Just drove the new race track in Oregon...
 

I did not even know about this track until a week before the event! It just opened this year and is brand-new!

I thought I'd share it with you all and then later move this to the DE/Autocross forums. A whole slew of us from the Vancouver area Porsche club went down (about 14 of us!)

Oregon Raceway Park, 2 hours east of Portland. 2.3 miles, 16 corners. (more development to come)
http://www.oregonraceway.com/

http://www.oregonraceway.com/images/orp_track_map.jpg

Oh my GOD. What an AMAZINGLY FUN track. It's way better than Mission or Seattle and I like it better than Portland. Only thing comparable is Thunderhill.

None of us had driven the track before, so we hopped on truck & trailers and got pulled around on a tour (in lieu of a track walk) and then we did a few minutes of ducks-in-a-row and then we went into the sessions.

I gotta say, it's real easy to find your way around when you're following someone - but as soon as it's open air ahead, all the blind crests and corners REALLY fuck with your head and you slow right down until you've got the track memorised.

Towards the end of the day I was lapping with Yeager's GT3, a new 135, e36 M3, and a WRX STi.. we were just FLYING around the track by the end of the day. Only thing is all the passing zones are uphill - I was killin' this c6 vette on the corners but I could not, for the life of me, pass him fast enough on the straights - considering I have 1/2 the horsepower and the same weight.. lol but actually there was barely any traffic and letbys happened very quickly and there is plenty of space to pass easily.

It was an extremely pleasurable experience. The ups and downs and halfpipes are just something else. It's like the designers took the best parts of so many racetracks and implemented them into this course. It's like a rollercoaster for your car!

Anyways, here are some videos that others have taken of the track, and some pics that I took of our day.

http://www.vimeo.com/4288212

http://vholdr.com/video/grant-orp-6-13-09-front-view

The videos are a from a few months ago, the track now has curbs in some sections which makes for a bit more runoff.

http://gallery.rennlist.com/gallery/...otorsportsPark

http://gallery.rennlist.com/albums/O...ck_1.sized.jpg

Man the track looks awesome with that many corners and turns with different elevations. I heard about this new track back in June but didn't really pay attention to it. Oh and the scenery looks awesome!!!!!

:thumbsup:

wow looks good so nice! i would want to drive there

Holy shit, that looks so fucking fun!

How much did it cost to run at the track?

This one was hosted by ProFormance with Don Kitch. Very pricey at $325 but LOTS of track time and no hassles at all. I suspect it will get much cheaper - Seattle and Portland run about $180-$200 for a normal track day, or $325 if you do it with a private group like weissach running with fewer cars (and therefore less traffic on track)

The scenery from Portland to Grass Valley is BEAUTIFUL - a lot like the Okanagan. And the windmills.. oh my god there are sooo many windmills! And they're HUGE!!

LOL @ the tumbleweed and rabbit running across the track during one of my sessions!!!

LOL "fucker factor"

damn track looks fun just saw one of your vids

holy fuck that looks like fun, i wanna drive down there

wicked! I read about this track a little while ago!


How did Mark do in his civic? He said a little while ago that he was planning to go... did he?

Mark had to pass.. but next time I will drag him along. I think his civic should be quite fast as there are very few straight sections, and his car corners quite well so it would give lots of momentum coming out of the corners going onto the uphill straights.

Having shorter gears helps a lot here. You can do the whole course in 3rd and 4th but to go really fast I need 2nd for the sharp corners and uphill sections.

Any word on what their policy is with open top cars? Is the stock hoops in my S2000 enough, or are they safety Nazi's and require a roll bar/hard top?

Uhh trust me you would NOT be safe driving an open top with no roll protection here. It's not about being a safety nazi, it's about not killing yourself when you hit my oil spill, go off track, dig into the mud, and flip over. There is no smooth runoff (yet)

IIRC both miatas that were running had the rollbars and the hard top installed.

the bikers have been talking about this track quite a bit. supposed to be really really good! i think the track is setup to run both directions which completely changes the feel of alot of it (uphill to downhill).

im trying to hit a double header track day in sept.

What helmet requirement are they using? SA only or are M ok for cars?

Can I use my M90 helmet? I crashed once on my bike and there is a tiny crack in it, but I covered it up with some stickers so the helmet still looks good. I'm too cheap to buy a new helmet.

Also, my old A008R's are just about to start showing the cords. Can I pass tech with those if I use a black marker to coverup the cords?

damn that looks like a fun track, a lot better than mission


:thumbsup:

Your really asking to try out the medical insurance in portland arn't you?

LOL.

you cant be serious.

No, I'm not. ;)

But I am curious to see if they will allow M rated helmets for cars.
I have a M2005 rated helmet that I use for autoX and if they allow that, then I am half way there. If I need an M rated helmet, then that will throw a stick into the spokes, though I really should get myself an M rated helmet.

bahahaha....

You're best to ask whichever group you do the track day with, as it depends on them, not the owners of the track.

It is a super nice lay out track.

However, there are several concerns of this track

1. lack of support facilities near by. According to my freind the closest gas station is like 30 mins away. There is no hotel. Just residential bed and breakfast.
2.
The side road to the track is not pave yet and my friend destroy his front lip on his way in.
3.Track is very dusty meaning any cold air intake will pretty much sucking in way too much dirt.
4. No visual landmark for braking reference point.
5. Run off is not pave yet. Most of them are like a "step" down. Like the one we saw in turn 6 of Seattle.

Other than what listed above, it is a perfect track. Much more exciting than Portland. Safer than Seattle. Lots of element. Very challenging to driver's input and car setup.

BTW Richard. Did you run clockwise or counter clockwise? Last time my friend ran counter clockwise and he said that according to those who ran both layout it is more fun and exciting than clockwise.

This will be the track I put all my focus into once it is ready / friendly to visitor.

ummm those 5 things are big issues especially gas station

one of the biggest problems i've heard is anytime it rains it washes a ton of silt onto the track

- There is now a 92 octane tank on site, however you have to bring your own jerry cans/fuel jugs. (Being Oregon, there needs to be an attendant there) they sell the 92 octane at $20 for 5gallons. We just brought our own Jerry cans filled with Canadian 94 octane!!!

- The accomodation situation is tight. If you can't find a place in Grass Valley or Moro, you gotta stay at Bigg's Junction, which is ~15-20min away, and has only trucker motels. There IS camping available, but who the hell wants to do that when it's raining or cold...

- The access road is from Grass Valley to the track is gravel. Very annoying, as it's a good 5 minutes at 30kph.

- YES the track does have some signifcant dust on it depending on the weather. (long run of dry hot days) I think there will be irrigation nearby and/or grass on the edges to reduce the dust waves over the track. The bigger concerns are the rabbits that live in the barn and the tumbleweeds!!! LOL.

- First time around with no one in front, holy fuck, where do I go????.. yes brake marker signs instead of cones would've been awesome.. but there are curbs now which help immensely in judging your brake points. It can be done fairly easily once you know the track by heart.

- I don't want to think about what happens if you go off. LOL. Just do nothing and do it verrrrry carefully.

- I ran it clockwise and it was fun. I hope to run it CCW soon too.