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This past weekend was the SCCA official opening weekend at this brand new venue, bringing sports car racing back to New Jersey after a long long hiatis (I'm not sure how many years it's been, the last track was the old Trenton oval which was closed in 1965 or so). The new venue, New Jersey Motorsports Park or better known already as Thurnderbolt Raceway (named after the factory that once stood here were they built the P47 Thunderbolt plane used in WW2) has two tracks, Lightning and Thunderbolt. Lightning has been completed and is open, Thunderbolt is due to open officially in August.

The grounds:

The facilities at the new track are well laid out and there was ample paddock space available. The paddock is partially paved and there were five rows of grass parking with paved access roads. The infield is perfectly flat. No need to circle around looking for that flat place to park. There is electrical service to most of the none paved paddock areas ($35 for the weekend, came in really handy this past weekend as temps hit the high 90's with like humidity, kept the air on in the motorhome all weekend).Access to the grid and pit was easy and open. Ther is also lots of areas to veiw the on track action. The drawbacks are there were no bleachers or benches or grandstands to be seen, so no place to sit and watch. Most people this weekend stood up on the ramp for the entrance bridge which is thehighest point at the track and gave you a chance to see the cars for about half the lap distance. There were also very few restrooms on the site and no shower facilities at the lightning course. I am told that there are showers and more bathrooms at the Thunderbolt course.

There is also a karting facility at the track that boast a 1 mile long kart track. It was open all weekend giving kart lessons and some regular karters were there with a couple of shifter karts getting in some track time (very quick). They opened the facility up to anyone who wanted to try it out. $25 for the license and 15 laps. Another $15 bought you 25 more laps.

Ther were several consession stands and the food looked pretty reasonable. Chicken, hamburgers, fries and BEER. Yes they served beer at the consession stand. There were also a couple of independent stands, Stewarts Rootbeer and a guy selling Hawaiin drinks. There was also a CDOC trailer filled wit all kinds of racing goodies to help you get through the weekend. I am told they sell all stuff at a discount, but did not get a chance to check it out.

The Track:

I was most impressed with what they did here on this flat, featureless ground. (south Jersey is very flat and filled with pine tree forest and sand). The track offers elevation changes, blind corners and a very fast banked sweeper. This is a very fun track packed into the 1.9 mile length.
A lap around in my DSR - As you cross the start finish line (neatly laid down in white tape by Dave Gomberg on saturday morning) you are going slightly down hill, as you approach turn one you begin to rise (about 25 feet) slight braking and down to fourth gear as you head up the hill to the right, into the first blind corner. Apex just past the end of the guard rail that protects the pit exit, as you crest the hill the car gets light and pushes to the outside of the track as you exit and back down the hill onto a short straight and up to fith gear. The next series of rights can be taken as one corner (decreasing radius) and early apex followed by a very late apex for the second of the two corners (third gear) into a left of 90 plus degrees. Out of this into short straight that bends slightly to the right. Track out left in forth before light braking and up a small hill into a smaller version of turn one. The apex is at the crest of the hill and again the car gets light and pushes hard to the outside of the hill on the way backdown the other side. This leads onto a long right sweeper under the entrance bridge into a tight, 2nd gear left with a late apex as the exit of the corner keeps going left as you come out. It continues left as I get back up to 5th. Then comes the banked (15 degrees) right called the light bulb because of it's likeness to the shape of a light bulb when seen from above. It is long and fast, top of forth through the full corner. As you exit the track continues to go slightly right as you climb a small incline onto the main straight. The track is wonderfully smooth and wide enough in most spots for passing. Turn one, five and the bulb are all narrower than the rest of the track, but still leave ample room for overtaking. Really a nice, quick layout. Overall lap record set over the weekend by a FA 0:58.7. I was struggling with my throttle response all weekend due to an incorrect cable and managed a 1:09 during sundays race (the current D record). We had some intermittent rain during our race that made for a few interesting moments on track.

The turnout for the event was light (about 150 cars). Our race group had seven cars registered (one broke in friday practice and didn't make to the weekend). We had 1 D, 1 FA, 2 FC's, 1 FE and a homebuilt F5000 powered by a Northstar 32 valve V8. The SRF's and IT classes had nice turnouts as did the Miata groups who put thirty cars on the grid. Temperature were hot, mid to upper 90's with 98% relative humidity. There was no place to hide from the sun except in your motorhome or under a tent. Fortunately, the track lies just nine miles from the Delaware bay so at least there was a constant breeze blowing all weekend.

All in all, it was a nice experience. The South Jersey Region put on a great event considering that every thing at the track was new and untried or tested. They kept the event on schedule and on sunday increased the length of the races from 15 to 18 laps for all groups. The Track people were polite and helpful and asking for suggestions as to how they could improve the facility in the future.

Travel time for us from northwestern NJ was 3 hours and 30 minutes door to door (170 miles) and I guess we just happened to time the departure just right as we hit no traffic coming or going.

This is a really nice track I am looking forward to returning here in August and in September on the Thunderbolt track.