Portland "Festival" fixed?

[pchall]

[borrowed with great apprecitation from whoever the link leads to... ]

http://www.geocities.com/makeshift_charlatan/festival_ii.jpg

[coolhand]

bypass the festival curves, they are lame :thumdown:

[Ankf00]

aren't the festival curves the turns AFTER the chicane?

[FRANKY]

aren't the festival curves the turns AFTER the chicane?

Nope.

http://www.globaleventsgrouppdx.com/champ_car/coursemap/detail.html

[NismoZ]

No, it's sort of the "right-left-right" put together...and it looks like it was the runoff that was fixed, not the turns...not that that's a BAD thing!...gotta be some new rule about "4 wheels on the concrete" or something...the smooth area may encourage even MORE risk-taking there now, like we need THAT! :eek: ...(I still vote for Greg Moore's brainless, uh "overly optimistic" inside bonzai there as the best ever Festival screw-up. What year was that, anyway?)

[Opposite Lock]

Whatever you call that chicane, please get rid of it. It reminds me of Andretti the Lesser.

[Michaelhatesfans]

It's a LOT wider this year.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/321056566/321755507TyIwHn
If they do it right, they can now go three cars wide if they need to. I would expect the opening lap to be a lot cleaner. Likewise, good riddance to the gravel that caused endless full course yellows.

[Lizzerd]

I had to look for a while to see what had changed. T2 is shortened. Cool. I never did like that little complex. :thumbup:

[Michaelhatesfans]

I had to look for a while to see what had changed. T2 is shortened. Cool. I never did like that little complex. :thumbup:
Yeah, where Glock's car is in that photo was all gravel and grass last year...
You can compare here;
http://community.webshots.com/photo/204230188/315549246ilovoJ
http://community.webshots.com/photo/204230188/315549177SvaGJa
http://community.webshots.com/photo/321056566/321755349AtzJnt

[cameraman]

Is that red & white curb high enough to stop people from straddling it and short cutting the curve?

[Michaelhatesfans]

I'm not sure - while I was up there everyone was fairly tidy, just grazing it. I don't know if the ridges are enough to upset the car a bit or not.

[coolhand]

no one has posted anyhting aobut testing there yet

[Michaelhatesfans]

no one has posted anyhting aobut testing there yet
http://community.webshots.com/album/321056566SnEqdQ
So far everything is falling under the Portland Test Scheduled thread, but it's mostly who's going, things like that. I've yet to see any lap times, if that's what you're after.

[dreamracer]

no one has posted anyhting aobut testing there yet


The testing has gone well.

I just got back from an event at a local sports grill downtown. I met all the drivers here (very cool). I asked Ryan what he thought about the revised festival turn, and he said the entry speed is about 10 MPH faster and that they have a far better chance of making it through in one piece.

Also, it will help tremendously with more minor incidents that used to turn into "day ending" incidents, due soley to the gravel trap. Yellow flags will be far shorter as well.


For those who want to get rid of them: You can't. It's not possible.

The end of the front straight does not, and cannot have a run-off area long enough to be safe for these cars. There is a wetland area (which is a part of the same public City of Portland parkland that PIR is)that surrounds the track, that supports a tremendous amount of wildlife, and it's permanently protected. Extending the run-off area isn't an option, no matter how much folks want it to be.

I will be shooting some video tomorrow, and hope to get it up on the web by friday.

[Sean O'Gorman]

I bet this guy is glad they changed it:

http://www.photosport4.m6.net/CSCC_9_03/GR5/images/CSCC_9_21_03_1089.jpg
http://www.photosport4.m6.net/CSCC_9_03/GR5/images/CSCC_9_21_03_1090.jpg
http://www.photosport4.m6.net/CSCC_9_03/GR5/images/CSCC_9_21_03_1091.jpg

[oddlycalm]

The lap times were approx. 2 seconds lower with the changes in turns 1 and 2. It will make a huge difference in the overall race pace, eliminate most of the FCY and shorten dramatically those that remain. :thumbup:

Some kind of chicane was mandatory with Champcars. Otherwise, cars during the 900hp era would have been hitting super speedway type speeds then diving into what is now turn 4. Dreamracer is right, there's no place to put a sufficient runoff area, and the entire field arriving at turn 1 four or five wide at 240mph didn't seem like such a great idea.... ;) The Festival Curves also provide the best passing opportunity on the circuit. That said, the first try at it was purely awful, and the changes that have been made since were simply too little too late. They finally got it right IMO, but it's 20yrs late.

Champcars are able to reach 200mph on the front straight as it is, so it's not like it needs to be a lot longer. Hell, I was able to routinely get to 140mph in my M3 street car before braking for turn 1, so it works OK for lesser cars as well.

To me, the most challenging part of PIR is the Back Straight, which is actually a shallow radius off camber curve that gets more and more off camber the farther outside you go. It doesn't effect Champcars due to all their downforce, but if you are driving a non-aero car or a bike WFO it's a challenging piece of track at the speeds that are possible, particularly since you always end up passing on the outside.

oc