Blackhawk Farms Raceway
The Blackhawk Farms Raceway is a private road course located at South Beloit, Illinois, an hour trip away from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and an hour and a half from Chicago, Illinois. This 1.94-mile (3.12-km), 7-turn racetrack is a design of Jerry Dunbar paved in 1967 and currently hosts racing events for the Midwestern Council, Mid-American Racing Series, the SCCA, as well as open track days throughout the year for automobile and motorcycles. South Beloit climate is colder than the rest of Illinois, with milder summers and harsher winters, with an average of 116 days of precipitation a year, so preparations for racing vary depending on the season.
The Blackhawk Farms Raceway runs clockwise, starting in a long, south-to-north oriented straightaway for peak acceleration. Turn number one is a hard-braking sector requiring heavy downshifting from racers as they need to diminish from 120 mph to 60 mph to enter this 90-degree right-hander. Turn two is a slight bend to the left, followed by a long, closed-angle sweeper turn three. Turn 3A is another 90-degree right-hander, leading to a pair of left-hand sweepers, turns four and five. A sharp corner comes at turn six flows into the 6A straight, which ends in another right-hand sweeper leading to turn seven. This 90-degree corner is the last braking sector, and racers get back to the main straight to close the circuit.
