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[h=2]Charlotte Motor Speedway road course unveiled[/h] Thursday, 05 October 2017


By Kelly Crandall



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The Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, or ROVAL, was officially unveiled Thursday.

The course layout features 18 turns over 2.4 miles and will be used for the first time in September 2018. It will be the first time the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has raced on a road course in the playoffs.


On Thursday speedway officials announced the addition of two chicanes to the course; one will be on the backstretch, making up Turns 12 and 13, and the second chicane, Turn 18, will be off what is Turn 4 on the oval course. The hope is both chicanes will provide additional passing zones.
Also new is a Sports Fields Inc. synthetic turf. Designed to slow wayward cars down, the turf was laid by the chicane on the frontstretch. Features include:

• 42,000 square feet of synthetic turf - more than half the length of a football field
• 1,100 gallons of glue
• 300,000 pounds of sand
• 900 man-hours of planning and installation.

"As the Roval itself is an innovation, we believe this revolutionary new use of synthetic turf was the perfect fit for our world-class racing venue," said Marcus Smith, president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., in a track release. "The turf is more manageable than grass, resistant to heat and it provides a smooth, speed-scrubbing surface should a car spin through it.
"We connected with Brian Storm and Sports Fields through an introduction by Kevin Harvick, and we greatly appreciate all of the hard work and creativity fueled into this project from Sports Fields. We're excited to see how the turf and the new chicanes add to the excitement for next year's Bank of America 500 on the Roval."
It was announced in May the second Charlotte race date would be a road course beginning next season.

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This reminds me of the Daytona road course, except for a few turns.

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'Roval' tire test set for Charlotte

Tuesday, 17 October 2017


By Kelly Crandall


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A two-day Goodyear tire test begins today at Charlotte Motor Speedway in preparation of racing on the road course next season.

Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray and Xfinity Series driver Daniel Hemric are the drivers slated to participate. They will tackle the 18-turn course on the standard road course tire used at Watkins Glen as Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales for Goodyear, says the Charlotte road course matches up similar to the Glen because of the fast speeds.
Below: Take a lap of the Charlotte "roval" with A.J. Allmendinger:




"You look at it as a road course. We've got one fast road course on the circuit and that's Watkins Glen," Stucker said. "We think we have a pretty good package there; obviously we know what road course requirements are from a construction perspective. That's where we'll start and then just depending on how much the chicanes slow the cars down then we'll have some options to look at, some softer combinations.

"And we'll see if maybe we can go a little bit softer and add some grip because the infield portion, there's some pretty tight and slow corners – predicting speeds in the 35 mile-per-hour range. So, it's going to be some pretty tight bits inside [there]. We want to make sure we have enough grip to handle those as well."

Consisting of a firmer compound, this tire is run at all NASCAR road courses. Any changes regarding grip, which is the area Stucker repeatedly mentioned as something they will be working on, will depend on the data Goodyear gathers through tire temperatures, speeds and driver feedback.
Splitting the test into two days allows Goodyear and NASCAR to work through different agendas.
"The first part is going to be sorting through the backstretch chicane, there's about three different options to look at," Stucker said. "The morning of the first day is going to be looking at those three different configurations between NASCAR and the racetrack, trying to figure out what's the best option.

"That'll take a little bit of time and then we'll go through our short runs probably in the afternoon. Then as standard on the second day we'll go through our longer runs and kind of see how we look under those conditions."

When NASCAR visits Charlotte next fall it will be the first time a road course has been featured in the playoffs.

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VIDEO: Charlotte finalizes Roval layout

Monday, 22 January 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vsEvy7IRkc

Kelly Crandall / Image by Charlotte Motor Speedway




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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vsEvy7IRkc

The layout for the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course has been finalized.

During the opening day of the 2018 NASCAR Media Tour, hosted by CMS, track officials revealed a tweaked course that is now 17 turns and 2.28 miles. The change was in Turns 7 and 8, making that section of the course, which leads onto what is Turn 1 of the oval course, a sweeping turn instead of the tight left-hander than had been seen on one of the past designs.


The adjustment will make the lap times quicker and the course faster.

"With these updates, the Roval is sure to provide the best show for the fans and the most challenging road course for drivers," said track president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Marcus Smith.


"We've obtained great feedback over the past year from champion drivers including Mario Andretti and Jeff Gordon, and with their help and collaborative effort with NASCAR, Charlotte Motor Speedway is proud to showcase this brand-new course on the NASCAR schedule. Fans are going to see a thrill show unlike any other when September rolls around and racing comes to the Roval."


Charlotte will make history this season when it hosts the first road course race in the playoffs. The Bank of America 500 is set for Sunday, September 30, and will be the elimination race in the Round of 16.

However, with the course design now finalized there is still one piece left to be worked out: race distance. NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O'Donnell told the assembled media on Monday that is "still TBD."

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INSIGHT: The road to a Roval

Tuesday, 23 January 2018


Kelly Crandall / Images by Charlotte Motor Speedway; NASCAR Media



How the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course came to be is "funny, actually," according to Marcus Smith.

Charlotte already had an infield road course, but it was not up to modern standards and hardly used. However, Hendrick Motorsports likes to have corporate play days with their partners and with the courses in Las Vegas and Sonoma booked solid, a conversation between Hendrick and Bruton Smith kick-started what will be a history-making event this September when Charlotte hosts the first road course race in the playoffs.

"We started designing and building just an upgraded infield road course [after Hendrick and Smith talked about using it], and we did a great job with that," Marcus Smith, the president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. told RACER.

"It's fantastic. It's part of the Roval design, and as we had it built out and did a lot of testing on it, had a lot of feedback on perfecting it, I was hearing a lot of talk among fans and drivers and media about this idea of having a road course in the playoffs. And I heard people talk about [how] there's too many mile-and-a-halfs in the playoffs, maybe we should change a little."

The answer, decided Smith [below], lay just outside his office window.

"I thought, you know what, this Roval is circuit is fantastic, maybe we could just use this," he said.

Consulting with the speedway's head of operations and development, Smith then laid out the challenge to his team about what it would take to host the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on the road course. Work began quickly, but Smith points to it all starting because of his father and Rick Hendrick wanting to upgrade the infield.

Monday afternoon, Smith showed off the completed layout that includes 17 turns over 2.28 miles. There are chicanes and rumble strips. Elevation changes throughout the infield portion of the course will also keep the field on its toes.

From the track's standpoint, the project was a labor of love. Numerous drivers gave early feedback, including four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Max Papis and even Mario Andretti. Little details extend all the way down to the addition of synthetic turf off the oval's Turn 4, near the last chicane on the frontstretch.

"We take everything we do very seriously, and we want to exceed expectations for all the stakeholders when we do something, and I think that's been the tradition of Speedway Motorsports, whether that's been at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the last 58 years, or any one of our other speedways," said Smith.


"We've tried to design and build speedways that are above and beyond expectations, and it's no different with the Roval design and build-out. We absolutely want it to be a world-class road course that everybody will be impressed with and excited to watch."

According to Smith, there have been no cries of resistance, and as of late last year, Smith said ticket sales "are ahead" for the race weekend. Not that Smith was worried: road courses are in favor, and he's happy to give fans another one.

As for the course itself, the two chicanes came about after feedback from drivers, manufacturers, and Goodyear. The frontstretch chicane, Smith believes, will provide a last-chance passing opportunity, particularly on the last lap.

"Passing zones are really important in a road course design," said Smith. "A lot of road courses don't have a lot of passing zones – maybe one or two – and I think we've got probably four, maybe five passing zones on the course, and I think it's going to be really fun to watch."

And let's be honest, there also has to be a sense of pride for the Smith family, because once again, it's making a mark on NASCAR.

"You know, I guess it's part of my training from my dad," he said. "[He] likes to always out-do himself. He loves to build speedways that fans love, and drivers and teams love and are impressed with, and we wouldn't do it any other way. We want it to be fantastic for everybody."

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