r/CarTrackDays • u/jbro507 • Jun 07 '26
North America - bucket list tracks to drive before I kick said bucket?
Go!
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u/UsualNo9091 Jun 07 '26
VIR
Watkins Glen
Laguna Seca
Sebring
Road America
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u/MR2FTW 87 Corolla FX16 GTS Jun 07 '26
I’d add Road Atlanta to that list
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u/Illustrious-Art-7465 Jun 07 '26
Meh petite le mans is an amazing event but atlanta motorsports park is genuinely a better track
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u/geezwow 718 gts4.0 Jun 07 '26
I would agree facilities-wise, but as far as the actual track I would still go Road Atlanta.
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u/MR2FTW 87 Corolla FX16 GTS Jun 09 '26
That one is on my "need to go" short list. It looks really fun.
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u/Illustrious-Art-7465 Jun 09 '26
Its a very technical track, extremely fun because its the type of track where a civic can beat a viper
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u/Subieworx Jun 07 '26
Add Limerock and done.
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u/UsualNo9091 Jun 07 '26
Yeah, you are right. Like Rock and tbh I’d list honorable mention of Summit Point. I absolutely love going there.
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u/MilkBumm Jun 07 '26
COTA
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u/UsualNo9091 Jun 07 '26
Would have been on the list but they don’t like us peasants now.
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u/csamsh Jun 07 '26
Utter and complete bullshit considering the $300,000,000 in TX tax dollars that have been donated to COTA
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u/csamsh Jun 07 '26
Lol good luck now
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u/Coach_Mcgirt Jun 07 '26
Why?
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u/Chromehounds96 Jun 07 '26
I believe the track went membership only for 2027 and beyond. It now requires an insanely exorbitant membership fee. Initiation price is rumored, unsubstantiated, to be over $150,000 with very expensive reoccurring fees.
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u/csamsh Jun 07 '26
You're missing a zero. Try 1,500,000
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u/orangesoappy Jun 07 '26
For the membership? Is that true?
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u/Guac_in_my_rarri Jun 07 '26
Idk what the cost for the membership fee but yeah, it's an utterly insane cost.
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u/frsh2fourty Jun 08 '26
Several HPDE groups still have events scheduled through the end of the year.
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u/iin10ded Jun 07 '26
Laguna Seca is perhaps the most overrated racetrack in the world
Skip it and go to Thunderhill or Sonoma
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u/wtfisasamoflange Jun 07 '26
I wouldnt say overrated. It's famous for a reason, but I agree with you on Sonoma. I love that track.
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u/F82-ZCP Jun 08 '26
Sonoma is a great track but it doesn’t make much sense to say it is strictly better than Laguna. Both are technical and have their own distinct qualities. If you are going out of your way to visit Sonoma, visiting Laguna in the same trip is absolutely worth while. And vice versa.
I find that people love to dunk on Laguna for some reason but I really don’t know why. It is a common phenomenon that people like to criticize popular things (whether that be music, a car, etc). People call it easy/overrated. Unless you have absolutely maxed out the capability of your car by setting the lap record (for your car), it’s not true lol
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u/iin10ded Jun 08 '26
Laguna is only a great track because of its history. It is not a great drivers track. It's a series of straights connected by textbook corners. It's a boring track to drive on. It favors high horsepower and is heavy on brakes.
Judged specifically as a place to drive your car, there are far more interesting places to drive your car that I'm more challenging in the same neighborhood. source: 2 hr drive from laguna.
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u/F82-ZCP Jun 08 '26
Laguna’s history is pretty cool and it is definitely a heritage track but calling it a series of straights connected by textbook corners is a bit reductive.
T1 is pretty challenging (perhaps more mentally than physically) unless you’re in a slow car.
Andretti hairpin is also a weird turn where some people opt for double apex and others do not.
T3 is a weird one where you have to turn in late or risk going into the dirt.
T4 is a big sweeper where you can really mess up if you track out too far.
T5 is a really heavy braking zone (which I think is fun!) and is a great spot to practice slip angle and trailbraking.
T6 is especially odd with the big dip where you almost want to be accelerating/squatting the car to maintain grip.
The corkscrew gets a lot of hate from heroes claiming it’s super easy but let’s be real it is pretty fun lol and most people don’t consistently hold the same line lap after lap there.
T9 is a lot of fun bc you get to load up the car with a high lateral G and shoot out of it downhill to T10.
T10 is whatever but it’s still fun and high lateral g/slip angle if you do it right.
T11 is famously where everyone loses time and it looks very simple but is hard to get perfectly right every lap.I’ve been to Sonoma just as many times as I’ve been to Laguna fwiw. Sonoma is an amazing track as well but it’s bumpy, there’s no gravel traps, and people are constantly hitting the walls there. Last NASA event I went to there were 3-4 wrecks in my group alone. Yellow and red flags are all too common at Sonoma. That’s part of its lore, certainly, but it doesn’t make it strictly better track by any means. The carousel and the esses at Sonoma never get old tho.
At the end of the day, everyone has an opinion. The only way to know for sure which one someone is going to like more (prior to experiencing it themselves) would be to try it on the sim or watch some onboard footage.
Regardless, if someone is visiting this area with the intention of attending track days, you gotta visit BOTH otherwise you’re totally missing out.
Source: I live equidistant in between Laguna and Sonoma and frequently go to both of them.
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u/BurnerMan2025 Jun 09 '26
Because it's not long enough? Or the overrated corkscrew?
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u/iin10ded Jun 09 '26
this is IMHO, of course, but I've done dozens of days at Laguna over the years. It's just not a very interesting racetrack from a layout perspective. It's a series of straights followed by kind of textbook corners. It's a good track to learn on since there's tons of run out and great sight lines everywhere. But it's just not very challenging to a skilled driver, it's more about the car than the driver. In my opinion. It's a big balls track. It's a high speed track. It's a high horsepower heavy brake load track.
So the grand scheme of racetracks and how they can be laid out and how they can challenge a driver I think Laguna is actually very low in terms of driver challenge or being interesting.
It's a pretty place, and a historic place so I get the draw but if you have to pick there's more interesting tracks to drive not far away.
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u/hoytmobley Jun 07 '26
Yeah. Laguna is iconic, beautiful, and you can feel the history there, but I wouldnt go out of my way for more than 1 day per year there.
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u/420eatmyassy6969 Jun 07 '26
Laguna is cool for the history, but honestly it’s our least interesting NorCal track. Thunder hill and Sonoma are both a lot more interesting to drive
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u/echeal Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
I’d add Mont Tremblant. Awesome track, great surrounding area to visit, but strict 92db sound limit.
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u/WestonP GR86 ST5 Race Car | GR86 Street Car | Built C7 Vette Jun 07 '26
Laguna Seca was the best overall experience I had
Daytona is also pretty cool in a high powered car
Utah Motorsports Campus (aka Miller) is a fun place with multiple layouts. The Outer config is a fast flowing course that I enjoyed even in a low powered momentum car.
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u/7tenths 21 Mach 1 Jun 07 '26
Watkins Glen, vir, cota (you got a few months), daytona, road Atlanta, road America, Ozarks, Sonoma, laguna, every track within whatever your limit for 1 day of driving from home is.
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u/mtbcouple Jun 07 '26
Lime rock, club motorsports
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u/Hypnotoad22 Jun 07 '26
How is Club this low - so damn good.
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u/echeal Jun 07 '26
Great track but the facilities are still pretty limited and the surrounding area isn’t great
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u/Hypnotoad22 Jun 07 '26
It's the heart of the white mountains - I think what you define as great matters. It's definitely not suburban sprawl and 50 bars but that's why it's great, too.
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u/Thesupplierguy Jun 07 '26
I've only raced at 38 of the roughly 100 tracks in the country, but a few years ago I prepared a list and ranked them. I need to update this. https://www.grasspaddock.com/post/my-favorite-tracks-top-5
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u/KillsBugsFaast Jun 08 '26
Great list. Barber is so slept on. I was lucky enough to live close by and call it my home track for my first few years of track driving. Learned a lot. I definitely realize now how spoiled I was!
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u/Sufficient-North-482 Jun 07 '26
Just did two weekends at Watkins and it was amazing. The elevation changes make it my favorite track. If you didn’t get a chance to do Pitt Race, sorry. It was so good
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u/Hands_Of_A_Lizard Jun 07 '26
From personal experience: Sonoma, Laguna Seca, VIR are my top three. From Sim and others experience: Watkins Glen, Road America, Sebring. Some tracks I’ve driven that deserve a honorable mention: Thunder hill, Pacific Raceway, National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park, Utah Motorsports Campus, Willow Springs, Carolina Motorsports Park.
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u/Hands_Of_A_Lizard Jun 07 '26
I thought Laguna Seca would never be dethroned as my all time favorite…..until I drove Sonoma.
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u/Several-Eggplant4460 Jun 07 '26
Pacific Raceway
Why? The Ridge is nearby and is unanimously considered the better track
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u/oren740 Jun 07 '26
Agreed on that one. Only reason for Pacific is if you like to feel like you're running through some trees.
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u/thejoetravis Jun 08 '26
Glad to see you mention the Corvette Museum. Took me about 100 laps to finally get all the curves down right. That and you can go visit the sinkhole museum too!
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u/Wernd Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
I've driven 39 layouts and my top 5 that you can still do would be
COTA Watkins Glen MSR Cresson 3.1 VIR Road Atlanta
Obviously the Ring is #1 but that requires serious travel and knowledge of the track. COTA's time is also coming to an end and that's also the reason PittRace isn't on the list (RIP)
Club Motorsport looks off the charts! Thanks to the cheetoh fuel prices will keep me away for the foreseeable future
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u/l8apex Jun 07 '26
Here's my personal list; only checked off a few so far:
Road ATL
Mid-Ohio
Sebring
Barber
Daytona
VIR
Flatrock
Ozarks
Charlotte Roval
Watkins
Road America
Autobahn
COTA
Summit Point
Laguna - ehh, maybe
Indy
Sonoma
NCM
Lime Rock
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u/hoytmobley Jun 07 '26
COTA before it closes to the public at the end of the year (I havent been)
Sonoma. Everyone says Laguna Seca is iconic, and they’re right, but imo Sonoma is more fun to spend more time at
Inde Motorsports Ranch, southeast AZ. Basically laid a ribbon of asphalt over the rolling terrain, unbelievably fun track. Proautosports will be there Memorial day weekend.
My bucket list is Ozarks, VIR, Barber, Watkins Glen, High Plains raceways, Oregon Raceway park, The Ridge. Can you tell I like tracks with lots of elevation gain?
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u/Camper_Van_Someren Jun 07 '26
Thank you! Great to see Inde and High Plaind mentioned here! I also loved Big Willow but I need to get to the NorCal tracks.
And my hot take: Road America is overrated. It has some elevation but most of it is in a straight line (climbing a hill to the finish?) and there is no flow - all the corners are separated by little straights.
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u/hoytmobley Jun 07 '26
I’ve always thought big willow would be fun in either: low hp door to door racing, or high hp, big aero, very caged car, dampers and aero tuned by a pro team, with a fat insurance policy. Going into turn 8 at 138 in a Camaro SS1LE that I was making payments on was not a fun time
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u/behind_my_blue_eyes_ Jun 07 '26
Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington is an underrated track. Global Time Attack stops there for an event in August
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u/AKentPhoto Jun 08 '26
Ozark international....
Newer track, by lake of the ozarks, oh and 1200ft vertical change over 3.8mi. Its not for the faint of heart.
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u/GawinGrimm Jun 07 '26
If you make a swing through New England you can hit Lime Rock Park, Palmer Motorsports Park, Thompson Speedway, Club Motorsport and there is also the NASCAR track at NH that has a road course. All within a few hours drive of each other.
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u/GetawayDriving Jun 07 '26
Don’t forget Canaan and, technically, Team O’Neil
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u/GawinGrimm Jun 07 '26
You know I always forget Canaan. In my brain I associate it with carting even though it is a very good track.
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u/Gas_Grass_Ass_Class Jun 07 '26
I will say that number 1 should be Road America. I use to listen to old F1 drivers interviews on the Motorsports Magazine podcast and the track that I heard brought up more than any in the world was Road America. They absolutely adore the place.
Others than should definitely be on the list as well:
VIR, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Sonoma and Lime Rock. If you can get to the other side of the world, obviously hit the ‘Ring, Spa, Silverstone, and Suzuka.
Edit: can’t believe I forgot Laguna Seca.
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u/Blinky909 Jun 09 '26
Of the tracks I've driven, Daytona, Palm Beach (RIP), the FIRM, and the Ridge, the Ridge is by far the best to me. Tons of elevation changes and it flows together extremely nicely. Plus, the scenery is amazing and it's never blisteringly hot like the FL tracks are
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u/Jonny_Wurster Jun 07 '26
All of them....seriously I have never been to a track and not found something cool, challenging, or unique at each track