Topcon technology improving paving of roads, runways, and racetracks

LIVERMORE, Calif., U.S./ CAPELLE A/D IJSSEL, the Netherlands – February 26, 2020 – Topcon Positioning Group announces Formula 3 driver James Roe Jr. will join Topcon at CONEXPO 2020, held in Las Vegas, March 10 - 14, to share his perspectives of how road resurfacing technology is helping make tracks smoother for faster and safer racing. It is part of the company’s focus on intelligent paving at North America’s largest construction trade show representing asphalt, aggregates, concrete, earthmoving, lifting, mining, utilities and more.

Murray Lodge, senior VP of construction for Topcon Positioning Group, said, “Racetrack paving is specialized work with extremely tight tolerances for a high-performance, high-speed environment and an excellent use case for how our precision systems can help contractors. We are looking forward to having James speak with visitors at CONEXPO about his experiences as part of our focus on intelligent paving solutions and how they are accelerating smoothness and safety, keeping jobs on schedule and profitable on projects around the world.”

Roe said he understands how Topcon resurfacing technology helped racing courses such as the Silverstone racetrack in the United Kingdom, a cornerstone of British motor racing.

Roe said, “I clearly recall how difficult it was at Silverstone before it was resurfaced in 2019 with the SmoothRide system. There were huge amounts of standing water building up after heavy rainfall that wasn’t draining off. Obviously when you are in a race traveling at high speeds, it’s not an ideal scenario from a safety point of view, and races had to be postponed or cancelled, affecting the whole event. The technology is a state-of-the-art product that will benefit the motorsports industry from both a safety and performance point of view.”  

The SmoothRide system includes scanning an existing surface, converting the data into 3D model designs used to create machine control files for the machine milling, paving and compaction phases of a project.

In addition to Silverstone, Topcon technology has recently been used for resurfacing work for the Singapore Grand Prix, the Spring Mountain motorsports facility in Las Vegas, and Frankfurt Airport runways in Germany among other high-profile projects requiring tight tolerances. 

Another new technology for paving — Pavelink — which can be paired with existing Topcon solutions such as SmoothRide will also be available at CONEXPO. It is a cloud-based logistics mobile application for asphalt paving workflow between asphalt plants, delivery trucks, the company office, and paving site. Lodge said, “It is a revolutionary new system connecting every stakeholder in real-time throughout the paving process for more efficient daily job management resulting in better use of materials, fewer overages and paver stoppages, and overall greater return on investment.”  

In addition to daily discussions with visitors to the Topcon booth N12701 throughout the week of the CONEXPO event, Roe will also host at a special “trackside chat” on paving and racing on Thursday, March 12 at 2 p.m. at the booth. More Information about Roe, as well as information on paving, earthmoving, vertical construction, and survey technologies from Topcon at CONEXPO — including the ability to register for appointments with technology experts from Topcon and also Digital Construction Works during the show — is available at topconpositioning.com/conexpo.

About Topcon Positioning Group 
Topcon Positioning Group, always one step ahead in technology and customer benefits, is an industry leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of precision measurement and workflow solutions for the global construction, geospatial and agriculture markets. Topcon Positioning Group is headquartered in Livermore, California, U.S. (topconpositioning.com, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook). Its European head office is in Capelle a/d IJssel, the Netherlands. Topcon Corporation (topcon.com), founded in 1932, is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (7732).