Track Rankings for the 2024 Season

It has been my first time at most of the tracks I've raced this season. All have been great in their own way, but I've certainly enjoyed some more than others. How do they stack up? Let's dive in below.

[This article is photo-heavy. It may be best viewed in your browser.]

Tie-5th Place

GingerMan Raceway & Carolina Motorsports Park

I could not pick a winner between these two tracks. They each have pros and cons, but it comes out as a wash. Notably, both tracks were designed by Alan Wilson and share a similar overall feel and technicality.

Both tracks are slightly more than two miles, have lap times in the 1:40s, have similar grip levels, and have many tricky corners with changing radiuses and elevation. They are club tracks with small paddocks and basic facilities. Run-off is ample at both tracks, with a nod towards GingerMan having more.

While both tracks are in the middle of nowhere, GingerMan has the quaint town of South Haven, MI, just 10 minutes west. South Haven is a scenic and fun "small town USA" on Lake Michigan. Carolina Motorsports Park's nearest town with food and accommodations is Camden, SC, 25 minutes south. Camden is nothing to write home about.

In the end, both tracks are fun but only slightly above average. Neither has much magnetic draw unless you live reasonably close to them.

3rd Place - Road America

Going into the season, Road America was the track I was most looking forward to. I have a lot of laps on this track in iRacing, and I always found that it races well and is enjoyable to drive.

At over 4 miles long and with lap times in the 2:30s, our GLTC sprint races didn't lend to many laps completed at this track, especially since there was no test day preceding the event.

My judgment of the racing at Road America is clouded by a weekend that had full course cautions in every race and my only DNF of the season. I estimate I only completed 20 full-pace laps at the track all weekend. Each lap had not one, not two, but three "straights" where I hit my highest top speeds of the season: just over 130mph.

While the track is not the most technical or engaging drive, especially in a low-power car, the facilities and beauty of the track outweigh most of the cons. The track is regarded as one of the nicest road racing complexes in the U.S., and it lived up to that moniker. The paddock and pitlane are the largest of any event we have attended, and they are quite lovely. You can access just about every square inch of the track from the infield and the outer perimeter of the track. The facility has miles of paved roads, trails, and sidewalks.

There were restaurants and food stands all around the track, many of which were independently operated. The food was delicious, especially by race track standards.

Overall, Road America was incredible, but the track isn't engaging enough for me to be impatiently waiting to return next year. However, I still recommend it as a bucket-list track for anybody to experience at least once.

2nd Place - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Mid-Ohio has everything: high-speed straights, low-speed technical sections, sweeping corners, and elevation. From Turn 4 back to Turn 1, you can really get into a flow state. The straights between 1-2 and 2-4 are long enough to give you a break, but not boring. The track is about 2.25 miles, and lap times are mid-high 1:30s.

The paddock was ample (and paved), and the garage facilities seemed nice. There was a distinct lack of permanent bathrooms, just hundreds of portapotties around the facility. With the town of Lexington just 10 minutes east, there was good access to amenities near the track.

The track was repaved this year, and the surface is smooth and consistent (besides turn 1, which had some patches). The traction was weird, with tons of longitudinal grip but a vague-feeling lateral grip. I went the wrong way with car setup here, softening up the car when I should have gone stiffer, in hindsight.

Overall, my impression of this track was high, and I really enjoyed my time there. I yearn to revisit and master it, as I found it to be a true "drivers track," with a great balance of technicality and engagement that leaves you wanting more laps.

1st Place - Lime Rock Park

I'll be honest and say that this one surprised me. I have hundreds if not thousands of laps at this short 1.5 miles track on iRacing, and while I've always enjoyed it, it never stood out to me as a track I felt like I had to visit. That said, I've only heard good things from racers that have been there, and that the Gridlife Circuit Legends event was one of the best on the schedule.

It was a pleasant surprise to go into an event with high expectations and be blown away by how much fun we all had with the track and the Circuit Legends event.

Connecticut is beautiful, and the mountainous area around the track is nothing short of scenic. That said, there is little near the track: figure around 20 minutes to get to a grocery store.

The track is super simple on paper: only 7 corners, 6 being rights. However, nothing can prepare you for the elevation of Uphill and Downhill, nor the small nuances of camber, curbing gutters, and changing radiuses of the corners.

If I were to describe the track in one word, it would be relentless. And that's a good thing. Lap times are right around 1 minute flat, give or take, which means even in our roughly 15-minute GLTC sprint races, we were getting in 17 laps per race. Add in a test day, and I did well over 150 laps at LRP in total (in contrast to about 20 at Road America).

There is a lot of compression and G force at this track. While it looks like there is time to relax in No Name Straight, after Uphill, and after West Bend, you're intensely focused and still on the wheel or braking in many areas, so the track map does not tell the whole story.

Even the main straightaway only gives you a short reprieve, and it is deceivingly fast since you carry a lot of speed through Downhill. Brake hard into Turn 1, and you're starting the roller coaster again!

Much of the paddock sits on a hill, and mountains surround the track. It's scenic, beautiful, and a sight to behold in the evenings as the paddock winds down for the night.

Although the track felt "tight" and challenging to pass on, there were still plenty of opportunities, and it never felt jammed up.

I enjoyed this track much more than I expected, and this is the track that I truly cannot wait to return to as soon as possible.

But Wait, There's More!

We've got one more new track to visit this season: Pittsburgh International Race Complex (PittRace). So far, research and training on the sim prove this to be a challenging track, and it should be fun to add it to this list next month!