Track Clinic: Everything You Need to Know to Master Sebring International Raceway (2024)

From the April 2017 issue

No American road-racing track resonates with as much history as Sebring. The Florida track’s first race, a six-hour enduro on a makeshift course marked with hay bales, happened on the last day of 1950. Less than two years later, the track hosted the first 12 Hours of Sebring, the race that undeniably made it famous. With one exception, the 12 Hours has run every year since, most often as part of whatever prevailing international sports-car championship was in place. Even when it wasn’t part of a series, though, Sebring attracted top-flight international teams that regarded its rugged pavement and hot weather as good durability testing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Winners have ranged from Fangio to Foyt to Fittipaldi, Gendebien to Gurney to Gregg, Moss to McLaren to McNish—just about every post–World War II racer of note. It’s a cathedral of American motorsports and currently runs a variety of events ranging from the 12 Hours to various SCCA and NASA races, and even a ChumpCar event. So there’s a reasonable opportunity for any of us to race where many motorsports legends have jockeyed their mounts.

History

Shortly after World War II, aeronautical engineer, businessman, and MIT grad Alec Ulmann was looking for a place to pursue his idea of transforming surplus military planes into civilian aircraft. About 90 miles south of Orlando, smack in the middle of the Florida peninsula, he found the former Hendricks Field, where B-17, B-24, and B-29 crews trained during the war.

Ulmann soon converted the facility’s runways, taxiways, and connecting roads into a racing circuit. The layout used for the first race had 12 turns and measured 3.5 miles. By the running of the inaugural 12 Hour race, a new configuration added five turns and increased the length to 5.2 miles.

Though dead flat, the circuit was very challenging. The various roadways were confusing at night, and many of the turns had limited runoff. In the ’66 race, after one crash killed a driver and another, involving Mario Andretti, killed four spectators, the organizers altered the track to create more room for off-course excursions.

In 1983, 1987, 1991, and 1999, Sebring’s owners repaved large portions of the track and revised the layout. As a result, the current lap length is down to 3.7 miles, but about 0.9 mile of the original coarse concrete and rough transitions still remain.

Sebring hosted the first United States Grand Prix in 1959, but it was too remote to garner much attention, attendance, or revenue. However, the track has been on the international sports-car calendar for most of its existence.

Lap Map

Turns 1 and 2

Turn 1 is very wide, and cars can enter three abreast. But the line is critical, as the proper exit is only one car wide. Enter from the right side of the track, start braking at the bridge, and turn in at the end of the wall separating the pits from the track. Apex all the way to the left, with your left tires inside the painted stripe next to the wall. Use all of the road at the exit, keeping the accelerator flat through the gentle kink that is Turn 2.

Turns 3–5

Enter from track right, brake heavily a little past the access road on your right, turn in near the end of the right-side curbing, and apex at the end of the left-side curbing. Under full throttle, point toward the Turn 4 curbing, which comes up immediately, and apex halfway through the right curbing. Brush the brakes slightly as you enter Turn 5—the long left-hander named the Carousel—taking a late apex and exiting all the way on the right at full power. A fast exit is important as the track is flat-out for the next 3050 feet.

Turns 6–9

Turn 6 is a mild right-hander that’s taken at full throttle. You want to make sure you end up on the left side of the track entering the very slow Turn 7, called Hairpin. This gets tricky because you are pointed dead west and, at dusk, staring straight into that famous Florida setting sun. Brake heavily, minding the big pavement undulation early in the braking zone, and turn in about two-thirds of the way along the left curbing. Apex on the inside curbing a bit past the middle. A strong exit is important here as well, because Turns 8 (the Fangio Chicane) and 9 are also flat-out.

Turns 10–12

As you approach Turn 10, you’ll need to brake heavily and turn in near the beginning of the curbing on the left and apex near the last third of the curbing on the right. You can hold full power from this exit through the gentle Turns 11 and 12.

Turn 13

The right-angle Tower Turn requires strong braking as you approach from the left side of the track. Turn in so your path takes you over the “T” formed by an intersection of three different pavement sections. Apex in the middle of the right-side curbing and power out as hard as you can, as you are heading toward another long and fast section.

Turns 14–16

Exit 13, stay hard on the gas, shifting up as you accelerate through Bishop Bend, the flat-out Turn 14. After exiting on the right side of the track, work your way back to the left side as you approach Gendebien Bend, Turn 15, which requires some braking. Be careful not to upset the car here. Stay on the left side of the track, and when the curbing ends, start braking gently for Turn 16, the Le Mans Curve. It’s a fairly wide 90-degree turn. Take a conventional line, trying to get on the throttle even before the apex as the turn leads onto the 3082-foot Ulmann Straight.

Turn 17

Turn 17 leads onto the start/finish straight and is a very wide, decreasing-radius, 180-degree corner. It uses the original concrete pavement and is partly lined with concrete walls. As you brake, downshift and turn in near the second set of cones into the first part of the corner. You must stay a bit wide of the inside wall in the beginning to carve a smooth arc that brings you closer to the wall toward the exit. The single apex is on the inner edge of the track just past the end of the inner wall. By the time you get there, you want to be back on the power and drifting toward the outside wall on the left. The straight is plenty long enough for you to gently work your way over to the right side to properly position for Turn 1.