Grattan is a very challenging and fun track — this is why our Drivers' School held there each Spring is met with such anticipation, and why the event always fills up. At this track many of the turns are blind, some are off-camber or change camber significantly during the turn, still others have elevation changes. In fact, several turns have two or more of these features.

This photographic lap of the track is intended to give you a sense for what it is like to drive a lap at speed. The map below illustrates the proper line, both for use in the Drivers' School and the line for advanced drivers. The differences are not great, but be aware that the photos were taken in a car driving the "School Line." In each of the photos that follow, a small version of the map below is included with a marker showing the position of the car from which the photo was taken.

The plot of speed as a function of track position serves to give you a sense for where and how much you might be braking and accelerating. It is a based on the average of GPS speed measurements of a little red car for 6 relatively brisk and low-traffic laps. This average speed is plotted using arbitrary units, as it is the relative speed that is important for illustrating acceleration/braking points. In each of the photos that follow, the location of the car on the track is marked in the speed plot to give a sense for the speed at that part of the track. Note that the speed plot is based on the "Advanced Line" through Turns 5-7.

For learning the track, in most street cars you can comfortably drive the entire track — with the exception of the front straight — in 3rd gear. You will need 4th for the front straight unless you want to bore yourself or ride the rev limiter for a long time. As you get more comfortable with the track, depending on the power of your car and its gearing, you may find 2nd gear useful in several places (T2, T3, T6-T8, and T10 for me) and you may want 4th gear both before T5 and T10 as well as on the front straight. You may also need 5th or perhaps even 6th gear (don’t I wish!) on the front straight.

Overall, with all the blind and/or off-camber corners, elevation changes, and sometimes challenging track surface, this can be an intimidating track at first, but tremendous fun once you become more familiar with it. The blind corners make paying attention to the flag stations even more important – learn them your first laps and establish a habit of checking them every time you pass.

Start the tour of the track here.