I drove there in 1990 in the first 'IT Festival' which later morphed into the ARRC.
The configuration that we ran used the fast left hand sweeper at the end of the straight (Wildcat??) and bypassed the carousel.
At the time, I was running my ITB 84 CRX and felt I was at a HP disadvantage to the other ITB cars. Keep in mind that this WAS in 1990 when the car was still classed in ITB instead of its present ITC classification. When we ran, the track was still fairly new and the surface was fantastic. It was, to this date, the smoothest track I had ever driven on, including Road America. I haven't driven there since but obviously the years of neglect plus midwest winters have taken their toll on the surface. I have full confidence that Ray will take car of this issue. When asked what I thought of the track (when I ran it in '90) I jokingly replied, "if they would just tear up the front straight and put a couple of corners in its place, it would be a real fun track". After looking at the proposed new layout, it seems like my joke will become reality. The track does have some elevation changes, but they are subtle. I distinctly remember a slight climb on the straight leading the chicane, and a downhill drop after the left-right-left at the end of the back straight. I thought that the track (at the time) was very technical. You had to be very patient with the tight corners in order to get a decent exit, otherwise you would just push out wide, no matter what type of car you drove (FWD or RWD). The fast sweeper at the end of the straight was very fast and reminded me of IRP's turn 1 but slower; but I suspect the Runoffs would use the longer course with the carousel and therefor bypass this corner. I also liked the left-right-left combo on the back straight. The 'Ichobod' section is new and looks interesting. I've never driven the carousel section but from the video, it too looks fun and I hope it's used for the Runoffs. I felt the track configuration that we ran did favor horsepower primarily due to the quantity of slow tight corners, but I was able to hold my own in my Honda compared to the BMW's and Volvos that ran in the same class. The newer configuration looks like it will make HP less important and put some emphasis back in the handling/driving department. Lastely, while the track configuration that we ran in '90 didn't have that 'spark' like Mid-Ohio or Road Atlanta from a pure driving point of view, I did feel it was a fun track to race at , and had some good passing opportunities. (Coming from a low HP car, I feel the same way about Road America in that the novelty of driving the track has worn off, but I've had some of the most fun racing there). I have the same feeling about Mid-ohio with the Keyhole. While I enjoy driving and racing the track with the Keyhole, I prefer the Runoffs without it since it makes for better racing and more passing opportunities. Hopefully, with the Runoffs-caliber racing groups, the racing will be equally as fun. With that in mind, and also knowing what Ray is capable of doing, I'll keep any negative comments to myself until I see how the track turns out. For now I'll remain cautiously optamostic.
And for all you guys slamming Blackhawk, believe me, it is a huge, huge improvemment compared to how it was when it was run by the previous owner back in the 70's before Ray bought it.
[This message has been edited by Greg Gauper (edited January 07, 2005).]
