When I first entered in the Sebring paddock, two years
ago, I have to admit I was a bit surprised. It did not look
to me like an established long time racetrack; I had the
impression of something built up on the last minute
instead. Because when you go over the bridge all you
see is the concrete wall of turn 17.
Because I am a big fan of motor racing of the 60’s and
the 70’s I was very much looking forward to come and
race here at Sebring, theater of ”epic” battle with sports
cars.
Now I am very happy and proud to have been one of
the winners of this event so old and important in the
history of our beloved sport.
What has impressed me a lot has been what happens
beside the race track, how the spectators participate to
the race and how they live the race with RVs and
campfires, beer, music; amazing! I have been around
the circuit and I have to say it was just ”fantastic”
As far as driving is concerned I have to say that,
usually, reputation is never free earned. The circuit is
really unique, difficult, challenging and interesting. Not
a place to get bored…
Start and finish is quite wide, we slowly have to move
to the right hand side to approach one of the fastest
bends here. The road is very wide and unlike what you
might think, this makes our life more difficult because,
one feels a bit lost having the reference points so far
away from you and the possibility of many different
lines. Anyway, we brake a little bit from 270 km/h and
as soon as the pit wall ends we go to the right as
much as possible over the acceleration line out of the
pits, to gain some space and make the corner a bit
wider. Down one gear, in 5th and turn in without
hesitation, the speed is very high here. There are
some nasty bumps just after the turn-in area that make
your life really difficult (here I have to thank my Audi R8
that rides the road so well). We drive as close as
possible to the wall at the apex and just easy the car to
the outside in full acceleration. Here the road has
narrowed a lot so no room for mistakes. There is
another big bump right at the end that sometimes
enjoys turning your car from a smooth vehicle into a
crazy oversteering beast.
Up one gear ready for the braking of the complex, turn
3,4,and 5; ATTENTION! if there is one place where one
can lock the wheels and go straight into the wall this is
here. The grip on the front axle reduces a lot by going
slower and there are some mild bumps in the braking
area, this is not a place for beginners.
After having turned in for turn 3, in 3rd gear, which is a
bit long but enables us to keep it through the whole
section and does no deliver the power as brutally as
the 2nd, we just follow the natural line making sure that
we have not so much oversteer and a good traction to
get a good speed in the following section. The big
bend is no big deal providing that we know where to
put the wheels in order to avoid the big bump about
half way through that can be nasty when we are in full
acceleration.
We reach a speed of 275 km/h before turn 7, with
carbon brakes and a lot of down force, with my R8 we
can brake really late, fantastic feeling when your body
is launched forward and squeezed by the safety belts,
we go down to 2nd and drive over the whole kerb (don’t
tell it to my engineers…) ready for the wildest
acceleration.
Through the gears we pass turn 8 and 9 without
problems, if we don’t have to drive around slower cars,
and approach turn 10, a 90 deg. 3rd gear right hander,
where we try to carry as much speed as possible
because the grip in acceleration is not good and the
car always power-oversteer and we cannot accelerate
as much as we want.
4th 5th just flat in turn 11 ready for turn 13, very vicious,
there is a long bump just when we turn in, which very
easily makes you lose the back-end. We obviously try
to carry speed and that’s why we can have trouble (but
we don’t because we are experienced ha ha…don’t
worry)
We now accelerate into the very fast and exciting
section keeping the throttle flat and the car on the road.
6th gear 260 km/h into turn 16. We go down to 4th and
at a higher speed than one would think, we go through
the turn riding over the flat kerb and using all the
downforce that the car can deliver. Right, left, and right
again into turn 16, down to third and out into the back
straight making sure to avoid the outside kerb, which is
quite painful for the car.
Here we reach the speed of 295 km/h. Braking for turn
17 is really exciting, the road has a lot of grip ad is very
wide, so we can brake much later than we think.
Fighting with the car to make it to the apex, here the
line is very important because we need to avoid the
bump, which upsets the car in acceleration. If we
survive, than we have made it!! And we are ready for
another lap… that you have to do on your own.
Have fun….
Yours,
Emanuele Pirro
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