Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway (1.366 miles, Intermediate, egg-shaped) in Darlington, South Carolina
The Darlington Raceway is breathing pure tradition, for he is after the Martinsville Speedway, the track, which has till now kept at the second longest in the NASCAR calendar. The very unusual oval in South Carolina was built in 1949-1950 and held since then at least one Cup race per year. The unusual egg-shape is due to the ownership of the surrounding land, whose owners keep their fish ponds had rather than a race track to make room. A similar layout was originally contemplated as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but one side of the oval, then had to be built smaller. This gave the Darlington Raceway two turns, which also differ in their superelevation.
The track is 1.366 miles long and accommodates a maximum of 65,000 spectators, the expansion capabilities are severely limited due to side-lying ponds (other than time) and an adjacent highway. Turn 1 and 2 have a banking of 25 degrees and a radius of 183m, while Turn 3 and 4 23 ° are steep and have a radius of just 160m. The two lines are at a distance of 375m but exactly the same length, but they have 3 degrees (goal line) and 2 ° (back straight) is different, and extremely low on banking. The oval in the southern states also holds a few records: first, was held here in 1950 the first ever 500-mile race in NASCAR, nine years before the first Daytona 500 Secondly, it was held on the first completely paved oval.
The different curves make a good setup similar to Pocono difficult to either find the car in Turn 1 and 2 or other properly given in the two turns. The transition to the straight line of more than 20 ° to almost 0 ° ensures the corner exit also like to have for some wall contacts, because the only quick line in Darlington also leads exactly along the wall and one of the cars just can not perfectly matched to all the curves . These contacts take place here far more often than elsewhere, so the resulting "paint damage" is also a unique feature like "Darlington Stripes" called. The long-drawn black lines on the outside wall to hear the same names and make the oval for "Lady in Black".
The legendary first 500-mile race took place from 1950 to 2004 had traditionally held on Labor Day and the term "Southern 500". Since 1957, there were even a year for a second race at Darlington, which was gradually stretched to a distance of 300 to 500 miles also. In the course of a calendar change in 2005 in favor of a second Texas race fell down through the Southern 500 and the May date was the only event of the year. Since acquiring the former sponsor of his 2009 Dodge hat, the race could be held back at least as the Southern 500, though not at its usual time. Two more Darlington facts: First, were swapped target and back straight during a previous restructuring and the other got the route in 2007, a new ribbon of asphalt. This GPS technology has been used to nothing as possible to alter the original character - which has been successful, according to driver's opinions too.
