Fresh Tracks: Doing Your Homework

When visiting a circuit for the first time, there are many resources to learn it before you unload the car. The Mazda factory drivers tell you how to get the most out of those resources

There is no excuse for arriving unprepared at a track you're seeing for the first time. Even in the pre-Internet days, you could usually find a track description, maybe even an expert talking you around the circuit. Now, though, there are many online videos of every track, plus most tracks can be found in some kind of sim racing. The resources are there, but getting the best use of them isn't always easy.

"The scanning technology is really amazing nowadays," says Joel Miller of the reality of tracks in sim racing. The driver of the No. 70 Mazda RT-24P in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship goes on to say that you're better off if you can sim-drive the track in a car similar to what you'll be racing, but it's not an absolute necessity. "You might be in the sim in a Pro Mazda car, for example, or a Miata, and you're driving something different. But because the scanning and the visuals are so accurate, you can really figure out where to place your car and stuff like that. Until you actually get in the thing, there's going to be a difference. But the sim is going to allow you to pick up the visuals, allow you to pick up the bumps in the track. You're going to get rough brake estimates. That's what I use it for."