VIR Perfect?

[Paul_E_D]

Apparently not...

FIRST PERSON/OPINION

Via e-mail:

How many riders will it take to get hurt before they fix the curb at VIR? I was one of the fortunate to find the curb in Turn 10 last year. Busted my knee wide open,no big deal, some stitches and I'll be fixed up in no time. Wrong, on the table I went Two months of laying up and rehab. Insurance bill was $15,000 and my out of pocket was $4500. Next day same turn same injury to another rider (CCS/USGPRU weekend). I was shaking my head when I heard about DiSalvo's same incident the AMA weekend three weeks later. Now another knee bites the dust. Unreal.

Steve Wenner
Pompano Beach, Florida




FIRST PERSON/OPINION

Via e-mail:

VIR Knee-buster: I hit my left knee on the left hand gators going down the roller coaster and cut my leathers and my knee open during FX qualifying in 2004. It has been two years and the scar is still visible. Pretty much the same place as DiSalvo I believe. The problem is if you get close enough (as you should be) to the apex, your knee will be over the gator (inside) portion of the curbing. It is going to permanently injure someone one day, I think.

Dafan Zhang
Upper Darby, Pennsylvania

Where's the money to fix this??? How responsive has the track been? Are there greedy assholes running that place or what? 15,000 dollars of profit per weekend has to go somewhere!!!

I'm OUTRAGED!!! I'll NEVER race there again.

In all seriousness, this fix doesn't even require money, just concern (which is apparently lacking) and an angle grinder...

[OreoGaborio]

"I tell yoo wut, yoo bedder wartch out fer dem dere gaider strips, dey'll byte ya, I tell yoo wut"

I'm suprised to hear about this.... but i'm not suprised to hear about this.

[WebCrush]

Yep, and the place is due for a replace as well. The cars there have been creating a lot of ripples in the pavement at the apexes so to prevent getting the front chatter you either have to stay REALLY tight to the curbing or go wide into the marbles.

No the place isn't perfect, but then again they don't own and run a road race organization, they just rent the place out to the sanctioning orgs (CCS, WERA, AMA, etc).

[WebCrush]

Looks like VIR took care the issue almost immediately after it originally happened and are willing to do it again:

I saw Frank Pate’s posting about curbs at VIR and wanted to respond. After Jason DiSalvo’s brush with the curb at VIR during the 2005 Superbike event, we redesigned and rebuilt the curb where Frank’s rider hit his knee this past weekend. After hearing of this latest incident, we will take another close look at the curbs.

Coincidentally, we have the AMA Superbikes testing at VIR this week in preparation for the Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals August 18-20, and I just toured the track with several riders and came away with several ideas for track improvements. We always want to hear from our participants at VIR. Contrary to what Frank said, this is not a money issue and our goal at VIR is keep our participants (in both cars and bikes) as safe as practicable, recognizing that racing does have some inherent dangers.

Josh Lief
General Manager & Counsel
VIRginia International Raceway
Alton, Virginia

On a similar note, when everyone complained about the giant rocks and debris in the run off/crash area outside turn 9--what did NHIS do about it?

Nothing.

The riders had to go clean it all up themselves.

Remember when NHIS originally bought all the airfence? Oh, no, they didn't. Paolo started a fund which raised 50k to buy the airfence for the track. NHIS didn't buy any until afterwards.

[Awesome]

Point Adam.

[R7]

[i]Originally posted by Paul_E_D
FIRST PERSON/OPINION

Via e-mail:

VIR Knee-buster: I hit my left knee on the left hand gators going down the roller coaster and cut my leathers and my knee open during FX qualifying in 2004. It has been two years and the scar is still visible. Pretty much the same place as DiSalvo I believe. The problem is if you get close enough (as you should be) to the apex, your knee will be over the gator (inside) portion of the curbing. It is going to permanently injure someone one day, I think.

Dafan Zhang
Upper Darby, Pennsylvania

Hey, that's the guy that started the first R6 board

[WebCrush]

Originally posted by R7
Hey, that's the guy that started the first R6 board

Dafan's a cool guy.

Here's him hanging with my kid and the Corona umbrella girl at the 2004 VIR post race party.

http://racing.webcrush.com/photo_boo....jpg&size=full

[trackdog]

You all would have been shocked by the 5"steel stake that I had removed from the middle of the beach..buried vertically...about 4" of that puppy was exposed. And the tip had been flattened by the more than one bike that slid acoss it. Luckily no one hung up any body parts on it!

Could have easily ended someones hobby.