Brands Hatch Patching Project

Who:

R3 were appointed by the client and owner of Brands Hatch Circuit, Motorsport Vision (MSV) to provide Quality Assurance services during resurfacing of Graham Hill Bend and Paddock Hill Bend.

What was the challenge?

Brands Hatch Circuit is a historic racetrack that is among the busiest in the world. It is owned and operated by Motorsport Vision (MSV). The track is used for all different levels of motorsport from manufacturer client days to amateur racing, to professional BTCC and BSB. The track is in use for around 350 days per year. Two corners needed to be resurfaced due to the current surface course coming to its end of life. Track access and weather meant that resurfacing had to be done in a very short window so as not to impact track operations.

What was the solution?

Working with the Principal Contractor, Thomas Bow Ltd, R3 designed a specification and paving methodology to ensure that the resultant works were appropriate for the high levels of stress placed on the asphalt from high performance vehicles traveling at extreme speeds. The specification was agreed with Thomas Bow who worked with R3 Ltd and the supply chain to deliver the resurfacing works in 2 days making sure the surface was ready for track use immediately afterwards.

Due to the historic nature of Brand Hatch the condition of the sub-base and binder course was not fully known. As such, the track designers, Driven International used cores taken to estimate the asphalt layer thicknesses when reprofiling the corners. During milling, some delamination occurred which resulted in some areas of sub-base having to be removed and replaced. Working in collaboration with Thomas Bow, this challenge was overcome to ensure the correct solution was selected to minimise the risk of structural issues in future.

Thomas Bow used their proprietary Bowtrack asphalt mix with a high PSV grit stone for the works. This was manufactured by FM Conway at their local asphalt mixing plant.

For the surfacing, three pavers were used in echelon to create hot paver joints and minimise any potential bumps or weaknesses. This meant that FM Conway had to provide a large quantity of asphalt to keep the pavers moving on order to ensure the tight time deadline was met.

To prepare the surface for a motorbike event the following day, RoadGrip Ltd were commissioned to use their High-pressure Water Retexturing process to remove any excess bitumen from the new asphalt. This is done to increase the wet grip levels by exposing the aggregate microtexture which can be blinded by the construction process and is imperative in a tyre gripping to the surface in the wet. The experience of RaodGrip on racetracks meant that the surface was suitably prepared without causing damage to the surface.