F1 coming to laguna seca!!

[flynfrog]

if that's gonna happen Laguna Seca better get their act together and paved the track right.

This year event, helding the AMA superbike and MotoGP together in the same weekend and the track was falling apart.

They tried to put sealen down below around Corkscrew but made it worst.

If Sebring paved their track good, it could be a good choice.
Barber Motorsport Park is fantastic but its a motorcycle track only.

I'm sorry but thats the biggest crock of $*** I've ever heard... falling apart? Where do you get your information from? Have you ever been to Laguna Seca?

It was one of the last great tracks that hasn't been totally paved over of any character... that hump before the corkscrew would seperate who knew how to drive thier car, and who didnt. That's what they (two wheelers) were complaining about in regards to the track. Sports Cars, Historics, SuperKarts, all negotiated that track with ease, and its mostly smooth except for the few places that make it tricky.

If you like cookie cutter tracks, fine, you and the rest of the cookie cutter masses can go there... tracks like Sebring, Laguna Seca, Infineon, Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta, have bumps and have character. These tracks will chew you up and spit you out if you don't know your car.

Falling apart, yeah right.

Thank you
not all tracks are perfect

[Tp]

how so none of the other cars that race there seem to have a problem

Have you seen the corkscrew!! An F1 car will bottom out before it reaches the bottom of the corner. But then again it's most likely better than Indianapolis. It's not a "challenging driver's track" like Spa or Suzuka, (unless you're on Michelins, then you have to control high speed blow-outs. )

[Tom]

In my experience of Laguna Seca its an awful trach, it hasn't really got a good rhythm, like Indy, and the scenery around is so bleak it really puts me off the place. Seems fickle I know, but think of Suzuka with the funfair, Indianapolis with the grandstands and esspecially Spa with the forests, all really colourful vibrant places, then theres LS which looks like desert.

[flynfrog]

yes the track is in the middle of the desert, no i dont care im there to watch a race not look at the scenery. Being form the midwest im used to tracks being built in the middle of corn fields

as far as bottoming out
champ car never had any problems and they run a lower wing
if the car bottoms out raise the ride heigth




as far as challenging

the moto gp guys get blisters form all of the shifts they have to do

there is alot of elevation change and the surface cant be anyworse than monaco


can you tell its my favorite track


pics form "the pass"

[Tp]

[IMG:320:256]http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/8906/l ... wlgdc1.jpg[/img]

Wow champ cars can get down that!! Still not sure that the ride height can be risen to a point where it doesn't bottom out and when it does I'm sure they would have to take the corner at like 1.5mph.

[flynfrog]

[IMG:320:256]http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/8906/l ... wlgdc1.jpg[/img]

Wow champ cars can get down that!! Still not sure that the ride height can be risen to a point where it doesn't bottom out and when it does I'm sure they would have to take the corner at like 1.5mph.

i dont under stand why you think its an impossible corner you are comming in pretty slow
its the one right after it that is the tough one hold it flat out and hope for traction

[joseff]

Don't they have a corkscrew copy down at Istanbul? F1 cars already go through that without a problem. I don't imagine the real corkscrew is that different. Well except for the surface maybe.

[Ciro Pabón]

Don't they have a corkscrew copy down at Istanbul? F1 cars already go through that without a problem. I don't imagine the real corkscrew is that different. Well except for the surface maybe.

I don't think so. Istanbul has several curves with a height change, but none as challenging. It is like racing Montoya vs racing Klien: sure, both are F1 drivers. But under the surface...

As for F1 cars in Laguna Seca, maybe around this circuit you will understand how dependent on downforce are these cars. I agree with tp about the max speed you could expect of them on hard vertical curves, designed with the driver discomfort in mind, like this.

Sure F1 cars can drive upside-down inside a pipe, on condition of providing an straight pipe... Just try to take an inverse vertical curve (concave) on a pipe with enough speed and you will be flying.

Laguna Seca's Corkscrew defies every one of the pages AASHTO has written on coordination of superelevation, curvature and vertical curves.

Finally, I love deserts. Everything is so small... plants, animals, leaves. They hide from and minimize exposure to heat. To know the desert you have to get closer to the ground. There are flowers, only they are minimal. This may surprise some of you, but a desert have more biodiversity than the Black Forest: the only problem (if you call this a problem) is that you can't see it easily.

[Saribro]

I'm not a fan of Laguna Seca either. Sure it's a historical circuit and the corkscrew is unique, but other than it's all wrong to me. The scenery is wrong, the colour is wrong, the flow is wrong, the rhythm is wrong ... well I plain just don't like it.

Oh, and no, that doesn't make it special to me :p.

[Larnach]

Laguna Seca is about racing...

http://videos.streetfire.net/search/le+ ... c4335f.htm

A video I filmed a few years ago.

Anyway, yes, its bumpy in some areas, but smooth as silk in others. It has been completly redone save for the hump at the corkscrew, and is now undergoing a full new paving, other than that it is the same layout.

I agree it is not a high speed rythum track, but prototypes hit 180 on the "straight", meaning an easy 200+mph for F1. (SuperKarts were running 165+ on the front straight, insane!)

The Toyota F1 car will be there next weekend, I think I'll go and check it out myself. Lots of great historics to be had.

[Ciro Pabón]

Laguna Seca is about racing...

... The Toyota F1 car will be there next weekend, I think I'll go and check it out myself. Lots of great historics to be had.

Agreed. Pleeeeze, take a camera.

[f1natic]

Laguna Seca also gets my vote as best US circit. Indy is very artificial track without personality (F1 circuit not Indy oval).

Road America I think would be more suitable for F1. Very high speed, long fast corners mixes with slow corners at the end of the straight means passing zones(at least 3)......

They'd have to put a ton of money into improvements, but it would be my vote for the best USA track. It would be better than Laguna Seca for sure. Plus it's only about an hour and a half from Chicago and they have a lot of nice hotels around there.

[wiley]

Okay, next track to discuss...

Infineon raceway, formerly known as Sears Point

It is one of my favorite North American road tracks.

How about F1 at Sonoma!

[Tp]

Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta set a new outright track record at Laguna Seca on Friday as the team dialed in the 2006-spec TF106 in preparation for its demo runs during the historic race meeting this weekend.

The Brazilian, who was crowed FIA GT world champion with Mercedes at the same venue in 1998, set a lap time of 1m07.587s on his second flying lap, eclipsing the previous record set by compatriot Helio Castroneves in a Penske Champ Car six years ago.

Although in itself Zonta’s achievement may not seem surprising, it’s worth considering that he managed it in just two laps on old tyres.

"The team made some adjustments after our test laps yesterday that helped the car run smoother on the track today and I had a feeling the car could go much quicker than yesterday," said Zonta who curtailed his run early after electrical problems.

"We had used tyres on today and planned to change to new slicks in the second session, but we never got the chance.

“I am looking forward to new, slick tyres tomorrow."

Toyota plans to give Zonta to sets of flying laps on Saturday and Sunday at the track.

So I was wrong, it can be done.

[Saribro]

And he already scraped of another second off that record. Pretty impressive imho.