Nascar testing at TWS?

[AllZWay]

Nascar has banned all testing next year at sanctioned tracks.

Rumours are floating that Nascar may test once again at TWS.

http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/title/New%20Smyrna%20track%20to%20get%20busy

[Wirtz]

That would be great, would love to see it. But we ran the NASCAR T3 / T4 a few years ago and it was real bumpy. To the point that SCCA didn't want to run it again due to the high speed cars bottoming out.

I wonder what it would take to smooth things out.... Seems like it would be too much money, but maybe if there is decent money in the teams testing. TWS was patterned after which one, Michigan I think?

Jeff

[jeffburch]

MIS and TWS were built simutaniously by the same contractor as I understand.

jb

[David Love AI27]

That would be great, would love to see it. But we ran the NASCAR T3 / T4 a few years ago and it was real bumpy. To the point that SCCA didn't want to run it again due to the high speed cars bottoming out.

I wonder what it would take to smooth things out.... Seems like it would be too much money, but maybe if there is decent money in the teams testing. TWS was patterned after which one, Michigan I think?

Jeff

We all want to go fast but I can only imagine the speeds you could reach by the time you get to t1... do you recall the top speeds?? did it feeel safe??? maybe I should keep my 2.73 gear in the mustang just in case.. :shock:

[mitchntx]

While doing the choreographed "race" event for Texas Driving Experience, we would regularly see 140 entering T3 at TMS in C5s

The event would begin at about 110-120, but for some reason, as the event wore on, the speeds would keep creeping up.

There was a lot of car left.

I can only imagine what would happen if teh turns were longer and not as tight, with the same banking. :shock:

[AI#97]

last I heard, T3 and T4 resurface was $4M. Probably because it would have to be restabilized to prevent the dipping again.

I don't know that there is a lot to gain on the COT at superspeedways so testing deals might be unnessary...however, they could get some serious road course testing done.

Maybe if there was enough interest and their willingness to pay for 5 years in advance for testing that it might make a business case for TWS to be "reborn"!!! That would rock!!!

[AllZWay]

A little bit more information about testing at TWS.

From Jayski.com


Texas World Speedway sits silently during testing ban: With the news that NASCAR has banned testing at its sanctioned tracks for its three national series in 2009, a few people wondered if that might mean increased curiosity in Texas World Speedway, which last hosted a Cup event in 1981. But if Sprint Cup teams have shown increased interest in testing at the 2-mile oval that is a carbon copy of Michigan International Speedway, they haven't made that known to track president Bill Mather, who hadn't even considered the idea of NASCAR teams visiting College Station until he read a recent magazine article about the testing ban. "I have been focusing on the testing business but the Autoweek story was the first time I ever thought about NASCAR," Mather said. "NASCAR's a different world to me. I've never met anybody affiliated with NASCAR. I'd like to. But I've been focused in on the road racing world. None of [the Sprint Cup teams] have set foot on the track, I can tell you that much."
Built in 1969 and repaved in 1993, Texas World Speedway mainly hosts regional sports-car events, testing for Star Mazda and American Le Mans Series teams and driver education courses. However, a portion of the superspeedway -- particularly 22-degree banked Turns 3 and 4 -- were unsuitable for high-speed testing because of bumpiness. But Mather said a recent 35-foot wide, 2,200-foot long grinding of the track surface in those areas has hopefully corrected those flaws. "Our oval will be hopefully test ready [by the first of the year]," Mather said. "We've just finished grinding [Turns] 3 and 4, which allows us to run our Grand Prix course, also. Turns 1 and 2 are in pretty good shape. The problem is that our Grand Prix course runs Turns 3 and 4. When the grinding company came in, they said to us, 'This is really good asphalt. It's amazing how good this asphalt is for its age.' And that made me happy, because I can't justify the cost of repaving it." Mather said some spot grinding was also done to Turns 1 and 2. This week, a process known as asphalt rejuvenation will be applied to the banking, a section of the road course and the paddock area.
NASCAR ran eight races at Texas World Speedway between 1969 and 1981. Three of Richard Petty's 200 career victories came on the 2-mile oval situated approximately 100 miles northwest of Houston. In 1980, Cale Yarborough won a 400-mile race that featured no caution flags. Also, Mario Andretti set the world closed-course speed record at 214.158 mph while qualifying for an IndyCar event in 1973, a record that stood for 12 years.(NASCAR.com)(12-19-2008) Comment here

[AI#97]

A little bit more information about testing at TWS.

From Jayski.com


So conceivably, we could run the WSC enduro track that we saw in the 1995 or 96 video David Love posted from Youtube! Can you imagine the speeds going into T1?! HOLY COW!!!

[Rob Liebbe]

A little bit more information about testing at TWS.

From Jayski.com


So conceivably, we could run the WSC enduro track that we saw in the 1995 or 96 video David Love posted from Youtube! Can you imagine the speeds going into T1?! HOLY COW!!!

David, you would DEFINITELY need a 5 speed.

[David Love AI27]

A little bit more information about testing at TWS.

From Jayski.com


So conceivably, we could run the WSC enduro track that we saw in the 1995 or 96 video David Love posted from Youtube! Can you imagine the speeds going into T1?! HOLY COW!!!

David, you would DEFINITELY need a 5 speed.


LOL... no kidding, maybe 6 if I keep the 4.11 in the camaro

[BSharp]

Texas World Speedway’s Oval Update: Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas is pleased to announce that the initial phase of repair to its historical Super Oval is near completion and is expected to be completed in 7-10 days. This phase is designed to get the Oval in “test ready” condition through a combination of grinding, asphalt rejuvenation and general maintenance. TWS is now accepting rental bookings for its Super Oval and Grand Prix tracks. For more information about Texas World Speedway, see contact info at www.texasworldspeedway.com.(TWS PR)(1-3-2009) Comment here

[David Love AI27]

Special thanks to Misti for including me in the "break in" day...

For me it was a dream come true... I watched the stock cars and open wheel cars run the oval in the 70s and never imagined that I would be on this historic track...

The car sucked with the 4.11 gear and 4 speed and the drive wasn't much better... But I did do a Kasey Kahne and ran the "high line" for a couple of laps, what a RUSH!!!! only inches (ok, 10 feet or so) from the wall!!!

there is a lot more work needed to fill large cracks but it was still fun...

[AllZWay]

Sounds cool David... I would like to run the oval sometime for a few laps too.

[rpoz27]

Special thanks to Misti for including me in the "break in" day...

For me it was a dream come true... I watched the stock cars and open wheel cars run the oval in the 70s and never imagined that I would be on this historic track...

The car sucked with the 4.11 gear and 4 speed and the drive wasn't much better... But I did do a Kasey Kahne and ran the "high line" for a couple of laps, what a RUSH!!!! only inches (ok, 10 feet or so) from the wall!!!

there is a lot more work needed to fill large cracks but it was still fun...

Your welcome! The high line was nerve racking in my truck.

[BSharp]

Back in '91-92 I ran with a club called Heart Of Texas Mustang Club. They let us run the oval but we had to stay behind the pace car and I was the 1st car behind it, a 70 SCJ Torino. After 1/2 lap he took off and so did I. He walked me in the straights but I caught him in the turns. I hit about 145 mph in my stock LX without any safety equipment or roll bar. It was such a blast.

[AI#97]

Can we vote to run the grand prix track for the April event? I want to see what this car will do with 1.2 mile run at T1 instead of a .55 mi run!!! :shock: 175mph?! So who all has a 6th gear?! ;)

[Rob Liebbe]

Back in '91-92 I ran with a club called Heart Of Texas Mustang Club. They let us run the oval but we had to stay behind the pace car and I was the 1st car behind it, a 70 SCJ Torino. After 1/2 lap he took off and so did I. He walked me in the straights but I caught him in the turns. I hit about 145 mph in my stock LX without any safety equipment or roll bar. It was such a blast.

Didn't you have video of that event at one point in time?

[BSharp]

Yep, I have it somewhere.

[ShadowBolt]

I did a weekend event at TMS with SVTOA. We got to run 10 laps on the oval behind a truck. After a few laps the guy in front of me (we were the last two in line) backed way off and we had a blast. We were doing 140-150 through turns 3 and 4. It really was not anything to it but then I started thinking about "what if"? They made us pull in a few laps early because of what we were doing. The Lightning stuck like glue all up and down the turn. I tried a lap on the Petty line and that's when I started thinking about the what if deal. I also ran the infield road course and that was my fist hit of Road Race crack!


JJ

[David Love AI27]

I hit about 145 mph in my stock LX without any safety equipment or roll bar.

Call me what you want... no way I would do that without safety equipment... I felt uncomfortabe doing it without the hans..

[mitchntx]

I hit about 145 mph in my stock LX without any safety equipment or roll bar.

Call me what you want... no way I would do that without safety equipment... I felt uncomfortabe doing it without the hans..

I did it at TMS with a screaming soccer mom grabbing at my arm.

[AI#97]

I did it at TMS with a screaming soccer mom grabbing at my arm.

That's when you reach over, disconnect her belt and slam on the brakes! As she falls back into the seat unconscious, click the belt back in! :lol:

[David Love AI27]

I did it at TMS with a screaming soccer mom grabbing at my arm.

That's when you reach over, disconnect her belt and slam on the brakes! As she falls back into the seat unconscious, click the belt back in! :lol:

I don't remember that part of The Drivers Edge instructor orientation

[Hood]

Back in the day... we used to run Aggiecross and Porsche club races using turns 3 and 4 at TWS. We also had an awesome event called "Judgement Day". We ran it like the Porsche club events of old, where you work a corner for an hour and then can run the rest of the day. We allowed a maximum of 40 cars on course and when one car pulled down into the pits, another would enter the course. I went through 3 tanks of fuel the first day!

I was also part of the Nissan Ride and Drive weekend at TWS when they debuted the 'new' 300ZX (1990). Skip barber driving instructors were there to show us how it was done. WAY cool demonstration during lunch had all the 'new' 300ZX's out on track with an instructor at the wheel. Erik Koenig (HKE Racing Engines) and I were the only two passengers allowed to go along with them. Very enlightening to say the least...4 wheel drifts at speed just inches off the car in front...very cool stuff.

More recently I got to drive with the Ferrari Club. The 550 Barchetta posted somewhere in the 165 mph neighborhood entering turn 1 of the road course (not using the banking at all!). All I can say is WOW! That was the finest driving piece of machinery I've ever parked my butt in. It was SO confidence inspiring that I even turned off the traction control... for about 2 turns... then it went right back on after getting the 'Damn, this thing costs more than I make in 5 years!' reality check. It was so fast on street tires that I was mixing it up with the 355/360 Challenge cars on SLICKS!

GOOD TIMES!

[AllZWay]

I was also part of the Nissan Ride and Drive weekend at TWS when they debuted the 'new' 300ZX (1990).

Cool... I was also at that weekend in my '86 300z. I still have the T-Shirt. :lol:

I layed back a couple of times to get a run through 3&4, but some moron in front of me was going so slow I only got to about 80mph. :roll:

[Hood]

BTW, Michael Andretti still has the 'unofficial' speed record at TWS at over 230 mph. This was done during his testing of the new Havoline sponsored car, which appeared (at TWS) on the Havoline Oil commercials that aired at the time. They changed the TWS T-shirts 3 times that weekend... (remember the speed limit sign T-shirts with 200, 225, 230mph on them?) I should have bought them at the time but being a broke college student had something to do with it.

[mitchntx]

I got in Terry LaBonte's way as he was trying to back out of one of the garages in a NASCAR regional event ... circa 1984 ... maybe earlier?

[Hood]

Labonte came back for some of the Texas Shootout races. I think there were three. I met him in the garage area during qualifying. I think it was about 1988 or 89.

[ShadowBolt]

In the 70's (I think 1974) I went to the Texas Twin 250 at TWS. 250 miles in Indy cars and then 250 in stock cars. Every cup and wrapper had AJ Foyt's name on it. Then in 1993 I saw DW win a ARCA race (I think it was ARCA) in a Western Auto Chevy.


JJ

[Hood]

Yep, ARCA series stop that year. I was working at Western Auto at the time at got free tickets and pit passes to that race.

It's kinda nice that the track was devoted mostly to road racing after the revamp in 91-92. Ishin Speed Sport spent over $12M on the repaving and grandstand makeover, that's after a purchase price of $6M. Dick Canole made out like a bandit when that deal went bankrupt. It seems that there was a clause in the contract that the track would be returned to the former owner if anything (like bankruptcy) happened during the deal. So... Dick got his track back with over $12M in improvements and didn't have to spend any money out of pocket. Not sure of who owns/runs the track now that he is gone. We used to rent the track for $3000/weekend when we would do Aggiecross at LEAST once a year.

[jeffburch]

In the '80's I ran around in the sportbike crowd.
I knew and older dude who showed me a scrap book of photos from the early days of the track. Everything fresh and new including Rutherford, Foyt and Petty. The garages were state of art back then LOL.

jb

[David Love AI27]

been to MANY events in the 70's... The best was CAN-AM... Bruce McClaren, Dennis "Denny" Hulme, John Surtees...

Quote from CAM-AM web site:

"Ford would power its only Can-Am victory in 1966 when Dan Gurney won at Bridgehampton. The rest of the time the Can-Am was Chevy Bowtie territory."