....were under 16 seconds flat, but Kvapil was close at 16.040 on the new concrete.
BMS has a list of test times at:

http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/news/speedway_news_releases/522823.html

The best I'd heard on the scanner or Robic-ed myself were 16.teens for Skinner and
Bo-deen. There were two Rowdy trucks for Kyle...one of which lightly brushed the
right rear against George's new paint on the T3 wall. All the other teams just
brought (or tested) one truck.

Only saw the 23 (Benson) up about one lane for several laps in the morning, though
Hornaday spent some time arc-ing up a bit in T3/4. Seemed like nobody could hold
it down to the apron in T2...the (slight) rubber build-up there was a wide swath,
rather than a 'line' like (kinda-sorta) developed into T1 and in and out of T3 and
T4. There were *no* marbles...just a bunch of tire dust up outta the groove near
the wall. Lottsa talk on the scanner about the hard tires.

Didn't hear any 'discussions' on the scanner about the new surface, just sounded
like a normal practice with typical calls for all kinds of changes. BMS has a
bunch of driver comments at:

http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/news/speedway_news_releases/522814.html

Will also go out tomorrow to see how many Whackers come to try out the new
surface.

--
Tom in Bristol



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On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:31:19 -0400, "Tom Duwe" <tomd88 (AT) bvunet (DOT) net>
wrote:

16 seconds there is right quick for them buses, er, CTS trucks...

Yup. Them hard tars is what is causing the "dust", with very little
marbles showing up if at all. At least that's what most of the drivers
are saying. Biffle says it at least once a week on INC.

With the arcing you saw/mentioned, it sounds like they're able to get
on the throttle early off the corners and are carrying a lot of speed
down into the next corner. "Diamonding" the corner is usually the
result, as you well know I'm sure. Along with the suspension, I
imagine they are looking at brakes too. Sounds like they may need to
beef them up a little until this surface loses some bite (years?).

Great UCAP Tom, as usual. Wish I could've been up there this week for
that. I went to the road course COT test at VIR a few weeks back, but
watching them break in a "new" surface at Bristol would've been
entertaining.

"Tom Duwe" <tomd88 (AT) bvunet (DOT) net> wrote

The new track surface sure looks nice, looking at the BMS website. Was there
the week after the NHRA event at the strip for a Junior Nationals Drag Race.
Knew the circle cars would be coming in a week or two and had to take a peek
at the speedway. The track surface looked fantastic but the infield still
had a loooong way to go.

I'm sure they won't F-up the August race week like they did the NHRA
schedule at the strip this year...major embarassment for Bruton!

Mark C.

"SimRacer" <NOsimracer68 (AT) yahoo (DOT) comSPAM> wrote


<snip>

Found this..."15.118 second track record set by Ken Schrader in qualifying for the
Truck Series race at Bristol in 2004." in a great article about the new surface by
John Close at:

http://www.closefinishes.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000003/000386.htm

Be sure you go thru the photo gallery...27.5 degrees, not 36 (which supports a
long-time contention by a buddy who was involved with Papy's sim development).

As I packed up the scanner bag after the trucks finished, the brush/blower tractor
headed back thru T1/2...followed by sumpin I've never seen...two guys with
back-pack leaf blowers walking the high lane!

Yep...I told the step-dotter they were doing a 'half-diamond'! ;-)

--
Tom in Bristol



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"It's definitely smoother and they've done a tremendous job," said
Johnny Benson. "The transitions are better both going into the corners
and coming out of the corners. It's just going to take a little bit to
get some rubber on it to get it seasoned. The place is going to be
pretty awesome once that happens."

While the turns are still advertised at 36 degrees of banking, the
banking in the corners appears to be 22 degrees in the bottom groove,
25 in the middle, and 27 at the top of the wall. These measurements
were determined using a digital angle finder and a level.

The new track also features concrete access lanes immediately below
the lowest racing groove, a departure from the previous asphalt
incarnations. Additionally, while no statistics were available on the
width of the previous pit road layout, the front and back asphalt pit
roads are visually wider - as much as two lanes according to some
drivers - and also feature wide, concrete pads both in front of and
behind pit wall.

http://www.truckseries.com/cgi-script/NCTS_07/articles/000119/011988.htm

-phish