The Ridge Motorsports Park is a racetrack! The lay out of the track is amazing. Fast sweepers, some being blind up-hill. There are technical sections with both uphill and downhill corner complexes that are completely different. Most of all it has excitement! The track surface is as good as anyone could ever want. Wide and smooth yet still has variables that limit traction be it a well placed bump in a braking zone or a road crown change on a corner exit, the track is the most impressive I have driven on in North America!
It is always intimidating to try to learn a new track. However the lay out albeit fast and having blind corners never felt like it was going to cause any issues. With all the turn stations and runoff the safety of the track is always visibly present. After only 3 laps I felt ready to try to pick up speed. The way the Ridge flows is confidence inspiring and it feels like you can make the track as fast as you want to make it. It allows you to feel it out and always improve as the day goes on.
I love the track. I think so far my favorite part is from the exit of the Carousel down in into the braking zone over the bump for turn 8a and then just flat on the gas from apex of turn 8a all the way up the hill through turn 10. Just brilliant!
Next would have to be turn 1 trough turn 4. Uphill accelerating left – rights are intoxicating and you just want to feed the complex more and more speed.
The Ridge complex is also a key section. With a slow entry then a down hill run into a increasing radius corner and the a switch to a long left that you have to be so patient with the gas not to get either over steer or under steer setting up for the long straight.
Amazing track I can’t wait to go back!!!
I have found a new favorite track in the Northwest! It has the pavement of Portland International Raceway with the elevation change of Pacific Raceways. The best of both of those tracks with out causing excessive wear on the cars and still posting a challenge for drivers. What’s not to like?!
Submitted by: Bryce – 11/5/11
To the fellow racer, I would tell them (about Ridge Motorsports Park) to expect grip like PIR (Portland International Raceway), dynamics like Pacific Raceways (aka SIR) (elevation and complex complex’s) a view like no other (even better than Oregon Raceway Park), and enough room to really run side by side!
To the student I would tell them that it is easy to get right, but challenging to get fast. You can putt around the track at lower speeds if you are a cautious lapper, and enjoy several different lines through some of the corners, but as you pick up speed, you really start to feel the changes in elevation, and off camber corners. It is a great track to learn slow and work fast on, you will be rewarded greatly once you get a feel for it!
To me the main things at the track (Ridge Motorsports Park) are:
1) The drive, it is so much fun to drive. The way the car moves on track, the way the track moves under the car, it has a great flow, and it is long enough to not get boring (think PIR) and it is in such good shape being so new that it is easy on your equipment (also think PIR). I would have no problem bringing my car back out to do it again. Two days in a row at Pacific Raceways… and I would expect some issues with my car (getting beat up by the track).
2)The main attraction for the Ridge is the Ridge corner complex, but I think for all out hoot and holler fun, turns 1-5 cannot be beat. Turn 2 is my absolute favorite turn I have ever driven. The way the car moves up the track from there just made me giggle every lap!
3) Is the location, it is a little out there, but once you are there, it all makes sense. you are isolated from anything civil. You get to absorb the atmosphere of being at the race track without being a million miles away. For being half of the distance to Portland from Seattle, it is close enough to do a one day event there, and have energy left over afterwards. Even if you had to drive a day to get there, it would be worth the drive. I cannot express how much fun it is to drive!
To compare to my other track knowledge, TRMP (The Ridge Motorsports Park) is a lot more inviting to driving quickly. PIR (Portland International Raceway) is much the same, but it lacks the dynamic of all of the changes in direction, and the ups and downs that follow the landscape. It is easy to gain confidence like it is at PIR, but it is challenging to drive like PR (Pacific Raceways) is, only not so hard on your car. PR is a lot of fun, but for people that just do lapping days, the amount of grip in some of the corners leaves a lot to be desired. At the ridge, you get grip (no matter what tires you are on) everywhere on the track. It is also far more forgiving than PR is. There is room to run wide if you miss a corner exit, there is lots of track if you blow a braking zone and need the extra space to get hauled down, and it is great mix of right and left conrners where PIR feels like you are going right all of the time, and PR feels like you are going left all of the time. TRMP twists and turns all over the landscape and feels amazing in the seat of the pants!
I would say that once the paddock is fully paved, there are structures in place, and lighting… this place is going to be world class. It is not difficult to get to, it is not scary to drive. It is fantastic, and I hope it gets to be enjoyed for many generations to come!
Submitted by: Jordan Allen – 11/5/11
The first time I saw the raw land that has become the Ridge Motorsports Park I knew it was something special. The tour of the heavily wooded property by co-owner Rod Powell took us up and down over rutted dirt trails that had been carved in the forest. His vision of what the track would be like at every stop was very clear but hard to see through the trees.
Fast-forward to 11/4/2011 and I had the privilege to stand along the track as the fresh hot asphalt was being laid on the hill that will be know as the signature “Ridge Complex”.
A little more than month later I am sitting in my racecar on pre-grid about to take my first laps at speed on the newest racetrack in the USA- Ridge Motorsports Park. Before I was release onto the track I had time to think about how special this moment was and how the owner’s vision was now reality – a new track has born.
The Ridge Motorsports Park is already being claimed the “Best in the Northwest” by those who have experienced it. It has all the features we have come to love about our tracks up here in the north woods all rolled into one facility.
First to be noted is the grip of the track surface, wet or dry this track has grip everywhere, even better than Portland International Raceway. The Ridge will be considered a very safe and “easy to learn” track for most new drivers (like driving on a flowing country road) but a challenging track for people to learn to drive it fast. It will be great to race on due to its 40-foot width, 50 feet of runoff everywhere, lack of barriers and the varied passing opportunities available. This is a track that loves horsepower and can use all you got on the long front straight similar to but better than Spokane Motorsports Park. Turn one is a fast corner that requires a good bit of brake to scrub off speed and sets you up for the challenging Leemer Complex which starts with a steep up hill left unlike anything we have seen before. It is hoot to drive this part of the track.
The Ridge Motorsports Park has over 500 feet of elevation change like Pacific Raceways without the danger of walls or dirt bank near the track. It even has a Carousel turn, which is similar to turn 2 at Pacific Raceways but longer.(a bit off camber to boot)
Submitted by: Fred Wright – 12/5/11
