MSR Houston Racing Line
So I wondered if Google Maps had a good close-up of MSR Houston. Turns out they do. I decided to try to match the YT videos of people doing laps at past YEE-HAW Lemons with the map image. As I thought, the entire race track is not used for Lemons–they cut out the 2 longest straights. I’m sure MSR Houston required that, as they aren’t too keen to have their tarmac gouged by a handful of driveshafts busting out of their transmissions. And if not a wrecked tranny in that ‘88 Crown Vic, there would probably some stupid number of blown engines brought on by that extra 4000′ of straight track.
Also interesting is that Lemons races backwards/clockwise. Here is the MSR track layout. You’ll notice that the “standard” Turn 1 is our (last) Turn 11. But, on the MSRH Videos Page, click the “SCCA SM 1 of 3″ link and you’ll see some “real” racers in Miatas run the track, in the same direction that we will (although they run the front and back straights). I’ve found it helpful to write down the course (T1-hard right, S-curves, hairpin, etc.) on a piece of paper then follow along as you watch someone’s driving video. I figure if I do this enough before the race rolls around, I’ll not be seeing/learning the track the first time I’m behind the wheel.
Back to Google maps: I’ve made my own map (first time) of the track, and put my best guess at the racing line on there. Thoughts? Don’t know if others can edit/add to it or not; I added as “collaborators” those of you whose email addresses I know. Last thing–you’ll see that the Google image doesn’t show the larger turn-out of Turn 11 onto the Pit straight.
I like the map. I had to hit F5 a couple of times to get everything to load correctly, but then it worked fine. I think you have some good observations there.
Looking through your notes — especially valuable is the observation that they’ve cut out the two long straights. Makes total sense for these cars.
If MRSH offers it again for this race, I think we would be well advised to get down there early and take advantage of the testing day the day before the event. We will want to shake the car down well before then, but the testing day would be really valuable so that each of our drivers has some seat time on the track, at speed, before actual racing commences. That way we can talk about lines and strategy with more than just a hypothetical/abstract understanding of the actual situation on the ground. I know that most of us have zero or near-zero time in wheel-to-wheel racing, and most of that is probably just in go-karts. Given our near-total newbie status, extra seat time would be well worth it.