Road Course Turns Heads at California Speedway

Kevin Buckler not only races a factory Porsche GT3 RS, but he is also owner of his team, the Racers Group. So he was eager to get his first look Wednesday at the new road course inside California Speedway--and came away impressed.

If not a little concerned.

“I will predict there will be contact,” Buckler said after driving the speedway’s latest addition. “There are definitely some one-car corners.”

One-car corners that will no doubt be occupied by two cars as the 21-turn, 2.8-mile layout gets its first test this weekend.

Buckler still gave the course a thumb’s up, which seemed the consensus among the handful of drivers who got a preview Wednesday.

The public will get its chance with this weekend’s unique combination of oval and road racing at the same venue.

The new infield road circuit utilizes the front stretch of the oval, as well as Turns 1 and 2, and reenters the oval at the end of 4. It will get its first competition test at 3:15 p.m. Friday with one of two scheduled 30-minute Ferrari Challenges. The second takes place at 10:15 a.m. Saturday followed by the Grand American 400 Rolex Sports Car Series, scheduled for 142 laps with a four-hour time limit, beginning Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

On Sunday, the Grand American Cup 250, an 89-lap race with a three-hour time limit, gets its chance on the new course at 8 a.m., followed by the Indy Racing League’s Yamaha Indy 400 on the two-mile superspeedway at 12:30.

This is the first time California Speedway has played host to a road course event. Grandstand seating added in Turns 9, 10, 13 and 14 in the infield is general admission, and 70% of the course can be seen from those seats.

“When you look at a two-mile oval, you’re limited in the amount of activities you can have, especially spectator races,” said Bill Miller, president of California Speedway.

Part of the course will also be used for the inaugural American Motorcycle Assn. Yamaha Superbike Challenge April 5-7.

“One of our goals was to add product and as a facility be able to run all year; it gives you so much flexibility with events, racing schools and testing,” Miller said.

The addition of the road course, as well as a street-legal drag strip in the parking lot, has Miller boasting that it gives credence to California Speedway’s new slogan, “America’s Ultimate Race Place.”

And it may have added the ultimate stadium road course in the U.S., drivers say.

“For being a road course inside an oval, it’s the best road course I’ve ever been on,” said Rand Racing driver Niclas Jonnson of Aliso Viejo. “We race at Phoenix and Texas and there are hardly any passing opportunities. Here, you’re going to see a lot of speed, a lot of passing. This has everything you can ask for.”

Cort Wagner, a Los Angeles native who will team with Bill Auberlen of Hermosa Beach in the Scuderia Ferrari of Washington Ferrari 360 GT, provided input on the road course design during its early construction last August.

“We changed some of the diameter and radius of the corners to make it as interesting and safe as possible for passing,” Wagner said. “The chicanes in the back are a little more gradual to make the braking zone interesting.

“It’s a horsepower track. Big brakes and big motors will excel here.”

Wagner says there are enough straightaways for the faster cars--as many as five classes race at the same time--to get past “without forcing the issue.”

“What is unique is that there are a couple of high-speed chicanes,” Wagner said. “The only thing I didn’t like about it was that there’s no grass, it has little aesthetic appeal. It will be very interesting for the fans the way it’s laid out.”

All that asphalt has made the speedway an even more valuable commodity, Miller said. The 2.8-mile road course and 1.6-mile testing circuit can be reconfigured as teams see fit.

When Championship Auto Racing Teams drivers Michael Andretti, Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy tested tires and traction control, Miller said they used different parts of the various layouts to simulate turns in the Monterrey Grand Prix in Mexico, among others.

Franchitti finished second at Monterrey, and Tracy had a chance to win if not for a late-race mechanical problem.

Miller said the facility will probably have 275-300 usage days this year, noting that simultaneous usage of the oval, road course, test course and drag strip count as four days.

But there won’t be any testing this weekend. Only racing.

“They thought this place out pretty well,” Buckler said. “To run this track fast, you have to be extremely precise. ... I think you’ll see some real good racing.”

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IRL Yamaha Indy 400

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