Consider that nit thoroughly picked.
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Having started at NHMS, I never had any intention of dropping it from the schedule. Unfortunately, my customers spoke with their wallets and while the Thompson dates were filling up... the NHMS dates ended up losers. My guess is others feel as you do (that they are on par with each other)... but maybe Thompson is closer to more homes?
One thing I think it does have over NHMS is the multi direction option.
Hopefully the future holds Club Motorsports allowing bikes (even if it's only quiet ones) - and maybe NHMS will resurface and extend the course (possibly making it bi-directional too)
Hopefully Tamworth will open up (just as Palmer did) eventually.
It's not a bad thing to have Thompson in the mix, just that it doesn't rustle my jimmies. In the end, it's a trackday, and a trackday is better than no trackday, but it's just not high up on the list.
I'm not super pumped about Thompson either...but it's less than an hour from home which definitely makes a difference at this stage in life. To be honest I've only rode it once, I should probably stop being a curmudgeon and just go have some fun.
I have a love/hate thing with Thompson. The run onto the front straight (CW) is a lot of fun and I like the longer turns 5 and 6. I don't love the stop and go nature of the rest of it.
Reversing course really changes the nature of the challenge quite a bit. It is still stop and go CCW, but now it is bumpy and more technical.
So as much as I want to say I don't like it, I actually enjoy riding there for the above reasons. Even after throwing it down the road at 140. :whistle:
FWIW, it definitely took me a few days to start enjoying it. Done correctly, the track actually flows nicely (other than the real sharp U-Turn corner - #4 in the clockwise direction).
I hear a lot of people calling it a point and shoot track, but to be honest I don't brake very hard except for a couple of corners going each direction. I think that's the key to having fun there.
Who am I kidding, I enjoy riding ANYWHERE. LOL.
+1
This is part of why I'm so partial to NHMS. Barely 30 minutes away! Thompson is a ~2 hour ride +/- some potentially shitty traffic. I fully realize that I'm no the other side of this coin than everyone in the Boston or NYC metro areas.. Fortunately people are still running track days @ NHMS. So.
Although I'm not going to lie; T's 3, 6 and 9 (yeah, okay.. and T1) at NHMS still rustle my jimmies a lot.
NHMS is also a really easy track to do a TD at thanks to the gobs of no bullshit parking, garage space, power, and pretty good facilities to use.
Same here, NHMS is 1.5 hours for me, Canaan is 2+ on annoying back roads, Thompson is 3 hours for me...
Maine needs a road course! Three weeks a year when the weather allows it could be awesome!
Maine gets the track that fits it best; BOXSHOP!
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Haha. True about boxshop. So Maine.
Maybe it's just me but i like the roadtrip aspect of track riding.
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For real fun enjoy a night at NYST when the thunderstorm comes in and just rocks the place. We had back to back nights of those in June. The second one we were the only idiots still camping after everyone left the track. At least we were in a trailer as those storms have some anger.
At the risk of sounding like I'm sucking up to the boss --- thank you for saying this. I totally agree. Personally, I'd characterize Loudon as more point-and-shoot than TSMP.
As long as you're not one of the idiots whose EZ up isn't tied down enough for a hurricane.