It's really a "big boy" track, AKA it's really meant for the pros. I've gone there all my life and finally drove on it last fall, and it scared the shit out of me the first day. It's also a lot different when it's a track day vs a wheel to wheel racing event. I did The Kink flat out, and God that's fucking scary 😂
Try it flat in a 2 8 ltr 911 passing with part of a tire in the grass while your brother is doing it on the other side passing cars in a historic race, yes he was in a 2 8 ltr 911 also
@masonhoeper9347 I have been de ing it since 1977, racing on it since 87, started with 356B normal up to a 3 ltr 944 turbo, it's not that scary, just build up to it. My favorite passing place is the kink.
You only understand the name "kettle bottoms" when you finally drive the track in a car fast enough to cause it to rock side to side at speed as you pass through Kettle Bottoms. :). In anything slow it's just a 98% straight stretch of track. In a fast car at 140mph+ its a WHOLE different experience.
Not only is the natural terrain quite beautiful (The National Park of Speed) around RA, it is also one of the best and fastest road courses in the USA, if not the entire world, and it’s hard to find an experienced race driver who doesn’t just love to race there ! I’ve raced an A Production Big Block Corvette at RA for over 10 years, and it has everything a driver wants and in a race track. High speeds and technical and varied corners. I’ve never heard a pro race driver say anything but “it’s one of the best tracks’ to race.. That said, with slower low horsepower cars, (such as this one) it could be a bit boring driving down those long straightaways. If that’s your complaint, I would suggest going to a track that is 2 miles around, or less.
Come on Andy, It’s a least a 6 or 7. The shear speeds that can be reached its what the best part of the track. Many passing opportunities for racing ( depends class) I will agree with the slower cars can be boring but that challenge is to straighten it as much as possible. Carrying speed is name of the game.
andrew fox personal preference really. I enjoy a really technical track which RA doesn’t really have much of. If you enjoy living on the edge, then you’ll enjoy this track.
@@ASMotorsports the key to happiness would be to enjoy both. I wouldn't call RA an oval, now that would be boring pretty quick to me, and it isn't nurburgring either which is the opposite of boring, and can be exhausting to make a balanced approach to this. With the land there, not sure they could add some track to make a more technical alt course for people.
It's a great place..total package..plenty of camping space..nice folks..good bathrooms/showers.. and a challenging track especially for the ones running 20 min sprints where you maybe see each corner 4-5 times per run..its my highlight of the season!
Thank you so much for this! I've been here, maybe 7-10 times over the past 20 years and share your assessment but often get questioned about it. Glad I'm not alone.
Knowing that if you chicken out right before the kink and lift or go in too aggressively you are going to ping pong off walls for 1/4 of a mile def has that pucker factor.
Doesn't matter if it's boring. Sebring, RA, Glen, Daytona. Legends win at these places with the best machinery. I have a blast running shit local tracks and would love to run world class tracks like this
Racing is about speed. Who's the fastest. Etc. If you're scared and give it a 4, you probably shouldn't be racing. Big track, big hp. I give it an 8. I give it a 10 for the fact that they have so many schools and so much access for common, every day race car people, not just big teams
I'm glad you like the track. But to comment that someone "probably shouldn't be racing" is comical. Especially when that someone is simply trying to get more people to track their cars and is a damn good driver. King of the Mountain 4.0 just took place last night... See where Andy finished in a 120 car field of great drivers.
Our car club used to rent it twice a year. The actual cost to rent the track, considering the quality if its facilities was extremely impressive. Practically a bargain. We used to get the entire weekend, with everything for about $35,000-$40,000. We ran our own HPDE and usually made enough to fund the next years events in part. Though a few times attendance was bad and we were in the red. I'm sure it's much more now due to inflation and general improvements at the facility.
1:39.866 / 145.924mph in 2000 during qualifying. If any of you witnessed this amazing feat, you should have. Dario was on fire. Just amazing speed and it seemed like he could have gotten even more out of the car. Just a great driver and person. Unless they change the rules, this record will stand for a long time. 23 years is incredible. Back in 1973 the great and super cool Mark Donohue broke the record with a 1:57.518 @ 122.534 mph. This was the first time anyone had ever broke the 2 minute mark. This was the monster Porsche 917/30 with up to 1500 hp on hand if they turned up the boost and the record stood for 9 years until Danny Sullivan broke it in 1982 with an open wheel Indy car! If you want to see proper road racing with massive top speeds and G stopping braking, and 90 degree corners, this is it. Watching the cars exit and accelerate hard after braking is amazing. So many tracks are just fast sweepers and yawn fests. Overrated. Road America will blow your mind for any event. The days of open viewing are gone though. The insurance company has made them put up catch fences that did not exist until the last 15 years. It used to feel so open and you could go anywhere to see the cars without looking through giant nets. And as for the kink, it is not real until you see it. They now have a viewing area to see this horrifying right that the top cars take flat out. Canada corner. Wow! The speeds of turn one and 14 leave you in amazement the first time. Just go you guys. It will blow your mind.
Compared to most tracks, it is still much more like going to a picnic in the park with a high speed racing event. Went to Watkins Glen last fall, absolutely no comparison in regards to access to views, etc., etc. If you are a race fan, this is a bucket list item. For all but the Indy Car event, you can pretty much access any part of the track in your car, golf cart even better. Set up chairs, cooler, barbecue. Hop back in the car and check out another part of the track. Inside of corners, outside of corners. Bonus, you can walk the entire paddock, talk with the crews, watch emergency tear downs, witness the tech inspections. They've added permanent large screens in many key spots. I'll repeat the previous comment, Just go already. Lastly, if you haven't visited in the last 10 years, you won't believe the infrastructure work they've done and nearly the entire track perimeter is now accessible including a new path overlooking the Kink and Kettle Bottoms, previously inaccessible to all but the courageous.
Being a Wisconsin native and avid race fan, I've definitely paid my dues at Road America. One of the coolest places on the planet. Very blessed that we have such an amazing race track here at and it's only an hour drive from my house. My dad used to go to the June Sprints and the legendary Can-Am races and witnessed the great Bruce McLaren. I'm 38 and never get tired of his camping stories about Road America with his friends when he was younger. Can-Am Thunder at Road America. What a time to be alive.
@Tenn1972 okay, so I finally got around to asking him. Sorry for the delay. He says he definitely saw the legendary car in action but not sure if saw Mark set the record. I think it's safe to assume he did since 1973 would've been the time when him and my mom were regularly visiting Road America and camping at KA Campground nearby.
@@pfmdude Nice to hear. Back in 1973 you could climb all over the track and go up and down the steep terrain which you cannot do any longer. Too many nets and massive fences in the last decade for insurance reasons. It really is not the same.
you forgot to mention the huge "lump" headded down into turn 5,, I found you have to go from inside L to outside R on the straight to avoid a very unsetteling bump while in the last 500m of a downwards faceing hard L turn..
Andy is kinda right. can see his point but RACING this track is a riot whether your in a slower car or not. First half ( through turn 5) is fast . Turn 6 thru 14 is very technical leading into the fast home stretch. A lot of strategy is running through your mind, to see where your fast or where you can maybe pass. So Andy, try racing here not just lapping. Hopefully you’ll change your mind.
Dario F told me it’s his favorite along with Suzuka He doesn’t seem like a boring guy The straight can get boring but they allow you to collect your thoughts and reflect on life and retirement and whether your life insurance is current
If you have a fast enough car, it gets your attention. Say like a F5000. Try the kink flat out in a F5000. Plus if your good the carousel can be challenging. Again many drivers blow corner 5. It's marked corner 2(it ain't) because it is a worker station at a blind crest.
I won't argue with your 4. Been there twice, two different low power cars, once with the chicane, once with the kink. The place drips with history and I think it's pretty cool that I've driven it, but I've driven a lot of tracks that were more fun. When I ran with the kink I was on very hard tires and had much respect for that turn. A driver in another group wrecked there; we had a couple hours of red flag. He wasn't hurt, but they did cart him off in the ambulance.
The kink isn't the most dangerous corner at RA, it does carry quit a bit of speed and feels claustrophobic because of the way it goes from open field to enclosed concrete . The most dangerous corner is actually the blind left #13 after Canada Corner #12. You come up the hill and make a mostly blind left over the hill that is also off camber do to the transition between each half of the track. Do it right and you'll track out to the run-off so you can get a straight shot into the braking zone for #14. Do it wrong and the weight transfer will kick the back out, sending you nose first into the crash barriers. FWD, AWD, RWD, doesn't matter. When our car club used to rent the track out to run our HPDE twice a year turn 13 was the most common place we had cars impact a wall. In all other turns the worst that happened was people went either 2 or 4 wheels off into the pea gravel.
Click bait title works. No flowing corners, other than 6-7, 12-13-14. Many describe it as a power track, but good lap times are a product of corner exit of 1,3,6,and 8 or 10 (depending on the car) assuming you are set up to go flat in the Kink - so handling is the key to a fast lap. Not a place I’d be going 10/10ths in a street car either.
In a low hp car it can be boring, get a faster car something that goes over 120 mph . Not technical get comfortable with passing in the kink Life begins at 150 mph
Road america is the very Best track in The US. This Sounds like a guy who is just reviewing it 1000 miles away in a classroom and never has been there or drivin on it personally. His idea of a good track would probably be Baby park from mario kart
Your car is so little on horsepower I run FE2 and F1600 and I bet if you got in a car like that you would change your mind this is a premier track in North America I don’t know what you are talking about at all.
Mr. Smedegard, with all due respect, and remember I'm sayin with all due respect, this track rating aint worth a velvet painting of a whale and a dolphin gettin it on.
Racing anywhere with 150hp is pretty boring tbh, unless you have a 1,500lb car. I just wish they would have moved the start/finish line more down to the beginning of the long front stretch, it's not in a good spot for fans watching
I really wish the runoff area was wider at the kink and just beyond. I see in satellite view railroad tracks and a creek to track left; so it's obviously tight there. Too many bad crashes happen there. You can barely fit recovery vehicles on the grass without poking onto the track. The '23 June Sprints had a very bad t-bone crash with a P1 and Formula car. The cars just bounce off the wall and end up right in front of oncoming drivers. SRFs had a huge pile up there same weekend as well. This hobby isn't safe and never will be, but that corner is too much for me.
I just bought a 2019 Cadillac CTS Vsport. It has 420 hp. I want to take it here because I only live about 3 hours away. I live about 40 minutes from Chicago in Indiana. I've never been on a track, but want to enjoy the car for what it was meant for. Any advice from anyone? Thanks in advance.
@@BoostedFilms Hi, I've been in Autobahn Road America with Extreme Experience twice and when I asked staff to drive on the track with my own car they told me I must have membership and it cost 40k in year!!!!!
Nope, agree with 4. I almost lost it coming out of the carousel doing 90mph. The straights were fine, but the danger made me not want to drive as hard as I could. Never felt this way at BIR or Blackhawk. Hated that 2 of the three fastest turns are down hill and not easy to brake in a straight line. You essentially need to brake as soon as you can get the wheel straight. If you don't straighten out, you spin and crash, if you brake too late, you fly off the track and crash, or you yank the wheel and spin and crash. All of those crashes would be into concrete... Want to go after they repave it though!
Sounds like more of a technical car issue and knowing the track. Road America has its own challenges for sure, but I would rate RA at least a 6-7, lots of areas for overtaking and its still high speed, you just need a car set up properly.
@@bobo2186 What and who I am is not the issue. You could be talking to Mario for all you know. The point is, you're an angry little man with too much time on his hands.
I use to race the 750 ama class for a big racing and still Elkhart lake main sponsor Willy World Suzuki out of Joliet Illinois 30 years ago before there was such a thing as traction control ever existed you had to have big ball's and in very good shape i was a semipro bodybuilder as well this complaining skinny little girl would've never raced with me 30 years ago no way girlie man
Anyone who says road America is boring, not fun or you don’t like it is no real racer. IMHO probably lacking in driving ability and balls..... “very boring track” 🤣🤣
@@thomarbau Andy Smedegard. -2015 SCCA Solo National Campion in C Street -Currently holds the lap records at the Autobahn Country club with Gridlife (North course, South course and Full course) -Has even won a couple Gridlife events -UMI King of the Mountain 2.0 winner back in 2020 (yes, this is the same guy that won $10k for being the fastest) He's a pretty accomplished guy in the world of motorsports. Most people bashing this guy in the comment section here probably only played Forza and think they know better than Andy when in reality, his skills are pretty high up there he knows exactly what he's talking about.
I do motorcycle track days there. My friends think I'm crazy for saying the track is also boring and one of my least favorite tracks. I would rather go to NCM, or Gingerman.
We're just going off the official Road America map. road-america.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8a8fc9d618e2443ca9917a3c87d746a0 And if you watch the video (3:00), Andy even reference hes not sure why corner 2 is a number.
Very late reply. The numbers actually reflect flagging stations and it was "simpler" to use them as corner numbers as well. So "corners" 2, 4, and 11 are just flagging stations.
Road America is not boring at all! I always love IMSA and Indycar at Road America they have bunch of exciting finishes
For slower cars it is a little boring to drive but fun to watch.
It's really a "big boy" track, AKA it's really meant for the pros. I've gone there all my life and finally drove on it last fall, and it scared the shit out of me the first day. It's also a lot different when it's a track day vs a wheel to wheel racing event.
I did The Kink flat out, and God that's fucking scary 😂
Thank you for the honest assessment of this amazing track.
Try it flat in a 2 8 ltr 911 passing with part of a tire in the grass while your brother is doing it on the other side passing cars in a historic race, yes he was in a 2 8 ltr 911 also
@@marklangren3142let him borrow it and let your brother pass him. How else?
@@Fanorst Ask Peter Kitchak what it's like to pass his 959 rally ca with a little 2.8 ltr 911 in the kink
@masonhoeper9347 I have been de ing it since 1977, racing on it since 87, started with 356B normal up to a 3 ltr 944 turbo, it's not that scary, just build up to it. My favorite passing place is the kink.
Get a faster car and will you understand why it's one of the better tracks in America
If you think the track is boring, you are not going fast enough.
Exactly
Like driving a shifter kart on Monza.
You only understand the name "kettle bottoms" when you finally drive the track in a car fast enough to cause it to rock side to side at speed as you pass through Kettle Bottoms. :). In anything slow it's just a 98% straight stretch of track. In a fast car at 140mph+ its a WHOLE different experience.
The most favorite track I have ever driven. Raced for over 20 years
Not only is the natural terrain quite beautiful (The National Park of Speed) around RA, it is also one of the best and fastest road courses in the USA, if not the entire world, and it’s hard to find an experienced race driver who doesn’t just love to race there ! I’ve raced an A Production Big Block Corvette at RA for over 10 years, and it has everything a driver wants and in a race track. High speeds and technical and varied corners. I’ve never heard a pro race driver say anything but “it’s one of the best tracks’ to race..
That said, with slower low horsepower cars, (such as this one) it could be a bit boring driving down those long straightaways. If that’s your complaint, I would suggest going to a track that is 2 miles around, or less.
Kyle Busch, in 2021, won there in an Xfinity race, his first start at the track. Can you describe how much skill that feat requires?
Yeah Man ! You Tell Him !! LoL 😊
Road America is fucking awesome. 11/10.
Come on Andy, It’s a least a 6 or 7. The shear speeds that can be reached its what the best part of the track. Many passing opportunities for racing ( depends class) I will agree with the slower cars can be boring but that challenge is to straighten it as much as possible. Carrying speed is name of the game.
andrew fox personal preference really. I enjoy a really technical track which RA doesn’t really have much of. If you enjoy living on the edge, then you’ll enjoy this track.
@@ASMotorsports the key to happiness would be to enjoy both. I wouldn't call RA an oval, now that would be boring pretty quick to me, and it isn't nurburgring either which is the opposite of boring, and can be exhausting to make a balanced approach to this.
With the land there, not sure they could add some track to make a more technical alt course for people.
Fun fact, all turns at Road America you are either going up hill or down hill into the turn. 🙃
Except for the carousel, that's just one big long oil starvation gamble for some cars. :)
I'm going up there for my first time October 2023 for an endurance race in a sub 100hp car, and I'm still scared shitless.
I enjoy Road America in the sim. I'm sure the kink is terrifying in real life, but in a sim it's my favorite part and I nail it nearly every time.
It's a great place..total package..plenty of camping space..nice folks..good bathrooms/showers.. and a challenging track especially for the ones running 20 min sprints where you maybe see each corner 4-5 times per run..its my highlight of the season!
Thank you so much for this! I've been here, maybe 7-10 times over the past 20 years and share your assessment but often get questioned about it. Glad I'm not alone.
Once you drive there in an open wheeler you'll give it a higher score.. I N S A N E L Y dramatic and fun as hell
The onboards look insane
There's a very strong correlation between speed and fun at Road America 😂
Knowing that if you chicken out right before the kink and lift or go in too aggressively you are going to ping pong off walls for 1/4 of a mile def has that pucker factor.
So Kettle Bottoms is after the kink and before Canada corner. Thunder Valley is after Canada Corner and before turn 13.
I've got lots of laps at Road America and I love it. Your point is understood because you have a slowww car.
What other tracks have you been to?
@@BoostedFilms Blackhawk Farms, Autobahn CC, Gingerman, Gratten, Road Atlanta
Nice! Glad you enjoy RA.
Much less boring than this video.
I'd hope driving on any track in the world is more exciting than watching any RUclips video.
Doesn't matter if it's boring. Sebring, RA, Glen, Daytona. Legends win at these places with the best machinery. I have a blast running shit local tracks and would love to run world class tracks like this
It's Thunder Valley, not Thunder Alley, and it's climbing the hill out of 12.
Racing is about speed. Who's the fastest. Etc. If you're scared and give it a 4, you probably shouldn't be racing. Big track, big hp. I give it an 8. I give it a 10 for the fact that they have so many schools and so much access for common, every day race car people, not just big teams
I'm glad you like the track. But to comment that someone "probably shouldn't be racing" is comical. Especially when that someone is simply trying to get more people to track their cars and is a damn good driver. King of the Mountain 4.0 just took place last night... See where Andy finished in a 120 car field of great drivers.
Our car club used to rent it twice a year. The actual cost to rent the track, considering the quality if its facilities was extremely impressive. Practically a bargain. We used to get the entire weekend, with everything for about $35,000-$40,000. We ran our own HPDE and usually made enough to fund the next years events in part. Though a few times attendance was bad and we were in the red. I'm sure it's much more now due to inflation and general improvements at the facility.
1:39.866 / 145.924mph in 2000 during qualifying. If any of you witnessed this amazing feat, you should have. Dario was on fire. Just amazing speed and it seemed like he could have gotten even more out of the car. Just a great driver and person. Unless they change the rules, this record will stand for a long time. 23 years is incredible. Back in 1973 the great and super cool Mark Donohue broke the record with a 1:57.518 @ 122.534 mph. This was the first time anyone had ever broke the 2 minute mark. This was the monster Porsche 917/30 with up to 1500 hp on hand if they turned up the boost and the record stood for 9 years until Danny Sullivan broke it in 1982 with an open wheel Indy car! If you want to see proper road racing with massive top speeds and G stopping braking, and 90 degree corners, this is it. Watching the cars exit and accelerate hard after braking is amazing. So many tracks are just fast sweepers and yawn fests. Overrated. Road America will blow your mind for any event. The days of open viewing are gone though. The insurance company has made them put up catch fences that did not exist until the last 15 years. It used to feel so open and you could go anywhere to see the cars without looking through giant nets. And as for the kink, it is not real until you see it. They now have a viewing area to see this horrifying right that the top cars take flat out. Canada corner. Wow! The speeds of turn one and 14 leave you in amazement the first time. Just go you guys. It will blow your mind.
Compared to most tracks, it is still much more like going to a picnic in the park with a high speed racing event. Went to Watkins Glen last fall, absolutely no comparison in regards to access to views, etc., etc. If you are a race fan, this is a bucket list item. For all but the Indy Car event, you can pretty much access any part of the track in your car, golf cart even better. Set up chairs, cooler, barbecue. Hop back in the car and check out another part of the track. Inside of corners, outside of corners. Bonus, you can walk the entire paddock, talk with the crews, watch emergency tear downs, witness the tech inspections. They've added permanent large screens in many key spots. I'll repeat the previous comment, Just go already. Lastly, if you haven't visited in the last 10 years, you won't believe the infrastructure work they've done and nearly the entire track perimeter is now accessible including a new path overlooking the Kink and Kettle Bottoms, previously inaccessible to all but the courageous.
Being a Wisconsin native and avid race fan, I've definitely paid my dues at Road America. One of the coolest places on the planet. Very blessed that we have such an amazing race track here at and it's only an hour drive from my house. My dad used to go to the June Sprints and the legendary Can-Am races and witnessed the great Bruce McLaren. I'm 38 and never get tired of his camping stories about Road America with his friends when he was younger. Can-Am Thunder at Road America. What a time to be alive.
@@pfmdude Thank you. If he was there for Mark Donohue's famous 917/30 record lap in 1973, please tell us about his experience. Thanks again.
@Tenn1972 okay, so I finally got around to asking him. Sorry for the delay. He says he definitely saw the legendary car in action but not sure if saw Mark set the record. I think it's safe to assume he did since 1973 would've been the time when him and my mom were regularly visiting Road America and camping at KA Campground nearby.
@@pfmdude Nice to hear. Back in 1973 you could climb all over the track and go up and down the steep terrain which you cannot do any longer. Too many nets and massive fences in the last decade for insurance reasons. It really is not the same.
you forgot to mention the huge "lump" headded down into turn 5,, I found you have to go from inside L to outside R on the straight to avoid a very unsetteling bump while in the last 500m of a downwards faceing hard L turn..
Andy is kinda right. can see his point but RACING this track is a riot whether your in a slower car or not. First half ( through turn 5) is fast . Turn 6 thru 14 is very technical leading into the fast home stretch. A lot of strategy is running through your mind, to see where your fast or where you can maybe pass. So Andy, try racing here not just lapping. Hopefully you’ll change your mind.
Boring? Dude, it's time to upgrade your ride! RA has it ALL - a glorious track for cars with serious power.
Dario F told me it’s his favorite along with Suzuka
He doesn’t seem like a boring guy
The straight can get boring but they allow you to collect your thoughts and reflect on life and retirement and whether your life insurance is current
If you have a fast enough car, it gets your attention. Say like a F5000. Try the kink flat out in a F5000. Plus if your good the carousel can be challenging. Again many drivers blow corner 5. It's marked corner 2(it ain't) because it is a worker station at a blind crest.
This track is a blast on a bike.
This guy doesn't know what hes talking about
They take turn 1 at over 100 in most cases.
more or less 170 when I pass the little side rode on the left and hit the brakes setting up for turn 1. It's a really fast track
I won't argue with your 4. Been there twice, two different low power cars, once with the chicane, once with the kink. The place drips with history and I think it's pretty cool that I've driven it, but I've driven a lot of tracks that were more fun. When I ran with the kink I was on very hard tires and had much respect for that turn. A driver in another group wrecked there; we had a couple hours of red flag. He wasn't hurt, but they did cart him off in the ambulance.
The kink isn't the most dangerous corner at RA, it does carry quit a bit of speed and feels claustrophobic because of the way it goes from open field to enclosed concrete . The most dangerous corner is actually the blind left #13 after Canada Corner #12. You come up the hill and make a mostly blind left over the hill that is also off camber do to the transition between each half of the track. Do it right and you'll track out to the run-off so you can get a straight shot into the braking zone for #14.
Do it wrong and the weight transfer will kick the back out, sending you nose first into the crash barriers. FWD, AWD, RWD, doesn't matter. When our car club used to rent the track out to run our HPDE twice a year turn 13 was the most common place we had cars impact a wall. In all other turns the worst that happened was people went either 2 or 4 wheels off into the pea gravel.
Click bait title works.
No flowing corners, other than 6-7, 12-13-14. Many describe it as a power track, but good lap times are a product of corner exit of 1,3,6,and 8 or 10 (depending on the car) assuming you are set up to go flat in the Kink - so handling is the key to a fast lap.
Not a place I’d be going 10/10ths in a street car either.
Mario Andretti said it is one of his favorite tracks. Who is this amateur??
Right! Mario and Michael!
I am choosing to Ignore his opinion.
If you think Road America is boring you aren’t going fast enough.
Do a few laps on a superbike, like I have done MANY times, and then we'll talk about how boring it supposedly is......
In a low hp car it can be boring, get a faster car something that goes over 120 mph .
Not technical get comfortable with passing in the kink
Life begins at 150 mph
False road america is an amazing track
it's only boring if you're going slow.
Road america is the very Best track in The US. This Sounds like a guy who is just reviewing it 1000 miles away in a classroom and never has been there or drivin on it personally. His idea of a good track would probably be Baby park from mario kart
He was just racing there last weekend for GLTC.
@@BoostedFilms never would of guessed that in 1000 years coming from someone who races
@@jrehn82 Everyone can have their own preferences. Have you ever been to Barber or NCM?
No, ok it's not his cup of tea then I guess.
Thanks for bringing us yet another vibe 🥂 enjoyed
Your car is so little on horsepower I run FE2 and F1600 and I bet if you got in a car like that you would change your mind this is a premier track in North America I don’t know what you are talking about at all.
And your doing track days not wheel to wheel racing
Jeremy Clarkson drove a McLaren P1 at Spa. My dream is to drive a P1 here.
Mr. Smedegard, with all due respect, and remember I'm sayin with all due respect, this track rating aint worth a velvet painting of a whale and a dolphin gettin it on.
Thanks Ricky Bobby
High hp cars love RA. Mid 160s and goal will be to crack 170. It rewards high HP cars. I would be bored stiff a 150hp car.
Yet I was there today and you were. It’s pretty ducking awesome in a 720s…
Speed is easy...quickness is elusive.
For me Risk = Fun :)
Racing anywhere with 150hp is pretty boring tbh, unless you have a 1,500lb car.
I just wish they would have moved the start/finish line more down to the beginning of the long front stretch, it's not in a good spot for fans watching
I really wish the runoff area was wider at the kink and just beyond. I see in satellite view railroad tracks and a creek to track left; so it's obviously tight there. Too many bad crashes happen there. You can barely fit recovery vehicles on the grass without poking onto the track. The '23 June Sprints had a very bad t-bone crash with a P1 and Formula car. The cars just bounce off the wall and end up right in front of oncoming drivers. SRFs had a huge pile up there same weekend as well. This hobby isn't safe and never will be, but that corner is too much for me.
Try it on a bike. Also if you hated this track then you certainly won't like Laguna Seca.
I just bought a 2019 Cadillac CTS Vsport. It has 420 hp. I want to take it here because I only live about 3 hours away. I live about 40 minutes from Chicago in Indiana. I've never been on a track, but want to enjoy the car for what it was meant for. Any advice from anyone? Thanks in advance.
I'd start on a different track first. Perhaps Blackhawk Farms or AutoBahn Country Club. Both should be closer to you than Road America.
@@BoostedFilms Thanks man. I appreciate it.
My advice: be careful in the kink!
@@BoostedFilms Hi, I've been in Autobahn Road America with Extreme Experience twice and when I asked staff to drive on the track with my own car they told me I must have membership and it cost 40k in year!!!!!
Go to road America. Trust me, as a local, you’ll enjoy the shit outta this place.
RAis definitely not boring. Best track in the US.
Sorry but this is the best track in the US. You are very wrong. Just because it isn't in california doesn't mean its bad
Are 2 and 4 really turns?
Nvm, watched a different vid and they’re a slight bend, with T2 less bendy than T4.
Nope, agree with 4. I almost lost it coming out of the carousel doing 90mph. The straights were fine, but the danger made me not want to drive as hard as I could. Never felt this way at BIR or Blackhawk. Hated that 2 of the three fastest turns are down hill and not easy to brake in a straight line. You essentially need to brake as soon as you can get the wheel straight. If you don't straighten out, you spin and crash, if you brake too late, you fly off the track and crash, or you yank the wheel and spin and crash. All of those crashes would be into concrete... Want to go after they repave it though!
Sounds like more of a technical car issue and knowing the track. Road America has its own challenges for sure, but I would rate RA at least a 6-7, lots of areas for overtaking and its still high speed, you just need a car set up properly.
You are not a professional driver.
@@Tenn1972 never said I was. Are you? The pros don't pay for their own cars or have enough to not care about replacing them.
@@bobo2186 What and who I am is not the issue. You could be talking to Mario for all you know. The point is, you're an angry little man with too much time on his hands.
@@Tenn1972 and you're clearly a troll. When was I angry? You responded twice with no added value.
I use to race the 750 ama class for a big racing and still Elkhart lake main sponsor Willy World Suzuki out of Joliet Illinois 30 years ago before there was such a thing as traction control ever existed you had to have big ball's and in very good shape i was a semipro bodybuilder as well this complaining skinny little girl would've never raced with me 30 years ago no way girlie man
Its better than Cataluna at least
Anyone who says road America is boring, not fun or you don’t like it is no real racer. IMHO probably lacking in driving ability and balls..... “very boring track” 🤣🤣
Richard Ellinger clearly you have no idea who Andy is lol
@@inazupra nope, who is he.
@@thomarbau Andy Smedegard.
-2015 SCCA Solo National Campion in C Street
-Currently holds the lap records at the Autobahn Country club with Gridlife (North course, South course and Full course)
-Has even won a couple Gridlife events
-UMI King of the Mountain 2.0 winner back in 2020 (yes, this is the same guy that won $10k for being the fastest)
He's a pretty accomplished guy in the world of motorsports. Most people bashing this guy in the comment section here probably only played Forza and think they know better than Andy when in reality, his skills are pretty high up there he knows exactly what he's talking about.
There are hundreds of series. He's scoring based on the majority. Doing this in spec Miata or any other "normal" series... It is indeed boring
You are more than welcome to never grace Road America. It will survive just fine without you.
I do motorcycle track days there. My friends think I'm crazy for saying the track is also boring and one of my least favorite tracks. I would rather go to NCM, or Gingerman.
Same, it's not really difficult and it just eats up tires and gas.
@@rahulpanda9957 100%
Well this was a waste of time.
Well it was helpful for me since I just did a track day there. If you aren't do a track day at RA, I'd also think it'd be pointless to watch.
You say 14 corner but 2 of them are functionally straights. I can see why you say what you do.
We're just going off the official Road America map. road-america.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8a8fc9d618e2443ca9917a3c87d746a0 And if you watch the video (3:00), Andy even reference hes not sure why corner 2 is a number.
Very late reply. The numbers actually reflect flagging stations and it was "simpler" to use them as corner numbers as well. So "corners" 2, 4, and 11 are just flagging stations.
Boring? That’s funny.
You are slow, we get it
Clearly most of you need to research Andy before flaming him. He’s right you know