FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

Via e-mail:

Jeff Johnson here, V.I.R. flagger and long time TZ250 racer, 24 years now. Anyway, I was at VIR [March 1-2] for our annual flagger meeting and took a bunch of pictures of the track showing the improvements and the non-improvements. 

Please keep in mind this is still work in progress. Pit road and the track will be painted as soon as the crappy weather permits. The new start/finish line and tower are not in place yet but should be shortly. I am told it will be where pit road exit first meets the track. The attached pictures are numbered and named so that you can follow them around the track. 

All of pit road was widened by quite a bit. 4-6 ft.

The pit road exit was extended further down the track and the track is 4 ft wider on riders right all the way to the turn 1 turn in.

Turn one is 3 ft wider on riders left all the way to the exit of the turn.

The track is approximately 3 feet wider on riders right from the exit of turn 1 all the way to turn 5. Although the old and the new curbs were left in place??

No changes from turn 5 through turn 6

From the exit of turn 6 to turn 7 the track is a good 3 ft wider all the to and past the turn 7 right hander up the hill. Here looks like the improvement will be a welcome one. With the track being 3 ft wider on riders right this really fixed up the transition from the full course to the north course connection. Of course looks can be deceiving this really looks like a nice change.

For guys that ride track days on the south course, no pictures, the track is 3 ft wider on the exit of the full course turn 10 on riders right all the way to turn 11 then the widening switches to the riders left, 3 ft wider all the way around the old Oak Tree corner to the south course pit road. I attached those pictures.

There are no more changes until you come back onto the front straight where you will see the pit in entrance was widened and extended on riders right. A definite improvement.

I hope all this is clear, understandable and makes sense to you. If not drop me a note here or my personal e-mail address [email protected]

Just for fun I took a picture of the underside of the crossover bridge.

The old flat bed train cars are still there doing their job. If you look closely you can see where the train wheels attached.

Cheers,

Jeff Johnson

Rocky Mount, Virginia