[Lucky]

I found the ones in T1 over the weekend, too. I entered a little hot & ran wide on exit. The bumping and shaking did not upset the car much, so they are safe to use for recovering your line... but they sure do get your attention so you take a better line the next time around!

I agree, the only two places at SP with alligator teeth seem to be T1 and T10... the other areas are red/white curbing meant to act as visual deterrents.

[Trak Ratt]

Ops! Just talked to my Instructor – stay off curbs/alligators!

[Jase007]

Ops! Just talked to my Instructor – stay off curbs/alligators!

At least in the beginning of your on-track experience

Jase

[CrewChief]

I thought it was just me being a curmugeon. Then reading one of those typical Pano articles about track driving experiences and the author mentioned going out with Hurley Haywood. HH immeadiately turns to him and tells him in no uncertain terms to to 'STAY OFF THE CURBS'. So, I figure if it's good enough for HH it's good enough for me. If you're good enough to use the curbs you don't need me.

[Vicegrip]

If your car can handle the upset of driving on the curbs then for the most part you could have loadded it up some more and not hit them in the first place. With that said there are some that beg to be driven over such as top of T3 and in the climbing esses at VIR. All depends on your car and suspention.

Don't get me started on CMP...The gators at CMP SUCK! They are far too aqgressive. I had one off that if the gator were not made to damage your car I would have had no problem with a corner I hit a little too hot. In order to protect my car, and at the expense of CMPs nice grass, I dove 4 wheels off and AROUND the thing.

Steve. Feel free to call or post any question without fear of dercive coment. We are ALL new at something.

The mentioned books and link are all good places to start. You will get much answered from them.

[VaSteve]

Originally Posted by Kurt Mickelwait

Steve. Feel free to call or post any question without fear of dercive coment. We are ALL new at something.

The mentioned books and link are all good places to start. You will get much answered from them.

Thanks all of you guys! This really is a good thing we have here.
Steve

[APKhaos]

Kurt is right, of course. There is no back/white rule re curbs and gators.

Examples of curbs/gators to avoid at SP - inside apex curbs at 3, 4, 9 & 10
Examples of curbs/gators that are runnable - track out at 3, inside 5, outside 6, inside 7, track out 9 & 10.

Going OVER the curb at 10 gets you into gator-land. The asphalt is cut with 4" grooves to get your attention and discourage you from going further off track. Noisy and nasty, but not suspension-wrecking like the famed CMP gators.

There are similar examples of each type at every track, and there is nothing like a track walk to get to know them better. We try to do a track walk at every away event to point out the helpful, subtle, and danger points that you often dont see from the car at speed. Its an education. Another thing you really dont appreciate from the car is the extent of the true elevation and camber changes around a track. Go on every track walk you can. They are gold!

[Don Wohlfarth]

Let me try and help define some terms: Alligators are on the inside of the turn, usually painted red/white, you'll find the apex approximately in the middle ie if the alligator is 20' long you'll find the apex about 10'. They are usually on a slight angle that pushes you back on track. Rumble strips are usually on the outside edge of the turn to alert you that you are about to run out of track.
Can you drive over alligators? It depends. If your 3 mil a year drivers contract is about up, your wife has filed for divorce, your 2 ex-wives are suing for back support payments, your girlfriend is pregnant, your house is in foreclosure, and you're overdrawn on your checking account, and someone else is paying your repair bills, you might consider it.
If by chance (?) you find yourself in this situation you may want to try running over curbs (alligators) on linked, slow to medium speed turns where you are trying to improve your angle of entrance to the second turn that leads to a long straight. CAUTION!!! The climbing ess's at VIR are linked turns but is NOT a place to try jumping curbs.
The reason HH and other more seasoned drivers say no is because you upset the balance of the car. They preach being smooth as being the path to increasing speed by not asking the car to do something in a herky-jerky manner that upsets the balance of the car.

[Charlie Stylianos]

If by chance (?) you find yourself in this situation you may want to try running over curbs (alligators) on linked, slow to medium speed turns where you are trying to improve your angle of entrance to the second turn that leads to a long straight.

Like VIR Turn #6?

[CrewChief]

Nope.

The challange of that VIR section is doing 5a and 5b correctly, so you can shoot through the 'Snake' (6 & 7) in a straight line missing all the bumps.

Sure, you can hit the bumps and it's a ball. First year we were at VIR (first year it was open again) I discovered (by being offline) that my car could run over the Snake curbs with impunity. Really feels like your doing someting. But I now know it just meant I was off line.