Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Repave Completed

Green Savoree Racing Promotions, the owners and operators of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course announced on Tuesday that the race track has been completely repaved.

The circuit which plays host to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES each year amongst other motorsports events had planning permission granted for the repaving project was granted in 2022.

The project was a collaborative effort using the expert services of Kokosing Construction Company, Inc., Kokosing Materials, Inc., and Advanced Materials Services, LLC. Planning and thorough research for the repaving began in 2022 with a test layer placed in Turn 1 for performance evaluation of a racetrack-specific asphalt mixture during the 2023 racing season. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course racing surface was last repaved starting in the fall of 2005 and completed in the spring of 2006.

Kevin Savoree, co-owner, president, and chief operating officer of Green Savoree Racing Promotions commented on the completion of the project saying:

“We were blessed with outstanding weather last week for the crews to complete this major project in a relatively short amount of time. “It was a tremendous accomplishment and collaboration between Kokosing Construction, Kokosing Materials, Advanced Materials Services and our own track operations team to make it happen. We look forward to getting race cars on it for the first time next spring!”

The work that was completed last week utilized approximately 100 people, 5,000 manpower hours, 15 trucks to remove approximately 6,000 tons (300 truckloads) of old track material, and 30 trucks to haul 6,000 tons of the new asphalt mixture onto the property. The project encompassed 11,550 feet of surface paving, 3,500 feet of various turn reinforcement, 500 feet of full-depth repair in the Keyhole and Turn 12 areas, and 300 feet of transverse joint repair.

Bart Moody, vice president of asphalt estimating and engineering at Kokosing Construction Company, Inc. commented saying:

“Plans for the 2023 project started in 2022, immediately after completing the resurfacing of Turn 1,” said Bart Moody, vice president of asphalt estimating and engineering at Kokosing Construction Company, Inc. “Logistical challenges had to be overcome to produce the mix and perform the work with limited time and access. A full-time truck coordinator was in constant communication with material trucks to ensure they entered and exited the track at the correct locations as work progressed. Crews worked extended hours in order to maintain the schedule that made use of unseasonably warm weather for October in Ohio.”

Graham Hurley, project engineer at Advanced Materials Services, LLC said:

“The stresses on a racetrack, especially road courses with tight turns, are much higher than those typically seen on conventional asphalt pavements. “The much stiffer PG 88-22 asphalt binder used counteracts the shear stresses imparted on the track surface by race cars, which prevents any ravelling that may occur. Additionally, the specifications used for this project were much tighter than a traditional highway specification. The target minimum softening temperature for asphalt binder and the target in-place density values were both set higher than conventional specifications for vehicular traffic. Kokosing successfully met these higher conditions with ease.”