Quote:
Originally Posted by roastbeef
off topic, but i came across a video of you at road atlanta... how much fun was that track? i've been obsessed with the track and it is where i tune all of my cars in gran turismo. i just fell in love with the layout and flow of the corners.
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I just saw this post yesterday. Don’t know how I missed it a year ago. Figured I’d still answer it:
Over time, I’ve learned that, for me, judging my love or disdain for a track is a combination of several factors: the course layout/technical challenges, the quality/condition of the pavement, the facilities, the town surrounding the track along with the amenities. You know, it’s kind of a bummer to drive thousands of miles to end up 50 miles from any real services (Hello Chuckwalla!)
It seems everyone has a different priority/recipe for what makes a ‘great’ track. I will tell you for me personally, if I perceive a track to be very unforgiving if you put a wheel off, my enjoyment goes down. For instance, everyone I talk to LOVES Sonoma Raceway. Well, I just can’t get over how unforgiving that place is if you go off track.
Similarly, I find Road Atlanta to be quite unforgiving if you go off track. So, while I do find the flow of the track interesting, I did find myself wary of what seemed to be waiting to eat my car if things got out of hand. The pavement was ok. The facility was cool. And you can get great food in Atlanta. I went out and sought the best BBQ I could find.
Ok, the track itself—-Turn 1, if you have aero you can hold quite a bit of speed, but you need to build up to it. The front straight isn’t super fast or long, so you don’t want to give up all your speed in T1, and then you’re going uphill. So you want to maintain as much speed as you can, but it’s not easy. As you go up the hill, you need to learn where to place the car to go over the hump and the tight kink at the top of the hill. Then the Esses. There’s a lot of grip there and you need to build speed there. But you really need to be careful as you exit the Esses. There’s a dip or something as you finish the flat-ish berm on the right as you exit the Esses. If you go too hard on the gas too quickly as the tires unweight on the dip, your rear tires can spin, and then the car can spin. It’s a weird moment…..and there’s a wall waiting for you. As you approach T6, there’s trees hanging near the track, and different light conditions—sunny/cloudy/time of day, make it look different. I was new to the place, and felt it was hard to keep the same visual markers as the day wore on due to the different looks. T7 onto the back straight—you just need to keep everything tidy there because again, there are walls waiting for you if you get too aggressive. The back straight is fine. Nothing overly interesting. Then 10A-10B arrive and that’s a big downhill braking zone from very high speed. You need good brakes for that moment. Then into the 2 tight corners, followed by a big punch uphill. You crest that hill, which is another one of those spots where you just need to learn where to place the car before you crest. Then it’s off to the races downhill to the final turn. It’s a pretty wild turn onto the front straight. The pavement has a dip in it before the turn, the wall is right up against the track. hehe it’s quite a moment accelerating like a maniac down that hill and dealing with the final turn when you’re trying to finish a fast lap.
I enjoyed my time there, but I can’t say it’s a must-return for me any time soon. I had quite a bit of technical problems there that I don’t blame on the track—-loose rear wheel bearing (huge pain), and power steering issues. Luckily, there was a shop right next door to the track that handled both issues. But I lost 3 track days there due to the issues.
Ironically, the East Coast track that I would most want to return to is the track I crashed at—-VIR. Sometimes logic goes out the window…..