In my limited (one season of) track experience, I've done more days at BeaveRun than anywhere else, and nearly as many at Nelson. And NESBA is on NL's schedule already, so I'm thinking 'the contracts are in the mail' so-to-speak.
The bottom line is they're two totally different tracks, and both really fun ...but Beave is fun sooner.
Pros for Beave:
- surface is 95% awesome. patches in T5 are nothing to worry about at all. it does get a little bumpy coming out of T7, and there's a little dimple at the end of the front straight that you tend to hit passing on the brakes (not on race line)
- clean facilities. showers and toilets are clean, warm, well lit, etc.
- elevation changes. Turns 5-6-7 are my favorite part of the track
Cons:
- more expensive than NL, but still not super expensive by trackday standards.
- short-ish layout (1.8 miles)
Pros for NL:
- FAST. you can average over 100mph (in A group) and probably top-out a 600 on the back straight. there's only 1 real braking zone on that track, coming off the back straight. i barely touch the brakes for turn 1 in 4th gear.
- fun layout. As a couple people noted, the carousel at Nelson is a huge, long double-apex right-hander. It seems like your knee is on the deck for 20 seconds (top of 3rd gear, IIRC). sweet sweet feeling to get that down and run it faster as the day goes on.
- CHEAP! $145/day last year?
Cons:
- Surface is no better than 60% overall, arguably worse... But the race line is close to 80%. it's very rideable (especially at B and I pace). Because it's bumpy, it's not exactly confidence-inspiring, which is why I said "Beave is fun sooner."
- facilities are old. it's basically a farm, with a shack for showers and toilets. as noted, the toilet stalls are tiny. I put it on par with a cheap camp ground. tolerable for a weekend, but not a week.
- run-off. they've moved some tire walls back, and it's not terrible, but it could be better. WERA still races there, but some of the riders boycott NL. Then again, they're running 1:09s or better there, and in B group, 1:20 is pretty respectable (CR's correct me if i'm wrong here. there wasn't a timing beacon in October, so i'm going by Kevin's seat-o-pants meter)
I honestly think NL is a great and fun track, but definitely challenging. If you want to have a relaxing weekend, learn a new track and have some fun, run Beave. it's great. But man, after my last weekend at NL, I feel like I can go fast ANYWHERE now. If you want to improve your skills, and save some cash, do Nelson. and NL is fun too, just not til later in the day, when you get the confidence to hold it wide open through the kink.
