From Friday 5/29 - new track as of last year, great pavement, super fast - just under 90 mph avg lap speed during TT.

Great track, try it out if you get the chance!

New Jersey Motorsports Park Lightning Circuit from Friday, practice sessions and Time Trial:

http://homepage.mac.com/stracy01/TEAM_nismo.jpg

YouTube - CT CART NJMP AM Session START (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhNBo05nbJY)

YouTube - CART NJMP 12:30 Session Part 1 of 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkN61Vw1jO0)


http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs049.snc1/4453_1014064208970_1746021421_27039_6322818_n.jpg

fun... good old NJ

The Lightning Course is cool, lots of elevation changes, 10 turns and 1.9 miles. We were running 80-85 mph avg lap speed, that's damn fast given how tight some of the turns are, and the straight is essentially somewhat uphill for much of its distance. Pavement is new and they've added more berms since last year when it was new, so not so much chance one wheel drops off you get dirt instead of a berm. The turn at the end of the straight is like a Six Flags ride, what a great design.

http://www.njmotorsportspark.com/images/lightning.png

Looking forward to checking it out in three weeks. NOT looking forward to the long-ass drive there and back :(

Looking forward to checking it out in three weeks. NOT looking forward to the long-ass drive there and back :(

It was about 5 hours for me, kind of long, too.

One word of advice is take a good look at the berms, there are still a few corners where a wheel off meets dirt more than berm and snagged a few cars when I was there. They added some more berm coverage since last year, but coverage is not entirely complete where you might expect. Some of the open wheel drivers said the same thing, watch the edge of the track past the end of the berms - often it looks solid but is loose fill.

The uphill corner at the end of the straight can be taken at ludicrous speed. I kept poking toward a limit and never found one, left some time on the table there. The same for the uphill turn before the section leading to the bridge, if you apex it tight you can go nearly flat out in most cars - IF you don't drift left too soon on the backside, it drops away off camber there and you'll notice a lot of panic skid marks there.

Entering the front straight I noticed a lot of people took a line that brought them over to the far left too early. They should have been using more of the center with a gradual movement by about 1/4 into the straight before they're against the side. I found this out passing people, which required more center use of the straight in the beginning, suddenly realized the line itself was much faster and I was hitting higher speeds by 5-10 mph at the end. The difference is you don't hit the entrance quite as steep of an uphill so you're fighting gravity less.

Bring good brakes, it's a very fast track but I saw several larger and heavier/faster cars (Evos IX, Evo MR X, 350Z's, etc.) who didn't last on "what they brung" setup and that was usually OEM Brembo. They were in replacing pads with a higher temp pad I ran DS3000's and was fine, rotor temps when I came in I never saw over 250 def F or so. For heavier cars it seemed hard on brakes. Glad I don't drive one :)

It's also really drivable in the wet, more so than most places I've been.

Have fun, I sure did! Oh, and whatever you do, don't eat from the concession stand by the Karting track, worst "food" I've had in a long time - burger tasted like a vegi+dog+horse burger.

One word of advice is take a good look at the berms, there are still a few corners where a wheel off meets dirt more than berm and snagged a few cars when I was there.

I'm not going to be pushing it. I'm not even sure yet how I'm getting there - whether I ride down with a friend who's trailering, drive my SE-R (yuck, no radio, blown suspension, exhaust leak... obnoxious!), or drive the FX. Either way if I drive the friend's car or one of mine, I'll likely do one session to orient myself with the track so I can instruct others and maybe one other session later in the day to fool around.

Bring good brakes...For heavier cars it seemed hard on brakes. Glad I don't drive one :)

If I bring the SE-R my pads are better than the tires (8 year-old Azenis) and if I bring the FX I'll just have to be careful. Everything is stock and I've already done 100 or so track miles and every time the pedal goes lower and lower for the street :/

Oh, and whatever you do, don't eat from the concession stand by the Karting track, worst "food" I've had in a long time - burger tasted like a vegi+dog+horse burger.

The club we run with provides lunch so I'm set there but thanks :)