Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 20

Thread: TWS safety issues

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    denison,texas
    Posts
    1,542

    TWS safety issues

    Take a look at the backside of the track and you'll find ditches and concrete and tires.I'm talking about the area around the "bowl turn". Why won't the owners fix this stuff? It appears to me they don't care. They would fix it if they did.
    Does it take a bad accident to motivate action on these issues?

  2. #2

    Re: TWS safety issues

    What part of the left field line, near the foul post at the warning track, did this come from? After what, three or four years of racing this configuration? ????????
    Former Expert #33, member since 1988, BOD 2001-2004, retired 2008, returned 2016.

    I used to be fast. Ask me about my championships. Bring beer.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    denison,texas
    Posts
    1,542

    Re: TWS safety issues

    Way out there I guess,Chuck. But that's no secret.What's wrong that? Anything?
    We were setting out cones the other day at LSTD and it just reminded me again that the guy doesn't give a crap. I know he gets up in the morning know the problem exists and still doesn't care.Yearts of racing there and it still bothers me. I can remind everyone until it goes away or I can shut up and not remind anyone.But I'll stay in the outfield and love it.

  4. #4

    Re: TWS safety issues

    Mark is exactly right about the track owner seeming not to care. We have offered to move the wall, rather than swath it with air fence and he first says the SCCA has to get on board. Then the SCCA agrees to the change and we're told the cost to us would include reconfiguring drainage and lord knows what else.
    As long as they can continue to raise the track rental prices and folks continue to pay it, nothing will change. In fact, with the advent of all of the track day income being generated today, the tracks are becoming less and less amenable to suggestions from thier "old" customers.
    On the subject of track issues, have any of the racers who have been around awhile had issues or known of concerns about the "ditches" track-side going into turn 3 at OHR?
    Brooks

  5. #5
    Guest

    Re: TWS safety issues

    <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Originally posted by Brooks Gremmels:
    have any of the racers who have been around awhile had issues or known of concerns about the "ditches" track-side going into turn 3 at OHR?
    Brooks
    </div></div>We did have a novice accident there several years ago. The guy who got the worst of it ended up getting stopped head first by the ditch. Lots and lots of blood, helmet in pieces. Some weeks after the crash, his wife found him unconscious on the floor from an intercranial hemorrhage. He survived brain surgery and recovery.

    Certainly, if people collide in the right hander before 3, it's not a nice place to land.

  6. #6

    Re: TWS safety issues

    Andre, I really appreciate your input on track issues and the support you have been offering. Thank you.
    Aside from placing air fence (if that would work?) alongside the track going into turn three, I don't know what you'd do about the high embankments on both sides. Then there are the "ditches", in question. I don't know how you'd mitigate this concern given the amount of runoff that the "ditches" must carry. ??
    Brooks

  7. #7

    Re: TWS safety issues

    Hey Brooks,
    I mentioned something about that nasty turn 3 ditch at OHR several years ago. It has claimed many a fairing or two, and broken bone, or two. Cass Cooper got busted up there, and I was right behind Kurt Mueller (I think that's who it was) when he went into it. It's a nasty place to go off the track, cuz it'll cause an endo no matter what. Last time I looked it seemed to me a feasible fix would be to fill it with gravel at the very least, or re-grade it and add some drainage (like a french drain or something). I don't think it'd be terribly expensive.

    As for TWS, yeah those walls (the one at turn 4 comes to mind here!) and ditches in the back section are hideous. I had never noticed that area Mark mentioned till this weekend either. Granted there's not many getoff's there, but god help him/her if there is. The air fence at turn 8a or 9 or whatever it is, is a wonderful fix for the time being, and the CMRA and others have done a great job to get that up. But track management needs to do something about, yes, re-doing the landscape including the ditches, and moving those godawful walls so that there is runoff there. Obviously this costs money, but it'd be nice to see some acknowledgement on their part, and maybe even an effort or two, instead of the "stalag-17-esque" search for pit bike infractions. Heck, even some bathroom maintenance would be nice. I'm not downplaying the pit bike issue, but they definately go too far.

  8. #8

    Re: TWS safety issues

    I hope I am not jinxing myself by talking about it but the ditch outside the kink between T2 and T3 at Oakhill would be a fairly inexpensive
    fix I would think with contractors fabric, septic rock and a box blade. We have a few contractors in the club and maybe we could get them involved?
    A americanized "french drain" (along the lines of fredoom fries) would be nicer but more expensive/complex I believe. I am not a
    dirt/drain/ditch kinda guy so I'd defer to anyone who worked in the feild.

  9. #9
    Administrator Walter Walker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Waco Texas
    Status
    Expert
    Bike #
    43R
    Posts
    7,211

    Re: TWS safety issues

    The ditch at OHR has claimed alot of victims over the years. (including me [img]/ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif[/img] ) It is actually a wash that has been smoothed out several times but Mother Nature just puts it back. Don't forget The Grand Canyon started out as a little stream so a permanent fix may take a bit of work.
    Walter Walker
    Director of Competition
    254-717-6848
    walter@cmraracing.com
    CMRA Ex #43r
    Member since 1990
    (NOT mean and unapproachable)

  10. #10

    Re: TWS safety issues

    How about asking to fill the "big hole" inbetween T1 and T2 (on the outside) at TWS. Saw the results of an F4 that found it, wasn't pretty.

    David

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •