How to drive FASTER: Road Atlanta

Axis of Oversteer, How to drive FASTER brings you detailed track guides and advice from professional racers aimed at advanced drivers, time trailer and club racers. You can find otherepisodes HERE

Road Atlanta in Braselton Georgia the home of Petit LeMans and another great old school and intimidating track. Built in the 1970s and eventually rescued by Don Panoz, the track was most recently part of the merger deal between ALMS and Grand-Am.

The track is literally in Bimmerworld Racing Seth Thomas's back yard so who better than a Georgia native to give up some of the secrets of the esses?


ROAD ATLANTA

Road Atlanta has always been my home track as I was born and raised 20 miles away. My very first memories of sports car racing are of going to the track  with my dad in the 80’s to watch the glory days of IMSA racing.   I still remember vividly the Camel GTP cars coming through the famed “Dip” and crest the hill at Turn 11 at speeds in excess of 100 MPH, right side mirrors about to touch the wall going under the bridge.
As a young kid I always thought about how cool it would be to drive one of these cars at Road Atlanta.

Fast Forward to 1998 when the opportunity to drive Road Atlanta arrived when I signed up for a Track Day with the BMWCar Club of America.   This was my first event with my new to me 1997 BMW M3.
I was hooked. I started looking for every track event at Road Atlanta I could attend.  Then I started racing in 2001 in a ITB 1984 BMW 318.  This car helped teach me the line around the track.  Since then I have modified the line I started learning at Driver’s Ed events to the one I use to race.  Racing for BimmerWorld in the Speed World Challenge Touring Car helped hone my line around Road Atlanta. Those cars were fast with a small tire with very little grip but the lap times were similar to a Porsche 996 GT3 Cup Car.

For my friends at Axis of Oversteer here is a detailed lap around my home track of Road Atlanta including pictures from inside the 2007 BimmerWorld BWM 325 Touring Car.

Front Straight

A lap at Road Atlanta starts with a fast run through T12 onto the front straight. This straight is not very long but it is fast as the entry speed is around 110-120 MPH. The important part to remember here is to look ahead for the brake markers for Turn 1 and pick them up with your vision as early as possible. The exercise of finding the brake markers as early as possible will help you for the rest of your lap.

Turn 1

Turn1 is a very fast constant radius right hand turn featuring both downhill and uphill changes in elevation. It slopes downward a small amount in the brake zone down to the apex and gains elevation from the apex out. It is important to take note of these changes to maximize grip and speed in all the stages of Turn1.

Heading into the brake zone for T1 the speeds will be around 120-130 MPH. Line the car up with the left side of the track. The importance here is to give yourself as much track surface as you can so you can roll big speed through Turn 1. This is the second biggest brake zone of the track but be careful not to overslow the car. I tend to give the car a big hit of the brakes on initial brake pedal application but roll off the pressure on the pedal fairly early to get the front tires ready to turn in with speed.

As I start to bleed off brake pedal pressure I slowly start to turn the car in a tiny bit early as the track starts to slope downward and the cars starts to slightly understeer. I release the brakes a little early to roll the speed down to the apex. At the apex point is the transition from downhill to uphill and the front starts to gain grip again. This is when I transition my right foot to the throttle pedal and start to aggressively apply throttle. I want to use the grip gained by the uphill run to help the car accelerate out. Once I turn in for Turn 1 I do my best to maintain the same steering input throughout the whole turn. Use the majority of the track but remember to start the setup for Turn 2 on the exit.