Sonoma Raceway Long Pre 2024

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Sonoma Raceway Notes

When people think of NASCAR racing, tight packs of colorful stock cars circling counter-clockwise through an oval racetrack come to mind. High banking turns, lots of passing, even some light bumping here and there. And that perception would be correct if there were no complex, clockwise oriented road courses like Sonoma Raceway, 30 miles north of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California. The road course in Sonoma is a 12-turn, 2.39-mile circuit, with an average speed of 77 mph and an average lap time of 1:51.426, enclaved in a region known for its high-quality wineries and its mild weather year-round.

The main attention-grabber in this track is The Carousel, a set of high-speed turns starting from turn four, a tight right-hand corner going into a light, high-speed sweeping turn five, only for turning heavily to the left in six and ending right into a hairpin in the opposite direction at turn seven. That segment is so difficult to maneuver with regular stock cards that NASCAR bypassed it from 1998 until 2019 and only brought it back to life for the circuit's 50th-anniversary celebrations. The new (or old) configuration was so exciting to see that it stayed ever since, and nowadays is the signature feature of Sonoma Raceway.

See our Sonoma Raceway Track Guide for more information on getting the most performance out of this track.

Long Pre 2024 Notes

Sonoma Raceway's Long Pre-2024 configuration preserves the circuit layout and surface characteristics that defined California wine country road racing from the 2001-2004 modernization through February 2024's comprehensive repaving—the track's first complete resurface in over 23 years. This 4.06-kilometer historical configuration featured the same 12-turn Long layout still used today, but with worn asphalt sections, patched repairs, and grip characteristics developed over two decades that created specific reference points and brake markers internalized by thousands of club racers, professional drivers, and track day regulars before the 2024 renovation altered surface texture and corner camber in key sections. The Pre-2024 designation marks the end of an era spanning 23 years of continuous use on surfaces laid during the facility's $100 million modernization plan.

The Pre-2024 layout's significance lies in surface evolution rather than geometry changes. The Carousel (Turns 4-6), Turn 7 hairpin, Turn 11's 180-degree corner, and other sections maintained identical layouts, but asphalt aging created grip variations corner-to-corner that experienced drivers exploited for competitive advantage. Patched sections, worn surfaces in brake zones, and rubber buildup in racing lines developed unique traction characteristics that the December 2023-February 2024 repaving reset completely. Lap time records, magazine comparison tests, and rivalry moments across SCCA, NASA, professional series, and track day sessions all occurred on this Pre-2024 surface, making it a distinct historical chapter. Wine country climate interactions with old asphalt—morning fog moisture absorption, afternoon heat expansion, seasonal temperature cycles—created familiarity that 23+ years built into institutional knowledge. The 2024 repaving's new surface texture, fresh camber specifications, and modern asphalt compounds fundamentally changed Sonoma's driving character, making the Pre-2024 configuration a completed era in Northern California road racing history where two decades of surface evolution ended in 61 days of milling and repaving work.

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Direction
Clockwise
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Uploaded Laps
288
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Length
4.06 km
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Vertical Gain
81 m
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Turns
12
speed
Average Speed
132 kph
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Average Lap Time
1:51.3
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Power to Weight Average
0.26
sports_motorsports Driver Name: Accel Racetek
Lap Time: 1:30.490
tire_repair Tire: 100 a007
Elevation Profile

Other Variations

Track Turns Length km Laps Avg Time Avg kph P/W Avg
Sonoma Raceway (Full) 12 4.06 94 1:52.8 130 0.15
Sonoma Raceway (Short) 12 3.2 0 - - -
Sonoma Raceway (NASCAR Chute) 12 3.2 14 1:36 120 0.2
Sonoma Raceway (WTCC) 12 4.06 20 2:07.9 114 0.13
Sonoma Raceway (Alternative Long) - 4.09 4 1:39.2 148 0.18
Sonoma Raceway (Long) 12 4.05 273 1:50.2 132 0.18
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