The lap
Lime Rock Park · Full Course
6 corners, 3 of which decide the lap. What each one asks of the car, and what you do about it.
Main straight
Big Bend
Left-Hander
No Name Straight
Esses
Uphill
West Bend
Diving Turn
StraightFast cornerMedium cornerSlow corner
The lapSeven turns and under a minute a lap, which makes it unforgiving in a way long circuits are not: there is nowhere to make time back. Momentum is everything, and a car that will not hold a line through Big Bend is slow everywhere.
Set up forA front end that holds a long steady load through Big Bend, then a rear that stays settled over the Uphill crest and down through Diving Turn.
Classic mistakeSetting up for braking stability. There is almost no braking here — the lap is decided by sustained cornering and by commitment over blind crests.
Works hardestFronts through Big Bend and West Bend, rears out of Diving Turn
Length2.46 km · road course · US
Corner by corner
Every corner on this layout
A • marks the corners that decide the lap.
T1 Big Bend •
Fast right · long
A long, fast right taken almost flat, and the front tyre is loaded for far longer than it feels.
- Technique
- One steering input and hold it. Correcting mid-corner scrubs the front and you pay for it all the way down No Name.
- Demands
- High speed — aero is live · Sustained mid-corner load · Front grip limited · Wants a settled rear
T2 The Left-Hander
Medium left · off-camber
The only left on the lap, and it falls away from you on exit.
- Technique
- Get the car rotated early. Running wide here puts two wheels on the grass with no room to recover.
- Demands
- Wants yaw on entry · Low speed — aero does little · Exit-phase limited
T3–4 The Esses
Quick left-right · uphill
A short uphill flick that sets up the whole back half of the circuit.
- Technique
- Straighten it out and use the kerb. Fighting the direction change costs more than the kerb does.
- Demands
- Transient, not steady-state · Kerbs are part of the line · Turn-in transient
T5 The Uphill •
Medium right · blind crest
Blind and rising, with the car light over the crest just as you want to commit.
- Technique
- Take it on faith and a reference on the horizon. Lifting at the crest unsettles the rear exactly when you cannot afford it.
- Demands
- Compression or crest loading · High speed — aero is live · Wants a settled rear · Aero platform sensitive
T6 West Bend
Fast right
Quick and committed at the top of the circuit, leading to the drop back down.
- Technique
- Carry the speed. The lap time here is decided by how early you can be back to throttle.
- Demands
- High speed — aero is live · Sustained mid-corner load · Wants a settled rear
T7 Diving Turn •
Fast right · downhill
Downhill and onto the main straight, so every mistake is multiplied by the length of the straight that follows.
- Technique
- The rear goes light as the road drops. Be committed but be smooth — this is the corner that decides the lap.
- Demands
- High speed — aero is live · Rear grip limited · Wants a settled rear · Exit-phase limited
Corner names and numbering follow common usage; some circuits number differently between layouts.
Sideways
Where to go next
The ranked answer is per car. Pick yours to see what this lap asks of it.
This lap, car by car
Other layouts here