I'm on Google Earth right now, looking down at Dover and using the measuring tool and things aren't adding up to the 'track facts' on the Dover site. First thing I did was confirm the conversation I had with the (former) track owner about 15 years ago, that the white line marking apron is exactly 1 mile in length and that came out as perfect as I could have hoped at 1.0065 miles (34 feet, I know it's going to be off a bit depending on how close I put the measuring markers in the turns). So, with that being good, I looked to check the track width.
Dover advertises the track width as 48 feet on the straights, 58 feet in the turns. I'm looking down from space at the s/f line and measuring it at 49 feet wide (I'm not including SAFER barriers since I'm doing retro tracks). At 9 degrees of banking, that should make the track surface 49.61079 feet wide (F section width in Sandbox). Okay, I can live with that! I go to the backstretch and I'm getting 48 feet wide and since the straights are banked 9 degrees, that makes the track surface 48.59833 feet wide (F section width). Again, I can live with that.
Now I go to the corners, advertised at 58 feet wide and I measure them at 49 feet wide (2d) without the SAFER barriers, which comes out to 53.63718 feet of racing surface, not 58. When I use 58 feet of racing surface and 24 degrees of banking and go out from the almost perfect apron, I end up in the walkway behind the wall.
I look at the elevation and the apron is 28 feet above sea level, the walkway behind the wall is 50 feet which gives me banking height of 22 feet. With a track width of 49 feet and 22 feet high, it gives me banking of 24.179 degrees (nice!), and track surface (F section) width of 53.7122 feet.
This all tells me that the actual track width (racing surface) at Dover is not 58 feet, but much closer to 54 feet, which means I need to move the walls of my track in about 4 feet from where they are right now in the turns.
The banking would have to be 32.347 degrees and the base of the wall would have to be at 53 feet (above the SAFER barriers) to get 58 feet of racing surface, or the track would have to be 52.98564 feet wide and extend into the walkway to have 24 degrees of banking and 58 feet of racing surface.
This could count as a "random NR2003 thought" instead of "NR2003 Track Creation help" since it's not really a question, but more of an observation, but I do have a question to go with it.
Does anybody have any feedback on my methodology and conclusion that the advertised track width is not accurate? Is there something I'm missing?
Dover advertises the track width as 48 feet on the straights, 58 feet in the turns. I'm looking down from space at the s/f line and measuring it at 49 feet wide (I'm not including SAFER barriers since I'm doing retro tracks). At 9 degrees of banking, that should make the track surface 49.61079 feet wide (F section width in Sandbox). Okay, I can live with that! I go to the backstretch and I'm getting 48 feet wide and since the straights are banked 9 degrees, that makes the track surface 48.59833 feet wide (F section width). Again, I can live with that.
Now I go to the corners, advertised at 58 feet wide and I measure them at 49 feet wide (2d) without the SAFER barriers, which comes out to 53.63718 feet of racing surface, not 58. When I use 58 feet of racing surface and 24 degrees of banking and go out from the almost perfect apron, I end up in the walkway behind the wall.
I look at the elevation and the apron is 28 feet above sea level, the walkway behind the wall is 50 feet which gives me banking height of 22 feet. With a track width of 49 feet and 22 feet high, it gives me banking of 24.179 degrees (nice!), and track surface (F section) width of 53.7122 feet.
This all tells me that the actual track width (racing surface) at Dover is not 58 feet, but much closer to 54 feet, which means I need to move the walls of my track in about 4 feet from where they are right now in the turns.
The banking would have to be 32.347 degrees and the base of the wall would have to be at 53 feet (above the SAFER barriers) to get 58 feet of racing surface, or the track would have to be 52.98564 feet wide and extend into the walkway to have 24 degrees of banking and 58 feet of racing surface.
This could count as a "random NR2003 thought" instead of "NR2003 Track Creation help" since it's not really a question, but more of an observation, but I do have a question to go with it.
Does anybody have any feedback on my methodology and conclusion that the advertised track width is not accurate? Is there something I'm missing?