I remember hearing the news that New Jersey was getting its own racetrack. To say I was excited is a huge understatement. Then, when I heard the same people who designed VIR were designing it, I felt the heavens open up, God Himself pat me on the back and proclaim, “This one’s for you, buddy!” as Him and I exchange jumping high fives.
Yesterday I got to experience New Jersey Motorsports Park’s Lightning course. I rode with Team Promotion (TPM), one of the east coast’s largest organizations for motorcycle trackdays.
I have read reviews from many people who rode Lightning over the past few weeks. Everyone repeated virtually the same sentiments, “It’s fast!”, “Runoff room is sketchy in certain areas”, “The bridge scares me a little…”. In the interest of continuity, I’ll echo the same things.
This past weekend, TPM was at Lightning from Friday through Sunday, with many riders riding multiple days. Waking up with truck issues, I arrived at the track late enough to miss the first of 6 to 8, 20 minute sessions (I’m trying to count how many sessions I ran, and I honestly can’t remember). Right from the start, I’m at a bit of a disadvantage because I haven’t seen the track, I don’t know the lines, and the majority of the people in my group (intermediate/red group) had already ridden either 1 or 2 full days there before this one. So I got the luxury of learning a new track, shaking out the cobwebs, and trying not to be a rolling obstacle while everyone was running a hot pace.
The track layout itself isn’t very hard to learn. There’s 2 turns total where you have to use the brakes, and even then you’re not hard on them. The other 8 turns you can downshift, let engine braking slow you down, then hammer the throttle back open. In some turns, if you’re not going wide open throttle, you’re going too slow. There are 3 crested areas, 2 of which are turns, so you have to commit to turning, get your knee down, and accelerate through them without seeing the exit point until you’re mid-turn. Pretty cool, and definitely liter bike friendly.
My riding buddy commented that it’s a fast track. Almost TOO fast, in that slow riders can go fast here just because they have the guts to keep the throttle pinned. Not a technical track at all.
I will say that once you figure it out, and it took me 5 sessions and 3 people offering advice, that the track is fast and feels fast. There’s a bowl turn where you can enter the turn in 3rd gear, wot, stick your knee out, and just look through the exit caressing the throttle until you hit the apex, then go full on again, all while leaned over with your knee skimming the surface. I still don’t have the track mastered yet, and I think it’ll take me 1-2 more full days to get confident enough to take certain turns at the speeds they’re capable of. I’ll restate, just for the sake of emphasizing this, it is a fast track!
Runoff room is a bit sketchy in certain areas. I noticed guardrails, a few walls, and a bridge all in my peripheral view. In one turn, you’re nearing redline in 5th gear and wot (about 140 mph). I was trying to keep the bike as upright as possible, while leaning my body off, and all I could think of was, “Man, if someone really screws this turn up, they’re going to hit that bridge going 110.” Not exactly a comforting thought.
As to be expected for a new track, pavement surface was legendary. No real bumps and very smooth. It started to downpour towards the end of the day, but there was lightning present (insert pun here) in the skies, so TPM and NJMP decided it best to shut down the track. It would have been nice to see how grippy the surface is under wet conditions, but I’m not a huge fan of riding in the rain on near slick tires, so it was just as well.
Overall, the facilities are beautiful. You really do feel you’re at a world class track with the current setup and the views of the upcoming construction. However, I’m a bit disappointed that the track is small (the Lightning course is 1.9 miles) and there are no real technical turns. Thunderbolt, the other course, is a little longer, and from what I’ve been hearing, more technical. Passing/getting passed on a bike was no issue, but I wonder how easy it will be for cars to pass?
As a local track, it’s a great addition that I’ll probably run a few times each year. If it were more then 3 hours away, I probably wouldn’t ride it more then once annually. One thing I have to mention, while we were riding, there were go-karts right next to us on the kart track. You could see/hear them from our pits and it really did give the sensation that you were at a Motorsports Park.
Editor’s Note: If you want to get out on the Lightning Course, Team Promotion has a few more days left for the rest of the year:
- Aug. 4th
- Sept. 27th
- Sept. 28th
Click here to sign up with Team Promotion.
Photo of the BMW is not GK’s bike
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