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The Chuckwalla track is in the middle of the desert, 1/2 way between Indio and Blythe, CA. You can rent a cabin at the track, reserve it months in advance.
This is a San Diego Region PCA event, TT and DE. I signed up for their TT. This was my first time at this track, and note, I have not had to learn a new track in many years. To be quite candid, I wasn't so sure I could learn a new, 17 turn technical track. Put it this way, I retired from my day job in 2006, after 35 years on the job. Was I too old to learn a new track? I didn't think so, but................
They put me in the middle (Orange) group, probably based on some decent times I had run with PCA in the past. We go out and do the 2 warmup laps under Yellow, THEY DROPPED THE GREEN FLAG, then the S&^T hit the fan. This track has 17 turns, very technical, no way I could learn it in 2 laps. I had cars on my butt, and must have pointed by. it seems like, 100 cars by, an exaggeration. I managed to go off on the 3rd lap, popped of the factory GT3 rubberesque splitter. This was not looking good, were my worst fears about learning a new track to come true?
I was about to quit the weekend....but first had to try running with the slower TT group, the Yellow. I did 2 sessions in the Yellow, followed by a the 55mph track drive over lunch, then did my last session of the day, #4.
By this time, I was feeling consciously competent. I lined up behind a 03 Turbo and was determined to make my first real pass of the day....I did it, and it felt great. I choose to skip the last two sessions of the day, over 100 degrees F in the shade. DONT COME TO CHUCKWALLA AFTER MARCH. October and later through March are the ideal times.
As a result of the less than memorable experience with the Orange Group, I really have empathy for drivers trying to learn a new track, especially one with 17 turns......boy did I feel like a Bozo out there.
So it appears I haven't lost "it". My best time in the first Orange session of the day, was a 2:40..keep in mind I was pulling off line to let people pass me..by session #4, in Yellow,
I was down to the low 2:18s, not a stellar time, but beats a 2:40, and I passed a Turbo. I'd love to see a sub 2:10 time tomorrow. If you have gotten this far, thanks for reading.
Lastly, I ran my SOLO2 DL I got from Matt Romanowski, wwwtrailbrake.com. The unit worked like a dream. Writing aLL this, I wore myself out, time for bed.
Chuckwalla is my favorite Southern California track. Especially on low traffic days. It is a very different track when run cw or ccw. Both are fun. Bit I prefer cw. And it is a great track for pictures. Here Is one of my favorites.
Hang in there Martin! Chuckwalla is a bit tricky to learn. The compound turns take some practice, when you figure out how to string them together into one big turn, modulate the throttle and drift out to the edge of the track it's a lot of fun. Once you get comfortable you can carry a lot of speed on the back straight away and over the hill into the bowl. Good luck today, wish I was out there!
Chuckwalla and Buttonwillow are by far my 2 favorite “local” tracks. Only thing I don’t like about chuckwalla is how hard it is on tires. You’ll learn to love it as you get more comfortable. If not now, in the cooler months.
Chuckwalla is a lot of fun. Its a close 2nd to buttonwillow for me. It's deceptively technical. All the turns look similar on a map. But they all have different flow, very different. And, the track is SO wide you can sometimes use more than you may need. But, it's an awesome place to learn car control at slip angle, being so wide and with all the long 180 corners, you have to get very comfortable with the car sliding to be fast.
I prefer CCW for some reason, but most seem to prefer CW. In my 997GT3 I run right at 159-201 either direction on NT01. Which is OK for the weekend hack category (me!). My car classes CC14 and the times there seem to run about 156-7 at the top end give or take for CC14.
This was in the mid 90s temp. Track gets quite slippery when it gets warm, or windy. I can see myself fighting the apex and late on gas on several turns here hahaha... man, i need to get back out there and work on those.
Chuckwalla is really fun, if not remote. Chad Plavan’s video is cool with Patrick Long driving his car.
Thanks Coach, and all of you great folks for your responses. I watched the Chad Plavan/Patrick Long video before the event. Today, I'll watch it again to cement what I learned over the weekend, and fine tune it a bit for the next time, buy never again in that heat.
On an AM expresso coffee high, and still feeling the exhilaration from last weekends track experience, so please excuse my lack of brevity here. Please bear with me as I have the need to share a little more about my time at Chuckwalla Raceway in my 2004 GT3.
I wrote the original Post, back in the hotel, on a mini adrenalin high, after the first day at Chuckwalla, after experiencing ignominious humiliation in the Orange Group in the first session of the day, while trying to learn the track, to learning the track in the second and subsequent sessions the Yellow Group. Please don't think for a moment that the Yellow Group was slow, no, no, no. At this event, typical of PCA SDR, populated across Red and Orange, and Yellow, there was lots of really quick Iron driven by good, solid drivers, pedaling late model stuff, GT3/PDK, GT3 3.8, Cayman S cars, Trick Cayman cars, well developed Boxsters, an air cooled car here and there. And just to keep me humble, there were some nearly stock Boxsters and Cayman cars, S and otherwise, that made it around the course in an expeditious manner, more so than me, and hats off to them. But, I'll be back By the end of the weekend, I wasn't that far off the pace.
I forgot what it was like to learn a new track.....haven't learned one in many, many years. Talk about an adventure into the unknown, well this was it. There is one thing that in particular I recall about Chuckwalla, with 17 sometimes complex turns, once I could get around it without any dread, I felt that I had really accomplished something. Maybe I felt that way in the past with other tracks I had learned, but that was long ago, distant memories. The only feeling I can compare learning a new track to, is winning an award for an accomplishment, such as being #1 in sales. That sort of thing.
As many know, Chuckwalla is very technical, 17 turns, and all are challenging, some more than others, and lots of exhilarating fun everywhere. There is no down time when you are out on the track, no long front straight like Willow Springs to adjust your belts, no time to do anything but drive as if your "hair is on fire." Get through a corner, and bingo, there is another one, etc. etc.
Why didn't I get an Instructor you ask? Couldn't get one as a PCA SDR Zone 8 rule got in the way. PCA SDR Zone 8, says that the passenger seat must have the same level of "protection" as the driver seat. I have 5/6 point Schroths for me, but stock belts on the passenger side. As a result, as I had to pull the passenger seat out. PCA SDR don't want to provide the opportunity to break with their policy. Unfortunately, I only found out about this policy 2 days before the event so I couldn't get a set of Schroth belts in time. I can't blame PCA for erring on the side of caution. Next time, belts for the passenger, and that passenger will be me with an instructor. I want to nail this track.
The more I drive the GT3 on the track, the deeper the love affair. Adding the AASCO LWF and clutch seems to help in the matching revs for a down shift situations. But note not that many down shifts, I only got into 4th gear down the front straight and down the longest back straight. I love that, the GT3 in 3rd gear is a rare treat in motoring, in my opinion, experience the torque, the feedback from the Mezger engine reving up to 8,000, sweet. The GT3 water temp never got over 190 F. No fade in the brakes, Pagid Yellow, GIRO 2 piece slotted on front, and 350mm Serbo slotted rotors on the rear. Also had fresh DOT5 brake fluid. Used the Nitto NT-01 245 fronts and 305 rears...outstanding. At no time in the six (6) 20 minute sessions, in the heat, did the tires feel greasy.
Are there quicker cars (and drivers?)? in Yellow, of course, but I don't think anyone was having any more fine than I was. My GT3 car does absolutely anything and everything I ask of it (I am not asking enough, agreed!), and that aural feedback form 5,000 to 8,000 RPM, with a stock exhaust no less, exhilarating.
Better wind this down, still on a high from the weekend, and may ramble on excessively as I am known to do. Lastly......some day I hope there will be a Chuckwalla "Virtual Track Walk". It may be too much work as they run the track CW and CCW.
Damn, this track "High" just wont go away, OK, I'll just live with it....sorry for the length of this post...well not that sorry
Really fun & technical track that is suited really well for motorcycles and cars also. The most lateral G's I've ever had in the bowl was 1.8
Instructing is helped by the track design and by focusing on using the gator end points, they are the ideal turn and track out points for CW or CCW.
Go for one of Marty the track owners "trailer rides" he'll share the "secrets" of the track design.
BTW, Isn't Desert Center a surreal place and its all owned by one person.
Chuckwalla is a pretty cool track. Bit more designed for a low HP momentum car and bikes, fun in anything none the less and a great track to really improve on specific skills (rolling speed deep into corners).
As a space and astronomy nerd, the night skies absolutely blow away every track in America! :P
Great place day and night!
Sounds like a really fun track. I'm signed up to do OnGrid the Sat of Memorial Day weekend. Checked "Yes" on getting an instructor, sounds like I made the right call...
Many thanks to you for having Patrick Long drive your car. I have watched this video at least 10X, and will continue to watch it. I have learned so much about the "Long way" to approach and execute:
4 & 5
8 & 9
11 & 12
13, the Bowl
16 & 17, getting a good launch on to the front straight
Very cool track and I'll commiserate with you that it is a really tough track to learn. I found that because it is so flat it was hard to find many visual ques to reference. With all the linked and long duration corners mixed with it all being very flat made it surprisingly tricky for me to learn. That was even after watching a lot of videos. It has great rhythm though so once you find your way around it is a lot of fun. My only trip was a 2 day tire test there. It was Feb and a nice reprieve from the snow storms back home.
04-27-2019, 11:51 PM
Learning Chuckwalla Raceway, Desert City, CA
By the end of the weekend, I wasn't that far off the pace. 
Thanks so much!!!!
