A Lap Around Sebring in a Star Mazda (2001):

I thought for those who will be racing in the Star Mazda race at sebring in a few weeks this may be helpful. After I spend a session or two on the track in the LMP900 I will also make note of that racing lap. I'm not familiar with all of the corner names, so just follow along.

Here we go:

First of all, the most important thing about Sebring is to get your car properly dampened. If you don't do this, you will be punished all race long. You will either bounce off line, or chatter yourself to death in the car.

We will assume we have come down the Straightaway for our first flyer lap.

Turn One:
You will be entering turn one at a high rate of speed in top gear. Stay as far to the right as you can. The most important part of turn one is picking a reference point on entry that you can stick to because of the bumps. You will pass pit exit on your right, and the orange posts that mark it. You want to make a late turn in at the last post, or slightly later. You will need to do a brief chicken lift on entry BEFORE you start your turn in. It is important to be back to power before you turn in so the car is settled. You will want to drive the car alongside the inside wall, apprx. 1-2 feet off of it. Make sure to look far ahead, as soon as you see the exit apron keep your vision moving forward.

As you start to straighten the car, I found it useful to downshift to fourth, so that you have a strong high-rpm pull into turn 2.

Turn Two:
You will be coming into the braking zone in the top of 4th gear. Line the car up on the right so you can straight brake into two. You will brake hard very late, and go down to 2nd gear, making sure you go back to power as soon as you turn in.

The next right hander is simple, as you want to stay to the right to maximize the amount of track you have to use for the next left. I found it useful to shortshift to 3rd before my turn in for the left, and then to just barely left-foot brake while maintaining throttle to keep the nose down. Try not to hit the exit apron.

The next righthander leading onto the straight is easily flat out. You will want to let the car carry almost to the grass, you can use the small patch of asphalt on the edge of the track over the white line.

You will be in top gear down the straight before you enter the best passing zone on the track, the Hairpin.

The Hairpin:
You will want to be far left into the braking zone. This is a place in practice where you may want to do some fake pass attempts by yourself to see how late you can brake on the inside where there isnt as much rubber, but its still grippy. You will want to use the 5-4-3-2-1 brake markers on the left. Use this corner/braking zone to dial in your bias. Braking is normally around the 2 marker. Depending on gearing you will either use 1st or 2nd gear. It is easy even in a Mazda to get wheelspin here, so roll to throttle.

Right-Left combination:
The next combinations of corners is flat-out. I found it useful to shift a bit early here to let the motor pull a little more in it's torque bad when being loaded since you are turning the car slightly. It seems simple here, but you can make up some time if you look at it properly. Let the car wander to the right when you leave the second left hand bend, almost to the grass. It makes a huge difference in momentum.

Right-Hander:
This is probably one of the greasiest parts of the race track during a race weekend, especially from the high powered cars laying the rubber down. You will want to enter it on the far left, and go down to 2nd (sometimes 3rd if it's super greasy). I myself, and teammate Oliver, found it useful to run a little more rear brake bias than normal so that you could get the rear-end to rotate a little more loosely on entry to the turn. You will want to roll back to power here when it's greasy. Don't worry if you dirt-track a little, everyone does when it's greasy there.

Left-Left combo:
The next to left handers are pretty basic again, but you will want to let the car wander, maximazing momentum again.

Right Hander in the Back:
This corner is very tricky because it has a dip midcorner, and the grip varies greatly during the race week. Like many other corners at Sebring, because of the surface, you want to make sure you completely rotate the car on entry, so that you are already turned before you hit the dip. If not you will be loose on exit. It is not necessary here to go the whole way over the exit apron, and if you do, you are probably not turning the car enough initially.

Fast Left in back section:
This portion of the track is a momentum part. You will want to turn in late here, but smoothly, and keep the car far left so that you can enter the next tricky and slightly blind right hander. You will just reach 5th gear here.

Right hander, Left hand Kink, and Right onto Back Straight:
This combination of corners is critical. If you watch the cars here from a spectator perspective, you will see varying lines. Everyone tries to get the best run onto the backstraight, which is the most critical part of this track along with turn 17 sunset bend.

When you enter the right hander you will want to go down to 3rd gear, the grip also varies here, if you blow the entry here, you will ruin your whole lap. Turn in smoothly and drag your left foot on the brake if you need to. as soon as you hit the inner apex/apron, you will want to bend the car to the left. Make sure you use some of the old airport surface over the white line, but not excessively, or you are just adding un-needed distance to your lap. You may need to stab the brake with your left foot for a split second, to get the nose down to turn the car right. Normally if you take the corner properly you will bottom a little inthe transition back to the normal track pavement.

It is important not to hit the exit apron here, as it will severely affect the toe on the mazda (big gator backs). You will be shifting to 4th immediately leaving the corner and into fifth there-after.

SUNSET BEND:
I type that in bold because I feel this is one of the most challenging and important corners on the track. Proper entry and exit will make a huge difference in lap times and your ability to carry speed down the start/finish straightaway. This is also the best passing zone on the track, and one where if you get on the inside, you have the line, and can hold the opposing driver outwide so he/she loses their run down the front.

Sunset presents a few different challenges; blind mid-corner, a bump at the apex, and a closing exit wall.

You will be entering at high speed in 5th gear. An important thing to do here, is to make sure you are braking in a straight line. This means you will want to turn the car on throttle when the track seems to turn to the right. The mistake people make here is to brake then turn in, and they lose all kinds of speed.

So turn the car on throttle, and when you are almost going awayfrom the wall, brake very hard, and downshift to 4th then 3rd. AS SOON AS you do, bend the car again slightly and go back to full throttle. Dont be afraid of the blindness of the midcorner (where you should already be full throttle).

As soon as you are under the bridge you will feel the bump, but if you are dampened properly it wont upset the car very much at all. You will shift to 4th when you are midway from the bridge to the exit wall, and 5th before start/finish.

There you go!!! a lap in a mazda around sebring. I hope this helps.

Chad