This is the Event Thread for PSI at Ozarks - Night Track Sessions. Discuss the event below.

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What has my attention for this event is the night track sessions. I'll be there on Friday 8/21.

I watched a couple of the videos. Looks like a neat track with elevation changes. Should be fun at night.

It's got about 1,000 ft of elevation change across the course. I really enjoy it.

This isn't my fastest lap there, but one I've done in my car:

Getting to drive Ozarks at night was amazing. I was especially glad I was there for Friday where they went until 10 PM. I got nearly an hour non-stop on the track. For those interested, here's my fastest lap of the night session:


And the full session (55 minutes of video):


I'd never driven on track at night before. I know Ozarks well at this point with something north of 300 laps there. But, night changes all of your references. I didn't find looking far ahead was a problem for me, but it did take a bit to find my new references, and because I was going slower that also threw off some of my inputs. Laps weren't as fast or as smooth as normal, but I expected that. Overall, happy with how it went and had a great time.

That is a very long track, with three minute lap times, but with no long high speed section, just lots of curves. Very different. The night video almost makes it look like you had the entire track to yourself. I did not watch the entire almost hour long video, but in the sections I did watch I did not see any other cars.

Were the flag stations indications (flag color) more visible than they appear to be on the video?

Junkyard Dog said:

That is a very long track, with three minute lap times, but with no long high speed section, just lots of curves. Very different. The night video almost makes it look like you had the entire track to yourself. I did not watch the entire almost hour long video, but in the sections I did watch I did not see any other cars.

Were the flag stations indications (flag color) more visible than they appear to be on the video?

Click to expand...

I posted a video of my fastest daytime lap on the appropriate lap time page which you can watch for comparison:


It's a 4 mile track with 19 corners, so it is long. The reality is there is no section of the track that is truly straight. There are parts where you're driving in a straight line, but it's across from one side of the road to the other. There are parts where the road is effectively straight and you're curving through it. The steering wheel is not straight very much of the time. The front "straight" isn't. Very technical, and not very fast as far as top speed goes - I only hit around 120 during the course of a lap. I love every inch of it.

Yes, on the night session it was fairly sparse. This was on Friday so it wasn't super heavily attended anyway, and a lot of people weren't interested in the night driving. For me, that was the primary reason to go. I entered the track a couple minutes after the session started. I passed a couple cars (I forget how many) and I only got passed by one. They did the open track time with intermediate and advanced groups combined (on intermediate passing rules). So yeah, I basically had the track to myself.

The night video does give an accurate perception of what I could see, but the real key is knowing where to look. True at any track, but especially true here. The part of where I was looking is not highlighted. I know where all the flag stations are, so I was watching them, and I don't think there would've been any issues seeing flags that came up. The day video also does not give an accurate perception of just how hilly it is.

The first 3 laps I was running 3:11, 3:10, 3:09 as I was trying to identify how/where to look at night. Then I settled into the roughly 3 minute lap times. My tires were getting old and I had a rear brake rotor that was warped/warping so that cost me a few seconds I think. I wasn't trying to get aggressive lap times, just "going for a drive." I was really happy with how it went.

To be fair to " The Ted " the Nordschliefe of America is treacherous during the day and I can understand why the turnout was light for a night run - I personally would not have any interest. The track is actually quite fast in many areas though often the high speed straights are actually high speed long curving sections. There are areas where some cars get airborne ( in what is called the roller coaster section ) and I applaud " The Ted " for taking on the challenge. I think his pace was smart and this track is in the boonies of Missouri so dark is daaaaaarrrkkkk ! Thanks for posting Ted and you are one brave soul in my book.