Podium Club CCW
The Podium Club road course is part of a projected, privately-owned racing complex of high-profile racers and motorsports enthusiasts wanting to fulfill their dream of living in a community of similar-minded individuals. The club sits 40 minutes south of Phoenix, Arizona, in the middle of the Sonoran desert, over flatlands bathed by the sun year-round. The open spaces around the track give the impression of fading into the horizon in every direction. The 15 turns of the 2.32-mile (3.73-km) racetrack offer a clever combination of banking and elevation changes for top-notch driveability. There are no metal or concrete barriers around the road course: an added motorcycle-friendy safety measure.
The start/finish line sits in the middle of the front straight, where high-performance vehicles go over 150 mph (241 km/h). Turn number one is the first downshifting point, and racers need to get down to 40 mph (64 km/h) to remain in control. After a short straight, drivers go through the Esses, a snaking sector of seven alternating corners challenging the drivers' maneuvering abilities. The remaining curves are tighter and have more space between one another, with several multi-apex turns creating more technical difficulties than expected. The final stretch permits to go full-speed to break all records in pursuit of a victory.
The counterclockwise configuration at Podium Club transforms Arizona's premier private racing facility into an entirely different challenge, reversing the 2.32-mile circuit's 15 turns to create new technical demands across the high desert terrain 40 minutes south of Phoenix. Where the clockwise layout emphasizes certain braking zones and apex approaches, running CCW completely alters corner entry speeds, blind crests, and elevation transitions throughout the 40-50 foot wide track. The reversed direction particularly impacts the facility's signature elevation changes and banked sections, requiring drivers to recalibrate their mental maps of this multi-configurable circuit that offers 18 different track variations.
Operating counterclockwise at Podium Club proves especially valuable for private track day participants and racing school students seeking to maximize their learning across different line approaches. The reversal creates unfamiliar braking reference points and apex sighting challenges where drivers previously gained confidence in clockwise sessions. Phoenix's high desert climate—with summer track temperatures exceeding 65°C and winter sessions dropping to near-freezing mornings—affects tire performance differently when corners are approached from reversed angles. This bidirectional capability allows the facility to run two separate track configurations simultaneously, making CCW operation essential for maximizing track utilization during multi-group events while offering members fresh perspectives on the same physical layout they've mastered in the opposite direction.
