Water Main Break at Belle Isle Damages Track Prior to Indycar Race Weekend

[ShadowKnight508]

Credit to USA Today:

The ducks may have liked the foul weather this week on Belle Isle, but it raised an alarm with Roger Penske.

When the Raceway on Belle Isle sprung a leak Tuesday, it was all hands on deck at the orders of Penske, the man behind the revival of the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix.

The heavy rains Tuesday and into Wednesday caused a water main to burst under the race track, which is scheduled to go green on Friday morning as cars practice, qualify and race in this year's "Chevy Indy Dual in Detroit" Verizon IndyCar Series event and the associated support races.

"We woke here the other morning and a water main had burst and caused the track to buckle between Turns 13 and 14," revealed Penske at Wednesday's Quicken Loans Grand Prix Street Fest powered by Chevrolet at Campus Martius. "The last couple days, we had to dig about 80 feet (of track out) between 13 and 14 and repave it. I thought we were done with the track, but Mother Nature jumps in and gives us a load of water."

Workers under the direction of Penske and Grand Prix chairman Bud Denker toiled through the night Tuesday and into Wednesday to fix the problem.

"It was on the racing line, but we poured in asphalt and sealed it," Penske said. "We finished up yesterday and today. We have enough time for it to cure."

In 2012, the Belle Isle track broke up during the GP and the event was stopped for almost two hours while Denker and his team put it back together so the race could finish.

The track was repaired and extended for last year's IndyCar doubleheader, and all went smoothly. There are plans now to replace all the old concrete on the 2.3-mile race course for 2015 at a cost of over $4 million.

 

[dalejrgamer]

Yeah, that sums up the city of Detroit.

 

[moppenheimer]

Its such a shame this race is seemingly always plagued by something or other...Aside from Detroits obvious problems, Belle Isle itself is an amazing location for a race.

 

[ShadowKnight508]

In this awesome visor cam video from Pagenaud's team, you can see the large patch that Penske's crew did on the short straightaway between Turns 13 and 14 at the 2:05 mark. Credit to Racer.com:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G9VJ_UNKWQ]RACER: Simon Pagenaud Visor Cam Detroit - YouTube[/ame]

 

[moppenheimer]

And now in the TUSCC race someone hit the tires and all the water that was in them from the rain has created a river across the track that caused a couple spins...

 

[Brandon Howe]

Can we just pick up Belle Isle and move it to a location where it won't be plagued by Detroit being Detroit.