# NOLA Motorsports Park

NOLA Motorsports Park is a full service motorsports facility in Avondale, Louisiana approximately twenty minutes from downtown New Orleans. NOLA Motorsports Park includes an FIA Grade 2 road course, one of the largest (fully-lit) outdoor karting tracks in the country, and a 300,000 square ft. soft-grade asphalt skid pad, for drifting and autocross.
The kart circuit and North Track opened in Q4 2011.
Future plans include completion of an off-roading area, a supercar driving experience, and more.

## Design

NOLA Motorsports Park was designed by Alan Wilson, whose other designs include Utah Motorsports Campus and Barber Motorsports Park. In addition to the two international standard race tracks, the facility also features three karting tracks, full service seven acre kart center, paddock, on-site speed shop, clubhouse, eight acre autocross pad.
The park was designed with forward thinking electronic systems including over 100 miles of fiber optics and the latest timing and scoring equipment to allow for accurate timing on both the main and karting tracks.

### Activities

East of the main track is a short and thin track. Usually being divided up in the center, it serves its north side as the rental go-kart track. The south can be rented out and holds smaller events such as motorcycle races. Behind the track is a gift shop with racing memorabilia and a plethora of other items. The two-story building also houses two private balconies and an upstairs lobby with a small kitchen, which can be rented out for parties.
There is motorcycle safety training and on-track exotic car rentals provided by Xtreme Xperience. Housed at Nola Motorsports Park for rental are the Huracán LP610-4, the Ferrari 458 Italia, the Porsche 911 GT3, and the Slingshot SLR.
Competitive racing is also hosted at the park, with a Go-Kart League racing for 2 seasons a year. Autocross, hosted on the skidpad, and NASA racing as well.

### Accidents

On April 15, 2017, Jesus Martinez was riding an unspecified motorcycle on the east track about 8:30 p.m. when he inadvertently hit another rider and suffered life-threatening injuries. He later died of injuries shortly after getting an ambulance to University Medical Center. The accident was found to be a racing incident caused by rider error and no outside debris on the track was found.
On September 22, 2018, Jeff Hagaman was topping out his 2000 hp heavily modified 2010 Nissan GTR during a speed trials event laid out on a half-mile course utilising the pit straight of the circuit. He was in the shutdown area after finishing his half-mile run at speeds exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h) during the run when he lost control of the vehicle. He flipped upwards landing on the front right side of the bumper; this was the collision that was assumed killed him. "It was surprising" friends and family said. Jeff was 52 years old and has been racing most of his life, from Granite Falls, North Carolina, he was experienced. The event was "unsanctioned," without requiring a roll cage (which is required in the NHRA if a car exceeds 135 mph (217 km/h)).

## Layout maps

* 13-Turn A Course (2015–present)
* C Course (2011–present)

## Events
### Current

* March: Formula Regional Americas Championship NOLA SpeedTour, Formula 4 United States Championship, Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, SCCA Super Tour, National Auto Sport Association
* April: USF Pro 2000 Championship, USF2000 Championship, USF Juniors, 24 Hours of Lemons
* May: National Auto Sport Association

### Former

* AMA Superbike Championship
** Triumph Big Kahuna New Orleans (2012)
* ChampCar Endurance Series (2012)
* Cooper Tires WinterFest (2014–2015)
* Ferrari Challenge North America (2015)
* GT America Series (2023)
* GT World Challenge America (2022–2023)
* GT4 America Series (2022–2023)
* IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge (2015)
* IMSA Prototype Lites (2015)
* IndyCar Series
** Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana (2015)
* Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America (2022)
* Mazda MX-5 Cup (2015)
* TC America Series (2022–2023)
* Trans-Am Series (2015–2016, 2023–2024)

## Lap records

As of April 2024, the fastest official race lap records on the NOLA Motorsports Park are:
| Category | Time | Driver | Vehicle | Event |
| A Course: 4.423 km (2011–present) |||||
| Pro Mazda | 1:32.336 | Spencer Pigot | Star Formula Mazda 'Pro' | 2014 New Orleans Pro Mazda Winterfest round |
| Formula Regional | 1:33.523 | Raoul Hyman | Ligier JS F3 | 2022 New Orleans FR Americas round |
| GT3 | 1:34.800 | Giacomo Altoè | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 2022 New Orleans GT World Challenge America round |
| US F2000 | 1:35.650 | Aaron Telitz | Van Diemen DP08 | 2014 New Orleans US F2000 Winterfest round |
| Lamborghini Super Trofeo | 1:36.476 | Loris Spinelli | Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 | 2022 New Orleans Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America round |
| TA1 | 1:37.029 | Matthew Brabham | Ford Mustang Trans-Am | 2023 New Orleans Trans-Am round |
| Superbike | 1:39.487 | Josh Hayes | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 2012 Triumph Big Kahuna New Orleans |
| Formula 4 | 1:41.227 | Bryson Morris | Crawford F4-16 | 2022 New Orleans F4 United States round |
| Supersport | 1:42.374 | Cameron Beaubier | Yamaha YZF-R6 | 2012 Triumph Big Kahuna New Orleans |
| TA2 | 1:42.463 | Raphael Matos | Ford Mustang Trans-Am | 2023 New Orleans Trans-Am round |
| GT4 | 1:44.284 | John Capestro-Dubets | BMW M4 GT4 Gen II | 2023 New Orleans GT4 America round |
| TC America | 1:48.430 | Kyle Loh | Honda Civic Type R TCX | 2023 New Orleans TC America round |
| 13-Turn A Course: 4.300 km (2015–present) |||||
| IndyCar | 1:28.5583 | Scott Dixon | Dallara DW12 | 2015 Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana |
| USF Pro 2000 | 1:31.4282 | Nikita Johnson | Tatuus IP-22 | 2024 USF Pro 2000 Continental Tire Grand Prix of Louisiana |
| USF2000 | 1:35.6070 | Nico Christodoulou | Tatuus USF-22 | 2024 USF2000 Continental Tire Grand Prix of Louisiana |
| Prototype Lites | 1:36.012 | Kenton Koch | Élan DP02 | 2015 New Orleans IMSA Prototype Lites round |
| Porsche Carrera Cup | 1:36.012 | Elliott Skeer | Porsche 911 (991 I) GT3 Cup | 2015 New Orleans Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA round |
| USF Juniors | 1:39.1192 | Sebastian Wheldon | Tatuus JR-23 | 2024 USF Juniors Continental Tire Grand Prix of Louisiana |
| Mazda MX-5 Cup | 1:57.302 | Chad McCumbee | Mazda MX-5 (NC) | 2015 New Orleans Mazda MX-5 Cup round |