first impression of the shenandoah circuit
11-08-2004, 06:31 AM
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first impression of the shenandoah circuit
here's my $0.02: I only ran the one config (CCW, w/o the loop behind the pistol range) and one session with the loop that goes by the pit wall.
I really like the "north" half of the course a lot. This is the section that goes under the bridge, thru the karrusel and back around.
I didn't care much for the karrusel at first, but on Sunday I kinda got the hang of it and I much prefer it to having a 40mph 180 (more on that later). The trick to the karrusel is to drop in from the top and exit out over the top. If you do that its a lot better. You have to be careful not to drop in too late or you will scrape (Bob Ball did it on purpose just to see what would happen, but thats the kind of guy he is) or exit
too early (I'm not sure what would happen if you did that but it might involve flight).
After you exit the karrusel the course goes thru a up and down, right-left-right combination that is totally cool, even if the 2nd right is a bottom of third gear, maybe 2nd in some cars turn. From there you have a big left sweeper with some camber (think NHIS or WGI's T5 only left rather than right) into a straight. At this point you are headed south, and IMO things go downhill (not geographically) from here.
The straight ends in a late apex 3rd gear 180, into a short straight, over a small crest and into another 180. This one is actually a cross-over and it is full of seams and bumps, most of which launch my car. For me the quick way thru here was just to find the least bumpy way thru.
After this turn its uphill thru a small slalom, into an off camber, decreasing radius 180. Its a 40ish mph turn for most folks and just not my idea of fun. The turn before isn't either, but this one is the worst. The autocrossers might like it. At this point you are headed back to the fun part again.
There was one student wreck, but it was the kind of thing that could happen anywhere, including public roads. It had nothing to do with the design of the SC at all. He dropped 2 wheels off at the exit of a turn and yanked the car back on. Bad things happen when you do that. So dont do that. There were 2 instructor wrecks on friday, but I wont comment on them as I wasnt there.
I liked the flow of the south section of the course much better with the pit wall section included, but it really did seem far too dangerous to have the students run it to me. I heard the loop behind the pistol range is really, really slow.
Hopefully, Mr. Scott will hear the feedback from the users and over time make some changes to improve the course. It has a lot of potential for drivers ed events. I'm not sure we will ever race on it though.
Modified by JoelG at 11:25 AM 11/8/2004
I really like the "north" half of the course a lot. This is the section that goes under the bridge, thru the karrusel and back around.
I didn't care much for the karrusel at first, but on Sunday I kinda got the hang of it and I much prefer it to having a 40mph 180 (more on that later). The trick to the karrusel is to drop in from the top and exit out over the top. If you do that its a lot better. You have to be careful not to drop in too late or you will scrape (Bob Ball did it on purpose just to see what would happen, but thats the kind of guy he is) or exit
too early (I'm not sure what would happen if you did that but it might involve flight).
After you exit the karrusel the course goes thru a up and down, right-left-right combination that is totally cool, even if the 2nd right is a bottom of third gear, maybe 2nd in some cars turn. From there you have a big left sweeper with some camber (think NHIS or WGI's T5 only left rather than right) into a straight. At this point you are headed south, and IMO things go downhill (not geographically) from here.
The straight ends in a late apex 3rd gear 180, into a short straight, over a small crest and into another 180. This one is actually a cross-over and it is full of seams and bumps, most of which launch my car. For me the quick way thru here was just to find the least bumpy way thru.
After this turn its uphill thru a small slalom, into an off camber, decreasing radius 180. Its a 40ish mph turn for most folks and just not my idea of fun. The turn before isn't either, but this one is the worst. The autocrossers might like it. At this point you are headed back to the fun part again.
There was one student wreck, but it was the kind of thing that could happen anywhere, including public roads. It had nothing to do with the design of the SC at all. He dropped 2 wheels off at the exit of a turn and yanked the car back on. Bad things happen when you do that. So dont do that. There were 2 instructor wrecks on friday, but I wont comment on them as I wasnt there.
I liked the flow of the south section of the course much better with the pit wall section included, but it really did seem far too dangerous to have the students run it to me. I heard the loop behind the pistol range is really, really slow.
Hopefully, Mr. Scott will hear the feedback from the users and over time make some changes to improve the course. It has a lot of potential for drivers ed events. I'm not sure we will ever race on it though.
Modified by JoelG at 11:25 AM 11/8/2004
11-08-2004, 07:25 AM
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Re: (John)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by John »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What's the track surface like? </TD></TR></TABLE>
good question! dusty!
some people said it was abrasive, but I didn't notice that. I think they may have been pressing the go pedal while the car was pointed away from the direction of travel. Its easy to do that with 3 180s on the course.
sunday it was a little better I think. I ran less air on sunday too, which might have been the difference instead.
good question! dusty!
some people said it was abrasive, but I didn't notice that. I think they may have been pressing the go pedal while the car was pointed away from the direction of travel. Its easy to do that with 3 180s on the course.
sunday it was a little better I think. I ran less air on sunday too, which might have been the difference instead.
11-12-2004, 05:53 PM
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Re: first impression of the shenandoah circuit (.RJ)
yes lots of fun. even in the rain.
tomorrow in the dry should be a blast.
only a couple corners that really make me flinch.
all the naysayers should drive it
I would have video but my camera mount decided to self destruct yesterday
tomorrow in the dry should be a blast.
only a couple corners that really make me flinch.
all the naysayers should drive it
I would have video but my camera mount decided to self destruct yesterday
11-12-2004, 06:28 PM
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Re: first impression of the shenandoah circuit (elgorey)
I cant' wait to try it out, but it sounds like a fairly slow course to me.
Someone needs to get some video up.
Someone needs to get some video up.
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