Nov 18. 2010: Paving Daytona

The advent of super speedways, like Daytona, brought the advent of super steep embankments, to keep the cars on the track at speeds around 200 mph. I remember when they started testing the then new Talladega track, the drivers were complaining of severe headaches. They brought in some NASA engineers who discovered the texture of the track surface was setting up vibrations at speeds north of 180mph, that would kill brain cells. So not just the bumps that could launch a race car are critical, but the smoothness of the surface too.

My brother sent me a dozen pictures of the repaving of the Daytona track.



1 - You see the tri-axle dump truck delivering the blacktop.
2 - I don't know what that machine is called, but it's taking the blacktop and probably pulverizing it to a uniform consistency, and heating it to a uniform temperature, then dumping it in the next machine.
3 - This mobile crane is carrying the conveyor which delivers the blacktop to the paver.
4 - The paver actually lays the blacktop down smooth and of uniform thickness.



Steep, ain't it? The bulldozer looking thingy in the upper left corner is a side-boom cat. It's like a bulldozer but has that mini-crane boom out the side and are used primarily for laying pipe in a ditch. Here it's being used to keep the paver from sliding down the embankment. In the background is another side-boom helping the roller.



Keep in mind, the tri-axle, the heater, the mobile crane, the paver, and the side-boom cat, all have to move together like the Radio City Rockettes.

I'm sure Daytona is paying handsomely.

This is weird.