The Ridge Motorsports Park
The track was paved in the fall of 2011, it is VERY new!. They have a huge complex, there is going to be a dragstrip built this summer and they plan on having a large autocross pad built as well.
I went there March 16, their first open track day. There were maybe 50-60 cars there, everything from a stock S2000 to SPEC Miatas to full on caged Porsches.
The paddock isn't very large yet, they haven't paved everything they need to, construction is working almost nonstop but we all managed to squeeze in.
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My little spot.
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The weather was pretty terrible. It was raining very heavily from 8-11am that day, there was wind, too. We had the drivers meeting in a big tent and the track master had to stop talking at times to let the wind and rain die down so we could even hear him!
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This was as nice as it got throughout the day and even then it only lasted about 20 minutes before the rain came again.
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They split us into 3 run groups I am assuming based on experience. I was put in the "B" group. "A" group had some fast cars in it, the racing Porsches, a caged EVO, and some PRO3 BMW's.
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This beast was in my group, he wasnt driving too hard the first couple sessions, everyone was learning the new track. I passed him the first session but later in the day he got much more confident and destroyed me, lol. V10 R8 Audi.
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My first session was really intense. All I had was a track map and some studying of some youtube vids of other cars on the track. The track is 16 turns, 2.5 miles with a half mile straight. We kept the speed on the straight WAY down the first couple sessions for safety reasons. 1/16" of water along the entire front straight is dangerous and we soon found out.
First session, A group, a Lotus Exige spun out at the end of the straight and the driver was badly hurt. 2 firetrucks and the Sheriff and an ambulance showed up to take him away. They had to forklift the car onto a flatbed. That took about an hour away from the entire event but afterwards everyone got a reality check and took it easy. No reason to put yourself in danger on a casual lapping day. It did dry up and we were able to accelerate the entire front straight later in the day. There were no more incidents throughout the day.
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This is as dry as it got, I was hitting the top of 3rd by that tent, around 105 mph, then got to about 115 in 4th before coasting to the braking zone. I could hit maybe 125 but there is no need to stress the car out on a day like this. You have to brake to about 80 mph at the first turn then brake slightly after that turn into turn 2 to about 60 mph to make 3. 3 is the uphill blind turn.
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The track was very demanding, there are blind turns and lots of elevation change. Cresting a hill at 80 mph and not seeing where you are going next is unsettling, haha. I figured it out though and was able to enjoy myself rather than concentrating on NOT crashing. There is a loooong left hand turn, I was taking it at 55-60 mph, the radius gets slightly smaller as you go around but turn exit is about 75 mph. I was glancing at my oil pressure gauge and it was dipping to 4.0 BAR from 6.0 as I went around this turn. On a dry day I would have to hold back on this turn to save my engine :( Looks like IPS is gonna make 400 bones off me this summer. Turn 6 is that 6g72 killer.
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