Overview:

Thunderbolt Raceway is a fast 2.2-mile course with moderate elevation change, several high-speed right-hand corners, a challenging right-left sequence (known as the Octopus), and plenty of runoff. NJMP claims 14 corners, though in reality there are 10 or 11 distinct corners and a further three slight curves. There are two alternate chicanes and, technically, four different configurations, though these chicanes change the course very little. The track is new, having opened earlier this summer. The asphalt, with a few exceptions, is fresh, smooth, and unpatched. Grip is very consistent throughout the course. Curbing is wide and usable in most corners, though the combination of paint and sand (the soil of the track site is very loose and dusty) can make the curbing too slippery in isolated places. It has parallels to Lime Rock and Watkins Glen; if you’ve been to either of those tracks you’ll be well-prepared to learn Thunderbolt.

Track website, maps, and videos:

• NJMotorsportsPark.com
• NJMP Track Maps
• Trackpedia’s Thunderbolt Page - a bit outdated
• Video of a few laps at Thunderbolt in the Protege

Turn-by-turn description:

Corner 1:
Beginning at start/finish, you approach corner 1 at high speed (100-110mph for low-powered cars up to 150+mph for high-powered streetable cars). It’s a flat 70-degree right-hander. The corner entry gets cluttered with sand and other small debris, so you’ll want to brake cautiously and avoid using the curbing to widen the radius that last little bit unless you’re confident that you’ll have grip there.

Corner 2:
Coming out of corner 1, the track begins to rise uphill slightly towards corner 2, another fast right-hander. The apex of 2 is at the crest of a hill, and the track-out point is blind. You can’t see it until you reach the apex. The safest way through corner 2 is to give up a little speed so that you can unwind and crest the hill straight instead of with the left side loaded up. This is similar to the uphill at Lime Rock, where many people prefer to compromise the line a little so that the car isn’t cornering when the natural incline of the track unloads the springs.

I found, however, that at my power levels I couldn’t build enough speed exiting the corner to really unsettle the car during track out, so I was taking an uncompromised line for most of the day. Further, the curbing at the apex is very gradual and forgiving, and I was using every inch of it (and a bit of the dirt inside the apex) to widen the radius.

Corner 3:
Exiting 2, you have a slight downhill into corner 3, a very fast right-hander that can be taken more or less flat-out in lower-powered cars. I found that just a momentary lift was enough to settle the car, and then I was full-throttle in 4th all the way through. There’s no mystery in corner 3; you take the textbook line (and use a little curb if you’re bold) and hang on.

Exiting 3, you have a moderately long straight with an uphill in the middle. The incline is slight, but its position causes you to lose sight of the upcoming braking zone for corner 4. This was not a problem for low-powered cars because they do reach speeds high enough to require early braking for corner 4. But high-powered cars may need to brake immediately after cresting the uphill. It’s a great challenge—having to brake while the contour of the track unloads the front of the car—that you don’t see at too many other tracks.

Corners 4 and 5:
Corner 4 itself is a tighter but still-fast right hander, but with it begins the more technical half of the course. You need to slightly compromise 4 and track out only about half way, because corner 5 is a slow left-hand hairpin followed by a fairly long straight. I tried quite a few lines through here: compromising 4 and then drifting to the right side to prepare for 5, compromising both 4 and the entry to 5 a bit, and tracking out almost all the way for 4 and then compromising 5. A few drivers I spoke to called corner 5 a throwaway, but I think that, for cars like the Protégé at least, you do gain something by taking 5 traditionally so that you can carry speed through. It’s worth trying all 3 approaches though, to see which one you’re most comfortable with.

Corner 6:
After you exit corner 5, you’ll be on the far right of the track. Corner 6 is another right-hander, so you’ll begin to drift over to the extreme left of the track. Moderate braking is required for 6, but it’s yet another flat and fast corner. I found this corner to maddeningly invite excessive braking and an early apex; something about the contours and terrain makes it look tighter than it is. More often than not, I exited 6 knowing that I could have carried more speed through. Apex and track-out curbing is very useful here to widen your radius.

Corners 7 and 8:
Between corner 6 and corner 7 is a short straight. You’ll need to brake quite a bit because 7 is a tighter right-hander (with a barely noticeable downward dip at the apex). Trackout varies because the exit of 7 sets you up for the long, complex right-hander that leads into the Octopus. It may be helpful to refer to the track map or the vid as you read the following sections.

I was tracking out of corner 7 wide because I preferred a single-apex for corner 8. After swinging out to the extreme left at track-out for 7, I brought the car back somewhat to mid track. Though the asphalt is technically curving here, you wan to think about the area between track-out for 7 and turn-in for 8 as essentially a straight. About halfway through this very gradual turn there is curbing on the inside. Those that prefer a double-apex do not swing as wide exiting 7, and dive tight to the inside towards this curbing. For those of you who have been to Lime Rock, this is similar to Big Bend: do you fight for that first apex, or do you widen the arc, lengthen the track, and carry speed.

Either way, the turn-in point for corner 8, which is a tight, slow right-hander that comes at the end of the gentle curve between 7 and 8, is difficult to reference. Much like the Left-Hander at Lime Rock or corner 9 at NHMS, you need to drive out into a proverbial no-man’s land before turning in. From the driver’s seat, you will see the track pinch off to the right and disappear as you head towards the turn-in point. You’ll need to brake hard here, and as you do, the apex for corner 8 will be at the extremity of your peripheral vision. It’s important to brake gently here, particularly if you’ve single-apexed. The single-apex widens the arc for corner 8, but it also means that you are technically brake-turning (or trail-braking) through the entire braking zone. Maximum braking grip will be less than it seems. The double-apex solves the brake-turning problem because you can get a very flat approach to the turn-in point, but it also pinches the arc going through 8. Both lines have their advantages, and it’s fun to try both.

Corners 8 and 9:
Whichever you try, make sure you late-apex corner 8. Corner 8 leads directly into the Octopus, a long, slow, suspension-intensive left-hander that you could assign any number of apexes to. There is virtually no straight track between the exit of 8 and the start of 9 (the Octopus), so you have very little time to settle the car and get turned in.

The 8-9 transition itself forces you to make a decision: Do you want to track out a bit exiting 8, or do you want to fully compromise 8 in the exact way you must compromise the left-hander at Lime Rock so that you can fly through the next right-hander onto No Name Straight?

I preferred to fully compromise 8 because the Protégé’s suspension simply couldn’t handle the quick transition from 8-9. If I treated 8 as a throw-away, I could get the Protégé fairly-well settled headed into the Octopus, use a nice wide entry, and get on the gas fairly early. I do think, however, that it could be faster to compromise 8 a little less, enter the Octopus from a mid-track position, and just stay tight to the inside. Speeds will be lower, but the track will be much shorter. I’ve done the same experiment with 9-10 at NHMS, and I’ve grown to prefer the slower but shorter inside line.

Exiting the Octopus is no simple matter. For one, you are at maintenance throttle for along time while in the Octopus, and it’s tempting to bail out of the corner as soon as you see it start to open up. However, the Octopus opens up to a few gradual esses that lead to the main straight. This is Thunderbolt’s most important corner. Get over-eager and track out of the Octopus too early, and you won’t be able to stay on the throttle through the esses.

Consider this the equivalent corner 2 and the back straight at Watkins Glen, but with a much slower initial section. When you come out of 2 at WGI, you must be tight to the right so that you can stay flat-out through the left-right esses and power up the hill.

Corner 10 (the esses):
Exiting the Octopus at Thunderbolt, you need to be tight to the [i]left[/i] so that you can power through the right-left-right esses and onto the front straight. Thunderbolt’s esses are more pronounced and tighter, so a sequence of late apexes is in order until you get to the last curve of the esses— corner 10, a right-handed curve—that is very wide and has a huge apex curb to use.

When I exited the Octopus, I tried to get my left-side tires onto the edge of the curbing when I was about 2/3 of the way through. Then, I just tried to maintain throttle and use all the grip I had to hold steady. Once I could see the inside curbing of the Octopus drop away ahead of me, I started getting on the gas, but I did not leave the extreme left side (the inside of the Octopus, which becomes the [i]outside[/i] as the esses start) until I was ready to turn in for the first curve of the esses.

If you get the Octopus right, it’s a simple, straightforward run through the esses. Use the curbing to carry a lot of speed onto the front straight. You’ll pass the tower, cross start/finish, and be ready to dive into corner 1 again.