{"id":18523,"date":"2015-04-14T20:48:21","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T00:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=18523"},"modified":"2015-04-16T10:40:46","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T14:40:46","slug":"lime-rock-spending-millions-as-it-builds-better-fan-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/lime-rock-spending-millions-as-it-builds-better-fan-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Lime Rock spending millions as it builds better fan experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"limerock\"<\/a>Lime Rock spending millions as it builds better fan experience
\n\u201cRoad to 60\u201d already underway<\/strong><\/p>\n

LAKEVILLE, Conn. (April 14) \u2013 Late last year, Lime Rock Park Track President Skip Barber committed more than $3 million to a wide variety of projects to rebuild, refine and renew Lime Rock\u2019s infrastructure. The goal of the so-called Road to 60 Project is to dramatically enhance the spectator experience from 2015 onward.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the paddocks and the bathrooms to the hillside viewing areas, we\u2019re changing Lime Rock\u2019s infrastructure from pre-historic to be perhaps the most fan friendly road course in North America,\u201d Barber said.
\n<\/p>\n

Not since Lime Rock Park\u2019s race track surface itself was re-built in 2008 has a construction project of this magnitude been greenlighted at the famous 1.5-mile automotive and motorsports venue in Connecticut\u2019s Northwest Corner. Some of those projects will be complete in time for Lime Rock\u2019s season-opener \u2013 the Memorial Day Weekend Trans Am Series, and Royals Sunday Car Show, May 22-24 \u2013 and many more in time for the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar weekend July 24-25.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2008, the track itself had to get done \u2013 it was exceedingly bumpy, it needed more guardrail, better run-off areas \u2013 and that\u2019s what we did for the competitors. Road to 60 is for the fans,\u201d Barber said.<\/p>\n

The target for completion of all Road to 60 projects is 2017, when Lime Rock Park celebrates its 60th anniversary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing what we need to do \u2013 what we want to do \u2013 to ensure the track\u2019s professional racing future,\u201d Barber says. \u201cMajor sports car races have defined Lime Rock since the day it opened, and I\u2019m making sure that continues well into the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that everything we\u2019re doing, all the changes, all the improvements… all will make Lime Rock more useful, easier to navigate, more sensible \u2013 but all with an eye to making Lime Rock even more beautiful than it already is. I have no doubt that, just in the case of our paddocks, Lime Rock\u2019s will be the most attractive in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the multitude of Road to 60 projects underway, the highlights are…<\/p>\n

A-Paddock
\nTo be completely re-done and much larger, plus: laser-graded-and-paved to eliminate standing water; it will be landscaped; there\u2019ll be defined spectator walkways and cobblestone curbing; and the roadways through the paddock will be much wider. The new A-Paddock is specifically designed to allow two complete race rigs, tractors included, to park in-line \u2013 with a walkway in between \u2013 from inside Big Bend up to Victory Circle. Additionally, it will provide large and extremely efficient driving exercise and hospitality acreage for automakers as well as other ride-and-drive, press day and driver-training clients.<\/p>\n

A-Paddock one week after construction began<\/p>\n

April 2015: A-Paddock will have an attractive retention pond behind the newly placed Big Bend inside guardrail<\/p>\n

B-Paddock
\nTo be completely re-done: Paved in its entirety (and also laser-graded to eliminate standing water), there\u2019ll be much more usable space. Like A-Paddock, it will provide large and extremely efficient driving exercise and hospitality acreage.<\/p>\n

April 2015, B-Paddock: You can see all the white base gravel, in preparation for paving<\/p>\n

Infield Spectator Hillside
\nCompletely re-done: Close to 100,000 square yards of earth was moved, re-contoured, re-sloped and\/or removed to dramatically improve and expand the sightlines as well as make Lime Rock\u2019s famous \u201cpicnic-blanket-and-lawn-chair\u201d experience even more enjoyable. Thanks to the re-working of the hill, close to 45 percent of the track can now be seen from this Hillside \u2013 with just a turn of the head.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Infield Spectator Hillside has been extended all the way through the inside curve of the Righthander, creating an entirely new and exciting viewing area of No Name Straight and the Uphill. The Hillside reconfiguration has also allowed the spectator fencing to be moved even closer to the circuit in many locations.<\/p>\n

Spectator Hillside near the Righthander being re-designed<\/p>\n

April 2015: The re-contoured and lengthened Infield Hillside.<\/p>\n

April 2015: Looking up No Name Straight to the Uphill from the new spectator area inside the Righthander<\/p>\n

Hospitality Acreage
\nThere are now a total of three large areas of Lime Rock property dedicated to corporate, race team and VIP hospitality. The popular Outfield hospitality acreage remains essentially the same but the existing hospitality area in the Infield (between the Chalets) has been significantly increased in size and laser-graded. The third is an exciting new hospitality area that overlooks the Righthander and No Name Straight.<\/p>\n

April 2015: The beginnings of the all-new Hospitality area overlooking the Righthander. This is looking southwest, toward No Name Straight.<\/p>\n

A-Paddock Rest Rooms
\nThe Men\u2019s Room will be completely rebuilt, and the Ladies Room totally refreshed.<\/p>\n

Handicap Access
\nIt will be improved and\/or added throughout much of the facility.<\/p>\n

Also: There\u2019ll be a new PA system; expanded and robust wi-fi; improved cellular service; and improvements and expansions to the other spectator areas<\/p>\n

Barber says, \u201cRoad to 60 accomplishes many things for Lime Rock\u2019s future, both short term and long. For each project, I asked myself, \u2018What\u2019s the best way to do this to make the Lime Rock experience better for the fan?\u2019 While not forgetting the competitors, sanctioning bodies, the car makers, hospitality clients, the Lime Rock Drivers Club and all the driving and racing organizations, I\u2019m pretty sure we\u2019ve made good decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lime Rock spending millions as it builds better fan experience \u201cRoad to 60\u201d already underway LAKEVILLE, Conn. (April 14) \u2013 Late last year, Lime Rock Park Track President Skip Barber committed more than $3 million to a wide variety of projects to rebuild, refine and renew Lime Rock\u2019s infrastructure. The goal of the so-called Road […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[196,163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-connecticut","category-lime-rock-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18523"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18549,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18523\/revisions\/18549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}