IFRL History
The Pebble Beach road races outgrew the forest after Ernie McAfee was killed in 1956. Locals raised money, leased Fort Ord land around a dry lake, and built a nine-turn course in about sixty days. It opened November 9, 1957; Pete Lovely won the first race in a Ferrari. The Corkscrew, the blind left-right drop off the hill, is the famous part. In 1996 Alex Zanardi passed Bryan Herta on the inside there on the last lap of the CART finale, across the dirt, and people still call it The Pass. It’s a wonderful highlight and a terrible excuse for your next league incident.
Fun fact
The Corkscrew drops about 59 feet in 450 feet of track, which is why every onboard looks like a roller coaster.
The corners that matter
The Andretti Hairpin (2) is the first-lap mess: brake early and leave room through both parts of the long left. The climb through 3, 4, 5, and 6 is where you lose a race by rushing; Turn 6 has a compression that punishes a late lift. The Corkscrew (8 and 8A) is not an overtake for most of us, it’s a survival test: brake before the blind crest, left at the top, right down the hill. Don’t chase a car on the inside unless you’ve done it ten times in practice. Rainey Curve (9) spits you into the gravel if you’re still celebrating. Turn 11 onto the straight is the real pass: late brake, tight apex, clean exit. Walls wait at 11 and inside the hairpin.
Main-event strategy
No rain in GT7. One stop. The right-front takes a beating at the hairpin and at 11: mediums first, fresh rubber for the last ten minutes if you’re in the pack. The pit entry peels left before Turn 11; set up early so the car behind knows you’re leaving. Fuel isn’t the enemy here, tires are. Cars that rotate without killing the nose fit the Corkscrew: the McLaren 650S GT3 and the Ferrari 458 GT3; the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 puts power down out of 11. Pick one Corkscrew line and live with it in traffic.
Garage notes
High downforce; short straights, loaded corners. Gear short, about 160 mph. Extra front camber for the right-front. Soft rebound damping so the Corkscrew drop doesn’t unload the car.
Opener notes
The Sunday opener this week is a drift trial at Tsukuba in the Nissan Silvia S15. See that page. Laguna Seca waits for Gr.4 and Gr.3.
“Zanardi passed Herta at the Corkscrew. You should probably just hit the apex.”
