CART: Around the Track - with Gil de Ferran
11 September 1999
The start/finish is not a real straight. The car goes light over the brow, and you go from the left side of the circuit, close to the pit exit, all the way to the right. It's important to brake as deep as you can for Andretti Corner, but it's tough because it's downhill. As you into the corner, it's easy to lose the rear end. It's a double-apex corner. As you apex the second time, you're already accelerating for the short chute to Turn 3.I enjoy turn 3. You can throw the car in, keep a slide going and carry quite a bit of speed. On the exit, you go all the way to the curb. The entry into turn 4 is fast. You hardly slow down, and you're back on the power. Turn 5 is really fast. You hardly slow down, and you're back on the power. Turn 5 is another of my favorites. It's quite banked, and the trick is to use banking to help you through the turn. As you get to the apex, you can carry a lot more speed than you thought possible. Turn 6 is probably the most difficult turn because the entry is blind and there are two elevation changes. The track dips at the apex, flattens off on the exit and then goes uphill. It's an important corner because it's going to dictate your speed up the hill.
Then we come to the Corkscrew. Braking is difficult because, going over the top of the hill, the wheels tend to lock up, I brake hard just before the brow, let off a little bit and brake again. Through the Corkscrew, you can't really see the apex on either side, left or right. You have to estimate that. But to be quick, you have to be precise and spot on the apex. If you are a foot away, or if you touch the curb, that really upsets the car.
Turn 9 is a downhill left-handler, and the steering gets super heavy. As you go through the apex, you have almost to lean against the cockpit to keep the car from going straight. You don't have a lot of time to accelerate to turn 10, so you just brake a little and throw yourself into the apex. You've got to be careful, though, because the track flattens off at the exit and before you know it, you're off the road. At turn 11, it's easy to lock it all up going in. You need to concentrate on the exit because that is going to dictate your speed on the front straight.
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