SCDA Watkins Glen International High Performance Driving & Track Events (HPDE)

Watkins Glen International – Turn by Turn Track Guide

2.45 Mile Lap (3.4m Long Course)

T1 – Headed across Start/Finish, the car should be all the way to driver’s left. Getting closer to the turn, utilize the number boards overhead on the fence driver’s left. There is a bit of a downhill slope here, as well as a few bumps, so it’s easy to overshoot. Brake at 8/10ths pedal to allow a margin. Trail off the brakes smoothly here as you turn in, aiming to use the flat section of apex curb, NOT the raised section. The car will compress into the hill here giving it good grip and direction change potential. Smoothly unwind steering once the eyes give permission, left side tires can transition onto the exit curb providing steering is currently being unwound (never use the curb if the car hasn’t been unloaded laterally)

T2&3 – With the car positioned on the left side of the road, we are looking to turn in for T2 about a car length before the end of the entry curb on driver’s left. Stay off all the curbs here, but acceptable to use them as reference points. Any speed adjustment should be done before turn in, with a steady maintenance throttle any time there is steering input in the car. After turn in, we aim to join driver’s right apex when the pavement patch appears inside of the curbing. At this point, we hold tight to the right, alongside the apex curb until it disappears, which is our turn in reference for T3. Turn in with slow hands for T3, looking at the fence line on the horizon. Understand that the fence line is parallel to the track at the top, so you get a good reference as to where the track goes. 

T4 – The turn in for T4 is just the straightening of the hands out of T3, fundamentally straightlining the corner as much as you can. This means hugging alongside (but not on top of) the apex curb. Keep and throttle adjustments smooth, and be absolutely sure the car is in the right gear before releasing clutch after an upshift if in a manual.

Bus stop – Approaching the bus stop with the car positioned driver’s left, utilizing the number boards on the guardrail as a reference, brake early and hard initially leaving a margin for later laps to gradually soften and deepen brake pressure. For turn in reference, you will notice the white line on driver’s left apparently widens, just about at the 200 board. This is where we bend the car in with slow hands towards the 1st apex curb. There are 4 apex curbs here. Think about putting the inside tires on the 1st and 2nd apex curb, and use the 3rd and 4th ONLY IF the car naturally seeks them. The preference is to use them versus go around them if the trajectory is such, but don’t go seeking them. If done correctly, halfway between curb 2 and curb 3, the car will be 7/8ths of the way towards the left side of the track, tighter than may be intuitive. 

Carrousel – Exiting the Bus stop chicane and approaching the Carrousel, we want to position the car 7/8ths of the way towards the left side of the road by the time we reach the end of the tire wall on driver’s left. Steer in with slow hands and smoothly ease up on the throttle, two inputs in proportion to one another. Great corner to practice “eyes up” aiming to apex at or slightly before the flagger station on driver’s right. 

****FOR NASCAR SHORT COURSE**** – The only difference when running the short course configuration is that we maintain a longer apex zone against the right hand curb, holding the maintenance throttle a bit longer as the road continues to curve. The approach, entry, and mid corner are identical. 

For both configurations, the cure for acceleration are the eyes telling the hands that the steering can unwind, and we begin smoothly squeezing the throttle to track out fully here. Be mindful to use all the road at exit, but avoid using the exit curb here. 

T6 (The Laces)- At corner approach the road begins to downslope here and it is very easy to inadvertently find yourself getting in too deep here. Be extra cautious and incremental when sneaking up on a brake point. Position the car fully driver’s right, and angle it in slightly to the corner before braking. A good reference for turn in is the storm drain on driver’s right, difficult to find but beneficial once you know it’s there. Think “double apex philosophy” here, but stay a car width and a half wide of the first apex. This may put you a bit lower, sooner than is initially intuitive. A common mistake is staying too wide, too long here and that puts you in a risky spot as it’s easy to push wide here because of marbles and downslope of the track. You’re better off getting the car lower sooner, but having eyes up and patience mid corner before adding a little steering to commit to a tight, late apex. You want to “nibble” at the apex curb here, not going on top of it but just grazing.

T7 (The Toe) – This corner follows the same premise line wise as T6, in that it’s a double apex philosophy but where you stay a tiny bit wide of the first one. This again gets the car lower, sooner but gives you a little margin for error and allows you to roll a reasonable speed into the corner. Approaching the turn, utilize a hard initial brake, referencing the number boards driver’s left, and smoothly trail off the brakes as you bend the car in. The car will hit the upslope of the hill here, adding a little compression towards the tail end of the brake zone. Because of this compression, the car naturally wants to find the apex as a small addition of steering here feels appropriate. We have to be super smooth here, not getting the car loose, as the uphill slope makes momentum out of the corner important. Only accelerate once the eyes tell the hands they can straighten and use the full width of the track at corner exit. 

T8 – (The Heel) – This is a great corner to practice “string theory” meaning steering wheel position dictates pedal pressure. Approaching the corner on driver’s left, utilizing the number boards as brake references, we will go to a hard initial brake. Once we get to our turn in, we will smoothly trail off then brake in proportion to turning of the hands in. We will pause for a second with initial throttle, letting the car change direction and then accelerate out of the corner in proportion to steering being removed. Left side tires can use the exit curb here, be mindful of track limits coming out.

T9 – Much like T6 and T7, double apex philosophy but stay a little wide of the first apex. The theme here is get lower sooner than later in the corner, just don’t commit fully to the apex yet, stay mid track for a second, and then tuck it in for a single late apex. Approaching the corner from fully driver’s right, we want a medium brake over a medium distance. This gives us control over car placement. Mind the mild crest of the hill while trailing the brakes, we don’t want to drive the car “at its limit” here at corner entry. It’s more important to get the car positioning correct. Get the eyes up and to the left, apex is at the 7th-8th vertical fence post over the guardrail on driver’s left. 

T10 – This is a fairly high speed corner, where speed adjustment is encouraged to be completed in a straight line before the corner, committing to a maintenance throttle before turning in. 

**FOR NASCAR SHORT COURSE** – Threshold brake zone. Get on the brakes hard initially, and smoothly trail the brakes in slightly. 

For classic course, you can get away with lifting smoothly AS you turn in, but you have to be butter smooth with the controls. There is increasing positive camber on the way to the apex, and decreasing positive camber apex out. This means that the car has the most grip at the apex. We don’t want to “turn early” but we do want to “fall into” the camber sooner than later. This means we can in fact turn slightly early, but we turn in slowly as well, that’s important here. Get the eyes up early and it’s acceptable to use the exit curb here so long as you’re in the process of straightening your hands. If you find yourself running wide, you’re far better off opening up the steering rather than “pinching” the exit as there’s a sea of paved runoff here. 

T11 – This is a corner where we want the car fully left on approach, and our brake zone wants to be longer, lighter, and slower transition on and off the brake. This retains our ability to precisely put the car in the right spot. Never challenge the brake zone here. On top of the tire wall driver’s left, there is an orange strip. A reasonable brake point is near the beginning of this orange strip, and a good turn in is the end of the same strip. Just like the smooth and slow addition and subtraction of the brake, our steering must be dialed in slowly and smoothly as well. Think “fast car, slow moving limbs.” 

Author: Jonathan Goring

Pro Driver Coach
www.jonathangoring.com

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