The FIRM forced to reconfigure due to recent FAA audit

GameboyRMH said:

I know there are a lot of runways elsewhere in the world where the end of the runway is closer to a public road than this runway is to T6, can anyone think of any in the US? Practically speaking a lightly used road that may have some small cars on it in an area surrounded by trees doesn't seem like much of a safety problem, maybe it's some weird technicality?

I'm guessing that runoff areas after the ends of runways may be getting more closely scrutinized after the Jeju Air disaster, but again this seems like a super-minimal safety risk.

You can see how close the E/W runway is to Mingo. When I had my short stint at Spirit, it was wild to see the fighter jets doing there touch and go exercises like 100 feet overhead. 

And you can see the dragstrip just a mile to the east. Multiple small planes have landed becuase they mistook it for the runway at Tulsa International. 

Tom Suddard said:

I spent most of the day yesterday at the FIRM. Sounds like they have a plan to fix things--likely by reconfiguring the track--but as a part of that process, they'll likely end up with a better track, anyway. No timeline yet, but sounds like they're running budget numbers and getting paving quotes.

While it makes the FIRM unique, those esses and the pin turn are not really typical track elements.  It's really an autocross section.

If the new design makes it more track-like, I'm good with that.

In reply to Andy Hollis :

The part I think I'd miss the most out of the conflicting section would be the big 180deg left turn (T8) going onto the front straight. The exit of T7 to the entry of T5 are all good parts IMO.

Andy Hollis said:

Tom Suddard said:

I spent most of the day yesterday at the FIRM. Sounds like they have a plan to fix things--likely by reconfiguring the track--but as a part of that process, they'll likely end up with a better track, anyway. No timeline yet, but sounds like they're running budget numbers and getting paving quotes.

While it makes the FIRM unique, those esses and the pin turn are not really typical track elements.  It's really an autocross section.

If the new design makes it more track-like, I'm good with that.

Agree 100%. It would be great for the layout if they could replace that section with something better. 

Andy Hollis said:

Tom Suddard said:

I spent most of the day yesterday at the FIRM. Sounds like they have a plan to fix things--likely by reconfiguring the track--but as a part of that process, they'll likely end up with a better track, anyway. No timeline yet, but sounds like they're running budget numbers and getting paving quotes.

While it makes the FIRM unique, those esses and the pin turn are not really typical track elements.  It's really an autocross section.

If the new design makes it more track-like, I'm good with that.

The driver in me agrees, but the new car tester in me is always fascinated by how shocks behave over that section. That can be a real make-or-break sequence for a car depending on how solid the chassis control is. 

On the other hand, with some adjustable dampers I've found there's more time to lose there than there is to gain elsewhere with proper settings. For example, on some BMWs,"Comfort" setting are the fast way through the esses, but "Sport+" is the tip for the rest of the track. But Sport+ in the esses is a mess, slowing you down enough that it could blow the whole lap. 

So as a test segment, it provides some very interesting data and I hope at least a portion of it is retained. The hairpin, though, is mostly a tire grinder. 

All this said, I know they're working with a lot of restrictions on a plot of land they don't own next to a facility that has made their intention to be not the best neighbors clear. So whatever we end up with I'll appreciate.

The esses is one of my favorite parts at the FIRM. But yeah that hairpin was such a familiar autocross element. Read quite a bit of local debates on how to do those elements heh. 

I've run the full track with the shoebox before, I think opening it up in the shorten state might be worth trying it again, but I didn't like it with the full track.