Sebring.... My Home Track

I am very lucky to have Sebring which is one of the premier race tracks in North America 90 mi form where i live. Sebring is a road race track and is home to the American Le mans race The 12 Hours Of Sebring. The race track is part of an old Army Air Corps Airfield used for B-17 training during WWII. The track uses part of the airfields runways. There have been several changes since The first 12 Hours of Sebring race which was run in 1952. The current configuration is 3.7mi and 17 turns.

I drive the track with CHIN motorsports for HPDE events.

This track is demanding as parts are still the original runway surface which has seen over 50 years of racing. Most of the track is asphalt surfaced. The part of the track that uses the old concrete runways is very bumpy and disrupts the cars balance. The whole track could be paved over with new asphalt, but then the track would lose much of it's character. In my opinion turn 17 on the old runway could benefit from alot less character. It's pretty un-nerving with the weight tranfer the car goes through due to the uneven surface. Go wide comming out of turn 17 and you have a good chance of meeting the wall.

Sebring is a very safe track with generous run off areas. The most dangerous part of the track is turn 1. This is a high speed left sweeping turn with no runoff area. If something happens in turn 1 you will meet a concrete wall. Braking for this turn is late and doesn't start until your under the pedestrian bridge. Enter this high speed turn too fast and there is little you can do if you lose control.

The fastest part of the track is exiting turn 16. This is the long straight away. Lots of speed to be had here. It's WOT all the way down until turn 17.

My next event @ Sebring will be on Dec 14th. Fall weather is here and we won't have to deal with the summertime heat and humidity which gets very uncomfortable. I'm looking foward to not soaking my helmet with sweat.