What's The Best Place For Your Teen To Learn How...

Patrick Long Talks Through A Lap Of Long Beach

 
925 views Apr 7, 2011

Porsche factory driver Patrick Long Photo: Anne Proffit

Porsche factory driver Patrick Long Photo: Anne Proffit



The 1.97-mile, 11-turn Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is considered the premier street course in North America.  In operation - in various guises - since 1975, it's also the longest running street track in the USA with continuous, annual professional operation.

Next weekend, the IZOD IndyCar Series, American Le Mans Series and World Challenge Series are the headline acts for three days of racing.  One driver intends to compete in two of those three marquee events, Patrick Long, who recently moved home to Playa del Rey after five years in Florida.

Long, the sole American factory Porsche driver, is the reigning ALMS GT champion, together with teammate Joerg Bergmeister, driving for Flying Lizard Motorsports.  He's also the most recent winner in World Challenge, having swept both races in St Petersburg two weeks ago during the IndyCar weekend.  The 2011 season marks Patrick Long's sixth year racing on the streets of Long Beach; he was in town for the Toyota Pro/Celebrity media tour and gave rides in a streetable Porsche 911GT3 RS, just one step below the full race RSR.

With all his lap time around the track, Long understands what it takes to go quickly on the Long Beach circuit and made it clear there are certain parts of the tricky, technical track a driver has to get right in order to get good lap times and be ready to take advantage of overtaking opportunities.  

In his Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, Long says the most challenging thing about driving this circuit is "just making sure the front end and turn-in are positive and there's no understeer.  With a low-grip track like this - and us having a rear engine - there's times when we might have a little bit of understeer, so we focus on the geometry and kinematics to make sure the setup is really crisp for turn-in."

As the track gains grip throughout the weekend, "We have to continue to move with the moving conditions.  We're not always chasing the track - in some ways, you kind of let it come to you."

The toughest section of the track is the final turn.  "If you can't get the power down there, then you don't have a run on down into one of the best passing zones, which is Turn 1.  Getting off [Turn] 11 is crucial," Long explained.  "It's such a tight corner and there's no tighter corner that comes to mind at any racing track, temporary or permanent, in the world!  It's the one place where [even] the Indy car guys grab extra wheel, using their hands on the steering wheel because it's such a tight radius turn.

"It's also very technical," he continued, "because to me, it's actually a double apex.  The wall is kind of squared off" in their hairpin turn, "so you're really bending it around and all the way up to the wall.  You work a lot on traction control in that turn; that's the one place we really can test our engineers are giving us just what we need."

Once he's on the main straight, which kinks shortly after the start/finish line, Long concentrates on the first turn.  "You have to carry a lot of speed through the apex and you're going all the way up to the wall on exit to hustle down to the [turn 2-4] Fountain section (by the Aquarium), which is very technical with curves and weight distribution changes.  It's all down to the driver, more than the setup through there," he said.

Going into the fifth turn, a right-hander, he has to be "tidy on all the apexes and dealing with the walls.  Turn 5 is off-camber when you come off the Fountain section onto the short chute going down to the Hyatt Hotel (and Turn 6).  Turn 5 is off-camber so it's hard to put the power down there.  You have to be patient."  

The short chute between turns 5 and 6 offers another passing opportunity, but it's important not to manhandle the car through the curbs, which have raised areas Patrick Long calls gaters/baguettes.  Turn 6 is a "pretty standard off-camber corner; the grip is low there at the beginning of the weekend, but it's a good passing zone if a guy knows you're coming there on driver's left."

Long also considers the straightaway off the seven turn "another corner where you need to get a good line because of the long straight.  [Turn] eight is also a challenge getting on the back straightaway.  It's a right-hander that is bumpy so we're changing our line to keep the car stable under braking," he told me.  

He tries to carry speed through the tunnel (actually a bridge over the track) and into the ninth turn, getting on the curbs again as he goes through 9, 10 and into 11.  "It's pretty hard to make a pass into there so you have to be really, really patient and compromise a lot there with the multiple classes in ALMS.  You have to bide your time and get off Turn 11 onto that front straightaway."

Patrick Long and Joerg Bergmeister are able to adjust their traction control during the race using four positions, all available to them on the steering wheel.  "We use a manual adjustment for brake bias in the car; for us it's the most reliable way."

With a week to go before the 37th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the circuit is prepared - and so, it appears, are some of the drivers.  Long was glad to have time to experience the track without the stress of racing; he gave this writer an E-Ticket ride, likely the best I've ever had on the streets of Long Beach.

© 2011 Anne Proffit
 



Tags:
Posted in:
 
Contribute
Send us a tip Comment Contact the editor
Follow Us

 

Have an opinion?Join the conversation!

  • Posting indicates you have read this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • Notify me when there are more comments
 

Have an opinion?Join the conversation!

Connect with Facebook

Motor Authority. Now with your friends.

Discover stories your friends read.
Share stories more easily.
You control what you share.
Learn more

Research New Cars

Go!

More from High Gear Media

 
 
MotorAuthority
  • Follow Us
  • Twiiter
  • Facebook
 
 
© 2011 MotorAuthority. All Rights Reserved. MotorAuthority is published by High Gear Media. Stock photography by Homestar, LLC. Send us feedback.