For the past few months, we had many requests to reveal the final layout of the track. During the remainder of June and the month of July we will be doing just that. The image above illustrates the segment we will explain in more detail today.
Firstly, we would like to review a few facts and explain the drawings that will be shown throughout the course of the next few weeks to provide a better understanding of each segment’s explanation.
The Vancouver Island Motorsport Resort is driven in clockwise direction like most of today’s F1 tracks. The track is going to be explained here in 5 different segments. The road surface, for the most part, will be 10 meters wide, while some of the corners will be up to 12 meters wide. The track bed is laid on top of the glacial till (hard rock surface of the property after clearing) with an average of 30 cm of pit run (a sandy stone compactable material). Then follows a 15 cm layer of ¾ fractured rock crush. The finish will be paved in a three-layer variation of 5 cm asphalt. The first layer will be very course, then medium and ending in a super smooth final layer. That asphalt thickness is approximately double that of a normal highway installation.
There will be a total of 4 short cuts allowing safety vehicles fast access to any segment of the track. Those shortcuts have also been designed to allow us to run 5 different track layout combinations. That way we can keep things interesting and even run two different driving events at the same time. The clubhouse will be located at the bottom of the property allowing trucks and busses to access the areas very easily to bring both cars and people to the facility. The two-storey clubhouse will consist of a hospitality area on top and pit garages in the bottom that will be described in more depth at a later date.
The first segment is all about speed and commitment to keep the throttle down as long as possible and to carry the highest possible speed thru the segment. The second, third and fourth segment are highly technical and will keep the driver very busy, paying attention to every corner and setting the car up for the next.
We would also like to highlight that every driver will be monitored by an individual located in a control tower watching over the activities of all cars on the track. As soon as one of the cars spins out, runs wide, stalls or runs into any other sort of trouble, the person in charge will switch the track lights (within that segment as well as the segment prior) to yellow or even red to inform the oncoming cars to follow caution to the upcoming situation.
Segment one: Start in the pit lane and drive thru corner 1, 2 and 3 towards corner 4.
When starting your stint in the pit lane, you will accelerate parallel to the track beside the start finish straight as well as the first corner. As you approach the pit lane speed limit line, be sure to take caution to the oncoming traffic and accelerate hard prior to merging onto the track just before turn 2. After that, you will continue to accelerate uphill towards the right hand turn of corner 2 and leading into corner 3. Corner 3 will be especially interesting, as the 10% banking should provide amazing grip and compress the suspension to the point where some cars may bottom out.
From the apex of corner 3, you will drive towards the fastest point of the track depending on the car and achieve speeds of 200 km/h for street legal sports cars. However, watch as the road disappears in front of you as the straight crests at or nears the braking point of corner 4; downshifting at least two or three gears to prepare for the off camber turn. From the start of the lap at the clubhouse you climb more than 24 meters in elevation to the exit of corner 3.