Your favorite Turn on a North American race track and why!

I assume you're talking about the "Dip."

Now, that made the Bridge turn a serious corner!

Did you go to the RunOffs in the old days?

 

Brain fart. You are coirrect. I meant the last turn and why they added 10A-10-B.

 

Do tell.

(Personally, I'm not interested in trying it on a bike.)

 

There were some serious wrecks (and a couple of blow overs) there at the bottom of the straight before the chicane was installed. Paul Newman had a bad crash there as well. The problem was that the downhill dip at the end of the straightaway required your absolute full attention and you needed to be on line for the setup to the bridge turn. And you are absolutely flying there. With that said, it is also an excellent passing zone like most tracks at the end of the straight. Couple all those factors together and it was a recipe for disaster. One of the most exhilarating 2 corners I have ever experienced...and it was major fun. The first time I ran that track at the Runoffs in 1978, in my B Sedan car, it took me an entire session before I worked up the nerve to hold it down at the downhill dip at the end of the straight.

 

Yes, those were the days! I loved the Dip and the Bridge Turn, before 10A and 10B (and the Tunnel) were built in 1996 by Panoz.

That's when Road Atlanta ceased being the Road Atlanta I fell in love with (also, they widened it substantially at the time they added 10A-10B, taking away the challenge of the Esses and Turn 5, but that's another story), but all things change...

I've got a picture of the GT-1 wreck with PLN in there. Jeez, Corvette radiators flying in the air, an AC Cobra off the ground! What a mess... Supposedly, he was headed back to the pits slowly after crashing at T7 and the leaders tripped all over him, with disasterous effect.

 

What made the down hill dip at the end of the straight scary was it kinked to the right prior to the bridge turn and that was why it was called a corner and needed every bit of your attention. In my later years when I ran an IMSA 300ZX Turbo, I was damn near pissin' in my pants every lap. But again, still major fun. Probably the best 2 corner combination of all the North American road courses.