When asked by my good friend Rick Roso to write a piece on how “to do” one of my favorite turns, my immediate reaction was to describe the awesome Eau Rouge at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. However, that story has been done many times before, so my thoughts instead wandered north across the Channel toward a track that is little known, even within its home country of England, never mind America. Noted among the cognescenti for motorcycle racing, many car races are still held there, including a vintage motor sports festival each June.

Cadwell Park, today owned by Jonathon Palmer’s MSV (Motor Sports Vision), is one of the oldest tracks in the UK, having been laid down by “Farmer Wilkinson” in 1934. It has been lengthened several times over the years, with the current 2.25-mile, 18-turn configuration being built in 1962. About 180 miles due north of London, Cadwell Park is set in the bucolic rolling hills of the Wolds of North Lincolnshire, within easy reach of the North Sea (though far from any large population center, the nearest of any size being the old market town of Louth). Though sparsely wooded, Cadwell has the same feel as my current home track, Lime Rock Park, with wonderful elevation changes and grassy hillside viewing from any vantage point.

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Any racer will tell you that even the slightest rumor of a new racecourse will garner more than a passing interest. The idea of an entirely new track to learn—and “master”—chews at every competitive fiber of a driver. When Grand-Am announced its 2008 Koni Challenge schedule, I was pleased to see the then-new Thunderbolt course at New Jersey Motorsports Park on it.

Thunderbolt, one of two tracks on the grounds, is comprised of a variety of medium-speed corners on the front part of the course, with just a modicum of elevation change to keep things interesting, followed by a tangled technical section out back.

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Nelson Ledges is a fun, fast and reasonably flat racetrack in northeast Ohio, originally raced as a dirt road course in 1961. Thousands have raced here in one of America’s more unusual “cult” races—The Longest Day, a 24-hour endurance event for amateur racers of production-based SCCA showroom stocks. The organizers of the  “24 Hours of LeMons” also put a race on at Nelson called The Lamest Day.

Renegade grassroots racers from all over the country love this place; for me, it was an honor to race (and fortunately win) three times with teams at The Longest Day. While some are critical of the tapestry of patches, pavement changes, and bumps, the adage, “The only bad racetracks are the ones you’re not on,” applies here.

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It was 25 years ago that I started my racing career at what is now known as New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Back then it was Bryar Motorsports Park, a 1.6-mile, 10-turn, hilly, banked, curvy, busy, physically demanding, extremely fun little racetrack. It was a horribly run-down facility, but the racetrack itself was awesome, especially the corner called “The Bowl.” Everybody loved The Bowl.

A lot has changed at the track since I first dragged my newly purchased go-kart out of the trunk of my car in 1984, for my very first race weekend. In 1990, the Robert Bahre family bought the facility, named it New Hampshire International Speedway, then plowed up almost everything in order to build a NASCAR-suitable oval, plus a new road course. But what did Bob Bahre not put to the bulldozer’s blade?

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Having raced at “Mid-O” in karts and cars since 1964, the track’s site picture is indelibly scribed on the inside of my skull, where, naturally, there’s little else to get in the way. I grew up (ok, that’s an exaggeration) in Mansfield, Ohio. In 1958 my parents, Doris and John, were instrumental in forming what became the Dart Kart Speedway Club, which today continues to sponsor major enduro karting events at tracks including Mid-Ohio.

In 1962 Les Griebling carved the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course out of a corn field on Steam Corners Road near Lexington, and we began racing karts there in 1964. Driving my tricked-out ’57 Chevy on the back roads, I lived 18 minutes from Mid-O. By removing the rear seat cushion I could put my tools and fuel in the back and place my kart (a Bug Kart newly reconfigured into a lay-down aero version with the top of my helmet 17 inches off the ground!) in the trunk with the front wheels hanging out and a spring holding the trunk lid down.

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Turn 5 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca may not be one of the first corners that everyone talks about when discussing this track, but it’s certainly one of those corners that has more going on than it first appears. And it can be a major player in the course of a race.

To start with, it’s one of the better passing opportunities at the track as it comes at the end of a fairly long straight. Even though the track does not really go in a straight line from Turn 4 toward Turn 5 (as is the case for most “straights” at Mazda Raceway), you are flat on the throttle. With the preceding Turn 4 being a fairly high-speed corner, this approach to Turn 5 allows for high top speeds and, combined with the tight radius of the corner, requires enough braking to allow good passing opportunities. To confuse things a little though, it also leads onto short straight toward Turn 6 and, therefore, definitely has some exit speed priorities as well.

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I’ve always liked Blackhawk Farms Raceway, a track not everybody knows about. It’s in Illinois, right on the border with Wisconsin, just outside a town called South Beloit. Blackhawk is not a high-speed track in the manner of Road America, but it’s very technical, with complex corners that really make you think. Blackhawk is a track where a nimble, small, lower-hp car can take a big-bore machine to task.

Tito and Marcia Nappi built the track in 1967, running it until 1986, when they sold the facility to the Irwin family (who eventually went on to own Heartland Park Topeka). In August of 2007, Paul Musschoot, a successful local business owner—and SCCA racer—bought the track.

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Racer or wannabe, everyone knows Watkins Glen’s full course is one of the world’s truly elite tracks. Besides its storied past, it’s got terrific elevation changes, great turn variety, long straights and, of course, the “blue bushes” (the blue guardrails at every point around the track).

It was at the Toe of the Boot that one of my favorite racecar moments occurred in the closing lap of my second race there. I was leading, closely chased by three cars. In the straight between The Laces and The Toe, I checked my mirrors and realized something good could happen if I drove cleanly to the end. My internal voice blurted out, “I could win this!” and that thought was so pleasantly distracting that I had to refocus completely on my brake and turn-in points until the thought went away.

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Of all the race tracks that I have driven and raced on in North America, Road America is up there as one of the best (yes, I know, that’s not a news flash). I grew up in Plymouth, 5 miles from the track’s gate. I’ve been going to this track from virtually the day I was born. I remember collecting aluminum cans during the June Sprints and Champ Car races to help pay for pedal bikes. It was at Road America where I watched my racing heroes, Emerson Fittipaldi, Juan Pablo Montoya, and SCCA legend (in my eyes) Jeff Miller in absolute awe, wondering what it must be like to sling a car around one of the longest and most beautiful tracks in North America.

Road America is not one of the most technical tracks (such as Mid-Ohio), but it is, as most who have driven it say, “A driver’s track.” It’s got fast corners, slow ones, long and short straights, some easy corners, and corners such as the Carousel and the Kink that make you think, “Do I really want to try and go faster through there?”

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What started as an April Fool’s joke on a long defunct track, ended up becoming an interesting insight into fear and commitment. Below, Barber’s most wizened instructor, Bruce MacInnes, explains that it took more than talent to be fast at a place like Bridgehampton.

While America’s most challenging racetrack is long gone, its legacy will endure forever. The Bridgehampton Race Circuit was an incredibly picturesque 2.8-mile track. Overlooking Sag Harbor on the eastern end of Long Island, “The Bridge” was built on the mountainous dunes above Noyack Bay. This track demanded equal measures of talent, commitment, and testicular fortitude of all who were fortunate to race there. The rewards of driving a great lap were tempered by the severe consequences of a spin into the soft sand on every turn—especially Turns One and Two. For many, it was the greatest racetrack in the world.

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Turn 7 at the newly opened New Jersey Motorsports Park Lightning course is as pivotal as it is exciting. It is entered flat in top gear from under the paddock access overpass, and to get it wrong is an absolute defeat to even the best of laps. One of the fastest entry corners on the track, its exit leads uphill to a wide, heavily cambered carousel leading onto the long, front straight, and a good momentum exit will yield exceptional trap speeds at the stripe. To say it’s an important component of this venue is an understatement.

As a driver leaves the back portion of the track, it seems like an eternity of upshifts and waiting until the bridge emerges and you have the braking markers in sight; this is a classic fast entry corner accomplished in third gear in our series Formula cars. Adding some intense threshold braking makes this setup incredibly footwork vital. This is a true “point the car with your feet” corner and, once the driver has braked as late as possible and selected the appropriate gear, the rate of brake release determines the angle at which the car points down to a late apex. Two of the most common mistakes are braking lightly and early and not retarding enough speed, taking the car wide of the apex and tracking out into the dirt gulch just off the pavement’s exit. It takes talent and a lot of repetition to scrub off just the right amount of speed and to pick the throttle back up in the proper amount to allow the car to slide all the way out to the track’s edge without dipping your curbside tires. You’ll know exactly how crucial that exit speed is as you climb the berm on your way to the carousel. There is big speed available into, through, and exiting the carousel, and it is that speed that becomes exponential, climbing to yet another crest on your way down the straight and to the timing and scoring stripe. So, it’s not hard to imagine that a proper entry and a hot exit at Turn 7 has its effects felt all the way to Turn 1.

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Considering the résumés of the people who have raced here, I am both humbled and honored to be writing about this world-renowned and historic facility. I have had great fun and success racing Formula Fords at this very fast and challenging track. One of the things that I think makes this track such a great facility is the fact that the long straights lend themselves to close racing as the draft keeps everyone together. Therefore, this track becomes a breakout track for many racers climbing the learning curve.

When trying to decide what the most important corner is, one has a difficult decision. With so many long straights, which one is the most important? A driver could argue for Turn 1, which leads onto the longest straight as many cars are flat out through the Esses. Some cars though are not flat out and have to lift a little to get through the Esses. The “Toe of the Boot” is in the middle of two, very long straight sections and merits respect due to the fact that it is the slowest corner on the track and demands a lot from driver and car to do correctly. Turns 10 and 11 are close enough together that they both have an effect on how one exits onto the long, downhill, front straight that leads to one of the best passing zones on the track in Turn 1. The debate could go on and on and you will hear different points of view from everyone you talk to since racers are so happy to share their opinions!

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The Turn 6–7 complex at Road Atlanta not only makes for a huge grin factor, it’s also the most crucial segment of the circuit for lap times. Road Atlanta, like Road America, Laguna Seca, Infineon (nee Sears Point), Lime Rock, and The Glen, was designed using “the lay of the land.” In other words, the track simply follows the confines of the terrain and property lines…uphill, downhill, over creeks, and through valleys.

When the track builders got as far as they could in the northeast quadrant, the land not only narrowed, but was virtually perched on an outcropping. So, Turn 6 had to begin the “return home,” and 7 finished it off. Whoever designed 6 probably had some Southern stock car racin’ in their blood, as the turn is banked several degrees. This not only gives it more grip (and therefore a better chance of not launching the car toward Norcross), but also produces much more exit speed. The downside of all this good news is that about 100 feet after exiting 6, ya gotta park the car for 7 and get ready for the longest straight in Hall County. And that makes it the most important exit-speed corner here.

The post Road Atlanta, Turns 6 & 7 appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is one of America’s most technical and challenging circuits, as most corners involve both radius and elevation changes. Only two of its 14 turns (Turn 1 and the Keyhole) stand alone; the rest are in combinations or sequences. Turns 7-8-9, also known as “Madness,” are among the most challenging, rewarding, and just plain fun corner complexes anywhere.

Turn 7 (a fast right) begins this sequence at the end of Mid-Ohio’s longest straight, making it a type-2 (extend the straightaway speed) turn. To find your braking point, start braking early and then move it in a bit at a time, so that you are initiating turn-in at a point and speed where your arc will enable you to hit the apex and require you to track out using virtually all the road. Because 7 is both downhill and well-banked, it’s fast, so don’t overbrake; instead, flow speed in by balancing the car on power from turn-in.

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Homestead–Miami Speedway is a fun and fast track. It’s definitely one of the best oval/road course combos out there. In my mind, it’s second only to Daytona’s 24-hour course—especially if your group is running the so-called “Grand-Am” configuration, which utilizes the NASCAR 3 and 4 bankings. For the track’s Grand-Am layout, after the infield section, you get sent out of a left-hand hairpin onto the beginning of the oval track’s back straight. Then, instead of dipping down into a slightly fiddly complex that ends with a slow corner onto the front stretch, the Grand-Am layout sends you flying through the NASCAR 3–4. It’s great fun—and will open your eyes a bit regarding what a Sprint Cup driver must do with an undertired, big h.p. racecar.

Anyway, since you’re coming off the banked turns (and your right foot’s been matted since the apex of the hairpin!), that means you’re carrying some mighty speed down to the Turn One–Turn Two complex. T1 is a very fast left-hand dive off the straight; T2 is a slightly more than 90-degree left.

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Virginia International Raceway, also known as VIR, set to the east of Danville, Virginia, is one of the finest racetracks in North America—and one of the coolest to race. Long straights and classic corners combine to keep the traffic interesting and the racing close.

One of the toughest corners is the combination of Turns 16 and 17, the final two turns leading onto the front straightaway. A good run here is the only way to protect yourself from being passed approaching Turn 1, or to give yourself that passing opportunity.

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From May 27 to July 3, Lime Rock Park underwent a major transformation. Not only was the original 7-turn configuration completely re-paved, re-curbed and re-guardrailed, but Skip Barber went a step further. He designed and had built two new (optional) corner complexes, at The Uphill and West Bend. Mainly in the interest of slowing some of the fastest racecars (ALMS and Grand-Am prototypes, for instance), he also wanted additional passing zones. On the morning of July 4, the first driver on the track in a racecar was the venerable Sam Posey, piloting a recently restored 1981 PRS RH2 Formula Ford. But the next drivers on track were a clutch of Skip Barber instructors, putting in hot laps for more than an hour in the 2.0-liter Formula Skip Barber open-wheelers; Dean DiGiacomo, Jason Holehouse, Bruce MacInnes, John Murphy, Mark Hamilton Peters, Matt Sklarz and R.B. Stiewing. Vintage Racecar readers are among the very first to read how the “new” Uphill is to be driven, courtesy of Murphy… – Rick Roso, Skip Barber

One of my all time favorite tracks is Lime Rock Park, a venue I first saw as a boy thanks to my parents’ own fascination with this unique circuit. Since then, I’ve had many opportunities to drive a variety of street and race cars at the track: Atlantics, NASCAR stockers, Formula Fords, Ferraris, Mustangs, Z28s, you name it. I’m not the only driver who loves Lime Rock’s high speeds and dramatic elevation changes, and over the years I’ve experienced every one of Lime Rock’s different “personalities,” from relatively smooth to extremely bumpy to concrete patches and now, back to amazingly smooth. After Sam’s run, it was up to me and my Skippy cohorts to see what the “new” Lime Rock was like—we had a racing school to teach there in less than three hours!

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Justly famous for corners such as the Corkscrew and Andretti (a.k.a. Turn 2), plain-named Turn Six is actually one of the more important corners at this world-famous track. As you’ll remember from “Racecar Driving 101,” good lap times are based on straightaway speeds. Straightaway speeds are based on corner exit speeds. And leaving T6 puts you on a long straightaway. Six also has a reputation as a “difficult” corner (i.e., people crash here). This is not due to the corner being technically more difficult as far as the proper line, but rather because of its unique contours and elevation changes. The good news relating to the potential crashes at the exit of T6 is that, in recent years, the wall on driver’s left was moved farther away from the track. This has greatly reduced the number of wall hits resulting from TTO (trailing throttle oversteer) spins, which means we can say goodbye to the “rainbow wall.” (This wall was a panoply of colors, a mural painted by the multitude of different colored cars that ended their races here.)

Turn Six is a fairly high-speed corner, as are many at Mazda Raceway, and thus requires a normal “back to power at turn-in” technique. But here’s the complication: While the second half of the corner heads uphill toward the Corkscrew and therefore provides increased grip, the beginning of Six actually goes downhill toward the apex. More difficulty: It’s a corner where a traditional late turn-in can be too abrupt, adding its own problems to the contour difficulties. Just as you turn in, you crest a small rise, but then the track falls away slightly all the way to the apex. What this means is that, initially, as you start turning into the corner, the back end of the car becomes momentarily unweighted and has a tendency to lose traction. So, concentrate on slowing early in a straight line and then using the throttle to shift weight to the rear during the initial corner entry—the normal technique for any higher speed corner. This is even more important in Six, due to the unweighting caused by the “dip” on the way to the apex. Slowing too late and coasting into T6 can cause oversteer faster and more aggressively than almost any other corner I can think of.

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My first trip to Roebling Road (nee, Savannah-Effingham Raceway) was in the early 1960s to watch my Dad, Charlie, run a sports racer, called a Falcon. We observed from the “Drag Strip Tower,” which is not the one you see on your right just before you cross the track. Rather, it’s but way down in Turn 1. Seems the drag racers ran backwards from 1 to 9. I guess the trees were smaller in that direction.

Roebling Road… Picture a very large cow pasture dotted with oaks and pine trees, and a ribbon of asphalt that meanders around the property as if it were laid out by a farmer towing an 18-foot “Bush Hog.” Which I’m satisfied it was! Long, sweeping turns without a 90-degree or first gear turn on site, unlike so many modern tracks. Page 1 of the Racer’s Manual states “the corner, or corners, leading onto the longest straight are the most important to lap time…” At Roebling Road, that “type 1” corner is Turn 9.

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Somewhere, just west of nowhere, sits one of Max Balchowsky’s masterpieces. Although it has been over a decade since Reagan Rulau saved this historic treasure, the story of its rescue is known only to a small circle of fanatical “Balchowskians.” The car is Ol’ Yeller VI, and its current home is the Mojave Desert.

Between 1957 and 1963, Max and Ina Balchowsky assembled what would become a legendary series of nine Ol’ Yellers at Hollywood Motors. MkV, VI, and VII were built concurrently as rolling chassis to be sold to customers. According to Rulau, “This was a good way for Max to generate capital, as there were not many shops at the time that were willing to build a competition roller.”

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Summit Point’s main circuit was repaved last fall, which enhances an already wonderful track. The Chute through the Carousel is arguably the most challenging—and misunderstood—segment of Bill Scott’s original (there are now three) racetrack.

At Skip Barber, one of our primary goals is to use data from our computer cars to dispel myths. We experiment at every track to test conventional wisdom against the “tricks of the week” that we sometimes hear about. Data lets us be more informed and helps our drivers at tracks all over the country; physics and the stopwatch always win.

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On paper, Lime Rock Park seems to be an easy track to learn. There are only seven corners and the track layout is fairly straightforward. However, get behind the wheel on this thrilling 1.53-mile road course and you quickly see that this track rewards only the brave.

One of the most challenging and intimidating corners is the “Uphill,” the fifth turn on a track map, the corner at the end of “No Name Straight.” What makes it so difficult: high speed, elevation change, no view as you begin to crest the top of the hill, and virtually no runoff. Last year, Lime Rock made safety improvements by moving the outer guardrail back to add a bit of runoff and a tire barrier.

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If anyone is looking for another “favorite track,” I would suggest you strap your car on a trailer and take a trip to Utah. Miller Motorsports Park, one of the finest new racetracks in the U.S., is located about 25 minutes from Salt Lake City.

Opened in 2006, Miller is smooth and fast with a great variety of corners. While the track looks flat when surveyed from afar, you’ll find on your first lap that subtle, well-placed elevation and camber changes keep the lap interesting. The full configuration is 4.5-miles long, featuring a track width of 40–50 feet and a main straightaway of 3,500 feet.

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One of the “old school” low-grip/high-fun tracks, Moroso Motorsports Park, is a car control circuit, rewarding smoothness and sensitivity. The state of the art—for 1963—layout and paving (all the shell and coral is exposed as the tar has long since been bleached away) makes for an interesting combo of high tire wear and low grip. One of the more entertaining and satisfying sections is the Turns 5, 5a and 6 complex, before you exit onto the dragstrip backstretch, approaching the chicane.

There is a decent straight with some significant approach speed from Turn 4 up to 5, and you will float as much entry speed as you can stand into 5, so as to not compromise your exit off Turn 6. Six leads onto a critical straightaway, so exit speed is “Job One.” This means that 5a, the left-hand kink, is a rhythm section that connects everything together. The complex is all about flowing momentum….

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Built in 1969, Road Atlanta epitomizes the saying, “They don’t make ’em like they used to.” While modern-day track designers try to jam as many corners into their land allotment as possible, Road Atlanta was built back in the era when it was okay for racecars to go fast. In the original layout, there was only one tight corner – Turn 7 – and 11 medium-to very-high-speed corners, with one long straightaway along the way. The most treacherous section of the track was a very fast corner known as “The Dip.”

As a kid watching the SCCA Runoffs back in the ’80s, I saw “The Dip” in person but was a little too young to appreciate it. Several years later I got another chance to check out this legendary piece of asphalt when I went to watch my dad race a GTP car there in 1990, but his co-driver totaled the car in the first practice session and I never ventured past the paddock before we were on the road home. When I started my racing career as a student at Skip Barber, I was eager to drive Road Atlanta. But before I got the chance, “The Dip” was replaced by Turn 10a/10b. While I will always wonder what Road Atlanta was like for the drivers I watched growing up, I realize that we now have a safer place to race and the current layout offers us racers a new set of challenges.

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When asked to describe one of my favorite sections of racetracks in Australia, very quickly I thought of Winton Motor Raceway, a 1.86-mile circuit just outside of Wangaratta, northeast of Melbourne. It holds club, vintage and professional racing events every year, including the awesome Aussie V-8 touring cars and the Australian Historic Motor Festival.

My first trips around the track were in a Holden-Reynard formula car. One complex that continued to challenge the car, my skill, and more importantly, my bravery, was a tight, connected series of three banked hairpins, Penrite (Turn 7), Turn 8 and Kitome (Turn 9). Even though I’m not particularly fond of hairpins, this complex is fun, extremely challenging—and even a little intimidating.

The post Penrite-to-Kitome, Winton Raceway, AUS appeared first on Sports Car Digest.

Although not as famous as its corner mates—the Corkscrew and the Andretti Hairpin—Turn 9 at Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca is one of the most exciting corners in the country.

Its combination of on-camber, off-camber, decreasing radius, elevation change and limited visibility make it one of the most technical corners I have ever driven. It has taken me nearly 10 years to truly understand this corner in all of its complexity and, even now, I rarely get the “warm fuzzy” feeling a driver feels when he exits a corner, knowing it could not be done any better. With all of that said, and for all of those reasons, it is my favorite corner in North America.

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When we think of Southern California’s Willow Springs Raceway, what often first comes to mind is a fast corner such as Turn Nine, thanks to its speed and “hang on” factor. But more important for a good lap time at Willow is Turn Five, a classic exit-speed corner. Five, with its downhill approach and long following straightaway, is definitely a corner to get correct when racing here.

Coming at the bottom of the major elevation changes in Turns Three and Four, it’s very tempting to approach Turn Five and think mostly of entry speed. There’s very little time for braking even in the best of circumstances and many drivers end up with that “Wow, I really nailed that late braking point!” feeling before suddenly realizing that they are getting passed down the straight on the way to Turns Eight and Nine. It is also common to end up spinning at the exit of this corner due to excessive entry speed and improper line. The feeling you actually want, as you leave Five, is, “Wow, I’m flying down the straight,” whether that means leaving your competition behind—or setting them up for a pass.

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Turn One of Daytona’s Rolex 24 road course configuration is fast and hairy, because you’ve just spent a whole bunch of time flat-out from the Bus Stop chicane on the backside, through NASCAR 3 and 4, then across start/finish on the tri-oval. The road funnels down, getting narrower and narrower and…yes, One has its challenges.

As you fly across start/finish, in most cars you are at the bottom of the racetrack. You’ve got to keep your eyes up, looking for the white and then the red paint stripes on the wall at­ driver’s right. These marks are a great visual reference for your turn-in. The white is early, the red is late, so see which works well for you.

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While every turn has technical challenges, there are very few corners anywhere that require equal measures of skill, perfection and testicular fortitude as the “Downhill” at Lime Rock Park. A major misconception about the Downhill is that it’s, well, downhill. The fact is, while the approach is steeply downhill, the road levels out just after the turn-in point (cars don’t turn the instant you move the steering wheel). Then, beyond the apex, the corner actually goes slightly uphill and then rolls off-camber before the track-out.

One of the basic concepts in racing is knowing where to go slow to turn a fast lap. On fast sweepers, such as Lime Rock’s Uphill, West Bend and Downhill, a safe bet as you approach the limit is to do all speed adjustments in a straight line and then add power to stabilize the chassis as you turn in. Since the Downhill leads onto the longest straight, exit speed is all important. There is no question that some cars can do the Downhill flat—but you must not think that this is the goal.

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