Spent the day at the PNW BMW instructor clinic. (Not that I'm an instructor, except at their novice school last fall, but it was a great learning experience.)

Anyway, there are huge changes to PR. Not really on track, but off it. A huge swath of trees has been cut on the back stretch, so it looks completely different. Sadly, it no longer has that "country drive in the woods" feel it used to have. But the sight lines are better (both for seeing down the track and for future viewing terraces).

Be prepared for the track to look different when you get on it!

-Mike

 

Mike,

thanks for the update. I'll add this to the Northwest Track Info.

Ted

 

ps. The drag strip is not yet repaved. As of Saturday it was just rebar and forms. Looks like they are just about ready to pour the concrete for the lanch pad.

Also, there is a new paved lane from the hot pits all down the right side of the road from turn 1 to turn 2. This is outside the fog line, and I understand that the track is asking the schools to treat it as if it were not there. (It's not really on line anyway.) It is intended to be an acceleration lane from the club racing hot pits.

We had our braking cones set up where they would have been before, ie. on the fog line and blocking off the new lane of pavement.

The line is still the same -- after going through turn 1 keep the car between the seam in the pavement and the fog line. The only difference is that now there is pavement on the outside of the fog line instead of dirt.

-Mike

 

Nice report, I can't wait to see how the changes look.

Just speculating...but I wonder if removing the trees from the back-stretch was done for safety as well. I agree the old back section has a unique woodsy country-road feel - it's a bit of a shame to lose it in the interest of safety.

My memory could be faulty, but isn't there an "exposure" (sharp elevation dropoff) all along the right side of the back-section of the track? It seems that in removing the trees, now instead of wrapping your car around a tree if you go off track, you might be flying off a cliff instead!

 

You are thinking of the hole behind 5a/5b/6. It's still there. There are still trees on the downhill side of the road, between the track and the RR tracks.

The biggest changes are on the uphill side of the road. It seems like they will be putting in viewing terraces above 5a/5b/6 and above 3a (where there were already rudimentary viewing terraces).

 

Even late last year I noticed that they had taken dozens of trees out from inside 3b and along towards 4. They also cleared the bushes along the sides of the track in many places. There was added pavement along the braking zone for 2, also, but maybe they have added even more.

 

All I know about when they added the pavement and cut the trees is that it was between Aug last year and Saturday. If you were there late last year you may have already seen some or all of the changes. They certainly didn't take all those trees out in a weekend.

-Mike

 

Hi Mike,

I saw you practicing last saturday down the straight away. I was out in the big grass field setting up cones for an autocross in the dirt and could see you from across the way!

 

I was the only S2K, among a field of BMWs and P-cars. If you saw an S2K, you saw me.

There were a few other types of cars out there, but only a few. A couple of older MR2s, a Lancer EVO, maybe a few others.

-Mike

 

Looked like you got the benefits of a wet and dry track...

Fun stuff, I wish I was on the other side of the fence with you that day.

The next day I saw a couple fully-prepped race cars making the rounds on the track. There was a Porsche and a Le Mans Ferrari that I usually see at SOVREN. Can't remember the model name... something like a Ferrari P333. Looked beautiful though!