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Laguna Seca

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (previously known as Laguna Seca Raceway) is a paved road racing track used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, originally constructed in 1957 near Monterey, California, USA.

History

The current racetrack is 2.238 miles in length (3.602 kilometers), has eleven turns, including the famous “Corkscrew” at Turns 8 and 8A, and a 300 foot (91 m) elevation change. A variety of racing, exhibition and entertainment events are held at the raceway, ranging from superkarts to American Le Mans racing to music festivals.

The earliest development of the local area occurred in 1867 with the founding of the nearby Laguna Seca Ranch, which has operated continuously for 140 years with grazing and equestrian uses.^[1]

The track was built in 1957 at a cost of $1.5 million raised from local businesses and individuals on part of the US Army’s Fort Ord (a maneuver area and field artillery target range) after the nearby Pebble Beach Road Races were abandoned for being too dangerous. In 1974, the property was deeded over to the Monterey County Parks Department and continues to be part of the park system to this day.

The first race, held on November 9, 1957, was won by Pete Lovely (who still races vintage cars to this day) driving a Ferrari. In the intervening years, the track has hosted USRRC, Can Am, Trans-Am, Formula 5000, IMSA GT, Champ Car, American Le Mans Series, Grand American, Monterey Historic Automobile Races, Speed World Challenge, AMA (American Motorcyclist Association), WSBK Superbike World Championship and MotoGP motorcycle races.

The day-to-day operations of the track, along with the management and promotion of major racing events, are handled by the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP), a non-profit organization. With oversight by a board of local residents, SCRAMP operates with a professional staff on-site with the goal of generating income through the operations of the racetrack which is then redistributed to local charities.

The track itself has undergone significant changes over the past two decades to meet evolving safety homologation requirements of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile(FIA) and other sanctioning bodies. Changes include the addition of the entire infield area in 1988 (present day turns 3, 4, and 5, eliminating the straight that started at present day turn 2 and ended at present day turn 5) extending the track from its original 1.9 mile length to meet the minimum-track-length criteria of the FIM for MotoGp events, plus the more recent relocation of pedestrian bridges and embankments, and the expansion of gravel pits outside turns 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 for additional run off. The original media center was demolished in 2006 to make way for additional run-off room in Turn 1. Also in 2006, the ‘hump’ at the top of the Rahal Straight was flattened to accommodate the MotoGP riders, though some claim that this increases the wind effects that can perturb a race motorcycle.

The "Corkscrew" at Turn 8

The famous Turn 8 and 8A combination, popularly referred to as the Corkscrew, is considered one of the motorsport world’s most challenging turns, due to the drop in elevation as well as its blind crest and apex on the uphill approach.

Turn 2, with its difficult and technical double-apex, has been renamed the ‘Andretti Hairpin’, in honor of former Formula 1 World Champion Mario Andretti, while Turn 9 has been renamed ‘Rainey Curve’ in honor of 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion Wayne Rainey, a resident of nearby Salinas, California. Also the straight that runs between Turn 6 and Turn 7 has been renamed the ‘Rahal Straight’ after four-time consecutive Champ Car race winner Bobby Rahal.

A Champ Car World Series weekend had been a prominent event from 1983 through 2004 when its spot on the calendar was shifted to the San Jose Grand Prix. Perhaps one of the most famous moments of racing took place at Laguna Seca’s Corkscrew when Alex Zanardi passed Bryan Herta on the inside of the Corkscrew on the last lap of the 1996 CART race to take the victory. Uruguayan driver Gonzalo Rodríguez died during the practice session of the 1999 CART race after crashing at the same corner. Champ Car announced on September 11, 2007 that they would be returning the Northern California race to Laguna Seca from San Jose over the May 16-18 weekend in 2008.^[2] But the subsequent merger of Champ Car and IndyCar resulted in the race being canceled.

The track is also the site of the annual Monterey Historics event sponsored every August by Rolex that sees an extraordinarily eclectic mixture of race cars on the course. Each year features a different marque. Considered one of the two greatest historic racing events (along with the Goodwood Festival in England), attendance often rivals, or surpasses the professional racing events listed above.

There are many permanent dry and hook-up camping facilities located at the raceway, which are available year-round as part of the Laguna Seca Recreation Area, the county park in which the racetrack is set.

The track’s primary corporate sponsor is Mazda, who hold some of their own events there and display their products at major racing events. As part of the sponsorship, the track is now officially referred to as Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The official track record for the 2.238 mile course is 1 minute, 07.722 seconds, set in 2000 by Helio Castroneves while qualifying his Marlboro Team Penske Honda/Reynard for the CART/FedEx Championship Series Honda Grand Prix of Monterey.

The all-time unofficial lap record around the current configuration is 1 minute, 5.880 seconds, set on March 10, 2007 by Sébastien Bourdais in a Panoz DP01 Champ Car, beating the previous unofficial record of 1 minute, 6.309 seconds, set by Ricardo Zonta in a Toyota TF106 Formula 1 car during the Historics on August 20, 2006.

Indianapolis

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana (an enclave of Indianapolis) in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500 race.

It has existed since 1909, and is the original “Speedway,” the first racing facility historically to incorporate the word. With a permanent seating capacity for more than 257,000 people^[1] and infield seating that raises capacity to an approximate 400,000, it is the largest and highest-capacity sporting facility in history.^[2] (By comparison, the world’s largest stadium seats 220,000 spectators.)

Considered relatively flat by American standards but high-banked by Europeans, the Motor Speedway is a two and a half mile, nearly rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its inception: four 1/4 mile turns, two 5/8 mile long straightaways between the fourth and first and second and third turns, and two 1/8 mile short straightaways, termed “short chutes,” between the first and second, and third and fourth turns.

A modern infield road course was constructed between 1998 and 2000, incorporating the western and southern portions of the oval (including the southwest turn) to create a 2.605-mile (4.192 km) track. In 2008, the road course was modified to replace the southwest turn with an additional infield section, for motorcycle use, resulting in a 2.621-mile (4.218 km) course. Altogether, the current grounds have expanded from an original 320 acres (1.3 km²) on which the Speedway was first built to cover over an area of over 559. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, it currently remains the only such landmark to be affiliated with automotive racing history since its inception.

Besides the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (formerly Brickyard 400) also takes place there. The Speedway also hosted the United States Grand Prix for Formula One from 2000 to 2007. The inaugural race drew an estimated 225,000, which set a Formula One attendance record. In 2008, the Speedway added the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, a MotoGP event.

From August 19, 1909 through July 27, 2008, 243 automobile races took place, with 136 separate drivers winning. After winning his fifth United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis in 2006, Formula One driver Michael Schumacher holds the record for most victories between the three major events (Indianapolis 500, Allstate 400 and the F1 USGP), though all having come on the infield road course. A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears each won four times in the Indianapolis 500 on the rectangular shaped oval track, and Jeff Gordon has also won four times on the oval in the Brickyard 400. No driver to date has won any combination of the three major events, with only one driver (Juan Pablo Montoya) having competed in all three. Johnny Aitken holds the record for total wins at the track, with 15 victories (all on the oval), during the 1909, 1910 and 1916 seasons. ^[3]

On the grounds of the Speedway is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, which opened in 1956, and the Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort, which originally opened as the Speedway Golf Course in 1929. The Speedway was also the venue of the opening ceremonies for the 1987 Pan American Games.

Nashville

Nashville Superspeedway is a motor racing complex located in Gladeville, Tennessee (though the track has a Lebanon address), United States, about 30 miles (48 km) east of Nashville. It is a concrete oval track 1 1/3 miles (2.145 km) in length. Nashville Superspeedway is owned by Dover Motorsports, which owns Dover International Speedway.

The track was built in 2001 and currently hosts three major races: two NASCAR Nationwide Series races and a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race (an IndyCar series race was run at the track from its opening until 2008). Current permanent seating capacity is approximately 50,000 ^[1]. Additional portable seats are brought in for some events, and seating capacity can be expanded to 150,000.^[2] As of 2005, NASCAR has shown little interest in staging a Sprint Cup Series race or other major event at the track, though NASCAR would likely not object if track ownership moved one of its races from Dover International Speedway to Nashville. Management has shown no inclination to move either of its two successful races away from Dover. Nashville Superspeedway is the only track to host two NASCAR Nationwide Series races without hosting a Sprint Cup Series event.

As is a Nashville metropolitan tradition, specially-designed Gibson Les Paul guitars are presented to race winners in place of conventional trophies. The track also has a reputation for producing many first-time winners.

The track is referred by the classic term of a “superspeedway” (a track of one mile or longer, compared to a short track), and is named to differentiate itself from the .596 mile Nashville Speedway USA (now Music City Motorplex) at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds near downtown Nashville. Until 1984, the Nashville Speedway USA had conducted a pair of 420-lap races in the Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series), but NASCAR pulled its sanctioning license from the circuit after disputes over who would manage the track took place prior to the start of the 1985 season.

Gateway

Gateway International Raceway is a race track in Madison, Illinois, USA, just minutes from Downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It hosts a NASCAR Nationwide Series event and a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on a 1.25 mile (2 kilometer) oval, a 1.5 mile infield Road Course used by SCCA and various car clubs, and also has a quarter-mile drag strip that hosts an annual National Hot Rod Association event. The facilities are owned by Dover Motorsports, a group that also owns Memphis Motorsports Park, Dover International Speedway and the Nashville Superspeedway among others.

The first major event held at the facility was a CART series held on Saturday May 24, 1997, the day before the Indy Racing League’s Indianapolis 500. Rather than scheduling a race directly opposite the Indy 500 (as they had done in 1996 with the U.S. 500), CART scheduled Gateway the day before to serve as their Memorial Day weekend open-wheel alternative without direct conflict. After a couple years, track management grew increasingly dissatisfied with its apparent use, as seen by some, as a political pawn by CART, and its poor attendance as fans generally chose to travel to the Indy 500 for the weekend instead. For 2000, the race was moved to the fall. In 2001, its was dropped from the CART series schedule, and switched to the Indy Racing League. After mediocre attendance, the event was dropped altogether after 2003.

The 1.25-mile oval is a favorite of many of the drivers who race there due to the unique shape and different degrees of banking in each corner. Turns 1 & 2 have characteristics similar to New Hampshire Motor Speedway while Turns 3 & 4 are similar to Phoenix International Raceway and the track’s egg shape mimics the legendary Darlington Raceway. Several NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams test at GIR in preparation for these events.

There is also an 1.6 mile infield road course used by sports car clubs and motorcycle organizations through the warmer months. This roadcourse hosted a round of the AMA Superbike Championship in 1995. Canadian Miguel Duhamel won the superbike class in blistering hot conditions.

In late 2006, Lenny Batycki took over as the vice president and general manager of the track. Unlike most of his predecessors, Batycki brought with him extensive marketing and PR knowledge of motorsports, having been a vice president at the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, NC and a vice president at Richard Childress Racing for a number of years, working with the late Dale Earnhardt for the last years of the seven-time champion’s career. Many in the St. Louis area feel the track is now on an upswing with GIR being run by individuals with actual racing ties and knowledge rather than mainstream businessmen.

In early January 2008, it was announced that the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers would move their sponsorship from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race to the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. The July 19 Nationwide Series will now be called the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers such as Carl Edwards, David Ragan, David Reutimann, Clint Bowyer, and defending race winner Reed Sorenson are scheduled to race in the event. St. Louis native and fan favorite Kenny Wallace will race his #36 Fitz Motorsports Dodge at Gateway that night as well.

Oschersleben

The Motorsport Arena Oschersleben is a 3667m long race track with the width of 11 – 13 meters and elevation changes of 23 metres. The circuit is located in Oschersleben, Börde (approximately 30km from Magdeburg), Northern Germany. Its fairly flat contours create a smooth and fast circuit.

Inaugurated on 25 July 1997 (still as “Motopark Oschersleben”) it was Germany’s third permanent race track, after Nürburgring and Hockenheimring. Since then EuroSpeedway Lausitz and the rebuilt Sachsenring were added as a fourth and fifth permanent race track.

Motorsport Arena Oschersleben is a traditional venue for F.I.A.’s European Touring Car Championship from 2001 to 2004 and the World Touring Car Championship from 2005 [1].

Nurburgring

The Nürburgring, known as simply “The Ring” by enthusiasts, is a motorsport race track in Nürburg, Germany. It was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel, which is about 70 kilometres (43 mi) south of Cologne, and 120 kilometres (75 mi) northwest of Frankfurt.

Originally, the track featured four track configurations: the 28.265 kilometres (17.563 miles) long Gesamtstrecke (“Whole Course”), which in turn consisted of the 22.810 km (14.173 mi) Nordschleife (“Northern Loop”), and the 7.747 km (4.814 mi) Südschleife (“Southern Loop”). There also was a 2.281 km (1.417 mi) warm-up loop called Zielschleife (“Finish Loop”) or better known as Betonschleife, around the pit area.^[1] Between 1982 and 1983 the start-finish area was demolished to create a new GP-Strecke, and this is currently used for all major and international racing events. However, the Nordschleife is still in use; nicknamed The Green Hell by Jackie Stewart, it is widely considered the toughest, most dangerous and most demanding purpose-built race track in the world.

The Nürburgring also plans to build a massive Air Thrust Coaster by S&S Power in 2009. It will be called Ring°Racer and will reach speeds of nearly 135 mph (217 km/h), making it the fastest roller coaster in the world, claiming the record from Kingda Ka.

Norisring

The Norisring is a race track in Nuremberg, on the former Nazi party rally grounds (in German: “Reichsparteitagsgelände”) site of the NSDAP party conventions. As the city’s German name Nürnberg would lead to confusion with the already famous Nürburgring, the old name Noris was chosen for the simple track which is nowadays approx. 2,300 metres (1.4 mi) long.

Since May 18, 1947, motorracing events around the remaining 360 metres (0.22 mi) long grand stand (Zeppelinhaupttribüne or simply Steintribüne) are held on streets that are otherwise used for public traffic. Different configurations were used in the early years, including figure-8 layouts. Nowadays, the start-finish straight in front of the central grand stand leads to a right hand sweeper and the lefthand U-turn at Grundig tower, and back in a (now lefthand) sweeper to the Steintribüne, where the “Schöller-S” right-left chicane lead to the backstraight at its backside. Cars touch the outside wall often there. After a righthand kink, the lefthand U-turn of “Dutzendteichkehre” leads back to the main straight after a flat-out lefthand kink.

Due to the proximity of the lake “Dutzendteich” and the situation inside a large city, the track and event is compared to the Monaco Grand Prix (Fränkisches Monaco).

The annual mid-July Norisrennen is considered a highlight of the of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series, as fans get closer to the action and the drivers than on modern venues.

Mexican racing driver Pedro Rodriguez died at Norisring in 1971 when the Ferrari 512 he was hired to drive (in championship events, he used to race a Gulf Racing-Porsche 917) hit the bridge wall before Schöller-S and burst in flames. Afterwards, the track was shortened by moving the Grundigkehre U-turn closer in order to reduce corner speeds. In 2006, a memorial plaque was inaugurated at the site of the crash.

Lausitzring

The EuroSpeedway Lausitz is a race track located near Klettwitz in the state of Brandenburg in Eastern Germany, near the borders to Poland and the Czech Republic. It was originally named Lausitzring as it is located in the region the Germans call Lausitz (Lusatia), but was renamed “EuroSpeedway Lausitz” for better international communication.

The EuroSpeedway has a feature which is unique in continental Europe: a highspeed oval race track, as used in the USA by NASCAR and the Indy Racing League. The 3.2 km (2 mi) triangular shaped oval (similar to Pocono Raceway) was used twice in 2001 and 2003 by open seater CART races named German 500 (won by Kenny Bräck and Sébastien Bourdais), plus a few British SCSA races.

As far back as 1986, in the former socialist East Germany, it was planned to convert one of the huge open coal mine pits into a race track. In the late 1990s, this idea was taken up again in order to build a replacement for the AVUS in Berlin.

Winding in the infield of the high-speed tri-oval, there is a regular road race track for automobile and motorbike racing, using various track configurations up to roughly 4500m. The stands around the tri-oval have a capacity of 120,000, while the huge main grandstands have 25,000 seats, and unlike many circuits, the entire circuit can be seen from the main grandstand. Also a test oval with long straights and steeply banked corners is located next to the track. All tracks can be connected to form a 11km long endurance racing course, but this option was not yet used for a major event, but as a test track capability.

The EuroSpeedway has been in use for motor racing since 2000. Among other series, DTM (German Touring Car Championship) and Superbike World Championship take place there annually.

Like all modern tracks, the EuroSpeedway was built to the highest possible safety standards. However, in its first year of operation there were three serious accidents at the track. On April 26, 2001 former Formula 1 driver Michele Alboreto was killed while testing an Audi R8 sportscar. On May 3 of the same year an inexperienced track marshal was killed when he was hit by a touring car during test session. Finally, on September 15, 2001 Alex Zanardi, the very popular 2-time champion of the American CART series lost both his legs in an accident on the track’s oval. Despite these accidents the EuroSpeedway is still considered a safe track, as none of the accidents had anything to do with the circuit’s layout^{[citation needed]}.

On October 2, 2005, EuroSpeedway played host to the A1 Grand Prix series on its road course.

The official EuroSpeedway anthem “Speed Kings” was recorded by the veteran East German band the Puhdys in 2000.

Hockenheim

The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg is an automobile racing track situated near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Amongst other motor racing events, it holds the annual Formula One German Grand Prix. Situated in the Rhine valley, the circuit is almost completely flat, with very little change in elevation.

1930s – 1960s

Hockenheimring was originally built in 1932 using roads in the forest as an alternative to the Wildpark-Circuit in Karlsruhe, which became forbidden as a racing circuit by German officials. It was used for motorcycle racing and was expanded to be used as test track for Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union in 1936. In 1938 it was renamed the Kurpfalzring and that name was used until 1947. After the war, Grand Prix motorcycle racing events were held, with the German motorcycle Grand Prix alternating between Hockenheim and other tracks.

The original circuit was almost eight kilometres long and consisted of two long straights with a long “Eastern” corner in the forest and a U-turn inside Hockenheim joining them together.

Symmons Plains

Symmons Plains Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Australia, located about 30 kilometres (about 18.6 miles) south of Launceston, Tasmania. Since the closure of the Longford circuit in the 1960’s it has been Tasmania’s premier motor racing facility. The circuit is one of the longest serving circuits of the combined history of the of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the V8 Supercar Championship Series. Since 2005 it has hosted the Falken Tasmania Challenge for V8 Supercars.

In 2004, the facility received a $AU 300 million upgrade which included some modifications to the layout of the track, including moving the start/finish line back to a more conventional location opposite the pits. It had previously been on a curve (which is now located just after the first corner), unusual for a road course. Symmons Plains is also known for its extremely tight hairpin bend, known as Brambles Hairpin, at the end of the front straight.

Dick Johnson and Allan Moffat have both won the round three times in a row. Peter Brock has the best record at the circuit with five round victories.