LOL old 12 at Road Atlanta or well ALL of Road Atlanta IMO, Barber between 4-5 has some spots. TGP 1 & 2. Now if someone ran Full course and kept the last complex I would be worried. The turn that crosses the straight would be very bad while in the planned setup you can just run it straight off with no worries.
First "I" session of the day, groups are led out by Instructors for two laps at a reduced speed, which is meant to be for warming up your tires a bit..AND as sighting laps. The next two sessions are led out by Instructors for one lap. I realize that you probably aren't going to "learn" the track in that short of a period of time, but it certainly will help out to some degree. As with any new track that you've never been to, reduce your pace a bit and get comfortable with the track.
I highly doubt they can run out of space. They were running an SCCA National Event and had room for all those cars and their trailers in addition to all of us running with Midwest. It was slightly tight, but not bad. Without the cars cluttering the parking lot, we'll have tons of space! Thanks, Carlos
My first time at CMP on a Saturday 9am Session in "A", I ran off track. It was foggy out and only about 6 riders in "A", so I decided to let them all go out first. I wanted to move slowly around the track to learn if it is a right or left coming up. I speed up down the long straight and get to the bus stop, not realizing it is so sharp, all I could do was run it into the grass. LOL I finally figured out the track and had a blast. Now, if I can only learn my way around the pits?
I am looking forward to NCM in a few weeks. I will be the SLOW guy in I trying to figure out where the hell I am at and where to go.
It's a great layout...the turn you gotta REALLY look out for is called DECEPTION, a blind crest hard right without any runoff if you misjudge. You learn to enter slower, apex later than it looks like you should..
Deception is definitely the trickiest corner on the track. It has some paved runoff in case you blow it, but that's it. Once you get through deception give it all you've got and hang on through the next few blind corners.
NCM said to bring 6 sections. I brought 14 It's a great track and when all the buildings/garage complex is done it will be one of the best tracks in the country. They also have a great safety crew. I spent time at Pit Out and in Turn 12 corner station listening to radio traffic
Just do not do this for your first time at the track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6Xet7cvWrw See the 4:50 mark...
This is what other organizations have been running, unless the armco has been changed significantly enough to make a different course safer.
what corner is deception? here's my low down for $.02 chicane is tight going in, ease onto the brakes before the 5 marker starting out. Lotta people over braking for it and you running up on them. Expect to trail brake on alot of the corners. Specifically 1A, 2, 6, 10 and 18. Will take 2-3 session to learn where the track goes. T5 and T16 are very fast corners that look slower than they are. T17 is one where you should carry more speed than what you think through as well. The trickiest corner on the track is T12. it wants to throw you wide into the rumble strip. It leads onto the back straight and you want to take it with momentum because of it. After that it's just kinks until T16 that you stay WOT through. The track is all about late apex, point-and-shoot. In the chicane the left hander needs to be taken at a late apex. T2 as well. T3 is wide open and stay wide open through the entrance of T5. T5 is very fast! no hard braking needed going into it although your instincts will demand it. you can downshift once going in and again into T5, or you can grab 2 downshifts into T6. Most of the track is 3rd gear. laptimes are sub 2:00 for fast experts on 1k's or uber fast 600 superbikes so far. Novice race laptimes on a 600 seem to be about 2:03 give or take a second. fast A group 600 times 2:05-2:09. 2:11 +/-1 second being average. Decent I times prolly 2:15 +/- 3 seconds this is a 1000 track to the bone. I love NCM! been to every major track but RA and VIR and this is my fav! like JGP but 1.5x the distance and the elevation similiar to barbers second half. The T5/T16 sections are like the back section of barber where you gotta stay on it even if the bike wants to get squirrely. take rebound out of the front to help chatter going into the fast sections. This is a good vid from a pretty fast dude.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YoTjBAKDQ8
ok .yeah i said T12 is the trickiest. It's not bad just slower than what your brain wants it to be. slow in-fast out