One of the NHRA’s newest member tracks, New England Dragway has completed the first of several major upgrades to the facility in order to prepare for a Full Throttle Series event a few years down the road. The racing surface is now concrete from start to finish. The work was completed just last week and the results look pretty awesome. The long curing process has now begun.
The track was a hybrid previously with the first 700′ being concrete and the remainder being asphalt. Like many tracks, NED fought issues with “weepers” after heavy rains. Several different efforts at improving drainage, it was determined by the facility and the NHRA that the best course of action to cure the issue was to remove all the asphalt and replace it with concrete.
In the process of removing the old material, it was found that the 8-inches of asphalt consisted of two layers. Water would get trapped between them and when the top layer got hot, it would act like a wick and draw the water up, forming small puddles that had to be constantly dried.
According to the track, 600 yards of cement were laid down by the crew doing the work, that’s the equivalent of 26,000 bags of redi-mix! The technology used to pave the track is pretty cool and was developed by the New Hampshire company that did the work. The laser leveling and advanced finishing techniques mean that the finished product probably won’t have to be ground when done.
Next up on the docket will be the relocation of the finish line score boards away from the track, per NHRA regulations.
(Photo credit Bill Poor/New England Dragway)
