Where in the USA would be the best spot for a "Nurburgring" style public track... East Coast? West Coast? Both? Also, could it even be done legally? I am not sure if the insurance laws are different there than they are here. Would be fun though...
The first place that comes to mind is somewhere in the great Smokey Mountains. Very unlikely this would ever happen except on a private closed course race facility. Getting insurance for public road use for high speed amatuer driving would be near impoosible.
How about the long course at VIR like Car and Driver has suggested? My favourite track in North America. I think, though, that we'd need something even faster and far more dangerous, so that we could use this exercise to weed out the less-talented.
There are lots of areas throughout the country with enough rolling hills for something like that. The Kettel Moraine region of southern Wisconsin, home to Road America, has a lot of nice winding, undulating roads. Plus, the Brat Stop is nearby
Does anyone have any of their personal lap times at VIR on the grand course to compare to the times that Car and Driver posted? I'd love to know how some of the drivers here (particularly with Ferraris, but any car is great) do compared to the C&D drivers with those cars on the Grand Course.
Funny you should ask. when the government closed Fort Ord north of the Monterey peninsula, some of us who raced at Laguna Seca joked about the wild prospect of linking LS with a road course through the hills of the old military facility. We figured more than 10 miles could easily be added. Someone should propose this to Donald Rumsfeld since he "owns" the place.
I've done a 2:48 in a Lola Sports 2000, but I think the "Grand Course East" is cruddy, fiddly and slow... A very good, National VW GTI VR6 (Showroom Stock B) time is 3:17. Spec Miata record is 3:11. ITA record (CRX Si 2nd gen) is 3:09. ITS E36 BMW 325i record is 3:04. My E Prod Alfa GTV will do 3:04. A top Formula Ford will do a 2:55. Kenny Hawkins WC GT Viper did a 2:50 and the course record (for amateurs) is Dan McBreen's Radical SR4 CSR at a 2:39.4 The Full Course (3.27-miles) is hailed by folks like Andy Wallace, Boris Said (he should know) and James Weaver as being pretty close to an "American Nurburgring." -Peter (designer of the beginning of the North Course cut-through and the South Course return onto the Full Course)
Anywhere that looked like the Eiffel Mountains. They are beautiful, but not likely that it would have a centuries old castle watching over it. That would be very cool. I would go, especially if it was a great track. I don't mean some 2 and a half miler either, 14 miles or walk. Hahahaha.
Somewhere here in the Phoenix, AZ area, that way I can hang out there every day Seriously I think Colorado would be a hell of an area for something like this. Running through the Rocky Mountains...wow.
Yep. Let's look at a Road Atlanta comparison. Justin Pritchard has the FF record set in the March 2004 National race at a 1:30.5 and Tommy Archer has the WC GT record in his Viper from this year at a 1:26.4 (and the time set at VIR by the Viper was by the guy that qualified last at this year's WC GT race at Atlanta!) 115 bhp and momentum versus 450 bhp and brute force... -Peter (sorry to veer OT)
