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United States · Braselton

Road Atlanta

A 2.54-mile rollercoaster through the Georgia pines: fast downhill esses, a mile-long back straight, and the blind, plunging dive of Turn 12 onto the front straight.

Length
4.088 km
2.54 mi
Turns
12
Direction
Clockwise
Elevation change
32.6 m
107 ft
In use
1998-present

Road Atlanta

Road Atlanta opened on September 13, 1970 on a wooded 750-acre tract near Braselton, Georgia, conceived by David Sloyer, Earl Walker, and Arthur Montgomery. After Dr. Don Panoz bought the circuit in 1996, a 1997 redesign led by Bob Barnard reshaped the back-straight section, and the current Grand Prix configuration, the full course raced by IMSA at the Petit Le Mans, has stood since 1998. It measures 2.540 mi (4.088 km) over twelve turns, clockwise, with about 107 ft (32.6 m) of total elevation change. Now operated by NASCAR through IMSA Holdings, it carries the title sponsor name Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

The Esses

The character of the lap is set early: after the fast, banked uphill climb of Turn 1, the track crests at the blind Turn 3 and tips into the esses, a quick, downhill right-left sequence (Turns 3-5) that snakes to the foot of the hill. It is one of the most celebrated flowing sections in North American road racing, rewarding precise placement as the surface falls away.

Turn 12

Road Atlanta’s identity is its final corner. After the slow Turn 7 launches the cars down a back straight close to a mile long, the Turn 10 chicane and the blind crest of Turn 11 set up the signature plunge: Turn 12, a fast, diving right-hander that drops sharply onto the front straight. Approached blind and flat-out, it has collected countless cars over the decades and remains one of the most dramatic finishing corners anywhere.

Corner-by-corner

  • T1

    Turn 1

    • Right

    A fast, slightly banked uphill right-hander immediately off the start/finish line, taken on momentum as the track climbs steeply on exit.

  • T2

    Turn 2

    • Right

    A quick right-hand kink at the crest of the Turn 1 climb, bridging the hilltop to the entry of the esses.

  • T3-5

    The Esses

    • Right–left

    The fast, downhill esses (Turns 3-5), a committed right-then-left sequence snaking from the blind crest of Turn 3 down to the foot of the hill, where carrying speed through the compression sets up the whole middle of the lap.

    Road Atlanta's esses are among the most celebrated fast sequences in North American road racing: a downhill, snaking run that demands the car be placed precisely as the surface falls away from the blind crest of Turn 3. Getting the compression and the exit right is what sets up the long drive to the hairpin and the back straight beyond.

  • T6

    Turn 6

    • Right

    A long, heavily banked right-hander at the foot of the esses, working the car back uphill toward the slow corner that feeds the back straight.

  • T7

    Turn 7

    • Right

    The slowest point on the lap, a tight right-hander whose exit launches the cars down the roughly one-mile back straight, the most important corner for lap time.

  • T8

    Turn 8

    • Left

    A gentle left-hand kink along the downhill back straight, barely scrubbing speed.

  • T9

    Turn 9

    • Right

    A second flat-out kink on the back straight, taken at near top speed before the braking zone for the Turn 10 chicane.

  • T10A-10B

    Turn 10

    • Right–left

    The hard-braking chicane at the end of the back straight: a tight right (10A) into an immediate left (10B) that fires the cars uphill toward the blind crest of Turn 11. The exit of 10B is critical to the run over the hill and down to Turn 12.

  • T11

    Turn 11

    • Right

    A blind right-hand kink on the crest of the hill, rising out of Turn 10B and taken under the bridge before the track plunges away toward Turn 12; drivers commit over the rise with almost no view of the corner.

  • T12

    Turn 12

    • Right

    The signature corner: a fast, downhill diving right-hander dropping from the crest of Turn 11 to the front straight, approached blind and flat-out, one of the most dramatic finishing corners in North American road racing.

    Turn 12 is what Road Atlanta is known for. Cars arrive over the blind crest after Turn 11 and dive downhill through a sweeping right-hander toward the start/finish straight, the surface falling away beneath them. The plunge has collected countless cars and reputations over the decades; getting the line and commitment right here defines a lap of Road Atlanta.