Our next race is up the coast from Long Beach at Sonoma Raceway, north of San Francisco, in Sonoma, CA. This is a track I’ve never visited in real life, so I’ve been practicing a fair amount over the past day or two. I have a prediction, I’m likely not going to do very well at this track.
The Honda Civic Type R is not particularly well-suited for Sonoma. The higher horsepower cars just kill it on the straights. In both low and high speed corners where the Civic should have an advantage, passing is very difficult. To make matters worse, I still don’t have a very good handle on the track. If I start in the front, I can usually hold my own. But if I start back in the pack, I have a hard time moving up without making contact with the car ahead of me, something I’m trying hard to avoid.
Another problem I’m having is that my tires are going off after eight or so laps. It’s not a big problem, but it’s something I need to work on. I need to be smoother, rolling into corner better, and modulating the accelerator better coming out of turns. Tire wear isn’t a huge problem in this shorter sprint races, but when I start doing longer races, it could turn into a big problem.
Here’s a map of Sonoma Raceway:
By the way, we’re using turns 11 and 11a.
Stay tuned. More to come.