Harris Hill Road Course Review
For some of you guys interested in Central TX Tracks.....
Well the Austin area is finally getting some road courses. One of the first to open in the area is Harris Hill Road.
Harris Hill Road is a new MSR-type (country club) track just built South of Austin. It is 1.8 mile course will some pretty nice elevation changes.
Jeff from the Austin Miata Club set up an event to check and run the track last Saturday (29 March). We had quite a few Miatas from the Austin and SA club show up.
We broke up into 3 groups; Novice/Touring, Intermediate, Advanced. Novice group did not require helmets or a Roll bar, Intermediate required Helmets, and Advanced required helmets and a Roll Bar. Each person decided his/her own group.
The laps were done with a pace and chase car, with NO passing allowed. However, it seemed that most people did a pretty good job of self-categorizing.
I was never held up or felt like I was slowing the person behind me down.
The Aussie hot shoe Jon E. was gracious enough to let me ride with him during one of his advanced sessions. He showed me some great lines that I hadn't picked up yet in the middle of the intermediate group. I also had my running GPS watch with me and clocked some of his lap times. While being third behind the Pace Car, he was running in between 1:41 and 1:43.
My times were quite slower with a couple at 1:49 - 1:51. I was quite impressed with my GPS watch and the data plots it was able to give me.
Overall, I loved the course. To be fair, I probably would've liked anything better than a 1/4 mile oval though. :D The elevation changes were interesting. I was getting a top speed in the upper eighties (GPS data isn't in front of me) on the first long straight.
Harris Hill also announced they will be doing motorcycle events as well. This is a change from what they had said a couple months prior.
They also said that any flag to flag racing will have to be approved individually by the City of San Marcos.
The pricing also seems very reasonable, with a $900 membership fee and $1500 refundable deposit. I had hoped the memberships would be transferable, but I understand the business rationale for not doing so.
But the best thing for me is the track is only 20 minutes from my house!
Chris
