Sonoma Raceway, previous Sears Point Raceway and Infineon Raceway is a 2.52-mile (4.06 km) road and a tug line located on a known landform as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains in Sonoma, California, USA. This road course features 12 turns on a hilly path with 160 feet (49 m) of total elevation elevation. It is host to one of only three Monster Energy series NASCAR Cup Series annually run on the road pitch (the others are Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York and Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina ). It also hosts the Verizon IndyCar Series, Yello Draglo NHRA Racing Series, and several other car and motorcycle races such as the American Federation of Motorcyclists series. Sonoma Raceway continues to host amateurs, or club racing events that may or may not be open to the general public. The biggest car club like that is Sports Car Club of America.
With the closure of Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California after the 1988 season, NASCAR, wanting a west coast road show to replace it, chose the Sears Point facility. Riverside International is leveled for the construction of a shopping center.
In 2002, Sears Point Raceway was renamed after the company's sponsor, Infineon. However, as with many sports complex changes, many people still call it by its original name. (It was never affiliated with Sears, Roebuck and Company, named for the nearby Sears Point Ranch founded in the 1850s by Franklin Sears settler.) On March 7, 2012, it was announced that Infineon would not renew their contract for naming rights when the deal it ended in May, and track management was looking for a new company to take over the naming rights. Until it can find a new corporate sponsor, the course simply identifies itself as "Sonoma".
Video Sonoma Raceway
Histori
1968-1979
The 2.52 mile (4.06 km) road-playing course was built on an area of ​​720 acres (2.9Ã, km 2 ) by Marin County owner Robert Marshall Jr., a lawyer from Point Reyes, and a developer land of Jim Coleman from Kentfield. Both understand the idea of ​​a race track while on a hunting trip. The ground was damaged in August 1968 and the surface paving of the race was completed in November. The first official event at Sears Point was the SCCA Enduro, which was held on December 1, 1968.
In 1969, the track was sold to Filmways Corp., a Los Angeles-based entertainment company for $ 4.5 million. In May 1970, the track closed and became a tax shelter for Filmways after a reported $ 300,000 loss. Hugh Harn of Belvedere and Parker Archer of Napa arranged to lease trajectories from Filmways in 1973. Bob Bondurant, owner and operator of the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, and partner Bill Benck took over management and controlled the racetrack of Parker Archer and Hugh Harn in 1974. A few years later a group calling itself Black Mountain Inc., including Bondurant, William J. Kolb of Del Mar and Howard Meister of Newport Beach, bought a run from Filmways to report $ 1.5 million.
The American Motor Association national motocross racing in the northern hills of Turn 7 became popular with Bay Area fans, but was phased out gradually by the end of the decade due to rising insurance costs.
1980-2000
In 1981, Filmways regained possession of the track after a financial dispute with the Black Mountain group. Jack Williams, NHRA's top NHRA tug-of-war champion in 1964, Rick Betts and John Andersen bought the track from Filmways at an $ 800,000 auction. The line was renamed Sears Point International Raceway. In 1985 the track was completely removed, in part with funds donated from the "Pave the Point" fundraising campaign. The first store room (A, B, C and D buildings in the main paddock area) was built.
In 1986 Harvey "Skip" Berg from Tiburon, CA took over the line and became a major shareholder in Brenda Raceway Corp., which controlled the trajectory until 1996. The additional building built on the property brought more than 700,000 square feet of store space (65,000 m < > 2 ) during 1987. In addition, a five-year contract was signed with the National Hot Rod Association for Californians. NASCAR Winston Cup Series debuted at the raceway in 1989.
In 1994, more than $ 1 million was spent on adaptation projects and the construction of a 62-foot (19m) high-tech lap board - high in the middle of the road. In subsequent years a $ 3 million renovation plan includes VIP Suite and two-storey two-floor driver/emergency medical facility. In 1995, the Trans-Am and SportsCar races back to Sears Point and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was added to the big event schedule. The owner of "Skip" Berg sells songs for O. Bruton Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. in November 1996.
Major renovations began at Sears Point Raceway in 1998 with the creation of "The Chute", a high-speed stretch of 890 feet (270 m). The first run of the American Le Mans Series took place at Sears Point in July 1999. In 2000, Sears Point Raceway received unanimous approval from the Sonoma County Supervisory Board with a 5-0 vote to begin work on the $ 35 million Modernization Plan that included 64,000 Hillside Terrace seats , both from the road course and drag strips and increased run-offs throughout the track.
2000-present
After the turn of the millennium, Infineon Technologies bought the naming rights, and on June 22, 2002, the course was renamed Infineon Raceway. In 2006, the Grand Prix of Sonoma was transferred to the Rolex Sports Car Series, which would restrict to the Daytona Prototypes only for 2007-2008 before the show was halted altogether. However, since 2010, the program has undergone a mild revival, with sponsorship circuits for various events as well as hosting a lower number of series, including the WTCC and the return of SCCA World Challenge. 2012 saw the end of Infineon as a corporate sponsor, with the track renaming itself Sonoma Raceway.
Maps Sonoma Raceway
Layout
Full set
Standard, full-length road ramp on Sonoma Raceway is 2.52 miles (4.06 km) 12-turn only. The course was used by all competitions until 1997. Most of the races, including the Grand Prix of Sonoma, used the full course. Courses are recorded for alternating two and three, the negative-camber ("off-camber") is changed, with the inside of a higher turn from the outside. This poses a challenge for the driver, since in turn the two usually have drivers moving to the left side of the track.
The raceway also has a 440-yard dragstrip (402.3 m) used for NHRA drag racing events. The drag strip was originally located on the immediate front of the course. Tracking the change completed in 2002 separates the path from the drag strip.
The Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, the annual classic car racing event, uses a full circuit.
The Chute
The track was modified in 1998, adding the the Chute , passing round 5 and 6 (Carousel), shortened the path as far as 1.95 miles (3.14 km). Chute is only used for NASCAR events like the Toyota/Save Mart 350, and is criticized by many drivers, who prefer the full layout. In 2001, it was replaced with a 70 Â ° turn, carrying 4A tracks to the current dimensions of 1.99 miles (3.20 km).
Chute is built primarily for audience visibility, to increase speed, and increase competition for stock cars, which do not need to be well prepared for road racing. However, this has been criticized for taking the main pass point, and some INDYCAR drivers believe removing Chute and replacing it with a new hair clip in Turn 4A, then rejoining the lane at Turn 5, will create a circuit with three passing zones (Turn 4, On 7, and Behind 11). In addition, the current layout speed with Chute is slower than if full configuration is used.
Gilligan's Island
From 1989 to 2001, the pit road can only accommodate 34 outlets. So, during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, some teams were asked to share pit laps while other teams were forced to complain inside the garage. When the car gets out of the race, their pit stalls are moved to a shared car.
After several years, an additional emergency road was built inside a hairpin (turn 11) dubbed
Because the length of the assistant pit length is significantly shorter than the main pit roads, the cars that are pitted there are held from 15-20 seconds to replace the time spent if the cars travel across the main pit roads..
Pitting on Gilligan's Island has some other inconveniences. The location (the staging area for the drag race) is locked by the race, and the crew members can not go once the race begins. The team only sends the main pit crew to Gilligan's Island , and once they are there, they can not access their garage or transporter area to collect parts/equipment. The only improvements that can be made are regular tire changes and refueling, and only minor repairs. Other additional pit crew members, who are not part of the main crew, are staged in the garage area, and must serve the car if major repairs are needed. If teams appearing on Gilligan's Island out of the race, the crew can not pack their supplies and prepare to go (general practice on other tracks) until the race is over.
Modified course
Sonoma circuit variations are often used. Motorcycle uses 2.22 km (3.57 km), 12 rounds only. It's based on a full layout, and does not include Chute. This layout, opened in 2003, passes the next section of Esses (8A and 9) and runs from Turn 10 to Turn 11 (hairpin), using Turn 11a as Turn 11 has no runoff. The hair clip is located just past the tower control tower and offers a fairly straight run to the starting line.
When the Pirelli World Challenge returned to Infineon Raceway in 2011, a modified course was used (as the doubleheader series acted as a support show for the Indy race). During the broadcast, it was explained that the Indy course missed a lot of high-speed eses because the curved part of Bends 9 through 10 ended without runoff, especially on the outside of the curved section (limited by the tensile lane), and very little runoff in high speed Turn 10.
Another factor in removing hairpins is the fact that the turn is only visible from the garage or the bench behind the essay. This is because the stands are built along the straight front that serves as well as the drag tribune.
In some variants, the dragstrip tip (not the Keyhole) is used to create Magny Cours style clasps that unite the drag strips to Turn 7 to open the overtaking opportunity.
For the 2012 IndyCar race, the course was changed again. Magny Cours style order in Turn 7 is used to create passing zones. Turn 9A (chicane similar to the new Bus Stop Spa) is being widened by ten feet (~ 3 meters) to allow for more space. A new Turn 11B has been made, moving further past the drag strip tower (Motor Turn 11), which is extended by 200 feet (~ 61 meters) to create a passing zone (it lies just before the race logo is painted on Turn 11), and is located where the staging area of ​​the pull strip is located.
For the World Touring Car Championship race, full configuration is in use, but with bus stops replacing essays.
Recordings
Energy Monster NASCAR Cup Series records
(Starting May 8, 2017)
Seating capacity
Sonoma Raceway has a permanent seating capacity of 47,000. This includes a tribune and a terrace around the track. During big races, hospitality tents and other stages are erected around the track, bringing the total capacity of up to 102,000 seats. The facility underwent a major expansion in 2004 resulting in 64,000 seats on the hill, 10,000 permanent tribune seats, wastewater treatment facilities, 100 hectares (40 hectares) of renovated wetlands, permanent garages, new retail space, go kart tracks and new. pull the strip.
Current series
- Sonoma Drift Series
- Energy NASCAR Cup Series Monsters
- Verizon IndyCar Series
- NHRA
- MotoAmerica
- Formula Car Challenges
- TTXGP race
- The American Motorcycle Racing Federation (AFM) Racing
- SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge
- NASCAR C & amp; N Pro Series West
- Ferrari Challenge
- 24 Hours of LeMons
- San Francisco SCCA region
- National Automatic Sports Association
Former series
- Grand Am 2006-2008
- Le Mans American Series 1999-2005
- Trans Am Series 1969, 1978, 1981-1993, 1995, 2001
- IMSA GT Series 1976-97
- Can Am Series 1977, 1980, 1984
- Camping World Truck Series 1995-1998
- Formula 5000 1969-1970
- World Touring Car Championship 2012-2013
Main events
- GoPro Grand Prix from Sonoma
- Toyota/Save Mart 350
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series
Trans-Am Series
In popular culture
In 1970 the Little Fauss and Big Halsy motorcycle racing film, starring Michael J. Pollard and Robert Redford, the Redford character, Halsy, saw Sears Point as a brass ring in the racing world, and the film was loosely based on the idea.
Sonoma has been featured in many racing video games, starting with Papyrus's NASCAR Racing for PC, released in 1994 and has been a frequent addition to NASCAR-based games and recently street variations have emerged.
See also
- Napa Sonoma Marsh
- Tolay Creek
- Tolay Lake
References
External links
- Official Sonoma Raceway Site
- Raceway Sonoma race results in Racing-References
- Map and history of circuits in RacingCircuits.info
- Trackpedia guide for this track
- High Resolution images from Google Maps
- Sejarah raceway
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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