Blue Circle Raceway Lichtenburg

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Track Summary

Length: 1.019 miles // 1.640km

Direction: Clockwise

Address: SCC Lichtenburg Raceway, PO Box 762, Lichtenburg, 2740 South Africa

Circuit Owner: Sports Car Club of SA - Lichtenburg Branch

Race Promoter: Rowden Racing

Construction Date: June 1975

Web site: None

Telephone: +27 (0) 83 650 5212

Questions forum: Driving Blue circle raceway forum

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Track Map

Weather

Current Conditions: Clear in Germiston, ZAF (as of 3:30 PM 8/17/2009)

Current conditions (as of 3:30 PM)

Clear. 59°F (Feels like 59). Humidity: 36% Winds: 14 mph NNE.
All times shown are local to Germiston, ZAF.
Detailed ten-day forecast Hourly weather forecast Weather maps Weather averages

Forecast for Monday, August 17, 2009 for Germiston, ZAF

Today: Clear. Lo: 44°F. Hi: 61°F. Chance of precipitation: 5%
Tomorrow: Clear. Lo: 46°F. Hi: 60°F. Chance of precipitation: 5%
Wednesday: PM Rain. Lo: 37°F. Hi: 63°F. Chance of precipitation: 50%
Thursday: Clear. Lo: 39°F. Hi: 52°F. Chance of precipitation: 5%
Friday: Clear. Lo: 42°F. Hi: 62°F. Chance of precipitation: 5%

More information at MSN Weather
(Data provided outside US and Canada by Foreca, Data provided for US and Canada by WDT)

Introduction

This is a great track in South Africa.

Track Guide

The follow sections describe the turns or series of turns on the race track in a step by step detail from various people who have driven the track

Turn by turn guide to the Blue Circle Raceway track

LICHTENBURG

Turn by turn guide to the LICHTENBURG track.

Characters in red indicate our cars speed in mph at various points on the track.

B – Speed at the braking area or

E – Entry speed (if no brakes are applied at corner)

M – Mid corner speed

S – Slowest speed in the corner (may or may not coincide with the apex)

X – Exit speed.

OVERVIEW

By walking the track you will pick up invaluable pointers. Here are some:

• This track is a pure ‘handling track’. It presents challenges that other circuits do not provide. • If the truth be know this is a “C-grade” circuit for sure. Very bumpy and very narrow. None of the features like run off areas and kitty litter • To convert the MPH figures to KPH – multiply by 1.6 • The lap times reflected here in our car is a 47.51 sec lap • The laps are short and quick. • Races here are generally 10 lap events instead of the ‘normal’ 8 lap events at other circuits. Don’t punch the air too quickly – you may still have 2 laps left! • Our top speed on the main straight an the back straight is identical 105 mph. • This track is narrow and barely accommodates 3 cars side by side down the main straight.

Turn 1 – (B 105 MPH; M79 AND X 80 MPH) Down the main straight you cross under a bridge. At this point you are getting into the braking area. Just after the bridge there is a severe bump on the outside line on the circuit that you have to factor into you braking area. (In fact the whole track is very bumpy). Turn right into T1 which is a fast corner that offers various lines. In traffic you can use the inside line to slingshot you past your opponents before the next corner. After the braking zone on exit you will constantly accelerate into the braking zone for T2. In T1 ensure you accelerate early – there is lots of grip available for those who want to use it on exit even though your mid corner speed and exit speed are identical. (You are too quick into the braking zone for T2 to build up speed.

Turn 2 – (B 80 MPH; S 43 MPH AND X 63 MPH) Because the car may be still be unsettled from the heavy braking it requires some finesse to turn it and keep the car balanced. Be cautious of going in too fast – the outside line has little grip. Even though the outside has less grip it can be used quite fruitfully on lap 1 (and even lap 2) to overtake cars that have problems with cold tyres and hug the apex. On the exit immediately move over to your right to align the car for entrance of turn 3.

Turn 3 - (B 63 MPH; M 76 MPH AND X 82 MPH) In our car you constantly accelerate from T2 into T3 – that is no braking, maybe just feathering the throttle to stabilise the car on turn in. This is a medium and on the exit an off camber corner. Some guys, because of the camber, do not use the full width of the road on exit but elect to run a middle line. Make sure you drive over the painted marks on the road at the clipping point. This gives you effectively 3 more feet of road to use – especially critical if you elect not to run the wide line on exit. Watch out for a lot of quick oversteer on exit if you go wide on the off-camber. A short straight section follows that lead to turn 4.

Turn 4 – (B 87 MPH; S 64 MPH AND X 77 MPH) Most guys find that this corner is either too fast for a lower gear or too slow for a higher gear. My suggestion is to run with a higher gear en ensure a lot of entry speed whilst trying to keep a constant radius curve. The outside line on this corner is very slippery. The apex of the corner is marked with painted cement paving that gives you a nice target when looking for the apex. The same painted cement paving can be found on exit. Use it to stop the car from sliding off the track. Now follows a steep downhill section where your car picks up speed quickly. At the end of the back straight there are no clearly visible braking markers except for some small paint marks on the tar. Use these as markers. You are now at turn 5.

Turn 5 – (B 105 MPH; S 46 MPH AND X 65 MPH) A slow, quite heavily banked, bumpy right hand corner. It is easy to underestimate the grip provided by the banking. Go hard into the corner, accelerate early and watch out the off camber on exit. From the apex the road starts to rise quite steeply. I have seen some drivers elect to run a wide line on the banking and to miss the conventional apex of the corner completely. You decide what you want to do. Remember the banking offers a lot of grip – Use it.

After exiting the corner you do not have to have any special skills as a race driver. Just floor it and keep the car on the black until the end of the main straight. You can then, once again, become a racer.

Motorcycle turn by turn guide to the Blue Circle Raceway track

GPS Track Map and Vehicle Dynamics

Coming soon