Q: “What was the toughest track you raced at in the United States?”
A : “Every track has it’s hard sections, but as far as just being an all-around nasty, filthy, dirty, tough little track, I’d say Loudon. I only went there a couple times, but that was enough. I don’t want to completely bag on the place— it had a lot of history, a great crowd and one corner that was alot of fun— but I can’t say much good about it other than that. Every nasty element you could put in a track, it had. It was bumpy, physical, dangerous, nothing really flowed together, and it had all the bad parts of some tracks that are built at ovals— transitions on and off the banking, different pavement all over— the list goes on. I did okay there— two wins, in 600 Supersport and Formula Xtreme— but I don’t miss that place when I am somewhere like Phillip Island.”
I tend to agree as it seemed more like a roller coaster when I was there, but I’ve had limited track experience.
Aaron, you’ve gone to a few different tracks, what do you think?
NH’s observation is spot on, even with my limited knowledge and experience on that track. It is a tough little track, but it is also due to those nasty elements, you tend to pick up a lot of extra riding techniques.
You just have not got around to ride there long enough to identifying some of the reference points like braking zone, turn in; once you’ve identify those it will be less confusing.
Those banking transition NH mentioned are nasty especially for bikes, like T2, where I’ve had a moment there during the rain. In addition, NHMS road course is a perfect and vivid example of what the racing line is on paper doesn’t translate 100% when on the track. There are so many spots where your bike should be for a certain action is directly related to where the bumps are.