Oregon Raceway Park CW
Oregon Raceway Park CW Notes:
The Oregon Raceway Park is a motorsport racing facility located in the small rural town of Grass Valley, Oregon, on a two hours trip from downtown Portland. There is a lot of open space in the flat piece of terrain, literally in the middle of nowhere, chosen as the location of this racetrack, back in November 2008, on a budget of $3.2 Million. The man responsible for envisioning, funding, and building the track was Bob Caspell, leader of the Pacific Motorsports Management, a group of private investors who share the goal of providing racers from Portland with a circuit of their own for unleashing their passion for speed.
The 2.3-mile trajectory of the track is surrounded by clear blue sky in every direction, with spectacular views of the mounts Hood and Rainier in the background. Nevertheless, it is a real challenge to keep the focus since all the 14 turns come with a considerable elevation change, especially in the 14-degree banked section known as The Halfpipe, where drivers need to keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel. The average speed of the circuit is 71 mph, with an average lap time of 1:57.205.
CW Notes:
Oregon Raceway Park's clockwise configuration delivers 3.701 kilometers through the facility's reversed racing direction, located in Grass Valley, Oregon, where the 2009-opened circuit features blind uphill turns and tricky downhill entries carved into spectacular Pacific Northwest landscape with views of Mount Hood and Mount Rainier. This CW routing reverses the traditional counterclockwise flow across the 2.3-mile technical layout, transforming The Valkyrie Hill section and various elevation-masked corners into opposite-direction challenge where all brake markers, apex selections, and crest-commitment points work backwards from CCW muscle memory. The clockwise direction affects the circuit's technical character where blind turns and elevation transitions designed for counterclockwise create different sight lines and weight-transfer dynamics when traversed opposite direction, serving as advanced driver development variation for Oregon's premier road racing venue.
The CW configuration's character emerges from reversed approach to circuit designed primarily for counterclockwise racing. The technical layout's blind uphill turns become downhill entries when reversed, while downhill entries transform into uphill challenges, fundamentally changing weight transfer and brake-turn-throttle timing throughout the lap. Oregon's Pacific Northwest climate creates year-round racing opportunities with frequent rain affecting reversed-direction grip levels differently than standard CCW flow, while scenic mountain views provide dramatic backdrop contrasting urban-adjacent circuits. The facility's two crossover roads near Valkyrie Hill enable layout variations and direction changes serving varied event needs. SCCA, NASA, motorcycle racing, and track day organizations utilize Oregon Raceway Park with both CW and CCW configurations available though counterclockwise remains primary direction. The CW variation particularly challenges regular visitors who've internalized CCW brake markers across the technical elevation-intensive layout, forcing reliance on visual cues and chassis feedback rather than memorized reference points across Pacific Northwest's premier purpose-built road racing facility offering dual-direction capability in spectacular mountain-view setting.
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