MOLSON INDY VANCOUVER TRACK LAYOUT ANNOUNCED

by Gerry Frechette

MOLSON INDY VANCOUVER TRACK LAYOUT ANNOUNCED

The new layout for the Molson Indy Vancouver track was announced on March 18, and while it still gets moved around towards the east and south sides of False Creek, it isn’t quite the configuration that was originally envisioned when the plans were first made public last year.

A combination of factors has resulted in much less of the track occupying the south side of False Creek, and somewhat more of it being situated on the north side than was planned for.

The original proposal for the track that was approved by Vancouver City Council had it extending as far west as Columbia Street, and using a portion of First Avenue. That has now been scaled back by about half.

As Molson Indy General Manager Stuart Ballantyne explains, "the initial design had the track running over a small wooden decking structure built over a creek, but the decking turned out to be much bigger, covering much of the Western part of the site. We would have had to fill it in, or create a structure over it." Both would have had implications for the fish-bearing stream underneath.

"So it would have had to be a structure, and the process and approvals required on that would not allow enough time to develop the track. So we decided to go ahead with a new design to avoid any issues which could postpone the event."

The original design had the entire CART Champ Car paddock, and the start-finish line, on that south side, but the reduction in the track length at that end necessitated a re-think on that. As a result, the layout has been flip-flopped back to the way it has been the first eight years, with the CART paddock and start-finish on the north side. The support events get their own paddock and pit lane on the south side.But with the track layout now significantly shorter on the south side, Ballantyne and crew sought to lengthen the track as much as possible on the north side. The initial proposal had the track running down the existing start-finish straight, but now, that pavement will be the actual paddock, and the new start-finish straight will be a newly-paved section closer to the water, where the paddock has been for eight years.

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But that was another problem for Molson Indy, as that land had begun to be developed as park. Ballantyne continues. "We’ve been working with Concord Pacific (the land owners), and they were supportive of what we wanted to do there. we needed to make sure the Vancouver Parks Board were comfortable with what we had to do with the trees that are there; it’s a sensitive issue. We’ll net out more trees in that area than what existed prior to us coming in."

The Parks Board are reported to have reluctantly agreed, not unanimously, to accept the proposal, and Molson Indy has their track layout. It’s 2/10 mile shorter than what was initially proposed, but 100 yards longer than the old track.

Greg Moore was on hand to give his approval to the new track, and it is clear that it will be a much more exciting layout. "There were some parts of the old track we didn’t like," he admits, spaeking for all the drivers. "There was really only one passing area - unless you are Alex Zanardi," he laughed, referring to the Italian’s daring manoeuvres last year here.

Moore identified at least four good passing corners on the new layout - Turns 1, 6, 8 and 9. With 90% of the track to be new asphalt, and the prospect of 200 mph speeds on Quebec street, Moore feels that "this could be one of the best street courses we race on all year."

Now it remains to complete the track, on time and on budget. As well, the actual line-up of events and schedule have yet to be decided upon.

With only three races locked in - Champ Cars, Indy Lights and Atlantic - there remains room for at least one more support event, and maybe two.

Ballantyne would like five races as in the past, not least for the added income and fan appeal, and with CART’s new so-called "time certain" schedule that guarantees that sessions will start and end when scheduled, regardless of whether there has been running time lost for incidents, he is able to plan better and avoid the situation that developed last year, with a race running on Saturday at 7:30 PM.

"If we can accomodate CART with our scheduling," which includes a support race after the Champ Car race on Sunday, "and find the paddock space for four support events, we’re planning to make the decision to get the fifth event in," Ballantyne says.

And that would be good news for local motorsport, as it would make more likely the return of the popular Sports Car Invitational that was pushed aside last year.