American Federation of Motorcyclists - AFM - Track Info - Buttowillow

AFM - Track Info - Buttowillow - Racers Perspective

Written by AFM Editor

This is an excerpt from a scouting expedition report on Buttonwillow, made by a few AFM representatives (Joe & Wayne Montoya, Rob Mesa, Doug DeRyke) back in late-'95... and from Len Padilla's open practice day there in mid-'96... both are "seat of the pants" reports from the Big Track (3.0 miles) run in a clockwise direction. The track was described by Wayne and Len (riding a TZ250 and a 650 Hawk, respectively) as being "lots of fun," "a blast" and "a combination of fast, slow, easy and challenging turns."

In mid-1995, Buttonwillow was found to be kinda' like this...

The following is a "Bozo-eye-view" description of the course with a non-official turn numbering system (see AFM Buttonwillow Track Map).

The active course is entered from a nice little road to the left of the track, making it easy to see and merge with on-track traffic. Turn 2 should be a nice technically challenging turn... a little dogleg left leading into a tight, kind of up-and-over right hander (with a small elevation change) which opens up into a right turning chute (reminiscent of turn 4 at Willow Springs); tendency will be to push the front end early in the turn.

The chute leads to a short straight that has a nice rise in the middle... front end lofts will certainly be had... Wheee!!! After the straight is a tight, technical combination of turns on an elevated section... Turns 3, 4, & 5. Turn 3 is a kinda' tight right hander going up the hill, followed by an even tighter left handed Turn 4, also uphill. Right handed Turn 5 is located as the crest is reached and it continues over the other side, slightly opening up into a short slightly downhill right turning chute.

This is followed by Turn 6, a fast right handed sweeper... and just as you start (but before you are) straightening up from 6, there is a small rise... front end lofts (and possibly air) will certainly be had... another blast.

Almost immediately after the front end comes back down, braking is required for the right hand Turn 7. This is followed by a very short straight with a left hand Turn 8, another dog-leggy straight and a left handed Turn 9. Turn 7 is one of the optional detours, and a small pavement seam exists... Turn 9 is at the junction of another optional detour and had a large pavement seam/bump right at the apex (which could cause handling upsets).

A short straight leads into a Turn 10, a very fast, barely-right hand sweeper leading into Turn 11, a very fast definitely-right handed sweeper which slightly decreases in radius at the end... you start to wonder when the turn will ever end. Turn 11 leads onto the humongous 3800' back straight... boring otherwise, but fortunately this one has a nice, elevated optional detour section to the left, essentially making a very fast Turn 12 leading up the hill, a fast up-and-over Turn 13, a small barely-a-dogleg downhill chute into a very fast Turn 14, followed by another straight.

At the end of the straight is a big hairpin, Turn 15; this turn appears to be a double apex turn, with the first about in the middle, and another as it decreases in radius at the end. Pretty neat, pretty technical, pretty hard to read at first (or why else did Rob test the off-track traction there).

Turn 15 leads to a 5 turn combo (Turns 16-20) which we can simply call "The Esses"... a very neat set of left-right-left-right-left turns, with way cool red/white aprons at the apexes; each subsequent turn is increasingly faster and the whole set can be pretty much accelerated through...yet another blast.

After The Esses is a short straight and a relatively tight left hand Turn 21, another short straight and the last turn, Turn 1, another relatively tight left hander. (In actual practice, Turn 1 will be the first turn you hit after the start of a race... here the view on a warmup lap is being described, hence Turn 2 is the first one encountered). Turn 1 leads into a short chute and back to Turn 2.

Overall, the course is very fun and a has nice combo of fast/slow, and challenging/easy turns... with a few woop-de-doos thrown in for grins.

Len Padilla's description of the course is as follows:

(len's lack of a shift key at the time of his writing this is being preserved for posterity's sake)

i recently rode at the new buttonwillow race track, i thought people might like to know about the track. the facility at buttonwillow is very nice, suprisingly so for such a new place. there is a lot of lawn area, permanent bathroom facilities, and ample pit area.

while the area is as flat as a pancake, the track builders have done a good job giving it a third dimension. they've added a few rises on straights as well as at the apex and exit of turns. one corner, a large right-hand sweeper, is even slightly banked. the pavement is pretty smooth, with most of the bumps being where different sections of the multi-configuration track merge (sorta like turn 5 at laguna seca or 9 at thunderhill). the track has a good combination of fast and slow corners. there are two sets of esses, the first set (on the track's east side) are medium speed while the west esses are almost a straight line for motorcycles.

the first turn (at the east end of the front straight, we ran clockwise) is after very hard braking from high speed, it is roughly 90 degrees and can be taken fairly fast, but the next turn comes up quickly. the second corner is as tight or tighter than laguna seca (old)turn 11 (much tighter than sears point 7 or 11). next is a fast run to the east esses, crossing a rise along the way. the medium-speed east esses are first right, then left, then right over a crest. coming out of the right-hand crested turn at the south-east corner of the track is a rise that will have riders shutting off so as not to loop (even little 70 hp bikes). then there is either a long straight or a detour through the infield. we ran the detour which means right bend (approx. 45 degrees) after the rise followed by left bend (approx. 45 degrees) over slight bumps, short chute, then flat (~ 45 degrees) left followed by a right to rejoin the south straight. then is a very fast right-hand, slightly banked sweeper with a late apex. one person (brian catterson) there said he liked it because it was a corner where you could go in very fast, but had to be patient and wait for the apex to come around. after this corner there is a nice part of the track with a slight left followed by a right turn with the apex at the crest of a rise (a faster, less vertical version of Thunderhill's Cyclone). then is a fast run to the north-west corner of the track. hard braking and a right turn lead to a wide, decreasing radius right that exits to the west esses. the west esses are essentially straight for a bike, and lead to a fast left kink. from there its a short straight to a hard braking left turn that leads to the front straight.

i sure enjoyed riding there, and i think it would be a very nice place to hold afm races... if you get a chance to ride there, i recomend it.

Some general comments were...

There are a few challenging, technical turns and a number of more traditional turns, and overall very exciting.
The pavement seams at the apex of a few turns are disconcerting and may require some suspension or line adjustments to allow decent speed to be carried through with no upsets.
There is plenty of run off room almost everywhere.
The big course looked most interesting on the first visit.

Last Updated ( Friday, 12 October 2007 )