[tnspd]

I am running the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway in July. I have not run a Roval yet. I have plenty of road course experience but none on a Roval. Any tips suggestions? I plan to go to YouTube and find some videos to watch.

[mjk3888]

Be sure to check the dates on the videos you are looking at. The layout there seems to change every event. The latest one removed a big section of the infield. Also the banking looks easy in video but in person it require some serious guts to commit to pushing the cars limits when that wall is staring you down at 145+ I would sail off into 3 but I was too chicken to roll back in the throttle before I let the car cost down way too much. TBH I felt way more confident pushing the car over blind crests @ Road Atlanta than I did pushing hard @ Charlotte. Click the youtube link in my signature to see videos at both.

[Roostie]

I've run the roval a number of times at Auto Club speedway in Fontana, CA. Looking at the Charlotte roval configuration I saw online, and in a lap video, I suggest that you start with a conservative speed for the second set of banked oval turns (the ones that follow a big straight), until you get comfortable with driving through the banking. Talk to an instructor or event organizer to figure out what a good target speed is for your initial laps.

If you haven't driven an oval before, it can feel unnatural to "track out" towards the wall when you exit the banked turns. But you must, to carry speed and keep the car stable. As you learn to do this and get comfortable, increase your speed as the day goes on.

Your car may be *capable* of some manic speeds around banked oval turns. But it raises serious safety concerns. Banked turns put a lot of stress on tires, and concrete walls make for big consequences. Without a lot of information about your tires, and really good safety equipment, you probably should not aim to take your car to its literal limits in the banked turns. At the roval in Fontana, the event organizer for track days gave a recommended maximum speed in the banked turns for anyone who wasn't in a fully-prepped race car, on race tires, with advanced-level experience. You might be able to get a similar recommendation for a not-to-exceed speed on the banked turns at your track. I'd save your hero moves and hardest driving for those infield turns! Have fun and let us know how it goes.

[Norm Peterson]

It could be worthwhile to take in a half day or maybe a full day with a stock car driving experience such as Richard Petty's. RPDE at least used to use a lead-follow arrangement with speeds determined in part by how well you were able to maintain a following distance (not creeping up too close or falling too far back). You'd at least get to see the banked turns up close and at speed without risking your own ride the first time out there.


Norm

[tnspd]

Thanks for all the in put. I am not trying to set any speed records out there. Just have fun with it. I found some really good videos that show speeds in the turns that will help as well. I plan to take a cautious approach until I get a feel for the track. As I usually do on a new track I have not run before. Are the high speed turns hard on the tires at all? I have been on a few tracks like NCCAR where the rough track in the turns just eat your tires up.