New Track in New England, Palmer Motorsports Options

[ejm]

Around 8 years ago approval was sought to build a new road track in Western Massachusetts. After countless changes in plans, dealing with opposition from neighbors along with environmental and conservation issues the track has been paved and will open in 2015. http://www.palmermotorsportspark.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc6DxupO2o8

[carr914]

Interesting, Beautiful, and Deadly as is!

Interesting in that there is not one True Passing Corner. Not a 90 Degree or smaller anywhere to slow cars down. Great Race Tracks have signature Corners (Hairpins, Esses,etc). This Track is all Sweepers.

Beautiful, especially in Fall! The Views from the Cockpit & for Pictures are Great! I Really like the elevation Changes.

Deadly! They are going to need a LOT of Barriers! You can't have a High Speed Track with Rock Sheer Faces, Big Dropoffs, Trees. You are going to need Big Rock Catch Fence to hold back Boulders that will break away. The Track is pretty narrow. I mentioned that the Track is all Sweepers - combine that with it being narrow and objects to hit. I don't even think about adding weather into the equation.

Those Guys (especially the S2000 that disappeared were Idiots for going anywhere near that speed! There was Heavy Equipment everywhere (Guess they didn't see Jules Biancci's Crash a few weeks ago), the shoulders of the Track were in, dirt on the Road.

[GregAmy]

It has been more than eight years, brother; more like 15+. New England Region SCCA began this question many moons ago...

SCCA members will be invited to tour the facility and drive the track (street cars) after our annual convention, November 16th. Should be plenty more video after that. I fully expect we'll have a "soft opening" on it sometime early next year, same as we did this year for Thompson.

We're about to experience an "embarrassment of riches" here in New England, with four tracks (LRP, Palmer, Thompson, NHMS). Pity us...

[GeorgeRud]

I agree that it is a beautiful looking track in the fall, but will need guard rails and catch fencing around most of the track to make it safe. No runoff areas, steep drop offs, and sheer rock faces are not currently acceptable track design in my opinion. A few sharp corners would help with passing opportunities.

It does make a beautiful fall drive however, and it's always nice to see tracks being built, not turned into shopping malls and subdivisions.

[r_towle]

Gorgeous.
Quite a bit of elevation there, and it looks like a very fast track.

I suppose I will now be more motivated to actually finish up my car...
Need a different set of gears for that track versu NHMS.....quite a bit different.

Rich

[Kraftwerk]

Looks like its all up hill to corner six.. nice elevation gain. Thanks for the film, nice fall colors, I miss that part of New England.

[KELTY360]

I kept waiting for a corkscrew.

[914werke]

Looks cool, but F'n scary!! Run-off what run-off~!!?
I always look at tracks as if from the seat of a MC at speed ....
I wouldn't ride that track

[GregAmy]

I reserve judgment until I see it in person, but someone pointed out to me that we accept the steel canyon called Watkins Glen with glee, so this may not be significantly different.

Then again, I've totally written off a car at Watkins Glen (top of the esses, tangled with a lapped car) so there's that...been there, done that, had the big blue stripes to prove it... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drunk.gif)

[914werke]

And there you go ...
Thats why there is NO MC racing at the Glen, too F'n dangerous.

[GregAmy]

Went to the NER SCCA open house today...

Holy crap this is going to be an incredible race track. Seriously. And this is coming from someone that has raced probably just about every relevant race track in this country, along with spending time at the Nurburgring.

I stuck my GoPro inside the windshield of the GTI for some cool laps, but it just won't be able to describe the elevation changes and radius challenges...There's a lot of places at this track that remind we very much of corners on the Nurburgring...Metzgesfeld/Kallenhard, Adenau, Bergwerk, even a little bit of Fuchsrohre and Dottinger Hohe...and NHMS Turn 6 (in reverse). It would be fun if they named them locally after the 'Ring corners...

This track will reward drivers that know what they're doing, and potentially punish those that don't...and I'm gonna love it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Many kudos to the designer of this track. This is one for the racers.

GA

[ChrisFoley]

Another racer I know was there yesterday too.
He likened the track to Mt Panorama in Bathurst, AU.

[roblav1]

I drew up the initial track design / layout back in 2006... and used to have it posted on my trailer door outside Garage 6 North at NHMS when we were trying to drum up funding.

The track is not narrow... the camera makes it look far worse than reality. But additional barriers and a couple spots for additional runoff are in the works. Since the track is very wide, there are plenty of alternative routes and apex options around the turns, which will help with going 2 or 3 cars wide and passing, especially in the downhill sections.

None of it though, is any worse than the uphill turn at Lime Rock(!) which is now taken flat out (or nearly so) in Formula Continental and FB.

There is a corkscrew - I call it Fred's corkscrew (Fred is the owner) because he insists that it stays. It is just before the final straight... but I've been trying to talk him out of it because (IMHO) it takes away from the flow, and you can't see it coming until you are on top of it.

[BKLA]

I drew up the initial track design / layout back in 2006... and used to have it posted on my trailer door outside Garage 6 North at NHMS when we were trying to drum up funding.

The track is not narrow... the camera makes it look far worse than reality. But additional barriers and a couple spots for additional runoff are in the works. Since the track is very wide, there are plenty of alternative routes and apex options around the turns, which will help with going 2 or 3 cars wide and passing, especially in the downhill sections.

None of it though, is any worse than the uphill turn at Lime Rock(!) which is now taken flat out (or nearly so) in Formula Continental and FB.

There is a corkscrew - I call it Fred's corkscrew (Fred is the owner) because he insists that it stays. It is just before the final straight... but I've been trying to talk him out of it because (IMHO) it takes away from the flow, and you can't see it coming until you are on top of it.

Love the design and completely understand that it's not finished. Barriers, curbs, grading, etc. all need to be done before the track is certified. At ORP, we were where you are five years ago. Certified one direction three years ago. Now certified to run both directions.

Free advice: get your infrastructure (sewer, water, elect. and storm water) done quickly so that your users can keep coming back, with wives and significant others. More users =more$$$ = faster completion.

Great job!

[GregAmy]

I wrote the below in a racing forum yesterday..."Fred's Corkscrew" needs to stay...it's a signature piece of track that really rewards good drivers. Bad/inexperienced drivers will be tentative through there and will be given a lot of space to mess up...good/experienced drivers will be flat to the floor well before it and keep it flat all the way to T1.

This place has the potential for before "the" club racing venue in the Northeast.

------------------------------
After driving this track and looking over the map...this track needs some corner names. "T1"? "T3"? Yawn....here's my suggestions. And yes, some are blatant rip-offs, so screw you.

http://www.palmermotorsportspark.com...aps.aspx?Map=0

T1: Faster than you think, a nice "yump!" corner that's going to catch a lot off-guard. Not very creative, but I call it "Flugplatz".
T2: Not really a corner. We'll call it..."T2".
T3: Nice faster downhill sweeper, easy flat for probably everyone but enough of a visual to make some wonder...Fuchsröhre.
T4: late apex, far left entry...Aremberg.
T5: Really late apex that's going to catch more than one car off-line...and into the Aarmco on exit: Bergwerk.
T6: Deceptively normal-apex climber but you're afraid to trust it because of that last corner you almost hit the Aarmco on...Klettern wiederum.
The straight between T6 and T7: Skyline Drive.
T7: Another really-late-apex right leading into a wickedly-late diving left turn...Geduld.
T8: That wickedly-late apex, diving, decreasing radius left turn that will send the impatient sluicing into the exit Aarmco: The Aqualoop. If too obtuse, Spirale. If you want more obtuse, the Fibonacci.
T9: Heading into the horizon, way up high, with only late points of visual reference...Schwalbenschwanz (translate it).
T10: Late apex downhill right-hander, very much like driving NHMS in reverse...Karussell.
T11/12: Really late apex right into a spiraling late apex left...Wehrseifen.
T13 exit, through T14/15: Not quite the significant grade as the original, but still a total-lack-of-visuals, trust-the-road-is-still-there butt-clencher, taken on timing and feel...Korkenzieher.
Exit of T15 through T1...NER Straight, Palmer Gerade, or reserve it to be named after someone truly worthy ["Fred's Straight"? "Ferguson Alley"?].

http://youtu.be/3K5jz5vcWXA

[roblav1]

Greg,
I wrote a few things too a couple weeks ago. Here's my take:

Agree with you on T1. It will be fast. I asked Fred about adding an exit "offramp" there like T1 LRP (big bend).

T3 will not be flat in a car with high HP/weight ratio! But carrying speed through there will be critical.

T4 is a very late apex. You have to enter from very far left on the little extended section of asphalt. Too early Apex on T4 will most certainly screw up T5.

T7 was changed from my original drawing because of a couple ferns found where I drew the track... "wetlands". That was originally straighter. The name ought to have something to do with that.

T8 is my favorite corner. I called it the "Archimedes screw".

Throughout the track, early apexes will kill speed.

Fred's corkscrew will be very difficult to see while laying down in a formula car. The twisty there reminds me too much of the screwy section in the north infield of NHMS where you end up driving over the curb. That curb broke a suspension clevis on my Citation FB. At Palmer, the drivers are going to run right over whatever is there on the right hand side. I view it as accidents waiting to happen.

BTW, I'm here on 914World because I'm building a 993 conversion. I'm more often in the formula car world of apexspeed.

T1: Faster than you think, a nice "yump!" corner that's going to catch a lot off-guard. Not very creative, but I call it "Flugplatz".
T2: Not really a corner. We'll call it..."T2".
T3: Nice faster downhill sweeper, easy flat for probably everyone but enough of a visual to make some wonder...Fuchsröhre.
T4: late apex, far left entry...Aremberg.
T5: Really late apex that's going to catch more than one car off-line...and into the Aarmco on exit: Bergwerk.
T6: Deceptively normal-apex climber but you're afraid to trust it because of that last corner you almost hit the Aarmco on...Klettern wiederum.
The straight between T6 and T7: Skyline Drive.
T7: Another really-late-apex right leading into a wickedly-late diving left turn...Geduld.
T8: That wickedly-late apex, diving, decreasing radius left turn that will send the impatient sluicing into the exit Aarmco: The Aqualoop. If too obtuse, Spirale. If you want more obtuse, the Fibonacci.
T9: Heading into the horizon, way up high, with only late points of visual reference...Schwalbenschwanz (translate it).
T10: Late apex downhill right-hander, very much like driving NHMS in reverse...Karussell.
T11/12: Really late apex right into a spiraling late apex left...Wehrseifen.
T13 exit, through T14/15: Not quite the significant grade as the original, but still a total-lack-of-visuals, trust-the-road-is-still-there butt-clencher, taken on timing and feel...Korkenzieher.
Exit of T15 through T1...NER Straight, Palmer Gerade, or reserve it to be named after someone truly worthy ["Fred's Straight"? "Ferguson Alley"?].

[GregAmy]

Good notes. I like the idea of that turn name relative to the ferns; it's trivia like that we need to get written down before it's lost...

I don't recall there being a whole lotta space outside T1 Flugplatz for Runoffs...and the exit of that turn goes out to the entrance of the tunnel...I expect to see Aarmco or Jersey barrier outside T1.

Unrelated trivia: know why LRP has that runoffs there? It's not "runoff" it's the entrance to the never-built "Mountain Course". There was going to be a course that went out that direction, over the creek, made some turns up on the hill, then returned and merged back where T2 is (Big Bend exit). That has been there since the track's origin, never used. I'm told there's still evidence of the mountain course out there, but of course a half-century later it's all grown in...

I got smart early in my "racing career" and quickly dumped my Merlin Formula Ford for the safety of a rollcage...Showroom Stock Rabbits, anyone...? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Looking forward to getting some speed time on this track.

GA

[Matt Romanowski]

I was there last weekend as well. Videos and pictures really don't do the course justice. I agree that this will be an amazing venue. Rob - terrific job drawing this up. I never noticed it on your trailer when I was helping Mark N. with his FC back then.

For the folks that say there are no passing zones / corners, you couldn't be more wrong. This place is awesome!

[roblav1]

Matt,
If you see Mark, say hi. Mark and I battled for NARRC/NERRC in 2006... thinking back now... I drew up the track in fall 2006... so it must have been 2007 when I used to tape the map to the back of my trailer. At that time, we had drummed up about $3M of potential investment money - not nearly enough - but our hopes were up.

When I initially drew up the layout, I taped a bunch of clear plastic sheet over the large elevation contour map spread out on my kitchen table and then used thin red vinyl tape to lay out the likely longest straights first. Then through trial and error figured out how to make everything meet up while keeping the course at 2+ miles and under the elevation change maximum percent (10% at the time). I purposely looked for places to use the natural geographic inclines to design rising and falling turns. Turn 8, what I call Archimedes Screw, was the first obvious place to do that. It took me 4 or 5 days of analyzing, thinking, and sleeping on it - and often waking up in the middle of the night to come downstairs and add or change something. It sortof reminded me of setting up slotcar racetracks as a kid. Anyway, I gave those plastic sheets with the red tape all over them to Fred a couple months ago. Fred's General Contractor has done a superb job with detailing out everything. Words cannot describe the thrill and satisfaction I have with finally seeing this thing for real.

Tell Mark he should start working on Datsuns instead of horizontally opposed sixes!

[Matt Romanowski]

I remember battelling with you, just don't remember the track photos on your trailer. Though I was probably busy on either his car or one of the Sanborn's. I'm still helping Tom with this TA2 efforts.

I think the track will be really great. You should be very proud. It's much better than the newer tracks that are drawn to be safe. The things that make LRP, The Glen, Road America, etc great are the way they follow the contours of the land. Palmer does that excellently!

I'll tell Mark. I'm still hanging out with him all the time. I have his sailboat in my garage!