Pueblo done?

[jmaher]

According to an update on the Pueblo Motorsports website (press release dated 30 March, site updated 9 April) the road course is finished. Any confirmation?

Joe

[JimWilson29]

Supposed to be done Friday

[James W]

If I remember I will look today on the way home . I did see some paving equipment the other day.

[glenngsxr]

All this good stuff in the Colorado roadracing scene is really making me want to come back out. Hmmmm.

[gsnyder828]

All this good stuff in the Colorado roadracing scene is really making me want to come back out. Hmmmm.

Well then get on it! 00--00

[James W]

All that I could see was turn 4 and 5 from the road and it was not done yet.

[DOUBLE A]

Is it true that the new pavement is NOT as good of quality as HPR used!?

[hcr25]

No asphalt has been put done as of today. I was told that track officials were told by the city of Pueblo the ground is still to cold. This info came from two friends who went to the track today and talked to PMP staff. They also said the new curb in turn 9 looks good.

[d_mob]

No asphalt has been put done as of today. I was told that track officials were told by the city of Pueblo the ground is still to cold. This info came from two friends who went to the track today and talked to PMP staff. They also said the new curb in turn 9 looks good.

What was wrong with the old curb in turn 9? I liked the adrenaline caused by the threat of ACL surgery after ripping your right knee off going through there.

Not quite the feeling you get when a Nissan Altima pulls in front of you crossing the track mid-race though. That is an absolute rush!

In all seriousness, I hope they get everything sorted and we get to race there this season as I'm not a PPIR fan.

[rforsythe]

Not quite the feeling you get when a Nissan Altima pulls in front of you crossing the track mid-race though. That is an absolute rush!

That's pretty fun, but I still think the guy in the wife beater driving the hoopty POS and entering the track for a partial lap is a wicked rush.

[random hero]

No asphalt has been put done as of today. I was told that track officials were told by the city of Pueblo the ground is still to cold. This info came from two friends who went to the track today and talked to PMP staff. They also said the new curb in turn 9 looks good.

What was wrong with the old curb in turn 9? I liked the adrenaline caused by the threat of ACL surgery after ripping your right knee off going through there.

Not quite the feeling you get when a Nissan Altima pulls in front of you crossing the track mid-race though. That is an absolute rush!

In all seriousness, I hope they get everything sorted and we get to race there this season as I'm not a PPIR fan.

Hilarious :lol:

[T Baggins]

Is it true that the new pavement is NOT as good of quality as HPR used!?

You'd have to compare the composition side by side to know for sure.

NEITHER used the polymer - HPR didn't 'cause there was a worldwide shortage of it at the time of paving. They DID use polymer in the re-paves of the turns this fall though.

Pueblo didn't use polymer because it wasn't in their budget. I'm told it is Highway Spec asphalt.

HPR let the pavement cure for 6 months before using. Pueblo intends to wait only 2 weeks.

That makes me a bit nervous - I hope that's enough time, otherwise it will get torn up pretty quickly ala Second Creek.

[rforsythe]

Wasn't lack of cure time also Hastings' downfall?

[T Baggins]

Lack of sub-surface prep I think... I had been a damn cornfield for 100 years and liked water too much. the track got "wavy", the asphalt didn't wear.

[Fastt Racing]

We'll I guess I'll have my old Pueblo I loved back in no time. I assumed they would be using highway spec asphalt, which is fine. Even with good sub-surface prep, and highway spec, it still needs a couple months in the summer sun to get hard enough to put cars on it.

[random hero]

What was the delay? I thought the repave was suppose to be done by the first of 2012?

[JimWilson29]

Some pics from today at Pueblo - https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.296532920423553.67807.246196182123894&type=1

[jmaher]

Is that turn 9 going into 10?
Joe

[Jim 'smooth' Brewer]

Some pics from today at Pueblo - https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.296532920423553.67807.246196182123894&type=1

The picture caption says, "Laying Asphalt on the Drag Strip Portion".
http://users.frii.com/jjb/emote/lame.gif

[jmaher]

I noticed that after I looked at it on my computer. I think I need a new phone with a bigger screen and a font size that is readable....or glasses.

Joe

[Louden]

I was there Yesterday, and they were just starting to round turn one. From what I heard they said it would be done within a week.

[Jim 'smooth' Brewer]

I was there Yesterday, and they were just starting to round turn one. From what I heard they said it would be done within a week.
Now that's good news! http://users.frii.com/jjb/emote/yahoo.gif
Thanks!

[neh]

about 900' left, which means between turn 9 and 10. Read this on colorado horsepower junkies.

[hcr25]

I hope 10 days of cure time will be enough.

[PremiumBlend]

Hey guys, long time no post. I was reading on this and this is very cool and great news for the club. I did Asphalt Quality Control for Lafarge about 3 years ago and I thought maybe I would chime in.

Sub-surface prep is VERY important. Same as painting a car, the better the prep the longer it will last. If the subgrade has drainage issues in any areas it will transfer through the asphalt and you will get rutting, then eventual break down. Whoever is paving it is probably using a combination of lifts, 3/4" S75 64-22 as the first 1 or 2 lifts and a final lift of 1/2" SX75 or SX100 64-22. (This is the type of asphalt content and the 75 or 100 is the amount of gyrations used to achieve density) All areas AND LIFTS of the track should be a uniform 92-96% compaction which is highway specifications (ASTM or CDOT). Anything less than 92% causes rutting because the asphalt was never compacted enough, and anything above 96% is too hard and will cause cracking in no time. They should be out there with Nuclear Gauges and those Nuke Gauges should have correlation factors to ensure the gauge was calibrated to that type of asphalt. Compaction is crucial, ESPECIALLY ON JOINTS. They should be lapping their joints and should be achieving the same compaction percentage on the joints. I would also HIGHLY recommend you have random core samples taken from all around the track, and have those samples tested at an independent lab to ensure the proper compaction as well as volumetrics.

Kip Book still works over at now Martin Marietta (bought Lafarge in Colorado) and I'm sure he would test the core samples for you for free. Finally, asphalt cures very quickly... actually 24 hours is usually enough to achieve well over 50% cure. It's not like concrete where as that takes 28 days for full cure, once asphalt cools down the cure process is very quick. The 2 weeks should be ample time IF the sub-surface was prepped properly and compaction was achieved per ASTM/CDOT guidelines. Paving on cold surfaces is not bad, but on a track such as this I'm glad to hear the city required the ambient temps and ground temps to be higher... someone was paying attention.

The above info is only one phase of quality control, the manufacturing process also has many QC aspects that should be considered. If the product was never made right at the plant, they will never achieve great results in the field, not matter how much care is taken in the lay down process.

I hope some of this helps you guys and gives you some ammunition if they fall short on the quality of the overall job.

[NossLou]

All is good info, I just highly doubt that they were out there with nuke gauges or did core samples by any means.

The big thing that makes me nervous is the fact the city is going to want to start making money off the new track as soon as possible and I can see cars out there within a week or two. In the history of track surfaces this will tear it up quite quick. Its one thing for a highway where vehicle are keeping a constant speed in a relatively straight line, but a track for the most part vehicles are changing speeds and direction at all times and can tear the crap out of the surface.

I just wish they would be smart about there 800,000 dollar investment and not go out and tear it all up to shit for a quick start to making money where if they would at least give it a month to bake it will last much longer and attract/bring a better investment for the city over time.

To be quite honest if they were smart this should have been done in JAN/FEB and let cure for a few months like HPR... but we can't get everything we want :D

[T Baggins]

I just wish they would be smart about there 800,000 dollar investment and not go out and tear it all up to shit for a quick start to making money where if they would at least give it a month to bake it will last much longer and attract/bring a better investment for the city over time.

To be quite honest if they were smart this should have been done in JAN/FEB and let cure for a few months like HPR... but we can't get everything we want :D

The original plan was to pave back in October but it got delayed...

[T Baggins]

@ Premium Blend

Remember that highway use = direct force straight down... so if the substrate is good - the highway is good.

Track use has a shit ton of shear force, which asphalt is NOT designed for. this is why they use the polymer in it now.

So no polymer, and no cure time = HUGE risk imo. We've been down this road before - Second Creek had to be COMPLETELY repaved because we put race vehicles on it too soon. Pueblo likely doesn't have the money to do a repave, so if it falls apart, we're all pretty much screwed.

I have communicated this to Jason Abney, Track Manager at Pueblo. I will contact him again today just to be sure our concerns have been heard.

[Bueller999]

I see they posted on FB that the paving is now complete.

[NossLou]

@ Premium Blend

Remember that highway use = direct force straight down... so if the substrate is good - the highway is good.

Track use has a shit ton of shear force, which asphalt is NOT designed for. this is why they use the polymer in it now.

So no polymer, and no cure time = HUGE risk imo. We've been down this road before - Second Creek had to be COMPLETELY repaved because we put race vehicles on it too soon. Pueblo likely doesn't have the money to do a repave, so if it falls apart, we're all pretty much screwed.

I have communicated this to Jason Abney, Track Manager at Pueblo. I will contact him again today just to be sure our concerns have been heard.

That is what I was trying to convey...the shear force...Tony is so smart!

[PremiumBlend]

Using a 76-28 SX100 1/2" mix would be significantly stronger and very expensive. Polymers are great and Tony, you are 100% right... using polymer will help bind the asphalt laterally with proper compaction vs. standard paving mix which lateral binding is very limited b/c there is no polymer present in the mix.

For anyone wondering and needs a visual image, imagine a cheese pizza with a little bit of cheese on it. This would be the standard asphalt mix. If you pull those 2 pieces apart you get very little cheese between the 2 pieces. Now imagine you have a cheese pizza with a bunch of cheese to bind the 2 pieces together. This would be a polymer. Now pull those 2 pieces apart and you have all of that stringy cheese between the 2. That extra cheese would be equivalent to the very sticky polymer, and when the polymer cures over time it locks the asphalt into place much better than standard asphalt would.

[JimWilson29]

According to Pueblo's FB page:

We have been told we can run on it in 2 to 3 weeks... however we have made the decision to not run the road course for at least a month. First Road Course event... RMVR June 1

Turns 3 and 4
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/319818_300825046661007_246196182123894_670647_8206 58458_n.jpg


https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/522179_300825153327663_246196182123894_670649_1635 247974_n.jpg

Turn2 looking back at Turn 1
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/542046_300825199994325_246196182123894_670651_1440 832832_n.jpg

Looking down at Turn 5
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/560694_300825239994321_246196182123894_670652_2029 630435_n.jpg

Turns 6 and 7
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/389285_300825306660981_246196182123894_670653_1952 079568_n.jpg

Turn 8 looking back at 7
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/562766_300825329994312_246196182123894_670654_3713 2408_n.jpg

Turn 9
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/75590_300825363327642_246196182123894_670655_17805 29941_n.jpg

New Turn 10 configuration

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/577558_300825383327640_246196182123894_670656_1997 311023_n.jpg

[Wayniac]

FB pics look good.

[Fastt Racing]

Looks really nice. I can wait to go shred the new hot fudge topping.