Watkins Glen In A Miata

Published: July 30, 2013; updated: August 16, 2013

Turn 1

Carry as much speed as possible, which means enter as fast as possible.

Trailbraking until the apex, given equal apex speed, is a noticeable gain in the entry phase.

Right front tire should go over the flat apex curb. Going over the elevated curb is possible. Obviously it is elevated but it flattens the corner even more.

Having to use exit curb with left tires only is worth some lap time.

Back straight begins at the apex of turn 1.

Turn 2

Turn at the end of the curbing on the left, all the way from the left. Flat out.

Turns 3 and 4

Flat out. Try to drive the least distance through the esses.

Back Straight

Sometimes I hold the car at the redline in 5th gear coming up to the bus stop, thus avoiding a downshift. Depends on tire diameter and tire grip (exit speed out of turn 1).

Bus Stop

Start braking where the concrete patch going into the bus stop begins. This is between 3 and 2 markers I believe, after the wall moves outward.

Take care not to overbrake.

5th gear through the bus stop. Trailbrake and finish decelerating by the first left curb. Do not cut entrance curbs. Flat out from the first left curb forward.

Do not cut left exit curb. Right exit curb can be cut entirely which flattens the exit enough to be comfortably flat out from the left entry curb.

Turn 5

With a correct alignment, this turn can be taken flat out with 90 degrees of steering angle.

With an understeering car, slightly earlier than normal turn in can still provide a flat out-ish line through turn 5.

Lifting early in turn 5 is worth noticeable speed and time on data.

Turn 6

Option 1: slightly earlier turn in than conventional school line. Carry more speed into, through and out of the turn. Hit the apex.

Option 2: if the car understeers taking option 1 line, go deeper but do not stay track right until turn in. Start to turn before the turn in point and point the car somewhat into the turn. Then go deep and run a late apex-ish line. Hit the apex.

Turn 7

Carry as much speed as possible into the turn. Scrub tires at turn in. Do not go very deep as the turn is uphill and there is no speed gain even flat out. Line up on the left side in the braking zone but aim at the black mark roughly in the middle of the concrete patch at turn in - that is how much initial rotation should happen.

Get on throttle as early as possible, this should happen way before apex. Track out early and use the entire pavement extension at the exit.

Turn 8

Braking at 1.5 marker; can probably do 1.25 but that gets questionable. Trailbrake into the turn.

Turn in with right tires right of the concrete patch and cross over to have left tires left of the concrete patch shortly past the apex. There is noticeably more grip at track out over the asphalt.

Turn 9

Enter sooner and faster and carry more speed through the turn. Track out aggressively.

Turn 10

Should be flat out. Do not turn early. Turn a bit more at the apex.

Turn 11

Brake at the start of the concrete patch until some sort of a marker. Time brake release with turn in.

Transition to have left tires left of the concrete patch past the apex.

Do track out aggressively.

Turn 11 can possibly be taken without brakes, but weight is on the wrong end of the car and the result is decelerating through most of the turn. Braking moves the weight forward, allowing greater rotation at turn in and earlier throttle at the exit.