Sunland Asphalt, a paving contractor from Arizona, emailed me late last year.
They were selected to pave a track in Miami and wanted us to document the work. I can't mention the track's specific user, but it's a motorsport starting with a letter and ending in a number between one and three.
One, two, six, I was driving a rental car down the same straight I'd watched my favorite racing drivers tear down a year prior. It was sick.
The experience was incredible, but the work was even more extraordinary. Sunland crews used echelon paving with three pavers running simultaneously to achieve perfect smoothness. I'll never forget it.
Fast forward to April… I was visiting Lone Star Paving in Austin, Texas, one morning. The weather was terrible, so nothing was happening. But then my host, Petyon, got a call. They could still mill at COTA. COTA? Circuit of the Americas… You're kidding.
There I was, driving my rental car down ANOTHER straight I had watched my favorite drivers race on for years.
I then watched them micro-mill the surface to remove slight imperfections before an upcoming MotoGP race. The quality control process? Racing across it in a Ferrari. I'm dead serious.
Which brings me to Las Vegas… When Formula One announced the Las Vegas Grand Prix street race, I knew it meant only one thing—A LOT of paving. And there's one name in Las Vegas paving… Las Vegas Paving.
Seeing the work would not only be cool, but it will give me the triple crown of American F1 track projects. No one cares, but I do.
As I planned the BuildWitt Roadshow, I sent a random message to someone at LVP. They not only replied, but they said they'd love to have us out. Sick!!!
At 4:30 AM, we drove down the strip to the work area near Aria. Many people stumbled about. The difference between them and us was that we'd slept for the night. They hadn't.
The LVP crews were busy laying down the final leveling course to prepare for the next month's race layer paving. Using Cat's latest paver and rollers, they wasted no time.
The equipment was brand-new, and the technology was top-of-the-line. Every roller used intelligent compaction to map where they'd rolled, and the paver used a thermal camera to track for heat segregation. They submitted all data to the international engineering teams who were monitoring progress.
Not only was the utmost precision required, but LVP has performed all work with pedestrians, traffic, and endless utilities in the way. As you can imagine, rebuilding the entire pavement cross-section down the Las Vegas Strip is no joke. But it's all in a day's work for the crews of Las Vegas Paving.
As the day warmed up, we made a swift exit. After all, we had another six-hour drive ahead of us, and tomorrow will be a grind. Literally.