Since I have heard that the Flounder and other thickos have contemplated
coming to Summit Point for an event, I am providing a report of the repaved
track and the recent SVRA event.
My car (Honda S800) competes in SVRA's Group 1 for small-bore production
(under 1300cc). For this event, SVRA combined Group 1 with the slower Group
3 cars (more production cars). This consisted of Elva Couriers, Morgans,
MGA's, Healeys and the like. It turned out to be a very good group with cars
that were well matched for lap times. The only downside was that it was a
very large group with over fifty cars.
Summit Point has a lot of paved paddock area as well as some newly
cleared areas that are gravel or dirt. A pretty large number of folks choose
to camp at Summit, but as far as I know they have pretty limited camping
facilities.
The Track: The old Summit Point was a collection of old pavement and
concrete all worn to a glossy, slippery shine. When it rained at the old
Summit Point - park it. It was also notorious for inconsistent grip. You
had to learn to carry a slide across certain slick spots until your car
transferred onto another surface with better grip. On top of all that, it
was full of nasty bumps that bounced your car all over the track.
The new Summit Point has a nice, grippy, consistent coating of new
pavement all the way around. It is smoother than the old track, but not by a
lot. They did not tear out the old pavement to do this, they simply paved
over it. That means that all the old bumps are still there, they're just
camouflaged now! They have also put in some gravel traps outside of turns 1,
3 and 10. Overall, it is a big improvement over the old track.
Surprisingly, despite what felt like a lot more grip, the track was not much,
if any, faster than the old track. Those that improved on their personal
bests did so by only small margins.
The Race: After qualifying 16th I pulled a real bonehead maneuver and
stalled on the grid. The car did not want to restart and when I got it
fired, I had to go out last, 45th car. The field was already way ahead and I
had to hustle the pace lap just to see the tail of the field taking the green
as I came around. All I could do at this point was "Drive it like I stole
it" This set up a classic "Banzai" charge for me to see how many cars I
could pass in 15 laps. The answer is 29. I finished 16th, passing all the
way back to the position I qualified in. Actually I only got 14 laps as the
leader caught me in the last corner on his last lap. The only close call was
when I was passing a bugeye and he motioned me to go by on his right. We
approached the fast left-hand turn 3 and I had not yet cleared his car. I
went around the outside and at mid-corner I knew I did not have enough track
left! Okay, just drive it through the gravel like I saw that GT350 do the
other day - no problem. Well, it must be different in a big heavy car
because it felt like a mogul field! The car kept leaping and crashing until
I was back on the track. The Bugeye driver said I had a good 10-12 inches of
daylight under all four wheels!!
It was a great weekend with perfect weather. We had lots of track time
(six half-hour sessions and a 40 min. "Blue/Gray" enduro race.).
Hope to see the RRB and a supporting cast of Thickos come South to join
us soon.
Doug Meis.
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