Infineon Raceway

[robot9000]

Watched the Nascar race this weekend and wondered, has CART ever run there or tried? It looks like a nice circuit!

[racer2c]

Here's the history from their site. Link (http://www.infineonraceway.com/news_history/track_history/)

[Dougrun]

very nice, but I think its ISC owned so forget about it. I'm hoping that the new motorsports park in merced/atwater gets approved. That will have a 3+ mile FIA road course on it. http://www.rmpracing.com/

[RichK]

That track would guarantee a parade, IMO.

[Easy]

Sears isn't safe enough to run a Champ Car race. Not enough run off in a couple of key areas.

[JohnHKart]

Bruton Smith owned and ruined (Charlotte, Texas, Bristol etc...) Everytime they go past where they are supposed to turn right into the infield and down to the carousel I hate it. A great passing opportunity was removed (at the end of that section) when they turned it into a turn right oval in 1998.

John

[jcollins28]

Why would they run there anyways? Seca is not that far away.

[RichK]

Bruton Smith owned and ruined (Charlotte, Texas, Bristol etc...) Everytime they go past where they are supposed to turn right into the infield and down to the carousel I hate it. A great passing opportunity was removed (at the end of that section) when they turned it into a turn right oval in 1998.

John

Dale Earnhardt made a beautiful last-lap pass on Rusty Wallace(?) in the Carousel to win the race some years ago. That turn really separated the good cars from the bad ones, and Turn 7 was a hairpin for late brake passing.

The Chute sucks.

[robot9000]

What I liked is you saw a lot of cars in the same view. Not like Laguna where you only see other cars if the camera is pointed up the track from turn 1.

Aside from dirt where pea gravel should be (although I can see why they don't use it for Stock Cars) It looks like they have a lot of runoff and open area.

There is one area I wondered about. I don't know the turn #'s so I'll try and discribe it (keyword:try!). The camera shot is looking up the track. The cars make a hard right and threre are rumble strips on the left. Most cars were using more and more track and so they were actually putting two tires over the strip. (during qualifying Gordon got a little squirrly there and the announcers though he ruined his run) Anyway, it looks like about 20 yards down, is where some grandstands or spectator areas start and there is just a wall. What is to stop a car from loosing it and whacking into the side of the grandstand area? Looked a little dubious to me even for tin tops.

[4wheeldrifter]

That track would guarantee a parade, IMO.

Ditto. No straights.

[RichK]

Aside from dirt where pea gravel should be (although I can see why they don't use it for Stock Cars) It looks like they have a lot of runoff and open area.


Think about Turn 11 (the last hairpin before the start/finish). Now think about a Champcar barrelling towards this turn at 160mph, with no brakes. Car hits tire wall, flips up and over tire wall into the hospitality tents. I've seen lesser formula cars go up and over the tire wall into the pit lane.

Having said that, however, ALMS didn't think Sears Point was too dangerous, but then they don't go as fast.

Street circuits always have a long runoff area at the end of high speed straights for this reason. Think about Turns 1 and 9 at Long Beach, and how many times you've seen a car use the exit road.

[Rob]

There are several areas at Sears Point where earth banks send stock cars tumbling. They would probably launch champ cars into orbit if they hit it just right.

[Easy]

There are several areas at Sears Point where earth banks send stock cars tumbling. They would probably launch champ cars into orbit if they hit it just right.

Exactly, hillsides just off the racing surface would be the main problem.

[msvphoto]

All good points, and how could I argue with Rich K knowing how many laps he has run at "The Point" er, Infineon.

However, I will say that I was just there to shoot the NASCAR race this past weekend and it has changed _a lot_ since I was there last November for the Audi Club's National event. There is much more runoff now at turn 1, earth has been moved to flatten out many of the runoff areas, and with the exception of perhaps turn 11 (Rich's point well taken--I was at the corkscrew next to the cornerworker's station when Gonzalo's tragic accident happened) it looks pretty good.

Rumor has it the IRL may be at Infineon next year though...

There are probably as many passing zones as Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca there I would think. The sitelines from the upper terrace seats are incredible now. Much as I miss the old funky Sears Point and resisted liking the changes, I have to say they did a really good job overall. Once the new trees grow it may look a little better too.

Rich, have you driven on the course since the re-pave?

[RichK]

MIKE! Great to hear from you again. :thumbup:

Nope, I haven't even seen the new pavement yet. There aren't any SCCA Nationals at Infineon this year, which sucks.

I miss the old Sears Point, but love the new one too. A lot of drivers who spent hundreds of laps there will swear that they reconfigured the esses and Turn 1, but the fact is that the TRACK is the same & all of the visual cues are gone or modified.

I'm still waiting for them to bank Turn 11 for a mini-Monza turn! :cool: (I think they scrapped that idea).