Paving contractor Sunland Asphalt worked in close collaboration with RDO and the Wirtgen Group to ensure that they had the right equipment, technology and expertise to meet the tight tolerances required on the Formula 1 racetrack resurfacing project
In the world of Formula 1 racing, where every single millimetre counts, Sunland Asphalt Paving relied on its best people for the successful completion of the resurfacing project on Miami's Formula 1 racing circuit. They brought together 75 of their own people and 15 technical specialists and moved in 40 pieces of heavy equipment from around the country in 35 separate loads. A total of eight Wirtgen Group machines were deployed on the project. These included two SUPER 2000-3i Highway Class pavers from Vögele, three cold milling machines W 210 Fi from Wirtgen and three HD+ 80i tandem rollers from Hamm.
The project brief foresaw milling off the existing asphalt surface to a depth of 5 cm and the paving and compaction of a highly specific asphalt mix in line with the stringent standards of the FIA, the governing body for Formula 1 racing and world motor sport. The circuit was to be resurfaced with a 5 cm asphalt layer, which meant that the paving crews had to lay down a total of 9,500 t of the new asphalt mix within the space of only eight days.
The planning of the resurfacing project for the 5.41 km long and around 15 m wide, anti-clockwise racing circuit around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens had to take into consideration numerous other scheduled events on the site – including the end of the NFL football season, a jazz festival and the Miami Open tennis tournament. In addition, the governing body of Formula 1 racing, the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) stipulated that the asphalt would have to be paved 60 days before the upcoming Grand Prix to give the material enough time to cure and harden.
Needless to say, this meant a lot of coordination on the part of Sunland, who fortunately had the Wirtgen Group as a partner at their side throughout the project.
The essentials of Formula 1 racing – high speeds and perfect grip!
The first Grand Prix was held on this circuit in 2022. After drivers had expressed concerns about the lack of grip on the track, the circuit owners decided to renew the asphalt surface in time for the 2023 Grand Prix. TILKE Engineers & Architects, recognised as the world’s leading designer for race tracks and automotive testing facilities, was commissioned to oversee the track resurfacing project, which, when completed, promised to treat both spectators and drivers to an even more spectacular Formula 1 Grand Prix experience in 2023.
Sunland Asphalt Paving was awarded the contract for resurfacing the racing circuit and began removing the existing surface material in spring 2023. Three Wirtgen W 210 Fi milling machines worked continuously at a low advance rate of around 12 m/min to ensure compliance with the extremely strict tolerances required on the project. The crews managed to mill off an area of around 14,200 m² per day and completed the overall material removal process within five days.
The cold milling machines were controlled by a 3D control system with a Universal Total Station (UTS) in accordance with previously defined terrain models. This enabled precise compliance with the specifications for the sub-base for the subsequent asphalt paving. To guarantee precise asphalt paving, the Wirtgen cold milling machines were equipped with milling drums with close tool spacing.
Sunland Asphalt moved equipment from its own fleet to the project site to ensure that the construction crews could work with familiar machines and processes. They deployed two SUPER 2000-3i pavers with VR 600 screeds working in echelon to pave the entire width of the track ‘hot to hot’ and avoid the creation of joints on the surface of the almost 15-metre wide track. This made it possible to achieve a smooth and even asphalt surface layer.
Seamless paving: The two Vögele SUPER 2000-3i pavers paved the mix ‘hot to hot’ in echelon.
The mix recipe included 60% US-mined granite from Georgia, while the remaining aggregate content was locally-sourced limestone from Southern Florida. These aggregates provided the grip required on the racing circuit.
In addition to the three Wirtgen milling machines W 210 Fi, Sunland used three HammHD+ 80i rollers and two Vögele SUPER 2000-3i asphalt pavers. The Wirtgen Group technologies allowed the construction crew to meet the strict tolerances specified in the project brief.
The Wirtgen Group technologies on these machines work according to the ‘plug and play’ principle, which made getting them up and running particularly easy for the Sunland team.
VR 600: This extending screed is the ideal choice for the paving of roads with a width of between around 0.3 and 8.6 m. Equipped with the field-proven electrical screed heating system, the VR 600 makes it possible to create exceptionally even road pavements of the highest quality.
Big MultiPlex Ski: Its variable beams can be fitted with three multi-cell sonic sensors that scan the ground simultaneously at several points located at a distance from one another. The Niveltronic Plus automated grade and slope control system calculates a mean from the values gathered by the sensors over the entire scanned area and uses it to compensate for unevenness, even over longer distances.
‘Thanks to Smart Compaction, all of our tandem rollers can display our rolling patterns throughout the entire working day’, Hughes emphasised. ‘It provides us with real-time documentation of the areas we have compacted and lets us know whether we are compacting more areas than necessary. At the same time, we can also determine whether more or less vibration is required.’
The Hamm Smart Compaction system allows users to set a predefined number of passes before compaction and shows how many passes have been completed on the monitor screen. This is an enormous benefit on night-time paving projects where it may be difficult to distinguish between areas that have already been compacted and areas that haven’t.
Sunland explains that they don't just use the Smart Compaction system for assuring quality, but also as a training tool. ‘We use it in the office to find out how we can work more effectively’, said Hughes. We get together with our roller operators and show them where and how we can improve our performance on future projects.’
The crews finished the asphalt paving of the racing circuit with a total of 19 corners on time, and the 2023 Miami Grand Prix was a success – thanks to the hard work and dedication of the people behind the machines.
