I was talking to Ed Harloe after the November event about some of the things I've learned having now done two courses there and figured it would be good to record some of that for future designers' use. No point in every eventmaster learning everything the hard way. So here's some stuff in no particular order:
1) The grip level at ATT is quite low compared to other sites. It starts off worse in the morning and usually cleans up near the end of the second heat. This is due both to dirt/sand in the surface (loose stuff) and the sealer, the top layer of which wears off as we run on it. You can tell when the sealer is "cooked" because everybody's tires really start to squeal, even some slick-tired cars.
2) Because of #1, there are some minimums that seem to work so as not to have stuff feel too tight and painful. In particular, slaloms of anything less than 60 feet spacing will make Lance hit you (i.e. painful). 70 feet is probably too much. A nice number is 63, since its 7 parking spaces and easy to setup. 8 parking stalls is a bit too much, though.
3) Sweepers with an inside radius of anything less than 50 feet will be first gear. 60 feet feels like the minimum (that's about what the final 180 was today) for 2nd gear.
4) Looking straight out from grid, the poles on the far right side of the lot are closer together than all of the rest of the poles. That gives you a relatively narrow lane where about the only safe thing you can do is some sort of slalom variation right down the middle. It gets a little wider where the curb moves over, but still narrower than the other two sections.
5) The big bumps near the far end, left side (again, looking out from grid) can be seen at setup time by looking for the water evaporation lines in the dips. Best to do more steady state stuff there, rather than transitions, to avoid airborne cars and broken diffs/axles.
6) Its difficult to come up with any other overall flow than "down and back". That requires the down course to pass somewhat near the return course (two lanes). Other flow designs like "inside U, outside U" will require four lanes and there just does not seem to be room to do this because of the poles.
7) Courses at this site always seem to drive slower than they set up. As such, I feel its critical to pre-drive the course at about 80-90% in a decent car to verify fun factor. If its feels painful at that level, it will be painful (Lance will hit you). [B)]
The area at the very far end of the lot is too narrow for much beyond a straightaway. You are right at minimum safety margins with a 20 foot gate.
9) Since the outbound and return pass will come near each other at least once, it is critical to wall off, or pointer obvious places where someone's view could take them to the other side of the course. Head-on collisions are not good. That said, too many cones can be just as confusing as not enough. Get expert advice from veterans. Today, I had two different experienced folks run through the course with me and each had helpful advice on visuals.
10) No need to use narrow gates here. Go wider, 20 feet min, 25 better. Give line choice to those that know what to do with it.
The first course I did at ATT was too tight, IMO. I was much happier with today's course. Hopefully this info will allow others to skip the "too tight" first attempt.
--Andy
