Laguna Seca

[Vezna31]

There is nothing like the world class circuit Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca.  Although the track is not a difficult track, it is a lot of fun especially going through the corkscrew for the first time!

Here is a turn-by-turn breakdown of this wonderful circuit:

http://www.pca-ggr.org/pdf/Tracks_LS.pdf

Feel free to add your own comments as well.

[monkeymaker]

As for turn 1, I like to hit it flat out and far left even though that almost takes me into the merge lane.  Slam the brakes hard, dive in low and double apex turn 2 to shave half a second (over the single apex technique) and yet again, be sure to get the car settled before getting all the way left to set up for turn 3.  3, 4, and 5 are deceptively fast and dangerous due to the outside walls.  Outside 5 is the usual sound monitor station, by the way. 

6 rules!  Hit the dip hard but don't get too far up the berm or your suspension might not be happy with you, it's jagged up there!  Hit the white rumble at left prior to 7, then get on, off, and back on the throttle as you go from left to right over the bump, then turn in to the corkscrew without hitting the inside berm hard.  Point the car at the oak tree, shift as you get the car settled at track out, then get 3/4 right to set up for 9.

Be careful to hit 9 correctly and do NOT fight the car as you track out.  Let the car go, get it back under you and then set up for a hard entry into 10.  You can go very fast there with the banking working in your favor.  Again, be sure to track all the way out before jockeying back into position for turn 11 onto the straightaway.  You really need to get 11 right to maximize your speed down the long front straight, but be aware that it isn't difficult to get sideways coming out of 11. 

My best lap at Laguna is 1:50 flat in a mostly-stock AP1 S2000.  There's much room for improvement on that time.  I bet Vinny gets into the 1:49's next time he's there now that he'll be using full race pads and sticky RA-1 rubber.  IMHO the stock sway bar is far better for Laguna than the Saner 3-hole I was using, even at full soft.  The stock S feels beautiful at Laguna.

Have fun!!

[Vezna31]

Dude, I highly doubt I am I the low 1:50's.  I don't push nearly as hard as you did.  I would say about a 1:55.

[monkeymaker]

No way, Vinny.  The RA-1s make a big difference.  Plus you can save a second by double-apexing T2.  Oh, and those new brakes of yours will definitely let you brake deeper, just remember to be smooth off the brake and onto the gas as you enter the turn.

[indiandi]

.... be aware that it isn't difficult to get sideways coming out of 11. 

I remember going for a spin in Sunflower at T11.     

[Vezna31]

I spun there in the wet with Ahmed in the car.  The rear end stopped about 6 feet from the inner wall.

[Vezna31]

I've also spun in turn 2 (hairpin) and turn 5.

[monkeymaker]

I've spun in 4, 6, 9, & 11.  I've gotten out of shape pretty much everywhere else at one point or another, though.   

My T4, 6 and 9 spins were real lucky that I didn't hit a wall.  Especially in 6, which was caused by a tire failure (rear right).

[indiandi]

He's spun so many times at Laguna that he didn't even remember spinning with me in the car. 

[monkeymaker]

He's spun so many times at Laguna that he didn't even remember spinning with me in the car. 

True!  I stopped counting my spins after about a dozen track days.  I actually went many without spinning before my fateful Streets of Willow Springs crash.  I haven't went ballz out at the track since.   

[Vezna31]

I was doing a search and found this video of a Lguna Seca race back in 1983.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbYGeoSw2e0

Check ou the configuration!  I didn't realize it has changed that much in the last 20 years.  Instead of a hairpin at the end of the front straight, it makes a left and goes to what is now T5.  Also, approaching the corkscrew is downhill rather than uphill like it is now.

[indiandi]

That brings back some memories.  I was sitting on the hill above T-2 for most of that race.  I also had walked over to the Corkscrew.  That was the first year CART was at Laguna.
They re-built that approach to the Corkscrew up at the same time they changed T-2 and brought it back round the island.  I think that was around 87-88.  Then about 5 year after that, they changed T-11 to be even sharper and slower.
Thanks for finding that, Vinny.

[indiandi]

Vinny, you got me looking at other Laguna videos.  Check this one out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAMm0GMghN8

I was a big Fast Freddie Spencer fan.  Even when he tried to make the jump to open wheel CART series.

[Vezna31]

That was pretty cool.

[Baddassc6]

How long is the Drive to laguna seca?