New oval track configuration

[SportscarBruce]

With all the safety concerns and follow-up limitations on speeds now in place perhaps a total revision of the oval track is in order. Lets think beyond D-shaped 1 1/2 mile highbanked superspeedways, 1 mile bullrings, even 2 mile rectangles. Draw out your oval track but with the banking cambered outwards instead of inwards! Put the grandstands along the infield side of the track facing out, and at the outer edge of the track have a boundary of kitty litter instead of fencing.

This way the drivers will be working and skill will be at a premium, speeds will be held in check because the car will tend to loose grip as speeds increase, out of control cars will merely spill into a field of kitty litter instead of slamming into walls, and the fans could be faced right up to the track with a minimum of fencing blocking the view.

[Doc Austin]

Throw in a few right hand double apex, decreasing radius turns and some elevation changes and you might have something pretty good.

[SportscarBruce]

With some mild modifications to insure it always rolls back on it's wheels a Daytona Prototype could just drive right back into the action.

[ZOOOM]

I can't WAIT to see practise.... Let me see... continuous, off camber banked turns.... with flat kitty liter on the outside.... If Indy was like that the track wrekord would be about 50 MPH....

Can't wait!
ZOOOM

[Richie Racer]

Trenton Speedway
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD> </TD><TD>. </TD><TD>
Track size: 1.5 mile kidney-shaped oval
Width: 65' on turns, 55' on straights, 80' wide apron
Banking: T1+T2:10° dogleg:4° T3+T4:15°
Radius of dogleg turn: 20°
Front straight length: 2200'

1888: NJ State Fairgrounds built
1900-1945: half-mile dirt oval
1946-1956: one-mile dirt oval
1957-1968: one mile paved oval
1969-1980: 1.5 mile kidney oval
1983: Demolished. Now the NJ Grounds for Sculpture. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<CENTER><CENTER>

Pace lap formation along the backstretch Sept 1971 </CENTER><CENTER> </CENTER><CENTER>Sorry, but if you want a track shape that was out of the ordinary, produced some pretty good races, and was actually a challenge to the drivers, you can't beat this one. Even Mark Donohue spun out in one of Penske's cars right after the right hand dogleg. The best of them had trouble with the dogleg. </CENTER></CENTER>

[NIMBUS]

Trenton Speedway
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD> </TD><TD>. </TD><TD>

Ah! Trenton Speedway, NJ State Fairgrounds! I saw my first NASCAR Grand National race there in '70 or '71. IIRC, The King won the 300 miler that day beating Bobby Issac.

[Z28]

With the proposed new design at least you won't have to spend much money building those seats in the infield since the demand for something at that location would be minimal.