RACE TRACKS: the Amphitheaters of Motor Sport
Given that driving a car at speed on a racetrack requires vastly different aptitudes than daily driving on normal roads and freeways, learning the nuances of widely differing racetracks is even further specialized and requires continuous study, practice and unending education. Every racetrack is an experience unique unto itself. And by design, each track is its own special blend of fast bends, sharp turns, short and long straightaways, esse-curves, elevation changes, widely varying road surface angles [cambers] and carousels. To some, these dramatic variances are the heady stuff of high adventure, while to others they represent perpetual riddles.
Driving a racetrack – any track – skillfully and efficiently requires the ultimate best of a driver’s alertness, road sensibility, rhythm, timing, precision and…yes…courage. Racing on a track against other comparable cars, of course, raises the height of the challenge. And while all racetracks are challenging, sometracks, for better or worse, require more from both car and driver than others in both tangible and intangible attributes. Or, in the words Germany’s great driver, Hans Stuck; “you need a very good po-po meter.” Translation: over-and-above all of the track study, practice and car preparation, once on the racetrack you have to innately feel the car’s connection with the track surface in order to achieve optimal performance. And no track feels quite the same as another.
The asymmetrical esse-curves at Circuit of the America. The “Kink” at Road America. The Boot at Watkins Glen. The Closing Horseshoe Turn 9 at Willow Springs Raceway. The Turn 6 down hill carousel at Sears Point. The Oak Tree Turn at Virginia International Raceway. And on and on. Each of these classic examples spotlights turns that are uniquely different from one another, and each requires its own special level of in-cockpit driver feel. High adventure? Or brain-rattling frustration? It’s one or the other on every track, wherever you are.
RACE TRACK LAYOUTS – NORTHWEST
Ridge Motorsports Park, Shelton, WA
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Pike’s Peak Int’l Raceway, Fountain, CO
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Qlispe’ Raceway Park, Spokane, WA
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Portland International Raceway, Portland, OR
RACE TRACK LAYOUTS – MIDWEST
Road America, Elkhart Lake, WN
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Blackhawk Farms Raceway, South Beloit, IL
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Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH
RACE TRACK LAYOUTS – SOUTHWEST
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Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Buttonwillow, CA
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Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, Desert Center, CA
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Thunderhill Raceway Park, Willows, CA
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WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Salinas, CA
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Willow Springs International Raceway, Rosamond, CA
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Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, TX
RACE TRACK LAYOUTS – NORTHEAST
New Jersey Motorsports Park, Millville, NJ
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Watkins Glen Int’l Raceway, Watkins Glen, NY
RACE TRACK LAYOUTS – EAST
Virginia Int’l Raceway, Alton, VA
RACE TRACK LAYOUTS – SOUTHEAST
Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds, Alabama
