Road America is one of the greatest road courses in the world. It is also one of the longest with exception to places like LeMans and Nurburgring. It is home to the best brats and steaks around. It has great atmosphere with lots of elevation change and terrific views and is home to the famous “kink.” Let’s take a Hot Lap of this 4 mile road course in an ALMS GT car. Remember, the Turn numbers are actually Corner Worker locations so not all of them are actually Turns (i.e. 2, 4 and 10).
Road America is definitely a horsepower track as you will see right away coming up the front straight. This straight is long and uphill at that. All cars have different strong points. At the end of this straight before Turn 1 you will be at one of the highest speeds on any track. You will see cars moving to the right to avoid a car behind attempting a pass, making the passing car go outside.
Turn 1 (right) is much faster than you think it is. As you approach the corner from the front straight you will be looking for brake markers. Look for the end of pit wall on the right and the access road on the left using it for an initial braking marker as the brake signs are too late (good for prototypes and Indy Cars). It is a 4th gear turn. Momentum is important as cars don’t like to accelerate fast from high speeds. Smooth and early brake release here is important. It gets bumpy at the exit but you can use a lot of it since it high speed and rewards momentum.
Turn 2 is actually a corner worker station on the inside of the track rather than a turn. Just be sure you get your car positioned to brake straight to the turn in point of Turn 3.
Turn 3 (right) is one of the 90 degree corners at Road America. It is a 3rd gear corner. It is slower than Turn 1 for sure. Turn in once and release the brakes smoothly and slowly as you do. Then apply power and unwind the steering at the same rate as the car accelerates. It’s a text book corner. Getting a good exit is important here as it leads to a straight toward a decent passing zone. There is smooth track on the outside of the exit curb but not much grip going over it. You will see drivers doing both, going outside of the curb and staying inside.
Turn 5 (left) is at the end of a straight that is not quite as long as the front straight but is downhill so you will actually be going faster. You have to position your car so that your braking zone will start from the left side of the track rather than the right edge since the track bends back left. Angling toward the right side turn in point as you continue to brake so that you are at the right edge at turn in for this 2nd gear corner. It is the slowest turn on the track from the highest speed on the track. If you try to out brake someone for a pass here they will probably move left before they start braking, just where you want to go to pass them. That’s why this is a decent passing zone and not great. The rumble strips at the exit are rough. You can’t use too much of them or you will be bouncing more than going forward.
Turn 6 (left) is blind just under the bridge. You need to start your braking before the car gets light as it crests the hill. Release a little brake pressure before the car gets light. This corner is somewhat off camber so it’s important to turn in a little early to get the car in so it doesn’t understeer too much. It’s hard to keep the rear from locking up under braking and downshifting while the car is light. The front gets light first and heavy when it lands just as the rear is light.
Turn 7 (right) is a quick kink. You need to get the car to change angle at the turn in to drive through with speed. Just before turn in you need to breathe off some gas to transfer some weight to the front, give a tug on the steering and be ready to take that steering out quickly. This will change the angle of the car quickly and you can then squeeze the gas and carry speed through the corner. It is a tough corner to do well because if you carry too much speed in, tug the steering too much, or don’t take the steering out quick enough it could cause problems. It’s an important corner though as it sets up to a passing opportunity as the bottom of the hill, Turn 8.
Turn 8 (left) is very similar to Turn 3, just the opposite direction. The exit rumble strips are similar to turn 5 exit strips. You can’t use too much of them or you will spend more time bouncing than going forward.
Turns 9 & 10 (right-The Carousel) Approach this corner from the center (or left if you can get there) of the track and angle right slightly. Taper to the inside of the track with as much speed as you can and stay all the way right, there is more grip there. At some point as you drive in with lots of speed the car will reach its limit of adhesion and move away from the right side of the track about 3 or 4 feet. As that approaches breathe back a little gas to put some weight up front allowing the car to turn right a little more, then back to more gas. Accelerate and unwind to the exit on the left.
Turn 11 (right-The Kink) This is the turn that makes Road America famous, in a good way or bad. Many cars have been hurt here. It is almost always when someone goes wide of the exit and drops a wheel on the exit and either hits the left guardrail or hooks across to the right side. There is now an extra concrete wedge bump strip on the outside of the exit curb that you can use which provides more radius/speed through the kink. The 100 brake marker is the turn in. This is an important turn because it’s high speed and can provide a passing opportunity into Canada Corner. You can be the passer or be passed depending on how well you execute this corner. Since the track bends on the exit it allows cars in front to be very wide and difficult to pass. Nobody makes passing easy here. A little left foot brake is the fast way through.
Turn 12 (right-Canada Corner) This is a potential passing opportunity but very difficult. The car needs to be straight and parallel to the left side of the track for braking. It doesn’t have much grip in the corner entry and easy to over drive. This corner is 3rd gear and is a late apex. At the exit the curbs are bumpy here as well so too far out and you lose grip and don’t go forward.
Turn 13 (left) As you turn in think about weight transfer from left to right and control that with slow steering. It will make the corner much more consistent. The car gets light as you approach the apex but you have to let it go to the right since there is a ton of room out there, you will go over the white line that defines the escape road from Turn 5. There is plenty of time to get back to the left to set up for Turn 14. You need to watch out for the drop off in pavement right where the access road crosses, it can lose grip and slow you down.
Turn 14 (right) Turn in is about the 100 marker on left, very late. Be sure to keep the brakes on as you turn in for this long corner. The apex is very late, focus on exit speed since you have the very long and uphill front straight ahead. You can drive on the rumble strips at track out. There is actually a piece of smooth asphalt on the outside of the rumble strips.
Enjoy the race and don’t forget to get a brat while you’re at it!
Courtesy of PCA and David Murry, the How to Drive Road America webinar will be available free August 30th – September 4th at https://www.davidmurry.com/seminar-webinars/eventdetail/142/-/view-drive-road-america-webinar-after-registration-payment
