In a thread about visiting Summit Point, Bryan W. brought up the excellent point of how visiting new tracks adds more to your "toolbox" of corners, surfaces, etc, and how it builds the skill of quickly learning new tracks.

So, how do you experts approach learning a new track?

driving it,
asking people with more experience for tips,

walking it,

not in that order,

my dad used to ride bicycles through tracks to sometimes verify the line(s)

of all the tracks i run now shenandoah was the hardest. What helped me was fallowing a few other people and taking the best lines of everyone and making them my own. but at a normal track drive it at a slower pace and by 5 or 6 laps you should have a general idea

So not to hijack the is Summit worth the drive thread let me just say this.
Summit was the first track I ever drove. I drove it for a couple years and never got the hang of it. Even after several weekends I was still getting lost. Once I started driving other tracks they came to me quicker. I knew what turns were coming up next, I could start seeing pavement changes. That is not to say I can memorize a track but the more new tracks I drove the easier things came to me. By the 2nd day of an event things were coming together. Now I have a routine of driving a couple tracks at least once a year. I also found myself taking several steps backwards from the last time I was on a specific track. Two steps back on Saturday, three steps forward on Sunday. That is just the way I progress. I think you learn exponentially by experiencing new tracks. Walking the track or at least a section is always good. Unfortunately I have been to few schools were we do that. National Capital has a track walk. I remember being at RA at Ofest and having Bill Auberlin give a talk on specific turns. Take advantage of parade or touring laps. Drive offline. Don't forget, no passing. :nono

Talk to others. Watch videos, work a corner or pick a corner to watch.
That is not to say drive the line or at speeds of others. What works for one driver or car may not work for another. I started taping my sessions and reviewing them before going back to a specific track. I hope that instead on two steps backwards on Saturday it will be only one. And Sunday will be 4 steps forward.

So Bryan is absolutely right. Learn new tracks. Just do it. Talk to others.

Ooops. Just noticed the expert part in the post. I'm a slow B student. Maybe forget what I said.

So, how do you experts approach learning a new track?

i'm definitely not an expert and probably never will be... ;)

i would recommend getting as many rides (with different instructors) as possible throughout the weekend (and try to get at least one ride before you go out for your first time) and walk the track if possible....

i went to road atl for the first time earlier this year and it was the first time in a while that i had been to a "new" track...i got some instructor rides before i drove it and i looked for some reference points and watched the track surface as much as possible....since i had not driven a "new" track in a while, i was a little worried that it might take me forever to learn the track but within a few laps i felt pretty comfortable driving the track and throughout the weekend i got a lot more comfortable and picked up a lot of speed...

btw, i might be heading up to summit in july also (it will be my first time up there)....its between summit or roebling that weekend....

I like to watch videos of pro racers if I can get them and go from there. I prefer a DE setting to learning new tracks, that way I can drive painfully slow at first and build up speed. On race day at a new track, you get one practice session then you have to qualify. I focus on the most important corners first, the usually slow corners that lead onto long straights. Also I find taking a late apex on a 'new to you' corner is almost always safest. Start dialing the apex back until you find that perfect line.

One note of caution, as you get faster through a particular section of a track you'll need to adjust your braking points at the next section because of all the newfound speed. This happened to me at the esses and Turn 5 at Road ATL. I was finally able to enter T4 and get into the esses flat out and I was elated at the way the car felt. I forgot to brake at T5 and well, you know. Kitty litter time.

Dave, come on down to Roebling in July. I assume you'll be racing by then?:dunno I'll serve you up a big helpin' of humble pie. :D Seriously, I'm average at RR...you could easily spank me.

Videos. Walk it if possible. Catch rides. Focus on the most important corners first (those leading to the longest straightaways).

Dave, come on down to Roebling in July. I assume you'll be racing by then?:dunno I'll serve you up a big helpin' of humble pie. :D Seriously, I'm average at RR...you could easily spank me.

lol, dude, i'm expecting lots of helpings of humble pie ;)

if i go, that should be my first race weekend so i'm fully expecting to completely forget how to drive....

if i go, that should be my first race weekend so i'm fully expecting to completely forget how to drive....

Haha, just don't forget to shift...oh yeah, and to breathe. I swear my first 2/3 race weekends I would forget to shift when the green flag dropped. Kind of sucks to lose 3 or 4 spots within seconds then have to take a couple of minutes to get them back.

Two things that haven't been mentioned yet...

1) Autox, a lot. It teaches you to learn a course that will be less than a mile long, but will have 20+ corners in 3-8 laps. When you get to a track that is 3 miles long and has 10-15 corners it seems positively simple (to learn, hard to master.)

2) Video games. Don't take them as the end-all, be-all of a track, but they will let you learn the general layout of a track.