Column: What Are Your Favorite Race Tracks?

Can't ignore Britain ...

Brands Hatch - Exciting - Paddock Hill bend in the rain in a 1071 Cooper S especially.

Cadwell Park - Tight, undulating and great fun - Formula Ford Crosley 16.

Silverstone - Bloody fast - Class 4 International Kart.

My sample is small, but the tracks that have stuck out are few among them:

1. COTA
2. Road America
3. NCM

COTA really was that good. It's challenging, even with the huge straights. The complex that starts after turn one can be insanely frustrating until you finally get it right, then it flows like water. Road America is just history alive, and NCM is, well, NCM. I probably have more laps there than all of the rest combined and I still haven't put together a single mistake-free lap there yet.

The remainder of my list is NJMP (Lightening), NOLA, LVMS, Barber, Putnam Park, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indy 500 layout, not the road course), and AMP.

I have VIR penciled in for the March SCCA TT Tour event. Don't know if I'll have the Probe done yet, though.

Of all the tracks I've raced on my favorites are Mid-Ohio and Summit Point with an honorable mention for The Glen because it was the first place I did a track day and the one that I was most nervous/excitied to go w2w racing on - they have made a lot of safety improvements since then but there was a time when it suffered no fools. But... Mosport, Barber, VIR, LRP, NJMP Thunderbolt ... ... hard to choose. I like technical stuff over big big speed and bad transitions so I am never going to pick a roval :).

I 've never been out west but I think I would love to drive Sears Point. There aren't really any tracks I've driven where I'd say they didn't have something compelling about them. Even Nelson Ledges (bathrooms not withstanding) 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

Road Atlanta and Road America are fun but the proximity of walls makes them intimidating.

I have a pre track day ritual where I go looking for videos of single car track day incidents on YouTube just before I go out. I guess it's to humble myself a bit and remind myself how quickly things can go wrong.

What's interesting about Road Atlanta is that the spots on the track that are most likely to land you in a wall aren't where you expect. My assumption would be that the pit wall on the front straight after turn 12 would collect the most cars because it's high speed with very little runoff and then turn 2. But it actually seems to be two of the lowest speed corners on the track at turn 3 and turn 7.

At turn 3 the trend seems to be cars with edgier handling like the Lotus Elise and S2000 will get out of shape from grabbing too much curbing, tank slap, then shoot off into the inside wall when it catches grip again. At turn 7 you can see tire marks leading to the inside wall from drivers of high power, rear wheel drive machines getting loose, then hooking up and shooting into the inside wall.

Watkins Glen,  drives school long time ago

Lime Rock, raced again long time ago.   Many track days.

Pocono two different infield courses a few times

Mosport,  I could have gone faster

Waterford Hills, some interesting sections.   Would make a great Kart track 

Summit Point shenandoah, .  Eh.

 A ,few NE hill climbs and ice racing

My first track experience was Pitt Race North track 5 years ago. This is my home track and I enjoy the full course. Pitt Race has a lot of elevation changes to challenge you. Mid Ohio is another great challenging track. I love the high speed straights at Road America and NCM. Putnam and Gingerman are great tracks to push the limits with a lot of grass run offs if you push it too hard. VIR is one of my bucket list tracks. 

For excitement, Road Atlanta #1, VIR #2, Barber #3.  Having a low HP car, I am WOT at VIR more than anywhere I have ever been and my first couple of laps there made me want to buy a bass boat and get rid of all this racing E36 M3.  But Roebling Road is a great track and would be my choice for a first track if I was starting over.  Flat and lots of run-off space for the most part, maybe except for turn 6, and technical enough to scare you and make you better.  Watkins Glen and Sebring are on the bucket list for sure.  Daytona looks fun but my car might not have enough momentum and roll down the banking winding up in Lake Lloyd.

1) TWS (Texas World Speedway) RIP

2) Thunderhill

3) VIR

4) Hallett

5) COTA (mainly due to the novelty of a F1 track and the esses are fun but the rest is just OK)

I've only driven one, but I still love Pineview Run in Lafayette, NY. It's a private auto club, so getting in can be a little difficult, and it's short, at only 1.1 miles. But it's a very "busy" track. There's only one one "long" straight that is flat and the rest is turns and hills and crests. It reminds me of if someone took a segment of the Tail Of The Dragon and tied the ends together.

I'm old so i'll start with Marlboro raceway im Maryland.Next Summit Point main circuit..used to host SVRA vintage races...Blue Grey Challange...Pocono for first IMSA races and F5000 races.A few vintage races there also in the past.A friend who raced a GP Sprite in SCCA once said when he would get on the oval part he needed a book to read....

Lime Rock: have to respect the downhill

Pocono North before they repaved.  The bump turning into the infield showed as an 18 inch altitude change on the in car data system before the worked on it.

I’ve raced at 18 different tracks, driven at one other, and I’d have to rate Watkins Glen as my favorite.  Great racing, great elevation changes, and a track that really challenges you.  I’ve never been able to decide on 2nd, between VIR and Hallett.  Both race well, and have a section that really require commitment.

Others in my list include Moroso, Sebring (probably over 100hrs here!), Daytona, Roebling Road, Road Atlanta, NCM, Mid-Ohio, Indy GP, Road America, Barber, CotA, MSR-Houston, Texas World Speedway, Harris Hill, and Cabiniss Field (just drove it)

It’s easy to pick out the worst one I’ve been to though...  NOLA.  Absolutely the blandest track I’ve ever been to.

My sampling is small

Road Atlanta

Lime Rock

Laguna Seca

Hallett (I've turned the most laps here)

MSR Houston

Autobahn (I've only done one of the segments and it was great just flat).

I don't think I'd consider any of them bad and given the opportunity I'd drive them all again.

stukndapast said:

For excitement, Road Atlanta #1, VIR #2, Barber #3.  Having a low HP car, I am WOT at VIR more than anywhere I have ever been and my first couple of laps there made me want to buy a bass boat and get rid of all this racing E36 M3.  But Roebling Road is a great track and would be my choice for a first track if I was starting over.  Flat and lots of run-off space for the most part, maybe except for turn 6, and technical enough to scare you and make you better.  Watkins Glen and Sebring are on the bucket list for sure.  Daytona looks fun but my car might not have enough momentum and roll down the banking winding up in Lake Lloyd.

After doing RA, AMP and Barber a bunch of times I went to Roebling for the first time in November and I completely agree. I was prepared to be disappointed but it was completely the opposite. At Roebling you spend more time at the traction limit and do more technical driving at high speed than anywhere else I've been. Above all else it forced me to get a better feel for scrubbing speed with steering instead of just going heavy in the braking zones. The only negative I can think of is that the place eats tires like crazy. Can't wait to go back.

That said, turns 1-4 at Barber are like an amusement park ride and I'll never get tired of it!

Road Atlanta is what I consider my home track.   It's a classic Big Boy track for the Southeast folks.  When you first hit the gate, you're looking directly at the steep downhill between 11 and 12. No simulation accurately conveys elevation like real life.  

I was waiting to get in at a Chumpcar race there a few years ago and couldn't help but smile listening to folks mutter "ho-lee E36 M3" the first time they got a glimpse of the track.  It's pretty awe-inspiring and I did the same thing the first time I saw it.  

Atlanta Motorsports Park opened in '13 and has become one of my favorites.  It's pretty technical and I typically drive lower-power cars, so it's an equalizer.

Barber is gorgeous and a lot of fun.  

Anything with elevation is fun.  

Waterford Hills is 10 min from my house so very convenient. However it's not my favorite. I think I have a tie for my favorite of Grattan Raceway and VIR. Both are tracks just carved into hills and fields. Neither has a traditional turn, all are some kind of compromised line or sight limited, strange camber changes, etc.  I.e. FUN!

I dislike most Alan Wilson designed tracks because they don't flow and feel like insert Left Turn A into Straight B and repeated until you have a track.  Maybe it's because I grew up on the back roads of Delaware and Pennsylvania. 

All of my SCCA racing has been at tracks in the northeast USA.  Here are my favorites:

#1 Watkins Glen
#2 Bridgehampton (rest in peace)
#3 Mid-Ohio
#4 Pocono
#5 Lime Rock
#6 New Hampshire Motor Speedway
#7 Summit Point
#8 Flemington Speedway (rest in peace)

Other all time favorite race tracks I have driven (but not in a race) Nurburgring and Le Mans.
 

I haven't been on many but I can tell you these are my favorites so far: 

In reply to PMRacing :

same here I live near waterford hills raceway and I would have put it on this list (it is a fun track) but the idiots who built their house on the start of the back straight kills it for me, once I figured out the track I got black flagged for sound pretty quickly and its not very fun anymore :( 

In order of fun:

Thunderhill (5-mile course has a little bit of everything)

Road America (I guess I just like long tracks, plus I won June Sprints and a few Neon Challenge races there)

Roebling Road (got my first tire sponsorship there--Thanks Jaques; had some great SSC racing vs. Phil Croyle--Neon vs Miata; and got a trophy for Best Drive as voted on by corner workers--best trophy I ever got and the only one I still have)

Summit Point (first track experience and home track for many  years)

Putnam Park (first road race ever)

The Glen (long course, of course)

Lime Rock (surprisingly fast and my home track for a few years)

Sonoma (running Lemons there with more than 120 cars is an experience I do not need to repeat, but will anyhow)

Road Atlanta (fun but never drove well there)

Mosport (fun but never drove well there, either)

Sebring and Moroso (tied; I had so much fun at both the Winter Nationals in the 1990s)

Daytona (lost a race there but learned a lot about drafting)

Laguna Seca (never raced there but did many laps in my Skippy School days)

St. Petersburg Temporary Street Circuit (b/c turn-in, apex, and exit are all next to concrete barriers)

Mid-Ohio (qualified on the pole at the Runoffs one year only to miss a shift at the start; otherwise would be higher on my list, aka sour grapes)

Buttonwillow (my current home track is really growing on me; new track under construction)

Grattan (off camber left hander taught me a lot)

Willow Springs (not crazy about it)

Nelson Ledges (crappy track facilities and surface--really dismal; I hear its better now)

NHIS (meh except for the fish bowl)

Pocono (meh)

Charlotte (meh)

Phoenix (meh)

Been on several other tracks doing ride and drives: LVMS, Cal Speedway, TMS, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Adiada (test track in Spain)...

Bucket list: Barber, VIR, COTA, race at Laguna

Riverside is still my favorite. I got to drive in several IMSA races there in the '80s. I live in Palm Springs, less than an hour away, so I drive past that crappy shopping mall all the time. 

Daytona road course

Ontario road course

California Speedway road course

Tampa street course

Palm Springs street courses

Portland

Watkins Glen

COTA

Willow Springs

Buttonwillow

Chuckwalla 

Jarama in Spain (in an F40. I know, I know, super lucky)

Sears Point

Laguna Seca

I haven't driven VIR or Road America, but have gone around as a passenger and they both look fabulous. 

 Watkins Glen is probably the track I like more than any other because it flows so well but the coolest track ever was Bridgehampton (yes' I'm that old).  I ran my very first race there and it was a humbling experience.   So was driving the LIE all night to get there. Moss said it was the most challenging race track in North America and I would have to agree.  Thanks to my Enduro co-driver we managed to finish 1st in class and I can always tell people I went 3 wide under the bridge and into the 90 at Bridgehampton.  Sadly, I only had about 3 years there until they bulldozed it for a golf course (who plays golf, anyway?).

I loved Mid-Ohio but never quite got the rhythm down like I did at other tracks.  Summit Point was pretty cool, especially the roundabout.   I liked the infield at Pocono, the banking not so much.   Lime rock was really cool, I liked Big Bend and the diving turn.  Not my fastest track though.  And I have to say that Loudon/New Hampshire Speedway was a lot of fun too.

Sadly I hung up my silly shoes and silly suit before VIR opened.   I wIsh I could have driven it, that is one bad assed race track and my favorite place to spectate now.  Had I been born wealthy or lucky enough to marry money I would have loved to drive Laguna and Sears Point along with RA.   But that's how it goes.  Still happy I was able to race somewhere though.

In reply to Tim Suddard :

First road course was at a small airport in the south metro of Minneapolis/St Paul. 'south Port airport. Yup, they used snow fencing to keep you off the track. think it was 1966, as I was driving my first MGB. [spectating] Saw  for the first time, a  sports racer. Remember Sprites/Midgets running. Volvo 122's racing against the first Camaro's. Next      was at what is now BIR, called 'Donneybrooke.  Very primitive.. I was thrilled... Took til 1969-70 to make my first trip as crew to Blackhawk Farms. 1974, began a 8 year  stint as crew. Visited/worked at BIR, BHF's, Central Missouri, Gratan, Road America and fall of 1975 Road Atlanta. My driver went to 'Nationals! What a thrill! Road America, because of it's beauty and history is my favorite.. But then, anywhere racing is goin' on, is great... 

I don't have a ton of experience, just eight tracks total. I will say that my rankings changed when I changed cars. VIR in my '90 Miata was just meh but it's a hoot in the NC.

Topping the list is a dead heat between Lime Rock and VIR. LRP gets big nods because I grew up there as my dad raced there when I was a kid. It doesn't hurt that the track is a riot of a roller coaster ride where the usual fast stuff (Camaros, I'm looking at you) don't leave me in the dust like they do elsewheer.

VIR is a very close second. Like I said, I left there thinking "I don't have to go back" after a day in my old car. I took the NC twice this year and it's a different animal. The last session of the second day was a religious experience, and not even in the usual places people talk about there. I was having a blast tossing the car through 2-3-4-5.

I made my first visit to Road Atlanta and that jumped to third on the list. It's a lot like VIR, which helps.

The second tier of tracks I've enjoyed, but have if I don't go back it won't kill me. This includes the home track of Dominion Raceway, NCM, and CMP.

Finally there are the tracks I definitely don't have to go back to, which is Pittrace and Charlotte Motor Speedway. They just didn't click with me.

I hope to add one or two new tracks to my list each year as long as I can get away with it.

I've been lucky and have had the opportunity to drive at a number of tracks around the US.

Ranked, in order, but favorite to least favorite:

1. Laguna Seca: whats not to love. Great location, awesome elevation changes

2. Texas World Speedway - no longer in existence, but a great place to race with both technical and high speed corners, elevation changes

3. Mid Ohio - just a fun track

4. Road Atlanta

5. VIR

6. Barber

7. Hallett

8. COTA

9. Eagles Canyon

10. Road America - love the track, but have just seen too many people hurt there

11. MSR Houston - interesting and technical track

12. NOLA - great town to visit

12. Sebring - don't know why, but just haven't ever enjoyed racing here. 

I've only run an two road courses, Hallett and Watkins Glen. The Glen was always my favorite to watch, Nascar, IROC, IMSA. Anything they raced there I wanted to watch, so I always wanted to drive it. About three years ago I ran a Champ Car race there. It was fun and I'm glad I did it but my car was not blazing fast so we weren't very competitive. I actually like driving Hallett better. 10 turns in 1.8 miles, that's fun.