Took a tour around the facility of Rattlesnake.
$100 for a track only Hall and his employees are allowed.
Here is a diagram I drew of the facilities.
Outside the facility was the Chap. 2F
Here's is Jim Hall's office
Aerial picture of the track
What's currently house in the south end garage
To the right was Gil de Ferran's car.
To the left is Jim Hall's Lotus (from the tour guide)
Dyno Room
The garage at the north end
Here are the notes I got from this from the tour guide. This was built on a partnership with Hap Sharp in 1961. The south end garage was up then following year Hall built the north end and the east end (the dyna room) was built by someone I forgot to drop down. There was 13 full-time employees working for him in the 60s-70s. In Germany a local dealership (Opal from what I heard) gave them a stall for their operation in Europe.
The shuttle taking a lap on the track when this guy sat behind me gave what's it like.
Mike Pokabella (sp?) was the team engineer in 60s and 70s.
I have photos of the track taken inside the van looking ahead. I will post them once I got through editting the photos. Here's a description of the track. One single lane, goes clockwise. There's a "skid pad" just going into the first 90 degree corner. The last corner is a double apex fast corner to decreasing exit. According the Pokabella, the car would get on the brakes hard from 175 MPH entering the corner to 45-50 MPH exiting. If not, they would skid and likely hit the south end garage. A lap around the track would be around 55 seconds. No fence, just shrubs of weeds, grass, and dirt. Jackrabbits was a problem during testing.
More coming soon.....
Rattlesnake revealed
Started by
Pikachu Racing
, Apr 16 2004 20:55
8 replies to this topic
#1
Posted 16 April 2004 - 20:55
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#2
Posted 16 April 2004 - 22:59
PR, I'd say you got your money's worth -- and then some!
Color me green with envy!
Color me green with envy!
#3
Posted 17 April 2004 - 03:36
Exactly. It felt like heaven there. I also got stuff on film and need to get it developed. I will be at the opening tomorrow morning. I will continue to snap away.
#4
Posted 17 April 2004 - 03:57
PR
Thanks for sharing your experience and the photos. As Lotus23 has said you got your money's worth and some.
Thanks for sharing your experience and the photos. As Lotus23 has said you got your money's worth and some.
#5
Posted 17 April 2004 - 04:23
Here I am on track.
Just as the shuttle got on track, this is the curve in the northern area.
This is the skid pad located on the middle of the straight from the end of the curve corner to the first 90 degree corner. Never got a good photo shot of it. But here is the photo of the straight
These are the two 90 degree corners on the track. In the last photo you can barely see 2nd shuttle ahead going into the corner
This is the double apex fast corner into a decreasing speed exit. In the first photo the shuttle is about to go in the corner (175 MPH) all the way through on the next four photos (breaks hard). At the last photo is the left hander where cars have to be around 45-50 MPH.
This is the entrance/exit to the track. I got the last photo just in a nick of time before exiting. This was the entrance the curving corner.
Just as the shuttle got on track, this is the curve in the northern area.
This is the skid pad located on the middle of the straight from the end of the curve corner to the first 90 degree corner. Never got a good photo shot of it. But here is the photo of the straight
These are the two 90 degree corners on the track. In the last photo you can barely see 2nd shuttle ahead going into the corner
This is the double apex fast corner into a decreasing speed exit. In the first photo the shuttle is about to go in the corner (175 MPH) all the way through on the next four photos (breaks hard). At the last photo is the left hander where cars have to be around 45-50 MPH.
This is the entrance/exit to the track. I got the last photo just in a nick of time before exiting. This was the entrance the curving corner.
#6
Posted 17 April 2004 - 04:27
This was also at parking lot of Petroleum Museum
#7
Posted 17 April 2004 - 08:36
nice thread !
#8
Posted 17 April 2004 - 16:44
Lucky sod
Thanks for sharing!!!!!
Thanks for sharing!!!!!
#9
Posted 18 April 2004 - 13:26
Pikachu
This is a great thread - what a fantastic day out! Thanks for sharing it with us all.
Methinks we should have a TNF Award for the Most Interesting Thread every now and then - nothing too formal you understand. That would become boring and everyone would lose interest.
I'd certainly nominate this one anyway!
Cheers
MCS
This is a great thread - what a fantastic day out! Thanks for sharing it with us all.
Methinks we should have a TNF Award for the Most Interesting Thread every now and then - nothing too formal you understand. That would become boring and everyone would lose interest.
I'd certainly nominate this one anyway!
Cheers
MCS