[DeTomaso] Reno-Fernley track report

[adin at frontier.net]

Thanks to the crew for the research.

IMO, there is some conflict between 1) and 2).  NOt being up to the  
Jim Clark/ Rufus P. Jones [1] skill level [2] it would seem that one  
can learn as much from the niggly slow corners as the high speed/ high  
risk situations.  I love to drive but am not willing to stuff a car  
into a wall or have a "fancy dismount" at high speed.  (Yep, I am the  
chicken . . .have you passed me yet?)

David in Durango, with cars way better than skills




[1] Rufus Parnelli Jones
[2] "You are not as good as you say you are, but better than you think  
you are"



Quoting MikeLDrew at aol.com:

> 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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