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Southern California Track Day options?

5K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  research monkey 
#1 ·
HI,

looking at southern cal

1. hows auto club? are there multiple track layouts?
2. Buttonwillow?
3. Chuckwalla?
4. Spring mountain?
 
#2 ·
1) Autoclub is $250-300 per day and 100% not worth it for me at that price. The track is fun but nothing to write home about, especially at that cost!
2) Buttonwillow is my favorite. Wonderful track.
3) No experience here but it has 17 turns and my WERA friends rave about it.
4) No experience here, either, but seriously curious.

I just spent the past two days at "Big Willow" over at Willowsprings and it was fun but it's a high-speed track that's better suited to a bigger bike; Willowsprings also only has 9 turns, so it's kind of a boring in that regard, too.
 
#3 ·
I have only done Chuckwalla twice of all those on the list and really liked it. I almost went to ACS but had no one to go with. It does sound expensive but one of the civilians I worked with says for him it is worth it. Closer to San Diego than any other track, has paddocks with power, etc.

Off topic but I think the track I currently go to have a good system where you pay per session, you get a paddock with AC power and there is a restaurant and beverage vending machines everywhere. Seems to be that way at all the tracks here in Japan. The state side tracks should follow a similar style.

If you go to socalsportbikes.org, it’s a SoCal specific site so a lot of the riders there can give you good opinions, down to tips on individual corners on certain tracks lol.
 
#4 ·
1) never been to auto club
2) Buttonwillow is a lot of fun, more technical than the track map leads on. Nice facilities with garages available. Pavement is narrow, you can run out of room if you?re not careful.
3) chuckwalla is also a lot of fun, different than Buttonwillow. Wider surface and big, long sweepers where you are on the side of the tire for what feels like an eternity. Way out in the middle of nowhere though. Facilities are nice and ever improving. Showers but no garages. They also have cabins for rent on most weekends.
4) spring mountain is probably my favorite track (the north/south course). Pavement is smooth, grip is plentiful, and the layout has a good combination of sweepers and hard braking/technical turns. Facilities are the best I?ve been to (there a mini lake you can swim in) and it?s in a small town so there are a lot of amenities nearby.

You didn?t mention willow springs. There are two tracks there, big willow and streets of willow. I would advise against big willow on the r3 because you?ll be wide open in 6th gear for 75% of the Lap. Streets would be a ton of fun on the R3 because it?s small, tight and technical. I?ve only run there once but I won?t again until they resurface it. The pavement is in AWFUL shape, and I don?t want to support them until they put the money in to ensure rider safety.
 
#6 ·
I just did big willow with a few of my friends on Saturday. Graves and a few of his customers where on the big track with R3s. They were smoking all the big bikes. Benny Solis was also riding the R3. It was pretty amazing to see how fast a pro rider on a professionally prepared R3 could go.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
#5 ·
I don't know anything about SoCal, but look for kart tracks as well. Sometimes a bit more work because you have to chat with kart drivers, typically you can't run both at the same time. Less in the way of safety staff though so not great to do alone in case you go down.
The cost though is usually way cheaper. Around here there's a super nice facility with excellent pavement and 18(?) tight turns and it runs $45 for a full day. As many sessions as you can handle. Sometimes a handful of us have gone out and been the only people there, so just go out until you're tired, rest, and repeat. Good times.
 
#8 ·
Where are you located?

1. Autoclub - By far the closest track and has the best facilities. Most expensive though.
2. Buttonwillow - Has a little bit of everything there and they can run a few different configurations to change things up. We have a trackday out there this coming weekend.
3. Chuckwalla is our "home" track. Great mix of everything like Buttonwillow but is heaps wider and a lot newer meaning the track surface is much nicer. We'll be out there on 12/1.
4. Spring Mountain - its been years since I've been there and its the farthest track in your list since you're going to Pahrump Nevada. Used to love going there as you can stay at the casino and do a little gambling. Couple chicken ranches out there too if you want to pay for overpriced tail ;)

Tracks not mentioned:

Willow Springs "Big Track" - "the fastest road in the west". Truly an experience going over 7 and 8 completely pinned.
Willow Springs Streets of Willow - Great short track perfect for little bikes.

Its not in Southern California but you might want to add Laguna Seca to your list. We've run a trackday there the last couple of years and its one of those tracks that you have to eventually get out to since you live in California. Going down the corkscrew you literally feel your stomach go up to your throat. Its a trip.
 
#9 ·
I haven't ridden any tracks in SoCal, but Buttonwillow is my favorite track...great flowing track and best suited for the R3. I do 2:05's which is not very far off the lap record (until a guy broke 1:58 on a R3 this last AFM round there). Its not very technical, but corner entry is the most important there to maintain lap times. Only thing I dont like is there's not much elevation changes there.
 
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