I'm considering signing up for an HPDE with NASA at Pocono South (Friday, 7/16). I've never been on this track and I'm looking for some course notes... and which way the course is run. (ie, clockwise or counter...).

Thanks!

 

It's a short little 1 mile course. Run counter clockwise. Uses turn one of the Nascar track (banking) to a left to the short infield portion of the course.....times are generally .51secs -1:00 plus, depending on your car and skill level. Good course to work on a smooth rhythm....more technical than it may appear.........don't run off the track in the infield...some deeeeep ruts...

 

Oh yeah I've seen ruts off of the East Course... I won't be as slow on the brakes IF I go off again.

... do they use the chicane... looking at a picture of the overall course design it's hard to tell if it's dirt, or just dirty from spectators.

Danke'

 

Back when I was a young buck, I took a 3 day Skip Barber racing class in FFs using the South Course. I've also run it many times in HPDEs. Sometimes the HPDEs run the little 'horseshoe'; sometimes they 'bypass' it. (there's a straighline option).

The horseshoe sucks. Just beats on your brakes and tires without adding value. The bypass is fun. Can you stay flat on the throttle from turn in off the banking to the braking zone for the left back onto the banking? I usually catch a lot of people in here.

As for some notes. I like to get all the way down to the bottom of the track in the NASCAR banking apex, and as a track out, I try not to get the car aimed at the wall at too acute of an angle. A little margin for error is good in a HPDE at 100mph with concrete walls. It's easy to crab a little under braking for the left into the infield. Be careful. Don't jump off the brakes while you're crabbing or you might snap the other way and meet Mr. Wall like a neon did at a HPDE a few years ago. Airbags deployed. Front end was MASHED. Bad day for him.

I stay high up on the track for the turn in to the infield, and come sweeping in with major speed. Be careful here. Runoff has ruts and there is a Jersey barrier you can hit. As did Mr. ZR1 at a HPDE. Bad day for hime.

As I said the bypass is ballsy little bit of road. Don't F up your braking for the turn back to the oval. Most important turn on the track to get right. Check your tach as you cross from infield onto banking. Higher revs here mean better lap times.

Here I am catching, then losing, catching, then losing a Viper.

 

No chicane

 

Ah-Yes I do remember the white Neon that also caught fire. I run with PDA at Pocono a lot and the South course is both technical and fun depending on the way it is set up. Personally, I agree that the horseshoe can be left out. There is a serious bump on entry to this portion of the track. If you are on the left side of this turn be careful as many cars do bottom the control arms on it. At least our Prelude does . Turn One of the banking is an excellent place to enjoy yourself.-just do as most of us suggest-be careful.

As for overall impression-I prefer the Long Course layout in either direction. You will have a lot to do on the ~1 mile South and you will learn from it. BTW: The North Course is definitely more twisty in some respects.

 

emwavey - we will be running the hairpin.

 

Pocono South is lots of fun. I think it's a 1.1 mile course. The infield portion is lots of fun with a slow car. The banking of NASCAR 1 is really strange at first and you can go faster than you think you can on it. The Horseshoe is really slow though and you need to be patient through that section of the course. See you there.

Z

 

With the hairpin/horseshoe and looking over the track a little bit again...

First turn off of the NASCAR part of the track looks like it could be taken similar to the North Course turn off of the track... slight brake and then back on the throttle to the outside of the first turn...
Turn seems to be a decreasing radius, so looks like a little brake going into the hairpin section or maybe not at all...
heavy braking before the left-hander that is the hairpin (high second gear or low third gear)... brake early, gas early and most likely stay on gas for the rest of the course... for a CRX anyway.

Thoughts?... Critisms?... Changes?...

Looking forward to finishing the car and finally meeting some of you H-T NASA folks!

 

Hey Zephyr. I'm the guy you were instructing this past weekend at Beaverun. Thanks again for the help! Had a blast. I may see you at Pocono too, I'm thinking about the August one. After Beaverun I only have a few mm left in my tires so I'm thinking I might as well get the most out of them before winter hits.

Lets hope no one crunches their M roadsters this time

Dave

 

Hey !!! no Subaru guys allowed in here .....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by emwavey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">First turn off of the NASCAR part of the track ... slight brake and then back on the throttle to the outside of the first turn...
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In my CRX SI, the approach to turn 1 was probably close to 100mph. So you'll need more than slight braking. You tend to be braking for turn 1 and following the oval which means you're turning slightly to the left under heavy braking. As I mentioned above, be careful. After I got some confidence, I did most of my braking in a 'straight' line for turn 1 and tried to get back to the throttle before turn in. You can really hustle through that little chute from turn for turn 1 to hard braking for the horseshoe.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pcorad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

In my CRX SI, the approach to turn 1 was probably close to 100mph. So you'll need more than slight braking. You tend to be braking for turn 1 and following the oval which means you're turning slightly to the left under heavy braking. As I mentioned above, be careful. After I got some confidence, I did most of my braking in a 'straight' line for turn 1 and tried to get back to the throttle before turn in. You can really hustle through that little chute from turn for turn 1 to hard braking for the horseshoe. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Correct, although it's a bit disconcerning to be braking with the nose pointed INTO the outside wall