North American Road Courses

[jhansen]

Well, I watched two races this weekend...the F1 race from Magny Cours and the ALMS race from Limerock. Talk about a rather large difference in facilities.

My question is, are there any race circuits in North America that are up to par with some of the quality tracks in Europe? The road circuit at Indy is very nice and I'm sure Montreal would measure up, as it is suitable for F1. But besides those two, what other tracks would be of high quality? And I'm mostly concerned with the quality of the race track itself and safety features. We obviously don't require the garage and other infrastructure that F1 requires, but surely we must have some nicer circuits. Limerock and Mid-Ohio both seemed to be showing a lot of age, as do many other tracks. The main reason I'm sure comes down to lack of revenue to the road courses, which don't get the NASCAR money and can't invest in track improvements. Any comments?

[Adam43]

You don't have to go to other series to have the contrast. Take the ALMS' cousin LMES - it races at Monza, Nurburgring, Silverstone and Spa! As far as I know it isn't scheduled to race at Anglesey (a good circuit BTW). These tracks are very different to the regular ALMS tracks.

However sportscar racing in America has always been like that. Although Lime Rock is an extreme.

I like Lime Rock though. As I said in the race thread, it reminds me of the Nordschliefe. Although a much smaller version! Rubbish surface, trees, close barriers, camber and gradients. I do think its a bit too small for these cars, but having challenges like that is good.

[RCSKULLY]

The other two great courses I can think of are Laguna Seca raceway and Sebring. Sebring is a very strange course, especially with the changing surfaces. Laguna though is simply a great course. VERY though, especially through the corkscrew.

There are many road courses over America, but few are wide enough to accept ALMS cars.

[slicktsax]

road america, road atlanta, and sears point are very good tracks, all have recently spent money to improve safety. most of the eurpoean drivers that race at road america say it is like many of the european tracks in tearms of length and over all layout. north american tracks tend to be shorter than their european counterparts with the exception of road america being over 4 miles and sebring being just under 4 miles. also good tracks are mosport and mont tremblot located in canada and then back in the states is barbor motorsports park which is a new facility

[Hauptmann6]

And we don't have the same track designer that makes most of the F1 tracks.

[CorvetteC6R]

I think the road course at Indy kinda sucks..

[billnchristy]

watkins glen is grade a, as is barber motorsports park.

[RCSKULLY]

The Indy road course is waay too easy.

[jhansen]

Yeah, I don't like Indy either, but it is well taken care of. I'm looking more at condition, quality of construction, safety, etc.

[Purist]

Sears Point just completed a three year renovation program, and along with Watkins Glen, hosts a NASCAR Nextel Cup race. Virginia International Raceway and Mont Tremblant have been revamped in the last few years.

Road America has good facilities, including a very long pit lane. The trck is quite safe. The surface is in reasonably good condition, which also explains why there are none of those concrete patches there. The only potential concern is width, since it is a bit narrow away from start/finish.

[paul-collins]

Originally posted by billnchristy
watkins glen is grade a...

As a racing course, yes - but not from a safety perspective. I'd prefer to see a real roadracing firm own the track than IMS, and invest in improvements (primarily in runoff, but also in the paddock).

The best road courses in North America are (in no particular order) Mosport, Road America, Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Road Atlanta, le Circuit, the Glen. Of those, the first five have probably the best overall facilities as well as safety and track conditions.

The next level includes Barber, VIR, Lime Rock, Sebring. (Barber would be in the first level except that it's more of a bike track than a car track, and its straights aren't long enough - but the facility is top-notch. VIR may be more like the Glen in lacking facilities, but its layout and design is not as well-prepared.)

I'm sure I'm leaving out a few...

[Purist]

What exactly were you referring to about the layout at VIR Paul? Remember, the track, including the long course (3.27-miles) first opened in 1957.

[mcurtis26]

I like to see tracks such as Sebring on the calendar where this is something a bit different, some character and history, and designed by pen and paper rather than computer. Monaco is still seen as probably the premier european grand prix, but its facilties barely compare to Anglesey, let alone Indy. I much prefer to have someone like Sebring, Portland etc which have a sense of histoy rather than a modern souless autodrome

[paul-collins]

I only know what I was reading during the reconstruction, and I basically mean that there's a couple of places where drainage isn't great (mostly the section leading up to, and around, the Oak).

On the whole, VIR sounds like a pretty cool track, not so much designed as just built - an interesting exercise to be sure. It certainly freed the layout of preconceived notions of what the track ought to be, and instead you get some very interesting, non-standard curves.

[Tim Northcutt]

VIR's long track would be an excellent addition to the ALMS calendar....

[paul-collins]

I can see right away I left off Mid-O.

First round of tracks?

[Purist]

I actually prefer the regular long course at VIR (3.27-miles) as compared to the proposed combinations that would create two potential layouts of over 4 miles.

[billnchristy]

le circuit is a great course, but a horrible facility! I do believe they paved the paddock this year, but last year it was dirt, no crossover bridge or tunnel and no access to the lower half of the track...no P.A. and no score board of any sort.

[paul-collins]

Yeah, I think that Laurence Stroll had much grander ideas in mind when he started the renovations at Mont Tremblant, and then when he couldn't make a deadline and ran into local opposition, he scaled back his efforts - too much IMO.

IIRC he was still with Hilfiger when he started the reno. I remember at the time wondering whether there was a possibility he was going to poach a very large event from nearby.

[Hauptmann6]

Paul, have to disagree about the safety at Mosport. There is little runoff in all corners but #2. Moss corner has almost none.

But I too love the place...

[paul-collins]

8 has significant runoff, as does 1. 4 is much improved since the bridge was (re)moved, which leaves 5, 9 and 10. Realistically, 9 and 10 are not in serious need of more runoff (although perhaps Boris Said would say otherwise about 9), and 5 is uphill, which reduces the distance needed.

Anyway, the FIA has accredited the circuit, so I'll go with their judgement.

[HeelNToe38]

I can remember a time when Daytona Intl Speedway used to be a good place to take in a "twice round the clock" race every February.

[Hauptmann6]

Same here... I was there for the last one(well it was decent, last of the SRPs)