New track in PNW, first laps on finished surface

[Randy Blaylock]

Here's a video of some first laps at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, WA.

This park was conceived and developed to this point by two amateur club racers, for amateur club racers.

There is a 2.6ish mile road course with some really outstanding features, and will soon have a drag strip as well. Each will have it's own dedicated and completely separated large paddock area, so there is no sharing of surfaces or parking areas whatsoever. There will be enough room to hold a road race and drag racing event simultaneously.

The in-car video was taken on November 6th 2011, approximately 7 months after breaking ground at the site. The car is a 2010 Corvette Z06 with the 505 hp LS7, on Goodyear Eagle F1 street tires.

Here's a link to the project; The Ridge Motorsports Park

And here is a link to some in-car video of the first laps at the newly paved road course; First Laps at The Ridge Motorsports Park November 6 2011.wmv - YouTube

[Zuluracerx]

Wow! How cool is that!!! Wish I was closer

[Fara]

That looks like a pretty sweet track.
It'll be awesome to see the finished product with run-offs, barriers and ripple strips!

Bookmarked the page
Unfortunately, I'm in Australia and so it's unlikely you'll see me doing laps of the circuit.

[Jeff Alton]

Hey Randy,

Very cool, looking forward to lapping there with you!

Cheers

[chapo]

Looks like a great, fun track to lap, however it seems too narrow. Buttonwillow is too narrow for racing in my opinion.

[Matt Monson]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Matt

[LanceGT4]

I was checking their site
The Ridge Motorsports Park – Motorcycle Test Day!
and they've posted another video.
It's to good not to share. I usually prefer motors to music but at 5/10ths what the heck.

MC Action at the Ridge - YouTube

[Randy W]

Thanks, Randy.

Looks great! Can't wait to try it out (Buttonwillow is one of my favorite tracks).

We have a family beach house 45 minutes away, so will be going often I'm guessing..

[Zeke]

Wow. You guys couldn't wait! I have to wonder what the track ins co thought about that.


Looks like that is becoming a great facility.

[Walt Fricke]

In many states, the legal doctrine of assumption of the risk is still alive and well. So in addition to the standard boiler plate waiver, a well advised unfinished track would have anyone venturing on the surface at any kind of speed sign an additional document acknowledgeing that they understand that tire walls and safety barriers are not in place, there are no corner workers or ambulances, big drop offs here and there, and so on.

Some hot laps are very useful in deciding where to put curbing. Even then some of it will turn out not to be in the right place.

40' has become a kind of standard width for tracks these days, but 36' is quite acceptable for racing. Pavement is very expensive, and preparing the earth under the pavement can cost half again as much. Racetracks, especially ones for amateur competition, are not really an overly lucrative investment, and often have substantial debt for the initial construction. There aren't that many Larry Millers or George Barbers around who are willing and able to build from their private fortunes world class facilities which likely will be lucky to cover operating expenses. If a return on investment were factored in, I doubt many of us could afford the entry fees at those tracks.

[Walt Fricke]

One person commenting on the video site asserted that this track was paved at 50' wide! If so, no one ought to feel it is too narrow.

I note that the FIA has a maximum as well as a minimum width in their specs. Ran across this when involved in a short lived track using part of the former Stapleton airport in Denver.

[TRE Cup]

From track management:
November 8, 2011 7:42 pmPosted 11 days ago
The Ridge Team (Author)
the track width is a full 40 feet, wider than almost all road courses in the US (36 feet is the norm). Length is 2.47 miles.
Hope to get this on a spec page sooner rather than later, its asked a lot.
Thanks for your your support.

TRMG Team

[Jeff Alton]

I am heading to a private day there on the 11th to take some laps, looking very forward to it!!

I was there yesterday to ride along on some laps. Great track.

Randy--you got some big ones, man, to drive like that past road graders and such. Great video. All that scary stuff was well away from the track yesterday.

Terry

[Jeff Alton]

Here is a couple of laps from Sunday. Randy was out driving a stock car and taking others for rides in the Vette again. We think he certainly has the most laps of anyone under his belt at this track...

This is the last two laps of one session with a passenger, last lap is under a yellow and the checker flag is out.

TRMP day 1.wmv - YouTube

[PatrickB]

That looks like a blast! Plenty wide, however that being said, I must voice the obvious... Having been off most every corner at my home track (WSIR/SOW) at least nearly a dozen times, I have to look at the braking zones, apexes, and what the trajectory is for potential mistakes and tank slappers at this track... I see WAY to many trees just off the track!!! No way would I drive this track flat out! Time to get out the chainsaw and stump puller!

[Flieger]

The trees are part of what makes the track so appealing. I wish we did not have to race in the desert all the time (Willow Springs and Chuckwalla to name two). Even at Laguna Seca, the gravel traps make it feel like the moon in some turns.

They don't cut down the forest for a rally.

So you have to approach the limit slowly. That is part of the challenge. You can't just go flat out everywhere. You have to use judgement.

Just put up some Armco like the Nuerburgring Nordschleife.

[Walt Fricke]

Well, trees are fine around a race track, but only if 100 yards or more away, with triple height Armco or better keeping you from hitting one. Race tracks built in a desert or other treeless area have a distinct advantage when it comes to customer safety, and avoid a huge cost. Armco is not cheap, and because you need it to be three pieces high unless you don't want anyone racing motorcycles on your track, it becomes even more expensive.

People like Watkins Glen, because it is a great facility. But in most parts it is a bit more like a city street course in terms of being unforgiving of offs. As Alan Wilson put it, people who bend their cars because of mistakes are less inclined to keep coming back.

This is unabashedly an amateur/club track. Especially during the learning phase, having obstacles as far from the pavement as possible is a huge plus. The only accidental DE death I am aware of happened when the car went off track and broadsided a tree, leading to the death of the instructor who was in the passenger seat. Such things are bad for business, to say the least.

This is not a knock on the track owners/designers. They had to locate land which was large enough, which they could afford, which was close enough to population centers, and for which they could have a reasonable likelihood of getting governmental approval. Not surprising that in their area there were a lot of trees. Like Calabougie.

Installing the safety features will be a big job. At my 2.5 mile home track, volunteers bolted 15,000 brand new slashed and discarded tires together into unit stacks, to protect concrete barriers which are, in most instances, so far from the pavement that in most areas no one has come close to hitting them in three years of operation.

You can be sure the owners have plans for all this. SCCA, for instance, will not sanction events at a track until it has been approved by the folks they have inspect tracks. Their insuror will also have a keen interest in this, and it has a distinct influence on rates.

[Jeff Alton]

Ok,

The owners of this track are going to make sure it is 100% safe. They are committed to doing it right, end of story. We are making this our home track for 2012 and will host the majority of our track day program from here.

The trees are not in the way at all, yet if they become a concern I am sure they will be removed.

Yes, we drove the track in the current state. We were not out to set lap times, we were there to see the track, get familiar with the line etc. 7/10 maximum was the stated requirement, I doubt in the laps I posted we were running above 5/10's, yet no one was comming past us..... Everyone there understood what we were doing.

Now, we had the Bullet Racing Cup Cars there along with a Helicopter shooting video the day after, so stand by for some of that footage!

Cheers

[PatrickB]

Walt-

Well said!

I seem to remember seeing several trees that were maybe-15-20 feet off the course if that. This was within the pre/post braking buffer zone, and opposite the apex in several different corners?

This type of obstacle proves to be a magnet for the unseasoned DE or new club driver... Obviously, for the experienced racer, probably not an issue? Obviously Jeff, the owner's will do everything possible to make this a safe track. It appears that a substantial amount of time, effort and money has been spent on clearing the way for this new pavement already! It's just that I did a double take, and had to replay the video when I saw a lone tree standing so close to the track at several different turns in what seemed to be such an obviously precarious spot... Am I the only one who noticed?

Other than that, I love this track! I really dig the turns, as well as the elevation changes! Looks like a winner for you guys up north!