Track Designer: Daytona Chicane Changes Should Increase Competitiveness

Track Designer: Daytona Chicane Changes Should Increase Competitiveness

© 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

On Friday, September 27, Daytona International Speedway officials announced that they were making changes to the 3.56-mile infield road course, including the chicane on the back straightaway. Reached Monday, September 30, Daytona International Speedway Director of Communications Glyn Johnston and track designer Alan Wilson provided Roadracingworld.com with more information about the changes.



“There were a couple of things going on there,” said Johnston when asked about the original idea behind the changes. “Number one, there were some areas that were a bit rough at the transition from the tri-oval track and the chicane end and in turn six. We had been looking at doing that for a while. In doing so, we also looked at some of the changes to the chicane we felt made it a little more competitive.

“The entrance stayed the same, but the exit had always gotten to be a bit of a bottleneck. So we looked at it, and it’s actually a bit wider now as it enters back onto the (oval) track. So we were looking for the opportunity to make the chicane area a bit more competitive and just to do standard maintenance up in turn six and stuff. Just staying ahead of the curve and making it an acceptable racetrack for everybody, the surface acceptable for everybody.”

The exit of the chicane has been an area of controversy for two-wheeled racers in recent years beginning with F-USA competitors commenting on how slippery the chicane exit can be when wet. (F-USA deemed a portion of the pavement too unpredictable and actually coned it off during the March 2002 F-USA races.) NASCAR turn three, just after the exit of the chicane was the site of a terrible three-bike pile-up during the AMA Supersport race in March 2002. Yamaha’s Aaron Gobert suffered severe injuries in the crash, hitting the outside speedway wall and getting run over.

“I don’t think it was that kind of feedback on it,” said Johnston when asked if negative feedback from racers or safety issues had been any inspiration for the changes to the chicane.

Setting the changes into motion, Daytona officials contacted the AMA. “Anytime we make changes to the competitive areas out there — because the AMA, of course, is a sanctioning body, just as if we were to change something in the track that had to do with NASCAR or anything else — we certainly want to make the sanctioning bodies aware of things, that we are looking at a track both to help with competition and for any number of issues there,” said Johnston.

Upon contact from Daytona, AMA Pro Racing’s Ron Barrick brought Alan Wilson into the project. With Barber Motorsports Park, Mid-America Motorplex and many other racetracks to his credit, not only is Wilson the most active track designer in America, he also served as Race Director for several of the Daytona 24-hour sports car races in the late-1990s.

Saying that safety issues with the exit of the chicane were never mentioned to him by Barrick or the track, Wilson described the changes he designed at Daytona “looking ahead to the future, taking pro-active steps to meet the ever-increasing demands of cars and motorcycles, now and in the future, particularly bikes. I think it’s obvious that bikes are getting faster and faster, and the way that bikes are handling now is different than in the past. Plus, Daytona is always trying to improve and make their events better.”

Wilson said he added a more gradual and wider transition from the exit of the chicane up onto the banking by flattening the exit radius and said he thinks faster riders will now get held up less by slower riders, increasing competitiveness on the track. Even though it doesn’t change the length of the racetrack, Wilson thinks the new chicane will be slightly faster than the old chicane. The distance from the chicane’s entrance to the new exit, however, will be shorter, slowing the new chicane’s entry speed and, as a byproduct, the chicane’s braking zone will effectively be lengthened, again making it easier for riders to pass.

The chicane will have all new pavement “from the moment the bikes come off the oval to the moment they come back onto the oval”, said Wilson, but the old chicane pavement will remain in place.

The second main change Wilson did was adjust turn six, the turn that takes racers from the infield portion of the track onto the West banking of the tri-oval. Wilson said he tightened up the entry radius and apex of turn six, which increased run-off room “tremendously.” Then new pavement was added to the exit of the turn providing a smoother, more gradual transition onto the banking. The exit of turn six is now wider, which will hopefully reduce more traffic issues.

“I think the riders will like it, but you never know for sure,” said Wilson.

Johnston said that all of the work was completed before the press release was issued and the new pavement is being given “30-45 days to cure.” Johnston confirmed that participants in the October 16 Team Hammer Advanced Riding School will be the first men and women to try the new changes to Daytona International Speedway and that Formula USA and CCS riders will be the first racers to compete on the new track layout.

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