Chesapeake Raceway

Chesapeake Raceway is a four-layout road course in Edgewood, Maryland.

Chesapeake is unique in that it is the only racetrack besides the nearby Virginia International Raceway to have one of its layouts contained entirely inside another.

## Long Layout - 3.65 miles

The long, level frontstretch heads northeast. Turn 1 is called Reagan Corner, and is a long, sweeping 45-degree right-hand curve that leads onto the Chesapeake Straight, which is almost as long as the Frontstretch. Turn 2, or Washington Corner, is a long 135-degree right-hand carousel.

Turns 3, 4, and 5 form the Northern Spoon. Turn 3 is a sharp 45-degree left-hand turn that leads immediately into Turn 4, a slightly banked right-hand 90-degree

corner, and Turn 5, a 120-degree right-hander that completes the Spoon. This turn sequence is similar to the Spoon Curve at Suzuka Circuit in Japan.

Turns 6 and 7 are a long 180-degree left-hand carousel similar to Turn 2, but with two apexes. After a short straight, the track twists into the left-right-left esses sequence of Turns 8 through 10.

The medium-length southbound straightaway (the Innerstretch) that follows

serves as the frontstretch for the Inner Circuit (described below). Turn 11, or Lincoln Corner, is a 90-degree right-hander that leads into the dual-apex left-hand hairpin of Turns 12 and 13.

Turns 14 and 15 form the Southern Spoon, similar in layout to the Northern Spoon, only larger and reversed. Turn 14 steers cars through a long 90-degree curve to the right, and Turn 15 is more of a hairpin than a spoon curve, as it is very sharp at 120 degrees.

Turns 16 and 17 are a complementary fast chicane set, with Turn 16 steering cars 60 degrees left, and

Turn 17 correcting 45 degrees right. This begins the Potomac Straight, similar in length to the Innerstretch.

Finally, Turn 18 (or Roosevelt Corner) is almost the opposite of Turn 15, turning cars 120 degrees sharply right and beginning the long Frontstretch.

## Short Layout - 2.23 miles

The Short Layout diverges from the Long three-quarters of the way down the Chesapeake Straight, with a super-sharp 150-degree right-hander that cuts off Washington Corner and the Northern Spoon, inserting cars at the exit of Turn 7 of the Long Layout en route to the Esses.

Coming out of the Turn 12-13 carousel (Turns 7-8 of the Short Layout), cars skip the Southern Spoon and take an almost identical carousel (Turn 9) back into the exit of the Long Layout's Turn 15 and the beginning of the Potomac Straight.

## Outer Circuit - 2.71 miles

The true bread and butter of Chesapeake Raceway comes in its ability to hold races simultaneously, with one contained entirely inside the other. The Outer Circuit follows the route of the Long Layout from the start-finish line up through the first corner of the Northern Spoon. Instead of completing the Spoon, the track curves back left 90 degrees, turning the 3-4-5 sequence into a set of esses instead of a spoon curve.

The Backstretch, longer than Potomac and the Innerstretch, leads up to Turn 6, also known as Kennedy Corner. Kennedy is a hard 90-degree right-hander that leads up to the exit of the Southern Spoon and follows the Long Layout's route onward.

## Inner Circuit - 1.53 miles

Much of the Inner Circuit is already covered by the Long Layout, but arguably the greatest corner on the circuit belongs to the Inner Circuit and the Inner Circuit alone. Like most road courses, the Inner Circuit is run clockwise, which actually results in running the course in the opposite direction that the Long Layout takes on its route. Turns 1, 2, and 3 are the Esses, Turns 10, 9, and 8 of the Long Layout. Cars follow the route back up to the entrance to the Northern Spoon, continuing straight instead of taking the Long Layout's Turn 5.

This leads into the Inner Sanctum, a four-turn combination containing the Serpent. Turn 7 is a hard 45-degree right-hander that leads into the Serpent, Turns 8 and 9.

Turn 8 is a gradually tightening left-hand bend that sharpens radically at the end, and is followed by the immediate hard right-hander of Turn 9. Turn 10 is a slight right-hand correction that leads back into the entrance of the Southern Spoon, skipping it and heading back toward the carousel and Lincoln Corner (Turns 11, 12, and 13).