Number of Corners: 14
Fastest Lap: 1:14.51 (Geoff May)
My Fastest Lap: 1:40
Surface: Smooth asphalt and low abrasiveness.
Layout: 3 long sweepers and very technical infield.
Braking: Lightly used breaks.
Amenities: Small pit section with small concrete slabs. Each pad has its own power supply for a small fee.
Location: Jennings, Florida
Web Site: www.jenningsgp.com
Track Overview: The track runs counterclockwise. Corners 1, 13, and 14 are fast sweepers left, right, and right respectively. The others are shorter and more technical. No real long straits, topped 3rd gear out only.
My Experience
I started my journey to Jennings, Florida from Ontario, Canada. I did not know what to expect from the track other then what I saw on some videos on YouTube. It was back in February of 2010. As most people know, Canada is cold in winter. Riding a bike here in winter is not unheard of but track riding is, so me and a group of buddies decided to make the long drive down to Jennings.
We had been expecting warm temperatures. Something in the range of 20 degrees Celsius. Not uncommon for this time of year in Florida, it actually is the daily average. Well as the picture above illustrates, it was much cooler then expected. My motorcycle has never been exposed to frost, but it happened in Florida of all places!!! It happened to be the coldest winter to hit northern Florida in 25 years. I remember watching the local news, reporting from Mobile, Alabama. It was snowing as the anchorman was giving the weather report! The entire south east was experiencing winter storms calling it "snowmagedon". With all this crazy weather it did warm up to 17-18 degrees Celsius on one of the days, perfect riding temperature if the sun is warming up the asphalt further.
The day we pulled into the track it was raining. The first thing that I noticed was that we were in a swampy area of Florida, hoping that the track would not flood as the road to the track did. The other unusual thing for me was that the native soil was a nice whitish sand. The track itself has no elevation changes. The track is surrounded by nice evergreen trees and has a lake in the center. I did not notice it, a friend had to point it out in a picture after our days at the trach to believe it.
My first ride on the track was very relaxing. Had no expectations for Jennings. Getting on to the track from the pits is fine. The exit to the pits is a short strait that veers left, merging with corner number one. As a civil engineer, that has taken transportation, the first thing I did not like was this entrance to the track. One enters from the right onto a left hand turn, the problem with this is that if someone is on a hot lap and over shoots the corner or worse lowsides, the bike and the rider are headed your way fast.
Turn one is a fast left hand sweeper, one can enter it extremely hot and still have more then enough room to trail brake and readjust if needed. Corner two is a kink on the back strait veering left. Later in the day I noticed most people dragged their knees on it. Turn three is a super fast left and then four is a quick right. Five and six are left turns, I would consider them one big sweeper with a double apex. You have to hit five just right to accelerate out of six just nice. Turn seven is a fast right but you have to take it slower to get ready for eight. Turn eight was my "hardest" corner. Could not get it correct. The asphalt on eight was also poor. If you slow down too much on eight, most people overcompensate by hammering the gas on the exit, you will highside. I noticed a few guys in the grass after turn eight, one guy really damaged his bike up good, only 30 feet in front of me. Turn nine is a slower right. Turn ten has to be hit spot on to set you up for turn eleven, this could also be considered a double apex. Then turn twelve, another fast kink on a strait. Turn thirteen and fourteen are the only corners I mastered. They are both fast right turns. The track is very wide in this section, giving me that extra bit of confidence I need to late brake/trail brake. It's the only section of the track that I could catch up to people and possible pass. Yes I was slow at this track. Turn fourteen then leads to the start finish strait. Then it starts all over!
Would I recommend this track?
Yes. It was a long drive for my friends and I. Still worth it. I doubt I will do it again. It is a great track to experience if you get the chance and even better track to hit if you are within two hours of it. The best way for me to describe this track is "an amazing place to ride fast for the locals".
