[DeTomaso] Reno-Fernley track report

MikeLDrew at aol.com MikeLDrew at aol.com
Thu Jan 22 01:14:40 EST 2009


Hi guys,

Larry Finch got out of bed at the crack of dawn and drove up from Fresno, and 
met me at POCA member Rick Carlile's shop in downtown Sacramento (Rick was 
actually skiing so we didn't get to see him, although we did check out his 
beautiful yellow '71 Pantera, Mercury Cyclone track car and '69 TVR Vixen vintage 
race car).

We then drove up and over the hill to put some boots on the ground at the 
Reno-Fernley raceway and choose a track layout for the PCNC track event to be 
held in conjunction with the POCA Fun Rally in June.

Larry Stock and Julian Kift both felt like taking extended lunch breaks and 
agreed to meet us.   Shortly after leaving the greater Reno area, I looked 
behind me and saw a red Pantera coming up fast.   As there was nobody else behind 
or alongside of us, I swerved back and forth from lane to lane to indicate 
that I'd seen them approaching.   Larry then romped on it and prepared to pass us 
at speed, but there was traffic blocking both lanes, so he had to slow as he 
drew abeam.

Good thing too, because that's when we saw the Nevada Highway Patrol car 
sitting in the median and blasting us with radar!

Afterwards we had a good laugh, and agreed that it would have made for a much 
better story if he'd launched past us right into the maw of the NHP. :>)

Anyway, after a fast-food lunch we drove to the track.   The track's 
assistant manager was there, and opened the place up to us for us to walk, drive, 
whatever.

I was surprised at the sheer size of the place--this track is *big*.   It 
also has considerably more elevation than I realized--and elevation is a great 
thing in a track.   

We spent a few minutes looking at the paper track maps, considering the 
different possible configurations (seemingly dozens of them), and then loaded up in 
the Scirocco and Pantera and went out for a few laps.   Larry and Larry led 
the way with Julian and I following behind.

We drove six or eight different configurations (at least), checking each of 
them for a variety of conditions.   These are the considerations we were 
considering consideringly:

1)   We want the track to be safe for first-time drivers.   That means no 
tricky corners that pitch you into a retaining wall or a ditch, or anything like 
that.

2)   We want the track to be as fast and flowing as possible, which favors 
relatively big, heavy, powerful cars like the Pantera.   Broad sweeping corners 
and long straights are preferred over tight, technical, twisty go-kart 
corners.

3)   We want the track to be visible to the spectators to as great a degree 
as possible.   Although we wouldn't choose a less-suitable stretch of pavement 
just to make it more visible from the paddock, we would tend to choose the 
more visible of two nominally equal pieces of pavement, i.e. visibility was a 
tie-breaker.

4)   We want the track to be somewhat reasonable to learn.   If we ran the 
entire configuration, drivers would have to memorize 23 different corners, a 
virtually impossible task in just two short days.   Track length is not the 
be-all and end-all; a shorter, faster track with fewer corners that you take twice 
as often is definitely superior to a longer track that is frustrating to 
drive, difficult to learn, and bogged down with one 2nd gear corner after another.

After about an hour of consideration of the various layouts, including 
driving several stretches of pavement literally forwards and backwards, we all 
agreed that this was the most Pantera-friendly layout:

http://www.reno-fernleyraceway.com/images/rfrcourseF.gif

It's difficult to get a grasp of the size of this track just by looking at a 
one-dimensional map, so let me talk you through it.

The front stretch is entered from a right-hand corner that is fast enough to 
be taken in the top of 2nd gear or bottom of 3rd gear (I suppose it depends on 
how much torque you have).   You will quickly get up into 4th and then 5th 
gear if you're really speedy.   (Larry Stock says he gets up to about 140 mph at 
the braking zone for turn 1, and the track manager said that superbikes are 
getting up to about 190 mph there!)

Turn one is just a little flick to the left, with a pronounced bump in it; 
this leads into a series of esses that will help shed speed, culminating in a 
very hard braking zone.

This leads into turns 2 and 3, which is really a long, decreasing radius 
double-apex left hairpin.   You have to hug the inside of the corner at the exit 
to set up properly for turn 4, which is just a righthand kink that you drive 
straight through, aiming for turn 5.

The track forks at this point; we'll be taking the right fork, which leads to 
a very tight, very steep uphill right-hand corner, turn 5.   You are all the 
way on the left edge of the track as you enter this 2nd gear corner, point 
uphill and roll into the throttle.   Now you are climbing a fairly steep hill, 
negotiating esses and modulating power to maintain a more or less constant speed 
through turns 6 and 7.

The track crests as you approach turn 8.   The pavement isn't visible, and 
there's no indication as to which direction the track goes, so drivers will have 
to approach this section with caution until they've committed it to memory.   
There is a corner worker station at the top of the hill, and it will be 
crucial to consult it as you approach.   Speeds are relatively low still, probably 
still in 2nd gear, and then you're faced with a very tight, off-camber 
left-hand corner (8A) that crests the hill and starts gently downhill.   It's tighter 
than you think it is, and it sends you into turn 9A, which is similarly 
tighter than you think, decreasing radius.   (The track map shows it as an 
increasing radius corner, but it seemed to tighten up on me and catch me by surprise).

This leads into another tight, 2nd gear left-hand corner (9B leads into turn 
18, as part of the track is bypassed).   It's initially banked in a favorable 
way, but at the apex it suddenly goes slightly off-camber even as the track 
falls away into a steep downhill (called 'the slide').   Although the entry is 
slow, gravity combined with very favorable banking and a dip effect at the 
bottom of the hill means that you will be flat on the gas through the right-hand 
Turn 19 onto the back straight.

This straight is VERY wide, although the surface isn't the same from one side 
to the other.   Parts of it are very smooth, while others have undulations, 
which won't be noticeable to the Group C drivers.   Larry reports that at the 
speeds he's going, with his fairly stiff suspension, it blurs his vision if 
he's not on the favorable line.   At our velocities, we couldn't notice anything.

In any case, you'll be through 3rd gear and into 4th as you pass through a 
slight right-hand kink into a braking zone for turn 20.   This was the only 
section of the track that looked as though it could be dangerous, as there is a 
tire wall on the outside of the corner (with a fair bit of runoff room first).   
The track manager said that in the history of the track, nobody has ever hit 
that wall, but we are taking no chances, so we are going to establish the end 
of the passing zone well in advance of the corner (probably at the kink), so 
as to preclude anybody from getting dive-bombed by a passing car, breaking 
concentration and then leaving the track.

Snick down into 3rd gear and turn in hard on the gas, through a slight flick 
and approach Turn 21, a fairly sharp hairpin left.

On paper, this looks like a very slow corner.   It most assuredly is not.   
It is heavily, heavily banked, almost like a NASCAR track, and this affords the 
opportunity for considerably more speed than you might imagine.   Then 
turn-in point is literally halfway through the corner, at the very top, opposite the 
"2" in the diagram.   You stay to the very outside of the track until 
reaching that point, then suddenly turn hard left and dive downhill towards the apex 
which is directly to the left of the "C" in the diagram.   

Reportedly, people typically don't spin here; instead, they run wide at the 
exit, and fortunately there is plenty of smooth-ish runoff there.

Larry demonstrated his corner technique for us several times, as the rest of 
us stood at the corner station and watched.   He approached the hairpin high 
in 2nd gear, and was going about 60 mph (!) at the top of the track at the 
turn-in point.   He'd shift into 3rd at the exit of the corner.

A gentle right flick prevents insane speeds from building as you approach the 
final corner.   The corner is banked which allows greater speed, and the 
track crests at the exit so you can't actually see the edge of the track from the 
apex of the corner.   The pit entry is here, and so there is considerably more 
pavement than you would initially expect, which will allow people to go quite 
a bit faster through this corner than they might otherwise believe at first.

Like I said, this is probably a high 2nd or low 3rd gear corner, leading back 
onto the front straight.

This lap has a good combination of flat-out straight sections, high-speed 
esses, steep uphill esses, low-speed off-camber blind crests, a steep downhill 
corner with a G-out at the bottom, and a banked hairpin.   There is literally 
something for everybody on this track.

>From a spectator standpoint, the whole track is visible from the paddock 
except for the tight, slow section between turns 5 and 18.   Additionally, the 
paddock features shaded areas with picnic tables and several viewing areas along 
various parts of the front straight.

Dry camping will be available, and there is 24 hour security there, so you 
can park your RV in the paddock, drive into Reno for the dinners etc., then 
return to the track at any time.

The drive from the track to Reno is under 30 minutes; I figure with traffic, 
it will probably be right at 30 minutes from the hotel parking lot to the 
track parking lot.

I am really excited about this upcoming event.   We have run three different 
tracks in Las Vegas over the years, and I'm convinced that this one is 
profoundly better than any we've seen before.   Although parts of it will be hard 
work for a Pantera driver, much of it will be WFO, fun for the driver and 
spectators alike.

Gregg Esakoff has already confirmed that he will be bringing his awesome 750 
hp Pantera race car out of retirement to run this event, and we are working on 
convincing Dennis Quella to bring his tube-frame race car as well, so there 
should be plenty to see in the race group.

The track will be relatively easy to learn, and will afford C-group drivers a 
good mix of different types of corners, along with long straights for some 
big speed fun.

I think everybody is going to have a GREAT time here!!!!

Mike


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