Carolina Motorsports Park in beautiful (heh heh) Kershaw SC is another
example. I just posted this to W2W yesterday...
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I have been asked to provide a description of the new track for those
who have not yet made the trip.
Carolina is best described as a 'club track'. It is very safe with lots
of runoff in all but one corner. Besides an outrageous bump in the
middle of T10 it is billiard table smooth. It is also almost completely
billiard table flat... I believe the width is 36 feet so there is plenty
of room to go side by side. It is a relatively slow track with a lot of
2nd gear corners. Harold Fletcher would probably classify it as a "dink
shit track".
The track is located 5 miles south of the thriving metropolis (NOT) of
Kershaw that is nearly on the North Carolina border. This town is so
sleepy the best regarded restaurant in town closed at 8:30 on a
Saturday. I had pizza instead at the one pizza parlor that was still
hopping even at such a late hour. The only other choice was the "Sports
Bar" that provided sandwiches and such. It is also the only sports bar I
have ever seen which had a NASCAR motif. Just for the record I am about
6 inches taller than Dale Earnheart Jr. since his full size likeness was
on display next to the bar. There is one 'decent' motel in town called
the "Executive Inn". It is brand new with construction techniques to
prove it. But at least I didn't have to drive 20 miles every day from
I-20 like everybody else...
But back to the track, the pit area is along the front straight. The
entry is about 200 feet from the exit of T14 - close enough so there
could be a bit of confusion if you are in a pack of cars, and the exit
is right at the apex of T1. It really pays to have a good pit out
person...
T1 is a 110 degree or so left hander that is taken in 2nd gear. It leads
immediately to T2 which is a 110 degree right - still in 2nd. This leads
immediately to T3 - a 90 degree left hander. I was short-shifting into
3rd before turning in for T3. Otherwise I'd be at the rev limiter at the
exit. T3 also has the least amount of runoff with a gravel trap and then
Armco drivers right that is lined with tires. Apparently, there is a
stream on drivers right that leads to a lake on drivers left which is
the cause. The stream goes under the track between T3 and T4.
T4 is a fast 60 degree left hand corner that I was taking in 3rd. You
need to brake hard and probably downshift to 2nd for T5 - the start of
the carousel (5-6-7) so you are very busy keeping the car on the edge
while shifting (at least if you went down to 2nd for the entry). This is
the only real challenge except trying to remember T3 is fast after so
many slow corners.
The carousel is followed by a short straight leading to T8. T8 is a
fairly fast 3rd gear 90 degree corner leading onto the back straight. T9
is really non-existant (not even a kink).
T10 is more than a kink - it is an opportunity to see how many wheels
you can get off the ground. There is an outrageous bump right at the
apex of the corner that is formed by an access road that cuts across
from the end of the front straight. I really don't understand why this
bump is there, but they _really_ have to fix it. T10 is very fast - say
120 in my car. Fortunately, there is lots of runoff and people needed
every foot of it as they got bigger and bigger cohones as the weekend
progressed.
T11 is a 2nd gear left hander that is about 140 degrees or so - very
tight and very heavy braking. It is also the place to pass those who
don't like to get airborne. T12 follows right away - it is a 120 degree
right hander that is also taken in 2nd gear. This is followed by T13 -
also a 2nd gear right corner - only this one is 'just' 90 degrees
(sigh). You then get a small opportunity to try 3rd gear for a while
before you get to T14 - a 110 degree 2nd gear right hander onto the
front straight with really big gators at the exit so you have to stay on
the track. The front straight allowed me to get into 4th gear before
very hard braking for T1. Bring extra pads and rotors...
As far as facilities are concerned, there are none besides the bathroom
building that is closer to registration than to the pits (very nice
bathroom by the way - worth the walk if you have to #2 or you happen to
be a woman - otherwise there are port-o-lets here and there). The entry
road is gravel which lasts as long as the registration trailer. It then
turns into sand roads that bisect the fields that are the so-called
paddock area. I heard the next items on their agenda were to pave the
entry road and flatten the paddock area. Timing and scoring are in
another trailer at T1. Tech consists of a concrete pad that is perhaps
20ft x 30 ft - bring your own awning.
It is really too bad they went so crazy with the 4 2nd gear corners at
the end of the layout. I think they want to attact autocross-type stuff
using only the front portion of the track. But the track would be a lot
more fun with fewer and faster corners leading onto the front straight.
But as it is it does provide for pretty good side-by-side racing.
Although my car broke during qualifying on Saturday I had a humdinger
fun race on Friday. I held 4 other E class cars at bay and managed to
pull off a 3rd in class.
Oh yeah, as always the local SCCA flaggers were great. One even offered
to borrow his dad's dolly to tow me home since his dad lived in the next
county and he lived in Melbourne. Too bad my brother was already on his
way to save my ass...
Paul Foster
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