The Track
The Full course is a 23-turn (28-apex), road circuit run
counter-clockwise. The front stretch can see vehicles reaching speeds of . Smaller configurations of the track can be made from the full course, including a outer course that does not use the tighter infield lay-out, as well as two layouts that each use half of the full course and can be run simultaneously. At almost , it is the longest road racing facility in
North America. It is about ½ mile (0.8 km) longer than the previous holder,
Road America. The Outer course is one of the fastest road courses in North America, with AMA Superbikes posting average speeds over .
Its corner names (in order) are Sunset Bend, Dreamboat, Work Out, Scream, Black Rock Hairpin, Right Hook, Knock Out, Demon, Devil, Diablo, Indecision, Precision, Fast, Faster, Gotcha, Mabey Y'll Makit, Satisfaction, Agony, Ecstasy, 1st Attitude, 2nd Attitude, Bad Attitude, Tooele Turn, Kink, Club House Corner, Wind-Up, and Release.
Miller Motorsports Park also contains a
kart track that can be configured as a first-rate supermoto track with the inclusion of two dirt sections.
The facility has a paddock that contains 220 team garages, 40 day garages, 27 grand prix garages located along the hot pits, an on-site medical facility, five million dollar Club House, vintage car museum, and a helicopter pad.
Miller Motorsports Park has also been named as the exclusive Ford High Performance Driving School providing a wide range of driver training programs including an opportunity to drive one of four
Ford GT's on course.
History
This track was originally conceived as a novelty track for
Larry H. Miller, owner of the
NBA's
Utah Jazz, to use as a personal playground, with a budget of about $5 million. Due to enormous local motorcycle and auto industry support the concept gradually grew into an $85 million plus project, one of a kind in the U.S.
The track was designed by world renowned engineer
Alan Wilson.
The kart track was opened in
September,
2005 and the large track was opened to the public on
1 April,
2006, in a ceremony conducted by Miller.
In 2006, the track's first year of operation, it hosted the
Utah Grand Prix American LeMans Series, Honda Summit of Speed AMA Superbike double-header event, and the Discount Tire
Sunchaser 1000, a nine-hour endurance
road course race held by the
Grand American Road Racing Association. It is unusual for a race track to attract so many relatively big-budget race events in its first year of operation. The track is also host to a
WERA Grand National motorcycle roadracing event and the regional motorcycle roadracing series Masters of the Mountains, promoted by the
Utah sport bike association.
The facility was named Motorsports Facility of the Year on
8 November, 2006 by the Professional Motorsport World Expo in
Cologne, Germany.
[1]
On
14 July,
2007, the track hosted its first-ever
NASCAR event with a
Grand National West Series race on the 3.048-mile Outer Track.
On
22 August, 2007, Miller Motorsports Park announced a three-year deal to bring the FIM
Superbike World Championship to the track; the Superbike World Championship will race at the track for the first time on
1 June,
2008 with the
AMA Superbike Championship. To avoid direct comparisons between World Superbike and AMA Superbike, and because of sponsorship issues, the two championships will race on different configurations of the circuit. World Superbike will use the Outer course, while AMA Superbike and its support classes will use the Full course.
[2]
References
- 2007 Miller Motorsports Park schedule announced motorsport.com retrieved on September 23, 2007
- World Superbike And AMA To Run Different Courses During 2008 Event At Miller roadracingworld.com retrieved on September 14, 2007