And away we go!

With the downhill and the tight turn, true enough, but we still don't know
how long the effective straight section is between turns 11, 1, & 2.

Not to be argumentative, but we haven't seen anything else to lead us away
from that speculation.

Who didn't renew the Laguna WSB contract, was it Flammini or was it SCRAMP?
I don't know.

Ok, if he didn't view it as a liability in the early days, what would
trigger him to acquire the land and possibly lengthen the straight?

 

Remember, the discussion was originally about Barber's short straights
(relative to safety), not passing or relaxing; then you offered that Laguna
doesn't have a long straight.


Thanks for digging up the Barber interview.

 

Actually, the "discussion" was about how the DAYTONA MOTORSPORTS GROUP
is going to grow the sport and the tools it looks like they may use.
You attempted to inject your "pie in the sky" vision above their
"bought and paid for" one, which I found amusing, to say the least..

Heh, I pointed out that you're full of (Yosh) shit, have been full of
shit and most likely, always will be..
It is true, has been true and until M/C racing gains some financial
clout, will continue to be true. You can think anything you wish, but
most folks see it a little different when a 200+hp SB can't get out of
4th gear. (Running 200+hp SB's at some tracks we have is little better
than running around cones in a parking lot.) I mean, why bother racing
the damn things if you can't let them breathe a little? (Oh, that's
right, the Jap's need to sell their tall dollar testosterone injected
rockets..)
Barber is a one off deal I would like to see others emulate, BUT it is
far from perfect for today's litres, though I do think it'll make for a
fine DAYTONA SUPERBIKE track. Laguna, while a historic spot that Yam
paid a few mil to fuk up doesn't allow for much display of speed when
compared to others, and while I wouldn't necessarily call it a slow
track, I damn sure can't call it a fast one. Miller, in the Utah desert
is about a mile high,(5000+ft) which, obviously you don't know, can and
does decrease horsepower dramatically. Atlanta, M/O, Elkhart and to
some extent VIR are fine tracks that do offer today's litres some space
to breathe, but all have issues relevant to safety when they do, that,
more than likely, won't change until there is a financial reason,
hence, growing the sport. Beyond them, what else is there? Concrete
bowls,(close to urban centers) that's what, and like it, or not I
expect to see more of them..

IIRC, you cited two, both irrelevant, the Billy Mitchell Bridge which
the Sports Car crowd heavily pushed for and T12 that had long been a
safety issue for Panoz and by the way, the new turn really isn't
offering much I'm told. And just to clarify, I never said anything
about lousy tracks like you just did. IIRC I said 200+hp SB's have
issues running at some and M/C racing at present doesn't have the
influence to change them, but I know how you just love to spin...

..
Final coat going on today,(hopefully) that way I can take it "easy on
Sunday Morning"...

 

This is minutae but you're only somewhat correct. I never said anything
specifically about 4th gear, so I'm not sure where the quote came from. And
if you though I was implying that the track wasn't properly designed for
bikes then I explained poorly and you misinterpreted my meaning. But you're
the one who made the stronger statement that Barber had made it shorter for
safety reasons. I just agreed that was possible. But I was wrong by saying
the discussion was originally about Barber's short straights (relative to
safety).

CS: I thought the general opinion on Barber was that the track is so short
that most bikes rarely get into the higher gears.

MN: Yes, that's correct. But that doesn't make high-horse bikes unsafe, does
it? If the question was, were the tracks designed to maximize the use of
200+hp, then the answer on Barber would likely be "no", but that wasn't the
question. Making a track without a long straight probably makes it safer for
very high horse bikes, it's the extreme top speeds that are part of the
perceived safety problem.

CS: Ok, but wasn't the lack of long straights one of the reasons that MotoGP
didn't select Barber for a US race? In other words, by making the track
safer for high hp bikes via shorter straights, they've also made it less
desireable as a venue for said bikes, no?

Snce we both have subjective perspectives, I'll not comment further on the
T11-2 section.

The '04 season was the first for spec tires in WSB, wasn't it? I don't
recall a significant uproar about riders being embarrassed at the Laguna
round.