I'm extending my 1/8th mile drag strip to 1/4, any pavers?
Always figure it is good to check with the board. Over the winter I'm going to clear some tree's, add some shutdown area and make my track 1/4 mile. It's located in Greensboro, NC. The track has been around over 50 years. It's always been known as a premier 1/8th mile track, quality wise, but it's time to step it up. I just bought the track in June, so it's been a hell of a ride to this point.
Are there any members that do paving in the NC area? I'm going to need around 1300' of paving at 30' wide, at least 2400' x 10' and possibly some repaving in certain small areas I want to fix. I'm having the land resurveyed to make sure all the records we have are correct. Then I have to do some pretty massive tree clearing. Sadly, all I have is pine tree's, so not sure my timber is worth much.
Just thought I'd check around.
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Free testing for all Viper owners at Piedmont Dragway in NC. We'll be a 1/4 mile track around mid 2008.
You don't just pave, you have to build the road bed. GTS Dean is a road builder in Central Texas. Give him a PM.
Check your liability insurance costs on a 1/4 mile. I believe the insurance costs soar. I want to see another 1/4 built, I just want you to have the facts first.
I'm currently an IHRA track. I've already cleared the insurance issue with them and the carrier. I'm also aware that paving alone is not the only issue. I was simply trying to give someone from the alley some potential business.
figure about $2 per sf for the site work and asphalt. use a good engineer and take soil samples and have the engineer hold the contractor accountable. i hope your track is wider than 30 ft. our track is 43 ft wide and some of the faster cars think its too narrow.
also, budget for guard rails as i know that ihra will require guard rails from one end of the track to the other beginning in summer of 2008. good luck with it.
IHRA will require concrete, not just guardrails. I already have excess guardrails at the track. There is a piece that is made to go over them when pouring the concrete. I'll have 2400-2500' of shutdown once done. I ballparked the 30' wide number. I haven't measured off exactly how wide my track is to be honest, no need to.
IHRA will require concrete, not just guardrails. I already have excess guardrails at the track. There is a piece that is made to go over them when pouring the concrete. I'll have 2400-2500' of shutdown once done. I ballparked the 30' wide number. I haven't measured off exactly how wide my track is to be honest, no need to.
at first we thought we could extend the 1/8 mile to 1/4 mile for about $150k. by the time it was done it was more like $350k. factor in down time on the facility, timing lights, etc. and it costs us well over $400k. quite frankly i think that the dragstrip business is about the poorest business model there is. if it rains one drop then the track operator is screwed. we will likely be converting our existing asphalt to a road course in 2008. drag racers pay $20 per day and road racers pay $150 per day. road racers dont get their money back or a rain check on a rainy day either.
Do you have any type of specially graded top asphalt currently as the surface for your existing track?
Maybe an OFC (open friction course) combined with an OGDL (open graded drainage layer) would work well for noise suppression. Or maybe a DFC (dense friction course) and HDBC (heavy duty binder course) if noise suppression isn't that important.
I don't know what you guys in the states are using on tracks.
I would highly recommend milling (40 or 50mm) your existing top asphalt for the 1/8th mile and repaving the entire top once you get your granular structure and base asphalt down for the new part. Consistency and uniformity are what you would be looking for in both aesthetics and safety. A lap joint would help if you don't touch the existing surface, but with cars travelling 200mph I wouldn't chance it.
Make sure the soils engineer is on top of the subgrade situation once you get the excavation done. Get any soft spots or unsuitable areas fixed first and this will save you loads in deficiency repairs down the road.
Do you have any type of specially graded top asphalt currently as the surface for your existing track?
Maybe an OFC (open friction course) combined with an OGDL (open graded drainage layer) would work well for noise suppression. Or maybe a DFC (dense friction course) and HDBC (heavy duty binder course) if noise suppression isn't that important.
I don't know what you guys in the states are using on tracks.
I would highly recommend milling (40 or 50mm) your existing top asphalt for the 1/8th mile and repaving the entire top once you get your granular structure and base asphalt down for the new part. Consistency and uniformity are what you would be looking for in both aesthetics and safety. A lap joint would help if you don't touch the existing surface, but with cars travelling 200mph I wouldn't chance it.
Make sure the soils engineer is on top of the subgrade situation once you get the excavation done. Get any soft spots or unsuitable areas fixed first and this will save you loads in deficiency repairs down the road.
I'm already a 1/4 mile track, just not enough shutdown. I'm actually approved to run 12.99 or slower now. I have pure concrete to 1400' and 800' of asphalt. My concrete was ground to the 1/4 2 years ago. The only thing I need to run faster at this point is additional shutdown area.
As far as race tracks not making money, it must not be ran properly. You don't make money with a race track running races. That is where most tracks go wrong.
I have a close friend that owns Capital Paving, I believe he is outside Raleigh. I'll get his contact info for you in the morning. As well as being a business owner he is an engineer with over 30 years experience.
If Dean were anywhere in the region I would tell you to give him the job.
Do you have any type of specially graded top asphalt currently as the surface for your existing track?
Maybe an OFC (open friction course) combined with an OGDL (open graded drainage layer) would work well for noise suppression. Or maybe a DFC (dense friction course) and HDBC (heavy duty binder course) if noise suppression isn't that important.
I don't know what you guys in the states are using on tracks.
I would highly recommend milling (40 or 50mm) your existing top asphalt for the 1/8th mile and repaving the entire top once you get your granular structure and base asphalt down for the new part. Consistency and uniformity are what you would be looking for in both aesthetics and safety. A lap joint would help if you don't touch the existing surface, but with cars travelling 200mph I wouldn't chance it.
Make sure the soils engineer is on top of the subgrade situation once you get the excavation done. Get any soft spots or unsuitable areas fixed first and this will save you loads in deficiency repairs down the road.
I agree with milling off the old pavement and going all the way with new surface. If you are running any blown alcohol or fuel cars, they will be very sensitive to pavement joints when they're going 200mph+. They also won't like lane widths less than 20' each. SA Raceway is 30' per lane. If you have any thoughts of holding Pro races, you will be better off paying a modest premium for a REAL highway contractor to do the work. It will save you headaches in the future.
I would not recommend an open graded friction course for a racetrack. The pores tend to close up and you will trap water (and oil-downs) instead of draining it. Plus, it's very expensive compared to a dense-graded mix. Pavement noise is about the last thing there is to worry about at a racetrack, so again, OGFC is not the ticket.
What you DO want is a very tight, fine-graded material - 100% passing the 1/2" sieve, and about 85-90% passing the 3/8". You need to shoot for a lab-molded density of 97-98% so that it will flex with the ground and seal rainwater out from the top. I would recommend a Performance Graded (PG)asphalt binder with a high temperature grade of 64 or 70, and low temperature grade of -28 or -22, respectively. You want to have some polymer in it to handle weather extremes, and the absolute value of high+low grades over 92 will pretty much insure that you get it.
If your starting line area is not concrete, then you may want to crank up the binder grade in the first 330' to a PG82-22 or 76-28 to fight the effects of hot slicks tearing the larger stones out of the pavement.
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Skating away on the thin ice of a new day.
Actually I have no plans to hold pro level events. Insurance technically for a 1/4 mile track requires the seating area to be some ungodly distance away from the surface. I can't comply with that. However, for 200 and under I'll be perfectly fine. We have guys go 180 on our surface now all the time in the 1/8th. We hold a montly racing series where 25+ cars show up and run between 170-175.
I really appreciate all the info. This is going to be a long process and the more info I get the better.
I agree with milling off the old pavement and going all the way with new surface. If you are running any blown alcohol or fuel cars, they will be very sensitive to pavement joints when they're going 200mph+. They also won't like lane widths less than 20' each. SA Raceway is 30' per lane. If you have any thoughts of holding Pro races, you will be better off paying a modest premium for a REAL highway contractor to do the work. It will save you headaches in the future.
I would not recommend an open graded friction course for a racetrack. The pores tend to close up and you will trap water (and oil-downs) instead of draining it. Plus, it's very expensive compared to a dense-graded mix. Pavement noise is about the last thing there is to worry about at a racetrack, so again, OGFC is not the ticket.
What you DO want is a very tight, fine-graded material - 100% passing the 1/2" sieve, and about 85-90% passing the 3/8". You need to shoot for a lab-molded density of 97-98% so that it will flex with the ground and seal rainwater out from the top. I would recommend a Performance Graded (PG)asphalt binder with a high temperature grade of 64 or 70, and low temperature grade of -28 or -22, respectively. You want to have some polymer in it to handle weather extremes, and the absolute value of high+low grades over 92 will pretty much insure that you get it.
If your starting line area is not concrete, then you may want to crank up the binder grade in the first 330' to a PG82-22 or 76-28 to fight the effects of hot slicks tearing the larger stones out of the pavement.
PG 64-28 is what we run in our DVC/HDBC and HL1 mixes. However, we've had a lot of success with highway work and superpave mixes which we present as our branded products.
Regardless, I don't know what is required for a racetrack as we've never done one, so listen to Dean. Sounds like the dense friction course is the way to go.
I agree with milling off the old pavement and going all the way with new surface. If you are running any blown alcohol or fuel cars, they will be very sensitive to pavement joints when they're going 200mph+. They also won't like lane widths less than 20' each. SA Raceway is 30' per lane. If you have any thoughts of holding Pro races, you will be better off paying a modest premium for a REAL highway contractor to do the work. It will save you headaches in the future.
I would not recommend an open graded friction course for a racetrack. The pores tend to close up and you will trap water (and oil-downs) instead of draining it. Plus, it's very expensive compared to a dense-graded mix. Pavement noise is about the last thing there is to worry about at a racetrack, so again, OGFC is not the ticket.
What you DO want is a very tight, fine-graded material - 100% passing the 1/2" sieve, and about 85-90% passing the 3/8". You need to shoot for a lab-molded density of 97-98% so that it will flex with the ground and seal rainwater out from the top. I would recommend a Performance Graded (PG)asphalt binder with a high temperature grade of 64 or 70, and low temperature grade of -28 or -22, respectively. You want to have some polymer in it to handle weather extremes, and the absolute value of high+low grades over 92 will pretty much insure that you get it.
If your starting line area is not concrete, then you may want to crank up the binder grade in the first 330' to a PG82-22 or 76-28 to fight the effects of hot slicks tearing the larger stones out of the pavement.
Chuck would put it in layman's terms so the whole class could understand and participate.
