Favorite Non-Street Track? (not including Elkhart)

[Snrub]

What's your favorite non-street track? I've excluded Elkhart to make it interesting. I'm sure this has been covered before, but we have another season under our belts. Also there's not much going on here.

Mid-Ohio
Cleveland
Montreal
Portland
Laguna
Milwaukee
Fontana
Mexico
Monterrey
Other: Maybe a track no longer on the schedule? (explain)

[Raven]

Mexico City or Montreal. Cleveland is fun too. Of course I've never been to any of them in person, but they say Montreal is a great place.

[GP Racer]

I've got to go with Cleveland.It's a wide track with ample opportunity for passing and it makes for a good race, and it actually looks like it's in a decent location.

Laguna is also good, as the natural terrain of hills and drops makes for an entertaining race. I'd love to do a lap there myself!

Montreal is #3 on my list, and if I had my choice go to a race this one is it, great location, great city. I think it's CART's equivelant to Monaco.

[racefanatic]

Fontana for me. It always turns out to be an exciting race. I'd love to go some time if it stays on the schedule.

Laguna Seca would be my second choice. It's an awesome track!

[codename_47]

Laguna...I love that track, and "over here" is probably CART's most famous, due to it's inclusion in the tremendously popular Gran Turismo games
(So much so that my brother wandered in during the 2001 race here and actually STAYED and watched for about 15 minutes due to it being "That sandy Track from Gran Turismo....remarkable for him in that he actually HATES all motorsport)....

Though I suppose a car doing a somersault WAY high in the air in the highest a race car has ever got helped a bit too with the factor....man, that was a wild race!

*Nagging thought*
Now I'm not sure how true that statement is now that nearly ex-F1 circuit Gilles Villenueve is on the calender, argh, well...I'm still voting for 'Seca!

[Omega99]

I voted for Laguna, but I love Montreal and Mexico City. Cleveland produces great racing, and I guess I'm in the minority that actually quite like Mid-Ohio and Monterrey. Every track on that list produces good racin, however.

[Flatspot]

This is a tough one. It's almost like asking which one of your kids you love the most.

[Jay]

Montreal is technically a street track...but, one through a park....and it's probably my favorite.. though, I haven't been to the others.

[blueflagger]

If you count Montreal as a street track, you'd have to count Road America too. They both have strips of grass on the track side of the fencing and traditional street courses don't offer that. Montreal has more run-off room and far, far fewer 90 degree turns than street courses. I like it for F1 or Indy.

[jjspierx]

I voted for Laguna, but its kind of a toss-up between Mid-ohio and Laguna. Both are great courses.

[macdaddy]

Flatspot: "It's almost like asking which one of your kids you love the most."

That's the only correct answer!

Good thread, Snrub!

My vote? Michigan. Can I vote that? Well, okay... Fontana.

2nd choice becomes somewhat tougher.
But not that tough. Cleveland.
1st turn, 1st lap is always one of the most exciting moments of the entire season.

[Dov]

I picked Cleveland......it's got so much room, great for passing and let's the ChampCars really stretch their legs!

Montreal is a very close second....great city (atmosphere), fantastic looking track and always produces exciting races!

My third choice is Laguna Seca....most (not all) of the time it doesn't produce close races, but it may well be the best place to watch (take in) a CART race!

Since I've been a CART fan for a long time, I still do love my ovals.....Michigan is my favourite, but Fontana has produced some good races as well and I still like the old Milwaukee Mile! That being said, I have always preferred road coures and a good street coure like Surfer's Paradise over most oval tracks.

To sum it up, Flatspot said it best: "It's almost like asking which one of your kids you love the most."

[enemy-ace]

I picked Cleveland as well great for racing, but Montreal came a close second. Personally I don't care for Laguna, the corkscrew is a neat corner but kind of slow; am I missing something.

[Liz]

I'm with the majority on this one -- Cleveland for the racing, but I love Montreal for the ambience, the access and the way they treat the media. (Except at the end of the race). I hope they race under the lights again at Cleveland this year.

[Rob29]

Brands Hatch.

[racerkeke]

I'm with macdaddy: Michigan, hell to get to and exhausting when you were there but I loved it anyway. Close second place goes to the old Rio roval -- racing there was always a crapshoot because nobody ever got the setup exactly right for the whole thing. With the added bonuses of iffy water, fire ants and spiders as big as your hand. Oh yes, and the food poisoning we all got in '98.

But if I have to choose a road course it can't be anything but Laguna. Yeah, Portland's my "local", but it's flat.

keke

[Jay]

Originally posted by blueflagger
If you count Montreal as a street track, you'd have to count Road America too. They both have strips of grass on the track side of the fencing and traditional street courses don't offer that. Montreal has more run-off room and far, far fewer 90 degree turns than street courses. I like it for F1 or Indy.

I meant that it's a street circuit in that 350 days a year the road is used by cars, buses (albeit - a very twisted bus route), cyclists and rollerbladers. Is Road America? If so, interesting, I didn't know that...

I think Laguna is one of those tracks that must be a ton of fun to drive on - but for modern Champcars it rarely produces a good race as there's few opportunities to overtake. A bit like the Hungaroring in F1...

[429CJ]

Ohio gets the double: Cleveland & Mid-Ohio.

[x_dt]

Mexico City or Cleveland.

[muggle not]

Without a question Laguna is my favorite road track. Second choice would be Virginia Intl Raceway , VIR, although CART doesn't race there.

[gttouring]

Laguna is the classic, although the racing seems parade-ish, maybe widening portions of the track would be good for that, it produces great racing in everyseries there, Too bad TV coverage doesn't allow for the sense of speed and hills there, VIR is so beautiful, CART needs to go there, as with Road Atlanta, but safety issues i have heard hold them back...
Cleavland is probably the craziest "anyone can win the race place" next to surfer's which is probably the best street circuit next to monaco, LongBeach is just not scenic enough, but it has become a staple.
but back on subject-the giant ovals, are the greatest but Milwaukee, is so cool Mexico may be a classic, as any F1 track tends to be like Montreal

[mac]

I took Mid-Ohio.

But I think that and Mexico City are equal.

[Hazza]

Yeah, the cookie cutter D-Ovals are great.

What about Belle-Isle park, wasn't that where Mario stuck it in the tires, lost 3 laps or so and then when they pulled the car out there wasn't a scratch so he kept going?
bugger me, thoose where the days weren't they? *sigh* *puts away rose-tinted specticals*

[codename_47]

Originally posted by Jay
I think Laguna is one of those tracks that must be a ton of fun to drive on - but for modern Champcars it rarely produces a good race as there's few opportunities to overtake. A bit like the Hungaroring in F1...

Yeah, except the Hungaroring isn't fun to drive either!

As for the lack of passing....didn't seem to hurt Zanardi did it?

*watches thread degenerate into discussion of the legality of THAT move!*

[gttouring]

well the thread shouldn't degenerate but Zanardi was clearly faster than everyoe else, and he had to get by, the corkscrew is so treacherous to do that in, and well he needed to get by and so he did.