54-mile Hampton, Georgia oval was last repaved in 1997. Smith said they’ve gotten more life out of the race track than they originally thought they would.

“I can’t really say the status has changed,” Smith added. “We’ve looked at the track a lot over the years. We feel like we’ve gotten three more years out of the track right now. The challenges are still there in keeping the track raceable, making it something we can have a race on today and making sure we have a quality race.”
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Charlie Spencer said:
Uh, don't the contractors usually receive large non-refundable deposits?
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Sometimes.

They sign contracts well before the fact, pay for bonding, organize mobilization of equipment, designate crews, present work schedules to the owner, get safety clearances from appropriate agencies, etc., etc. We're in that business up here. This is a multi-million dollar project.

They'll pave.
 
People, they've got to repave these places sometime. If you don't want them to repave, what the heck do you propose they do to maintain the surfaces? If they do nothing, y'all will be complaining when the surface is coming up in chunks, and we'll have to listen to the #24 team begging to repair the damage under the red flag while the track is being patched. :D

With 20+ tracks on the circuit, it likely at least one will have to be repaved every year. Less often for the concrete tracks, more often for those in more severe weather zones. You can't change physics.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
People, they've got to repave these places sometime. If you don't want them to repave, what the heck do you propose they do to maintain the surfaces? If they do nothing, y'all will be complaining when the surface is coming up in chunks, and we'll have to listen to the #24 team begging to repair the damage under the red flag while the track is being patched. :D

With 20+ tracks on the circuit, it likely at least one will have to be repaved every year. Less often for the concrete tracks, more often for those in more severe weather zones. You can't change physics.
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I agree and think a lot of frustration comes into play when the track not only repaves the surface but "enhances" it so we all have a better experience. Also in this day and age it is unacceptable to have to wait a period of years before the racing becomes decent again after a repave.
 
It is unacceptable to have to wait for a racetrack to be good, a good case in point has been Michigan.

I don't understand why one of these goons in NASCAR doesn't actually try some decent artificial excitement like a 1.5 mile dirt track concept instead of segment points.
 
I'm not sure what the alternative is here. Continue to watch the track deteriorate and become unraceable or repave so that the old venue can continue to operate? Me, I'd like to see the track be around for a long time to come.

The last time they repaved this track I remember how excited everyone was when G Bodine turned a blistering lap in qualifying. The track got even better with age. It'll be no different this time either.

Relax everyone and let's make Atlanta great again. :D
 
Charlie Spencer said:
People, they've got to repave these places sometime. If you don't want them to repave, what the heck do you propose they do to maintain the surfaces? If they do nothing, y'all will be complaining when the surface is coming up in chunks, and we'll have to listen to the #24 team begging to repair the damage under the red flag while the track is being patched. :D

With 20+ tracks on the circuit, it likely at least one will have to be repaved every year. Less often for the concrete tracks, more often for those in more severe weather zones. You can't change physics.
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You could patch it. I haven't heard any chunks coming up at Atlanta. The track isn't to a point where it isn't safe to race. The drivers like it, the fans like it, but whatever pave it.
 
Michfan said:
You could patch it. I haven't heard any chunks coming up at Atlanta. The track isn't to a point where it isn't safe to race. The drivers like it, the fans like it, but whatever pave it.
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Look up a few posts to the video that I posted. They had to work on the track to make it raceable this past week. That isn't something that they want or need to be doing each time they visit this or any other venue. It will only get worse as time goes on.
 
Michfan said:
You could patch it. I haven't heard any chunks coming up at Atlanta. The track isn't to a point where it isn't safe to race. The drivers like it, the fans like it, but whatever pave it.
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The serious aging problems exist beneath the asphalt.

Over time, the subgrade develops voids due to water erosion. When that happens, the asphalt above collapses into the void ... Pothole. The asphalt has to be milled off and the subgrade rebuilt / regraded in order to solve this problem. Drainage improvements are often undertaken at this time.

There is a lot of technology at work in the asphalt mix area. Polymers have taken over. I think we'll be pleasantly surprised at how racy the new surface is.
 
aunty dive said:
The serious aging problems exist beneath the asphalt.

Over time, the subgrade develops voids due to water erosion. When that happens, the asphalt above collapses into the void ... Pothole. The asphalt has to be milled off and the subgrade rebuilt / regraded in order to solve this problem. Drainage improvements are often undertaken at this time.

There is a lot of technology at work in the asphalt mix area. Polymers have taken over. I think we'll be pleasantly surprised at how racy the new surface is.
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According to the video that I posted above, they are paving over the existing asphalt. They said that there is no problem with their underlying structure.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
According to the video that I posted above, they are paving over the existing asphalt. They said that there is no problem with their underlying structure.
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That's unusual but they know what they're working with.
 
aunty dive said:
That's unusual but they know what they're working with.
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Honest question: Could they resurface with the exact asphalt mixture they used in 1997? The track was super fast and one groove when it was new, but I remember it came in really quickly. By 2000-2001, they were back to running the high groove and wearing tires.

Contrast that to LVMS, or CMS which were repaved in 2006 (roughly). Those two tracks never came in the way AMS did.
 
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