Location: Mt Juliet, TN Z06 FEST PARTICIPANT I II III IV V VI & VII
Posts: 18,130
Going to the Track
Our local Vette club is caravaning to Western Michigan this weekend. We'll have exclusive use of the 1.9 mile Gingerman Raceway for 4 hours! From what I'm told we can set our own lap speed.
I've never been to Gingerman, let alone drive it. Anyone here have on-track experience there? Any tips/suggestions?
Zippy,
You will enjoy Gingerman. Track is well kept, grounds are immaculate and the surroundings are great. Went there last year with the North Shore Corvette Club out of Chicago. Good group and a great event. The track is outstanding and a great drive. It is fairly forgiving and safe. The only area that might make you feel some concern is turn 11, but only if you're off line or otherwise in bad shape. Coming off the 10-11 straight, which gives you the opportunity for some good speed, the wall at 11 looks closer than it is. The track is otherwise not overly technical, but takes a few laps to get used to. Once you have the line down, it is an absolute riot. You will know when you have the feel down when you nail the 5-6 turn and come into 7.
Which local club is going there this weekend?
Here is my take on this track. It's wide, nicely maintained, good run off areas and fairly technical. Not as difficult as Grattan, but the experienced guys (at this track) will run away from the newbies.
The main straight is slightly uphill to turn one which is blind until you reach the braking zone. Stay left and brake before the rise. After a while you might be able to brake after, but that depends a lot on your ability, tires and brakes.
Turn one is fairly fast. Third gear would probably be good to limit torque while you are learning. From one to two, let the car track from right to left to set up for a very late apex. Be patient with turn two. It is nearly 180 degrees with a double radius and a very late apex will get you more exit velocity.
Turn three (toilet bowl) is blind right hand second gear & another really late apex. Run the car almost out to the grass before turning. Done properly, you should be able to stand on it at the apex, track out to the left curbing, upshift and go thru the kink (turn 4) without lifting and downhill to 5.
Five is left hand and really a lot faster than it looks. Brake in a straight line, turn in, accelerate for a bit in the short chute between 5 & 6. You should end up on the right side of the track and again be patient and make 6 a very late apex. 6 is a smaller radius so the 5-6 combination is driven like a large decreasing radius.
6 to 7 is slightly uphill. The 7-8-9 turns are a sequence of turn that have to work together to be quick. 7 is tight right hand which can be early or late apex depending on your preference. Once the car has tracked out to the left my steering wheel position does not change thru 8 and it gets the car back to the right side to set up for 9.
9 is again a very late apex to take advantage of the short straight to 10. If the car is going a bit too quickly entering 9, now is the time to nab the brakes a bit to get the car under control, because once you pass the centerline of the track to the right in this turn, the pavement is slightly off camber and you will probably go off.
10 is pretty straight forward and a late apex leading on to the longest straight. Now is a good time to check your gages etc. Your speed into the braking zone will be 100-120 depending on exit of nine, motor tires etc.
11 also has good visibility and leads on to the main straight.
Have fun, go quickly & be safe. Wish I was going...
You might want to check out Sherman's Ice Cream on Phoenix Rd just east of I96 on the way to the track... or after.
Just one more thought. The above is my interpretation of the correct racing line at GingerMan, which might not be the very fastest way around the track. I have been told by Dan Schnitta and a few others that there might be several correct lines thru turn 2 depending on driving style and type of car.
Last edited by UstaB-GS549 : 05-22-2005 at 12:16 PM.
Our local Vette club is caravaning to Western Michigan this weekend. We'll have exclusive use of the 1.9 mile Gingerman Raceway for 4 hours! From what I'm told we can set our own lap speed.
I've never been to Gingerman, let alone drive it. Anyone here have on-track experience there? Any tips/suggestions?
TIA
You'll love it! It's a fantastic track to learn at because it's wide open. The only thing that I can say is that you might get hooked on DE's and we may never see you doing anything else with your Corvette.
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