Being an SUV, this vehicle should have 4WD. But the best part is that the drivetrain is ultimately irrelevant in this situation - if you look closely, all four wheels are completely locked. Thus the only issue is the lack of traction of the tires.

Given the number of cars that slid off this road, it is likely that there is a layer of ice under that snow. While even Blizzaks may have trouble in such a situation, they will still do much better than any all season tire.

Lightning is driven clockwise. Turn 1 is in the bottom right corner of the map, just after the long front straight and pit row, but BEFORE the entrance to the track from the pits.

TURN 1

VERY high entry speed for all cars - I’m doing around 110 mph in my Miata. There is a HUGE hill here that you can’t see on the map, which crests BEFORE the apex (which is therefore blind). GO SLOW UNTIL YOU FIGURE THIS CORNER OUT! You really don’t want to launch yourself over to Thunderbolt.

Braking zone has a slight hump just before it, making the car light and grip low. Fortunately, you get a TON of compression with the hill, so you can brake very late once you figure things out. Think through the hill to where the apex and trackout points are, and set yourself up accordingly. There is a mini straight right after Turn 1; stay to the left to setup for Turn 2.

Also, people enter the track right after Turn 1 and you are pretty much blind to that. Partway through Turn 1 look to the right and you should hopefully be able to see if anyone is about to enter. Adjust things accordingly.

TURN 2 - 4

This is a series of tight compromise corners, 2nd gear in a Miata. All that matters is that you are back on the left side of the track for Turn 5, with a short, straight braking zone right before it. There is a small but not insignificant straitish area between Turn 4 and 5. Miatas and the like should try to carry as much speed through Turn 3, as there isn’t enough power to put down otherwise here. Faster cars can compromise Turn 3 more to get power down sooner. Everyone kicks up dust at Turn 3 (on the right side) because the rumbles are about 1 foot too short. Be advised.

TURN 5 - 6

Turn 5 demands precision, and is very important as it sets you up for the long, curved straight (you’re flat out, and thats a straight to me!). It is much like Turn 1, just smaller and slower. Good amount of elevation gain, the drops back down before the apex, so that is blind. Slow in fast out is your friend here because an EARLY APEX IS CATASTROPHIC! Apex 5 then head out to track out on the left. I never even realized the “Turn 6″ radius listed on the map existed, so just ignore it - you want your speed to carry you out to the left regardless.

The Turn 6 area/track out for Turn 5 continues to curve right, which is why the apex for Turn 5 is so crucial. Even 1 foot early puts you that much closer at track out, and because it is curving away from you you run out of track REAL fast. Runoff is decent enough, but lets try and stay on the blacktop.

Turn 7

Treat this like a straight. Line didn’t even begin to matter in my Miata, so just hug right to shorten our distance. If you have enough power, you may wish to take a traditional style line through here as needed. Just make sure you end up at the right side of the track for Turn 8.

Turn 8 - 9

This is the hairpin of this track, though by any other standard it is just a left turn. It is just a bit tighter than 90 degrees, so watch your track out as it can be easy to run out of room unexpectedly. I believe I was 3rd gear through here in a Miata. You now have a good sized curvy straight. You want to end up on the left side of the track for Turn 10. Turn 9 again doesn’t really exist once you are on track - just setup for a left entry to “the bowl” area.

Turn 10

This is an awesome corner! ABSURD amounts of banking makes this a 4th gear corner in the Miata. Rumor has it Spec Miatas are flat out all the way though here, but my street tires definitely don’t have that much grip.

Entry is much like “the Bowl” at NHMS. A mix of straight line braking and trailbraking is probably fastest, but I didn’t bother trailbraking because I had to drive my car home at the end of the day and it isn’t worth the risk for me. That same mentality carried me through Turn 10, so I left about 1 car’s width between me and the edge of the track on the left. Once you hit the grass up there, there isn’t much between you and the containing wall.

HOLD LEFT until you reach the turn in point for Turn 10, which is most of the way around the bowl. It is easy to turn in to early. There was a mass of tire marks on the track in mid September 2009 which was a good reference point for turn in (not spot on but pretty close). If it is still there, start with it and adjust accordingly. Once you see you’ve made the apex, gradually squeeze on the gas and let your gas take you out to the left side of the track.

TURN 11

This is like Turn 7 - technically a turn but so wide it doesn’t really matter what you do. I was cutting in by the apex because 1) I figured cutting distance is faster and 2) cutting the apex on high speed corners amuses me greatly. Many others were holding wide to the left, saying it was faster. I tried it, and my speed was slightly higher at the end of the front straight, but I’m not 100% convinced that line is faster. There is a very slight incline by the apex, so you might lose some speed going “up” that (though the incline is very minimal). OR you might get a higher speed because the track distance is longer if you stay left, and more time on the gas = a higher speed. You’d need a lap timer to know for sure, and I don’t have one.

Welcome back to the front straight and WATCH OUT FOR TURN 1!!

While this can certainly be a major problem, far more concerning is the inability of people to effectively deal with the issue. The NHTSA says that over 100 incidents have been brought to its attention, and the Associated Press has reported on a family that was killed when their Lexus began accelerating out of control. Someone in the vehicle called 911 to report that the accelerator was stuck and the brakes no longer worked. They then crashed.

The brake failure could have been coincidental, but was likely just an example of brake fade. Even the most vicious track pads will fail if you floor both the brake and gas pedals, and I’m sure the Lexus in question did not have any upgrades in that department. The shocking thing is how easy it would have been to avert this disaster: all the driver had to do was put the car in neutral. Sure the engine would have freaked out, but at least it would not have kept accelerating the car.

It is not surprising though that no one in that car thought to put it in neutral. Most people don’t really know what is going on when they make an input in their cars. And here is an example of why not knowing some of these basics can be deadly.

Thunderbolt was fun. It is pretty fast, some elevation change, and takes a little while to get used to the speeds you can carry through the corners. The corners are much wider than they first appear, and you can really fly through a bunch of them. My only gripe is that many of the corners are text book style corners, so there isn’t that much to “figure out” if you will.

Lightning is in an entirely different league. Overall it is much faster in most places than Thunderbolt, and has an excellent rhythm and feel to it, much like Lime Rock. And other than 1 text book left hand corner, every other corner is unique and takes a little thought to figure out.

I’ll try and get some videos up soon.

The facts stem from a drug bust for over 120 ounces of crack cocaine. As with any possession-based offense (and especially something like crack cocaine), the easiest way to beat the charges is to have the evidence thrown out. That is generally done because police violated some policy or constitutional right of the suspect. Here, the Defendant is simply arguing that the use of a GPS to track his movements violates his Fifth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures.

Well, the Court didn’t buy his argument. Most people immediately criticize decisions like this and lament the rise of the “police state.” I have to disagree, as I don’t think this decision adds any fuel to that fire. The key to the decision is that GPS tracking is permitted as long as the police have a warrant. Searches with warrants is older than the US, and certainly within the acceptable tools available to law enforcement. It really is no different than tapping a suspect’s phone lines after obtaining a valid warrant.

So what does this mean in practice? The Police can track a suspect with GPS provided they get a warrant. So don’t worry, you can still attack the use of a tracking GPS. The argument now will simply be that the warrant should not have been issued, rather than that the use of the GPS unit itself is a constitutional violation.

The idea of using your hands and/or the steering wheel is very close in practice to using a rhythm as a reference point. Indeed, this technique actually requires using a rhythm to be effective.

When to Use the Technique
First lets talk about when you can use your hands as a reference point, and that will make explaining what to do much easier. Basically, on longer sweepers and hairpins you are turning for a long time. And usually throughout the course of the corner you will need to make a few steering inputs. And I’m not talking about your normal, minor steering inputs, but broad changes in the attitude of the car. A double apex is the best example. Your hand inputs are 1) turn in for the first apex and hold until 2) you reach the apex and begin unwinding for the track/turn in point at which point you 3) turn in again for the second apex. Between the two apexes, you are pretty much in no man’s land. You are often in the middle of the track, and on some tracks you may not ever get all the way to the edge before turning back towards the second apex.

The Andretti Hairpin at Laguna Seca and Big Bend at Lime Rock are both excellent examples of this. Both are double apex corners in which you don’t track all the way out until after the second apex. And now that Lime Rock has been paved, both lack any visible markings on the track itself that you can use. So what do you do? How do you know where that track out/turn in point between the two apexes lies? You don’t really (unless you have a hard reference point) - you just know after your into the second apex whether you got it right or not.

This is where using your hands comes into play. And it should be noted that this technique applies in exactly the same way whether you base it off of your hands or off of the position of the steering wheel itself. Many people like to put a piece of tape at the 12 o’clock position when the steering wheel is perfectly straight. This lets them know at a glance how much the wheel is turned during a corner. Whichever method you use is ultimately irrelevant. I tend to prefer going off of my hands because I can feel their position better than I can see a piece of tape on the wheel. But someone else might have the reverse preference, and that is fine as long as they do what they need to.

What You Do
So how does it work? Simple, remember the 3 main parts of the double apex turn mentioned above? Well, each of those 3 parts will have a distinct amount of steering input. So once you get the general rhythm of that corner down and you are consistent through it, each of the 3 steering phase will occur for a set amount of time. No one is sitting there with a stop watch timing them - you just have to feel it. And when you can feel it is time for the next stage

Now obviously you may need some other steering inputs/corrections to keep the car pointed where it needs to be. That is normal, naturally. The important thing is that the general amount of steering input you are giving the car (those who deal with math might call this the “average,” or they might not, I’m not one who deals with math) is what it needs to be.

Isn’t this really just using rhythm as a reference point?
Yes, rhythm is still the underlying soft reference point, but your hand position lets you know that the amount of input is correct, which a simple timeframe reference point cannot.

By design any auto racing helmet will cover your ears and temple, and a full face will, naturally, cover the face as well. Since glasses have an arm and an ear piece which keeps the glasses actually on your face, these two pieces will be directly where the helmet is going to be. How the helmet sorts out this interaction can make or brake your day. And don’t just think this applies to prescription glasses - sunglasses fall into the same boat.

To be fair, as long as glasses stay in place after they are put on, any further complaints are in a way petty. But over the course of several hours, these petty issues can become rather unpleasant distractions. And distractions are pretty much always bad.

I have a G-Force helmet, and my glasses or sunglasses fit, but just barely. There is a break in the foam right along the temple and ear, and into this divide my glasses always fall. Unfortunately, the angle of this divide is not the angle I would normally have my glasses at, and they consequently get pushed up into my eyebrows. That gets old kind of fast. If I pull them out more, they feel much better, but are more susceptible to bumps. And though tracks pride themselves on being silky smooth, there are bumps are racetracks, sometimes to the extreme. In the last season before Lime Rock was recently paved, the bumps coming out of Big Bend were very rough and there were a bunch of them. Quite a lot of real estate in the second part of the turn was bumps. With my sunglasses pulled out slightly, the bumps would cause them to bounce so violently that I literally could not see until I had hit track out and the surface got smooth again. Not being able to see at all is decidedly worse than a distraction.

It may seem silly to try on your glasses when you are trying out helmets, but you’ll be glad you noticed any catastrophic issues at this stage rather than the first time you put your glasses on at the track.

Using your engine note as a reference point is really just an extension of using rhythm as a reference point. By that I mean you are once again feeling your way to your next input. The benefit of using your engine note is that this gives you an additional reference point past your “hard” (on the track) reference point.

Take the Lefthander at Lime Rock again. The “hard” reference point will still be my track out from Big Bend, and I will use my rhythm to feel my way to my braking point for the Lefthander. But, in addition to just “feeling” when it is time to brake, my engine note can give me another “floating” reference point. If all goes as it should, the engine note and “feel” points should correspond exactly, and that will be when to hit the brakes.

Consistency is Key
As with using rhythm as a reference point, your engine note is only as good as you are consistent! If you mess up the previous corner, you will be slower on that straight and consequently will not be as fast at the end of that straight. This means your revs will be a bit lower, and your engine note different. If you wait until you hear the “correct” engine note, you will be way too far into your braking zone and then you are in a world of trouble. So, if you mess up the previous corner at all, either 1) make your next input at a lower engine note/rev, or 2) forego the engine note completely and go by feel or some other reference point.

Placement on the Track
Note too that just like using rhythm as a reference point, your engine note does NOT give you any indication that you are at the correct spot on the track laterally speaking. In other words, if you are supposed to be on the left side of the track, but are instead on the right side of the track, an engine note reference point will not be able to tell you this. With a normal, “hard” track-based reference point, you will of course be able to see if you are right next to the reference point or several feet away.

This is where feel and general familiarity with the Line and the particular track all come into play. Again, rhythm and engine notes are more like clues than solid reference points. Treat them accordingly.

Engine Failures
Going back to consistency, the use of an engine note as a reference point of course involves consistency across the board. That means that your CAR has to be consistent too! While it is unlikely that anything catastrophic will happen on the track that you won’t notice, things happen, usually when you least expect it.

A good example would be if you lose a catalytic converter. This actually happened to me at Watkins Glen a couple of years ago while I was on track. The cat literally disintegrated and clogged up my exhaust, cutting power DRASTICALLY. I went from ~108mph at the end of the back straight to 80mph. That is a HUGE power loss. Everything else seemed fine, I just had less power. So if I didn’t notice and were to use the engine note as a reference point after the cat failed, well, I would probably be well on my way to Rochester before hitting the brakes…

There are actually two different pit areas, so where you consider “Turn 1″ to be can be rather fluid. This guide will use the standard turn numbers as listed by Monticello Motor Club, so Turn 1 will be the tight left hand turn at the end of the Pit Straight. (see the numbered track map here) (Note that the SCDA used the pits along the Back Straight on 7/31/2009, so this is not what many of us would consider “Turn 1″ to be)

Here is some footage of a lap with the corners marked:

Turn 1-2

Pit Straight is quite long and has a fairly steep decline, so speeds at the end of the straight are very high. I can push upwards of 90 mph in my Miata, which doesn’t easily push upwards of 90 mph. Turn 1 is a very tight left hand corner so you need to slow WAY down. Additionally, this corner has the worst runoff of the entire course. There is about 30 feet of grass, then a row of tires and then the armco wall. The runoff and gravel trap as depicted in the online track maps is NOT actually on the racetrack as of July 21, 2009. BE ABSOLUTELY VIGILANT OF YOUR BRAKING ZONE. There is NO room for error! And because you are still going downhill, there is not all that much braking grip.

Turn 2 is the important corner in this section as it leads out the mini straight before Turn 3, so compromise Turn 1 hard and late apex Turn 2. This whole section is VERY slow, so late apex as needed to be able to get your power down as early as possible. Use all the curbing on the right inside of Turn 2 unless it hinders your car’s ability to put down power.

Rain Line
The inside of Turn 1 on the left, right over the curbing you want to drive over, forms a lake when it rains. It can be 6 inches deep, and probably about 10 feet or so in diameter, so your usable track is MUCH narrower. Go in deeper, turn slower. The curbing on the right inside of Turn 2 is obviously slicker, so the issues noted above are amplified. Adjust your line around the curbing as necessary.

Turn 3

Fast right hand sweeper. I’m flat out in my Miata. Apex late, then look ahead to setup a straight line braking zone going into Turn 4. If you track all the way out to the left, you won’t have enough room to brake for Turn 4 and you’ll either brake oversteer or learn how to trailbrake real fast.

Turn 4

Turn 4’s only purpose in life is to set you up for Turn 5 so you can power through the Climbing Esses. There is a deceptive amount of camber and thus quite a bit of grip throughout the first part of the corner, but watch out for brake oversteer. You can late apex and power along the right side of the track towards Turn 5, or apex a little earlier and carve a slight curve back over towards the Turn 5 turn in at the ride side of the track. The more power and less your car likes transitions, the more you should take the late apex line.

Turn 5-6 - The Reverse Esses

Straighten this section out, aiming to end up at the right hand side of the track for the turn in for Turn 7. This turn in point dictates your line, so work backwards to get there. Compromise Turn 5 slightly, setting yourself up to late apex Turn 6. Carve an arc back over to the Turn 7 turn in.

Rain Line
The middle and left side of Turn 6 build up a thin layer of standing water. Move your line to the right more, which forces an earlier apex. Alternatively, use the middle of the track, but drive in a straight line over the water. Turn back towards the Turn 7 turn in once you clear the water and have grip.

Turn 7 - The Carousel

This is a wide, uphill, and LONG 180+ degree corner. Hold the right side of the track about 2/3 of the way over. Once you see your apex, begin squeezing in. Gently squeeze on the power when you see you’ve made your apex. Use all of the track your power necessitates, but at no point should you straighten the wheel - you want to keep turning and head to the left side of the track for your Turn 8 braking zone.

Turn 8-9 - The Double Apex

All you care about is Turn 9 because that leads out onto the the short straight before Turn 10. Turn 8 exists only to set you up for Turn 9, so again work backwards. You want to be on the left, at least 2/3 of the way over for your entry to Turn 9.

Think of Turn 8 strictly as your setup for Turn 9. Coming out of the Carousel, look for your braking zone for Turn 9. Turn 9 is must slower than it appears tracking out of the Carousel and you can build a lot of speed on the slightly downhill straight - don’t neglect your braking zone. After powering out of the Carousel, don’t straighten out completely. Instead, continue to squeeze left, letting the car drift over to the left side of the track right at the start of Turn 8. Brake in a straight line, heading deep into The Double Apex towards your Turn 9 turn in point.

Alternatively, you can treat The Double Apex as a single apex turn (name notwithstanding). Everything above applies, only you are staying wide through Turn 8 instead of pinching it off for a double apex.

As mentioned, Turn 9 is much slower than it looks from the straight, and it invites brake oversteer. The wall is pretty close, so try not to spin. Once you’ve seen you’ve made the apex, squeeze on the power heading onto the mini straight.

Welcome to your first passing zone.

Turn 10 - The 90

This is just a classic 90 degree right hand turn, so treat it as such. This is fairly slow corner leading onto the longest straight of the course, so definitely go slow in fast out. You want to put down as much power as early as possible. Don’t brake too late or you will be fighting the car through the corner, and will begin putting power down later.

Turn 11

This corner is right in the middle of the longest straight on the course, the aptly named Long Straight. Turn 11 can be taken flat out. There is some pavement on the left side of the track as runout for the alternative configuration entrance on the right - use this as your turn in point for Turn 11. Gently squeeze right, then gently squeeze back towards track out. You are going very fast through here, so a smooth, steady hand is your friend. You may have to shift during the turn depending on your car’s gearing. The more power you have, the more you need to be careful of the weight shift when you shift. To be safe, unwind the wheel slightly when you shift, but make sure you stay on the track.

Rain Line
The apex tends to stay wet much longer than the rest of the Long Straight, though it didn’t seem to pool any standing water. Nonetheless, be vigilant about any standing water forming here, as you really don’t want to spin.

Turn 12-14 - The End of Straight Esses

You are extremely fast at the end of the Long Straight. I saw 112 MPH in my Miata, braking VERY early. Expect speeds on par with or higher than the Back Straight at Watkins Glen. But unlike the Glen there is ZERO runoff! The paved and gravel runoff depicted in the official track map does NOT exist as of July 31, 2009! You have about 50 feet or so of grass and then you’re into the wall. In short, don’t mess up your braking zone.

That said, you have a TON of braking grip as the track inclines gradually (but more than you realize) right at the end of the Long Straight. This gives you a lot of compression, and consequently a lot of grip. Note that the compression and grip increases as you brake deeper, so the track really just invites you to ignore the warnings noted above and brake ridiculously late.

After your braking zone, you come to the Esses. Compromise the right hand Turn 12, aiming for the rumbles. GO SLOW THROUGH HERE! There is a TON of elevation change, making this corner NOTHING like what the track map depicts. There is basically a mini-hill, with the peak right at the junction of Turns 13 and 14. Other than the elevation change, this is a pretty standard tight chicane. Compromise the left hand Turn 14 to make a wider arc through the right hand Turn 14. The challenge is in the elevation change, as this weights and unweights the various ends of your car. Basically, keep a steady, even throttle through this section (especially cresting the hill!) and don’t begin putting power down until you are sure you have made the apex of Turn 14, the right hander.

Turn 15 - The Right Kink

This is a standard right hand corner. Hit your apex right and you can carry a lot of speed and put down a lot of power through her. I am flat out in my Miata.

Turn 16 - The Left Kink

If you are going to give respect to only one corner at this track, make it this one. Many people try to treat this section like a straight, but they usually end up hitting the wall in a spectacular fashion. There is a lot of elevation change, which combines with any lift-throttle or brake oversteer to create epic failures.

After you track out on the left side of the track from Turn 15, drift over to the right side of the track. There is a hill here, and the second part of Turn 16 is blind. As you crest the hill, bleed off some speed by lifting or tapping the brakes (your power and grip will determine exactly how much you need to slow down), then carve a nice, SMOOTH, arc left to the apex. This part is downhill, so you have less grip. Keep your inputs smooth to keep yourself from oversteering. And DON’T SNAP OFF THE THROTTLE OR GRAB THE BRAKES!

Once you’ve made the apex, you now want to set yourself up for your braking zone for Turn 17. You have to slow down A LOT, so make a mini straight right before the turn in point. Staying in the middle of the track as it curves around to the right will give you more wiggle room as you setup your braking zone. Pinching this section off by hugging the right side of the track is a shorter distance and probably faster, but you must make a quick transition from turning to straight line braking.

Rain Line
The middle section of the last right hand part of the turn tends to hold a thin layer of water. Adjust your line to the right as needed.

Turn 17 - Up Hill Hook (the hairpin)

This is a true hairpin. So enter slow and get your power down as early as possible. Go slow through here your first time, as it is deceptively tighter than it looks. Use all of the rumble strips by the apex on the right side of the turn, late apexing as needed to get power down earlier.

Turn 18

This is a very funky corner. It seems like a double apex would work, but a single apex line is much cleaner. Stay roughly 2/3 of the way to the right through the first part of the corner, then pinch in towards the “second” apex. Squeeze on the power and let your throttle track you down and out towards your track out. Note that some cars will require a shift through this second part of the corner, past the apex. You are still turning left to follow the track around towards Turn 19, so be mindful of lift throttle oversteer. Apex late and unwind the wheel slightly when you shift, as needed. Just like with the Carousel, don’t unwind the wheel completely, as you need to drift left to setup for Turn 19.

Note that there is a tiny bump right at the “second” apex, which can make some cars a little skittish in the rear when you go over it. Also note that, again, there is NO RUNOFF! You have maybe 50 feet of grass and then a wall, and you build a fair amount of speed on the Back Straight.

Turn 19

This is a compromised corner, setting you up for Turn 20. Drift back to the left coming out of Turn 18, aiming to give yourself a mini straight line braking zone right along the left side of track. The track actually hooks over to the left just before turning right, so carve your arc out of Turn 18 to spit you left onto this bit of track. That will maximize your arc through the right hand section.

There is quite a bit of grip through Turn 19 as it is slightly banked. Late apex hard, making sure you are all the way on the right for your Turn 20 turn in.

Turn 20

Almost there! This is a tighter, shorter version of the Carousel. Enter deep, stay 2/3 of the way right, then squeeze over to the left when you see your apex. Roll on the power as you enter the Pit Straight.

As you can see, your line through most sections is dictated by the later corners in that section. Keep in mind what lies ahead to figure out your best lines around this circuit.