| The track is a large six
lane track made of Scalextric sport track. It has a nice blend
of technical difficulty and full throttle straights. The scenery
is not complete yet but is progressing nicely. Track voltage is
variable and lap counting is photocell electronics.
Bench work is 2x4's and
plywood and very sturdy.
Track height is about four
feet from the ground which gives a very unique view of the
track.
A Lap of
Gary's Decatur Speedway (as told by Speed Brakeless, driver of
the yellow Porsche Boxster)
Gary's
is a nice circuit and is well maintained. I really like
racing on it and it offers good speed, some nice corners and
elevation changes, and the car can really get up full song on
the back straight.
You start out on the
short front chute. You can get up to only about third gear
before having to brake for turn one. Turn one is a sharp 90
degree left hander and leads onto a short straight where you
set up for turn two, the Sherman hairpin. This one is tricky
and catches lots of guys out who try to overdue it and pass
somebody under braking. You do that and you end up with a
close encounter with Mr. Sherman, if you know what I mean.
After the hairpin you have a quick right hander followed by
another medium speed right hander. This is all 3rd gear
territory until you head onto the straight.
The straight isn't a straight per se as it has a kink in it,
but it's the second fastest part of the track. If your car is
set up with high down force you can pretty much keep it
floored along the straight but if you're in a low down force
configuration you may have to lift a bit for the kink. That's
sort of weird though 'cause it means if you're set up to go
slow you can go fast through there but if you're set up to go
fast you have to go slow. Kind of a catch-22 if you know what
I mean.
Once you get under the
bridge and through the kink (or dig yourself out of the
barriers) you head into the donut section. This is a quick
left followed by a collection of right handers with a gradual
increase of elevation. This complex can be deceiving because
you can actually carry more speed through there than you may
think. Lot's of guys do a "confidence lift" around there but
it's where the really best car/driver combos can pick up some
valuable time on the guys less familiar with the track.
After the donut there's a
short blast across the bridge and then a right hander that
leads into a nice 4th gear straight that sets you up for one
of the most important turns on the track. As is the case with
all race tracks, the most important corner is the one that
leads you onto the longest straight. This track is no
different. After the 4th gear straight you brake to go into
what is sort of a hairpin, but it's not. It's a pair of 90
degree left handers but they have a very short straight
between them. It's critical to carry as much speed as you can
through the second part of the "quasi" hairpin because the
more speed you carry through there, the faster you are all
along the back straight. The back straight is a top gear,
full tilt boogie blast that gives your brakes a chance to cool
off and gives you time to check your gauges. Only the cars
with the biggest motors need apply here.
After you get done doing
200+ mph down the back straight you come to the last turn on
the track, and it's very deceiving. It's well lit and wide
open and you sometimes think you can carry more speed through
there than you can. Of course you're carrying more speed into
the corner than in any other corner on the track, so you have
to brake a bit harder. If you wait too long to brake or if
your brakes aren't up to snuff you end up punching a hole in
the barriers. The only good thing is that you can spend the
extra time it takes to dig your car out thinking of a story to
tell your crew that will make them happy about all the extra
hours they'll need to spend rebuilding the front end.
Once you negotiate that
last deceiving left hander, it puts you back on the front
straight for another lap. All in all it's a great track to
drive for both the veteran and rookie alike.
I hope you come out to see
me race some day soon. Take a walk through the paddock
("garage" for you stock car fans) and stop my pit area and say
"hi". My guys are usually working on my car and do a great
job getting it ready for the weekly races but they're more
than happy to talk to the fans and hand out a poster or
t-shirt or two.
See you at the races,
Speed Brakeless
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