Road Atlanta - questions

[Holmes]

For anyone who has driven road Atlanta on a track day HPDE event in their Mustang GT with Manual Trans (MT82). Shelby owners and others please comment as well. Here are some questions:
1. What top speed do you typically hit on the long straightaway after turn 7-8.?
2. What gear are you in going through turn 7? What about turns 10a / 10b?
3. On the straight between turn 5 and turn 6, do you get a shift to 4th gear or just hit red-line in 3rd?
4. In your opinion what is the most dangerous / challenging turn on the track?

Thank you!!

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[Grintch]

Turn 5 & Turn 12 both had crashes (on the exit) at the Skip Barber school I attended. And the instructors confirmed those where common trouble spots (couple others where people go off or spin, but rarely hit anything).

I know T12 still scares the crap out of me with driving toward a giant wall super fast and the way it goes off camber right before turn in. Something that driving sims don't capture.

Haven't had the Mustang on it yet, so can't comment on speeds or gearing. With the high speeds, make sure your brakes are up to it.

 

[honeybadger]

I'll post up some video from my 1:35 lap from last weekend for some references. As Grintch mentioned, the trouble spots are turn 5 and turn 12. Turn 8 can also cause some problems. Biggest thing with Road Atlanta is not to try and overcounter steering if you go off. Keep the wheel straight and ride it out (especially on turns 8 and 12).

I was hitting 153 before the 3 marker heading down the hill into 10a. I'm in 3rd the slower corners (turn 3, turn 5, turn 8 and 10a). Shift up for Turn 4 and turn 11/12. Higher gears are your friend in corners where you're concerned with oversteer.

Turn 12 is the scariest at first, but turn 5 is actually much more dangerous. Turn 3 can be scary, but if you miss the braking zone, just use the motorcycle track and keep going straight (DON'T TRY TO SAVE IT AND STILL TURN).

 

[dmann]

These guys covered it. I have not driven the stang there yet but have in other cars. IMO, Turn 5 and 7 are sketchy. I'm very comfortable in 7 but I respect it so pay attention to all the black marks where folks try to correct the rear stepping out.

 

[dmann]

I was hitting 153 before the 3 marker heading down the hill into 10a.

Thats hauling

 

[honeybadger]

Here's a video from a clean lap. Note, wasn't doing much trail braking due to an ABS/TC problem that was giving me trouble. But the general lines, braking points, and flow should be decent to study

 

[honeybadger]

Thats hauling

Yeah. Was very happy with how the changes from the winter translated to lap times. Highest apex speed at T12 was 108. That's 15 mph faster than last year. It was crazy.

 

[OnTrack]

To answer your questions when I tracked my 2013 mustang GT (non-track pack with 3.31 gears). I'll try to find an video and attach later since that was a few years ago.

1. What top speed do you typically hit on the long straightaway after turn 7-8.?
about 140-145

2. What gear are you in going through turn 7? What about turns 10a / 10b?
T7 is 2nd gear, T10 3rd gear

3. On the straight between turn 5 and turn 6, do you get a shift to 4th gear or just hit red-line in 3rd?
4th gear and downshift in 5 turn in brake zone

4. In your opinion what is the most dangerous / challenging turn on the track?
Most dangerous is turn 12 , but challenging with penalty if turn 5.

 

[ddozier]

Here is a vid from late last year, you can see all of the gear changes made, braking inputs, throttle inputs and you get to watch a very nice looking S550 in front of me. There is a lot of traffic in this clip and no real clean laps but such is often the case at Road Atlanta.

Dave

 

[Taylor1234]

I agree, and IMO turn 5 is the worst as it doesnt look bad and has plenty of track out. The biggest problem I’ve seen is people get too comfortable or overly ambitious and take too much curb on entry (right side setting up for turn 5). That curbing gets slick. Ive seen numerous people hit the tire barrier from losing the backend entering corner 5. Turn 7 isn’t bad, but Ive snapped a tie rod tracking out too far coming on to the straight. There are a lot of holes on the other side of the rumble strips after 7.

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