miller11386 Posted August 31, 2015 Report Share Posted August 31, 2015 Made a stop yesterday at the Nelson Ledges Road Course with some friends. I was strictly on media duty, however it seemed like they had fun. The Green WRX is a hodgepodge of late 90's JDM and "all the best stock parts from each year." The Blue car is an old SCCA Spec Miata race car. I had never been to the road course at Nelson Ledges until yesterday. I will say that the facility is in fairly rough shape. Wood view towers are all in need of repaint and were covered in gnats and other bugs. Several out buildings are far beyond salvageable. The drivers mentioned the track itself was fairly rough. You can notice the roughness in the go pro in-car video. That being said, the people were generally nice. A few guys getting fired up about how others drive, but you get that everywhere. I was able to get some decent shots. We hope to maybe make it back out in September for another fun filled day of road racing. Go-pro in car footage: Skip to 6:10 for racing. Lap 1 has a CRX spin out and nearly piles up a few cars in turn 13 30 min in, the Miata gets squirrely in turn 3, but AJ saves it. Photos.... Old Restroom: Nice view of the back straight: Miata on the back straight: The largest collection of old tires I've ever seen in person: WRX putting in work: Another decaying out building: Long view of the paddock: Mother Nature reclaiming her land: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miller11386 Posted August 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2015 Photos continued: Spec Miata: Stradale: At speed: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBQdDude Posted August 31, 2015 Report Share Posted August 31, 2015 @ 7:40 I thought you were going to kiss the car in fronts bumper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miller11386 Posted August 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2015 @ 7:40 I thought you were going to kiss the car in fronts bumper. Yeah... he was pretty close when the WRX checked up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downingracing Posted September 1, 2015 Report Share Posted September 1, 2015 Always loved Nelson! Great photos and video! Too bad the owners let it go to hell. Last time I was there was in 2012 and I won't go back. The tire walls are ramps that launch and roll cars often. The track surface is just dangerous. Really too bad - we all loved running at Nelson. Maybe someday they will repair the surface and fix the tire walls.... We can hope!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miller Posted September 1, 2015 Report Share Posted September 1, 2015 Thanks for sharing. Haven't been to Nelson since 2011. It was getting bad then. I hate the sound of straight piped miatas. Makes me want to bazooka them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miller11386 Posted September 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2015 Always loved Nelson! Great photos and video! Too bad the owners let it go to hell. Last time I was there was in 2012 and I won't go back. The tire walls are ramps that launch and roll cars often. The track surface is just dangerous. Really too bad - we all loved running at Nelson. Maybe someday they will repair the surface and fix the tire walls.... We can hope!!! I wouldn't hold my breath. With the tire dump they have going, the place is relatively un-sellable. The track needs a complete repave. It makes Mid-ohio seem like a smoking deal compared to Nelson. For mid level power and basic road racing, its not bad. Obviously anything actually competitive would be reasonably risky and I'm sure fenders would end up together. Thanks for sharing. Haven't been to Nelson since 2011. It was getting bad then. I hate the sound of straight piped miatas. Makes me want to bazooka them. Lol that spec Miata exhaust..... so bad. Due to the fact that AJ wont be racing the spec Miata class, we may make some changes on the car. However he usually has too many pots cooking at once. We are working on a GSXR buggy project that has still got a ways to go before he can really devote any attention to the Miata. Minus the exhaust, its a great race car. A smidge underpowered for straights, but does awesome in the corners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted September 1, 2015 Report Share Posted September 1, 2015 I haven't been to Nelson in a few years either...I can't say it really looks that much worse than the last time I've been there...or the first time I ever went there years ago. It's pretty much always bad however it's a really fun track to drive. If you all remember there was a deal on the table to buy Nelson a few years back, the buyers wanted to turn it into a country club track format similar to VIR / Putnam and others that have followed this model as of late. As I understand it, the deal fell through in part because the EPA came in and demanded that the tires be removed as part of the transaction and the bill to do that was something north of 1 million. I'm sure that wasn't the only factor but I had high hopes it was going to be revamped and fixed. Now that Pitt Race (formally Beaver Run) is completed if I'm going to make a 3-3.5 hr trip it's going to be to that facility instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted September 1, 2015 Report Share Posted September 1, 2015 I really wanted to go Sunday to Nelson, but just didn't make it. For an average street car I never felt the track was too rough. Its a lot of fun at Nelson, Ive been mulitple times and probably have more fun than at MidOhio... And its cheap. I definitely want to get out to Pitt soon though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miller11386 Posted September 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2015 Does pitt race require a HPDE course or SCCA/NASCAR/other license to run the track without an instructor? I know Mid ohio wants something to show you have a racing license. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted September 1, 2015 Report Share Posted September 1, 2015 Maybe it depends on who you run with. Auto Interest doesn't require anything at any of their events unless you tell them you've never been on a track before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ec_E92 Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 I haven't been to Nelson in a few years either...I can't say it really looks that much worse than the last time I've been there...or the first time I ever went there years ago. It's pretty much always bad however it's a really fun track to drive. If you all remember there was a deal on the table to buy Nelson a few years back, the buyers wanted to turn it into a country club track format similar to VIR / Putnam and others that have followed this model as of late. As I understand it, the deal fell through in part because the EPA came in and demanded that the tires be removed as part of the transaction and the bill to do that was something north of 1 million. I'm sure that wasn't the only factor but I had high hopes it was going to be revamped and fixed. Now that Pitt Race (formally Beaver Run) is completed if I'm going to make a 3-3.5 hr trip it's going to be to that facility instead. Andy, You'd prefer PittRace over Putnam?! Pitt is technically my hometown track as I grew up in North Hills of Pitt and my brother lives minutes from the track but I remember Beaver being short and just meh. Is the new track that good? Putnam is safe and grippy and a hoot for working on technique (transition from fast turn 1 to slow turn 2 is so much fun). Maybe I need to go home and see my parents -Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted September 14, 2015 Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Andy, You'd prefer PittRace over Putnam?! Pitt is technically my hometown track as I grew up in North Hills of Pitt and my brother lives minutes from the track but I remember Beaver being short and just meh. Is the new track that good? Putnam is safe and grippy and a hoot for working on technique (transition from fast turn 1 to slow turn 2 is so much fun). Maybe I need to go home and see my parents -Eric I hoped to make it to the new full Pitt track this year but am not personally going to drive it until next year. That said a very close group of track junkies that I'm a part of say the new track is challenging, has a great flow and rhythm to it and has really turned a rather boring track into a great venue for driving. There are some good videos of the full course popping up on YouTube as well and it looks good. Curbs are not going to be placed until next year, there's still a lot of gravel getting kicked up onto the pavement because grass hasn't grown yet, but once it matures I think from a drivers perspective it's absolutely going to be a track to pick over Putnam any day. That said they're still going to be two very unique tracks to drive in their own respects. Putnam is known for being FAST with huge fast sweepers and gobs of runoff room in the event you make a mistake. It's a track you can really go test how big your balls are without many repercussions if you make a mistake and go off. Great for really pushing the boundaries of what you are comfortable with and making 9/10's driving second nature. You won't get that at Pitt, there aren't many places you can do that at Mid Ohio, and you certainly don't want to be chancing an off at NCM with the walls as close as they are everywhere. For that reason I think Putnam is still a must-do track for everyone as well. I really hope they get their heads out their behinds and put new blacktop down on Putnam soon though. I've resorted to only going there once a year because of how hard it is on tires. I can get 45-50 heat cycles out of a set of NT-01's at Mid Ohio...at Putnam I can barely run a 3 day weekend before they are down to the cords. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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