Atlanta Motorsports Park - Report from the front

DrumrBoy

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Hey guys, AMP is open for business. I haven't driven it but by hanging around some of my track pals who're members took me out for several sessions of hot laps. Here're my impressions in case you care:

I did an at-speed ride-along this weekend for a session....didn't drive it but have these observations to offer....FWIW



1. The front part of the track is very technical, like Barber....very busy - no time to check gauges and enjoy a cigarette. VERY sharp turns....second gear kinda turns.

2. In many ways its a momentum track despite its size, because there are few straights, proper straights...where the track is, uh, straight....you need to be fluid among the turns to keep speed up....if you sprint from corner to corner, like I do when I'm driving like an idiot, I think times will be slower.

3. Elevation change is amazing. 3/4 of the track seems to be like RA's esses into T5.....you're almost never going flat and straight. Some of the turns are at the top of hills so you have to trust the track'll be there (like T11 at RA), and some of the turns at the bottom of hills require you to position the car as you crest (like you do for T12) or you'll be all goofy. At RA this happens a couple of times, at AMP it happens 5-6 times.

4. The track seems MUCH wider than it looks like on video. This is very comforting

5. There don't seem to be lots of places to really hurt yourself.....I suspect there will be "racecar collection depots" in the kitty litter at T1 and T10 but for the most part it looks safe. The only weird part is how hilly it is...I imagine if one were to go off track at just the wrong angle, some of the hills might cause a rollover- but it'd have to be pretty bad luck for that to happen.

6. There is no straightaway. Despite the advertising of "a straight 30% longer than RA's", there isn't a long proper straight. The high-speed section is a series of sweeping turns ending in a short straightaway that runs across the start/finish line. So when you finish the front 3/4 of the run, you enter the high-speed section and essentially judge how much go-pedal the car can hold ....first a left sweeper (with a nasty dip at center track...stay left and you miss it - it does unsettle the car a bit and cost you testosterone for the rest of the sweeper) , then a right....and THEN it seems like you have to lift just a little to make the corner onto the front straight (where S/F line is). I don't think the top speeds will be as high as RA's, The guy I rode with was doing 125 or so at the end of the fast section....I think he's faster than that going into the braking zone for 10A.

7. At the end of the front straight section.....the fastest section of the track....is T1, which is like that very tight left-hander (T5) at Barber. About 130 degrees, downhill and probably a second gear turn.....so its like 10A at RA - "Please God, let the brakes work properly and I promise to not ________ again" (fill in your own blank)

8. My host/driver described it perfectly....the front part is very technical and very busy, the latter part is simply a question of testicular fortitude (he used a different term)......

9. Lastly, I don't like the gators at all. ALL the gators are those nasty rumbly serrated ones (like on the left after 10B at RA or after the last right hander at CMP). There are no (maybe few...I didn't see/feel any) of those smooth ones that you can put a tire on and not jar loose a filling from a tooth. I guess that's done to discourage using gators as part of the track, but I just don't like the unsettling effect of those rumble-strips. But then again I'm a **** with fillings so maybe I'm overly sensitive to jack hammers in the face.

All in all it looks like a fun track. Kinda a mix of Barber and CMP with elevation changes like Mt Everest. I wish I could do it in my car (because I know the car better than I do the Mustang) but it will NEVER pass the sound limit. My pal had to put new mufflers on the Lotus to be sure he was OK. There was one C6 Z06 who had loud exhaust....probably half as loud as the loud Thunder cars, and everyone was talking about him having to do some work to be "legal" sound-wise.


 

MTGTS

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I have the track rented out in December. Pretty sure it's the 8th and 9th. I'll post an invite when the event gets closer and we open up registration. Looks like a great track but the sound limits are really the achilles heel. I won't even be bringing my own car to our event in Dec I don't think.
 
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DrumrBoy

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I have the track rented out in December. Pretty sure it's the 8th and 9th. I'll post an invite when the event gets closer and we open up registration. Looks like a great track but the sound limits are really the achilles heel. I won't even be bringing my own car to our event in Dec I don't think.

Keep us posted...it'd be great to et out there with your squad and maybe some of the SE VCA.

I have it on good authority that there are really no established sound restrictions.....AMP is just being smart about getting started with the "neighbors" and are keeping it to 98dB or thereabouts.

I think in time, the sound limits will ease upward, especially once the neighbors realize that its not a big deal sound-wise.

Right now my car is over 104 so I'm toast. My son's Mustang is pretty quiet though so maybe I'll run that up there....the go pedal ain't quite the same but if its all I got its all I got.
 

MTGTS

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There was a HUGE issue with one of the horse farms across the street or in the area (haven't been to the track yet). There were lengthy legal proceedings and horse experts were flown in to testify that car noise would not physically/mentally/or emotionally disturb the horses.

I agree with you and once the locals see the income that the track brings in for the local economy things should really ease up. We'll see though. I'm just not chancing trailering my car up there for 9 hours and not even be able to run. I know I'm over 98db, and my busniess partners Lambo is 107 so he won't be bringing his car either.
 

treesnake

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I have the track rented out in December. Pretty sure it's the 8th and 9th. I'll post an invite when the event gets closer and we open up registration. Looks like a great track but the sound limits are really the achilles heel. I won't even be bringing my own car to our event in Dec I don't think.

I would be interested also......:eater:
 

MTGTS

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I would be interested also......:eater:

I will post a thread probably in Oct. which is when I think I have registration set to open. I will be making a thread for Roebling here in a couple weeks which I have rented out in August. The threads will be put here in the GA section.
 
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