quickxotica

I did a search and didn't see any posts containing footage of this new CA track. Apparently it claims to be America's longest road course, though I have no idea if that's true.

This was my qualifying lap Saturday morning (my first weekend on the new West surface, but probably my 150th day on the old track).

There are mistakes in here and areas which I improved upon over the course of the weekend, specifically more use of 2nd gear and some better lines. My main takeaway was that the West course rewards early throttle far more than late braking.



It is very fun to drive, and even though in a race the left-right-left rhythm makes passing very rare it is still a useful addition because it allows for gaps between cars to be shortened or lengthened depending on their drivers' technical proficiency. I would happily race the full 5 mile course again.

Anyway, for those of you who have yet to drive it, here it is. Enjoy.

mark kibort

I dont know if im liking that configuration at all. 5 miles, 2 additional miles of track, and they couldnt make a few more long straights or sweeping high speed corners.??????
it just seems like a lot of turns for the sake of turns.
is the fastest section of track, just after the new turn 9? it only looked like you got as fast as the old back straight. (111mph) . the main straight still is the fastest which it looked like you were at about 123mph
sad!! i would have thought we would have at least ONE RA or RAtlanta type straight cutting through the hills to get up to some real race speeds!
Im going to have to try it for the last race of the year. still looks fun though!

James-GMG

Wow, that is just waaaaaay too long.....

winders

Too long and too few places to pass.....

jrgordonsenior

My pro coach/friend is there right now for the Skip Barber school running only the new 2 mile short course. He's not a fan of the new section saying like everyone else that it's going to be tough to make a pass....

mark kibort

They should have consulted with us before they made the track!

dp35

Here's a video of me racing Spec Miata at the grand opening race on the new track. My shifting issues make this an entertaining video.

I agree with the other comments - the new track is fun to drive but difficult to race on. They're talking about using it for the 25 Hour this year. IMO that would be a mistake, because bad drivers in fast cars (which are all too common at that race) would dive bomb slower cars & crash.

The problem is that the old track is so good, it's really hard to improve.

Beantown Kman

It's interesting to see how much speed you can pick up on the car in front by drafting. But there still isn't much room between corners to pass.

mark kibort

the problem, is they could have made the track any shape they wanted, and 2 MILES to play with....yet, they didnt do what most all racers would want to see..... make some cool sweeping turns and some longer straights. those long hairpins, just grind the tires down, and prevent any passing, while just chewing up track time and distance. they should have asked themselves.... what makes WG, LR, RA /RA, and other tacks so much fun and exciting?