The Racing Line at Nelson Ledges Road Course

Nelson Ledges Road Course is a much-loved regional track with a storied racing history, including long-standing 24 hour endurance events for both cars and motorcycles. Its narrow width and bumpy surface combine with somewhat spartan safety provisions to make for an exciting, "on the edge" racing experience at this circuit.

The racing line at Nelson Ledges can be tricky for a couple reasons. First, the narrow track width (compounded by lack of kerbing in many corners) makes the impact of line selection less obvious. Second, the meandering, sweeping nature of the turns can make it extremely difficult to work out the ideal line. Nevertheless, we'll do our best to illuminate the optimal path.

Turns 1 and 2 form a large radius corner of about 90 degrees. Every vehicle will spend a good amount of time stuck to the inside here, driving all the way out on the exit. From what I saw from running a couple extra optimizations, exiting Turn 2, if you go all the way left, you shouldn't get much farther than mid-track before turning in to 4. If you don't get all the way left, then you can set up for 3 on the far right. It's not much of a difference, though.

The line around Oak Tree is somewhat confusing, and varies a lot with vehicle type. The Miata sticks the inside until about half way around, where is starts driving out toward mid-track, before squeezing left a bit more in preparation for entry into the Carousel. The Porsche and Motorcycle, on the other hand, treat the corner as a double apex, but the Porsche doesn't get more than about one car width off the inside. The motorcycle swings out much farther before coming back in to apex at the same location as the Porsche.

Through the Carousel, the Miata takes almost a triple apex, but importantly, stays wide of the final apex. It's also very close to the inside until about the North extreme of the turn, at which point it starts driving out a bit. For higher powered vehicles, a big double apex will be the faster line, with the first apex much later than the Miata's. Following the Kink, Turn 11 can usually be taken by low powered vehicles without braking. Not so much for the big guys.

Turns 12 and 13 are the other location where Al disagrees with a lot of the onboard footage. He recommends taking 12 as fast as possible, letting your speed carry you all the way to the right side of the track on exit, then staying pretty much glued to the inside around 13 until you start your drive onto the front straight. In contrast, drivers will often stay nearer to mid-track between 12 and 13, or take a fairly wide double apex at 13. The front straight doesn't seem to be long enough to warrant this extra investment in speed, however, and the recommended approach to this section can afford some pretty good passing opportunities around 13.