Lime Rock Park track guide: every corner, with real lap data
Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, has run since 1957. The classic layout is 1.53 miles and seven turns: a long right-hand bend, the only left on the track, then four more rights.
This guide covers each corner, drawing on Lime Rock's own turn-by-turn, and adds the minimum speed through every corner from the best public LapLift lap of 20 drivers as of October 2026. One result stands out: at the Lefthander, the quickest drivers are slower than everyone else.
The lap in numbers
The fastest of the 20 laps is a 55.9, and half of the drivers' best laps are quicker than 1:00.1. The quickest third, six drivers, are a mixed group: a GLTC RX-8, a Civic Si, a BMW 330ci, a BRZ and two cars listed only by a name or a number. Everyone else includes more BRZs and FR-Ss, Spec Miatas, a 350Z, an E36, a Veloster N and a GLTC Corvette.
| Corner | Direction | Median minimum | Quickest third | Everyone else | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Bend (Turns 1 and 2) | Right | 63.6 mph | 64.2 mph | 63.5 mph | +1.1% |
| The Lefthander | Left | 60.2 mph | 59.0 mph | 60.9 mph | −3.1% |
| The Righthander | Right | 72.0 mph | 73.2 mph | 70.1 mph | +4.4% |
| The Uphill | Right | 84.2 mph | 87.8 mph | 83.3 mph | +5.4% |
| West Bend | Right | 82.7 mph | 83.5 mph | 82.0 mph | +1.8% |
| The Downhill | Right | 94.7 mph | 99.7 mph | 94.2 mph | +5.8% |
These cars differ, so read most of the gap as car. The quickest third carry a median 3.1% more minimum speed per corner, close to their 3.4% lap-time advantage. Three corners fall well short of that. Big Bend (1.1%) and West Bend (1.8%) show little advantage, and at the Lefthander the quickest third are 3.1% slower than everyone else. Faster cars have no reason to be slower there unless their drivers choose to be, which matches what Lime Rock's own guide says about the Lefthander. The largest gaps, at the Uphill and the Downhill, are fast corners where grip and downforce do the most. With 20 drivers in different cars this is a pattern, not proof.
The Righthander gave a clean minimum on only 5 of the 20 laps, because many cars take it flat or with a short lift.
Big Bend
Big Bend is two corners, Turns 1 and 2, that together turn the car through more than 180 degrees. Lime Rock's guide treats it as an entry-speed corner: brake in a straight line, turn in earlier than feels natural and trail the brake down to the apex. Its test for an overslowed entry is simple. If you are off the brakes well before the apex, you braked too much.
The second part needs only a small lift to point the car at the apex. Use all of the exit curb, and do not hurry back to the right side of the track, because the line for the Lefthander starts here.
The Lefthander and the Righthander
The Lefthander is the only left on the classic layout, and Lime Rock calls it a compromise corner: the right line is the one that sets up the Righthander, which leads onto No-Name Straight, the second-longest full-throttle stretch of the lap. The traditional approach is a high entry and a late apex, giving up speed in the Lefthander to be back on full throttle early. The guide notes there is a long-running debate about a shallower entry for more powerful cars that have to brake for the Righthander anyway.
The LapLift data fits the traditional view. The quickest third carry 3.1% less speed through the Lefthander than everyone else, the only corner where they are slower, then 4.4% more through the Righthander.
Many cars take the Righthander flat, others need a lift or a touch of brake. Either way, the goal is to be back on full power as early as possible. The road falls away after the apex, so a car that runs over the apex often has to lift at the exit, and that costs speed all the way up No-Name.
The Uphill
The Uphill is fast and partly blind, with little runoff, and the track climbs sharply after the apex. Lime Rock's advice is to brake lightly in a straight line, turn in earlier than you think and look up through the corner. The climb compresses the car and adds grip just where you need it. Be tracked out with the wheel straight before the crest, because even slow cars go light over the top.
The quicker group carries 5.4% more minimum speed here. Some of that comes from a better run out of the Righthander and up No-Name Straight, and some is simply more grip, which pays off most in a corner this fast.
West Bend and the Downhill
West Bend needs a bigger speed reduction than the Uphill, usually a moderate brake. The apex is harder to reach than it looks because the curb tightens before the apex, the camber turns slightly negative toward the exit, and the apex curb varies in height, so placement matters.
The Downhill is the fastest corner on the track. The approach drops steeply, the corner itself is level, and there is a compression at the turn-in point that gives a moment of extra grip. Make the speed adjustment in a straight line and turn in with the throttle on. Turning in early with slow hands, before the compression, leads to a lift at the exit. It shows the largest gap in the data, 99.7 mph for the quickest third against 94.2 mph, and as the fastest corner it is also where differences in grip and downforce between the cars count most.
Checking your own laps
Upload a Lime Rock session and LapLift scores your minimum speed through each corner against other drivers who have logged it. If your Lefthander score is high and your Uphill score is low, the Lefthander is the first place to look.
Sources
Driving notes are summarized from Lime Rock Park's own A Lap of Classic Lime Rock, Turn-by-Turn. Length and history are from Wikipedia. The original has far more detail, including reference points; read it before you drive.
Questions
How long is Lime Rock Park?
The classic layout is 1.53 miles with seven turns. Lime Rock also has chicane configurations, used by some series, at the Uphill and West Bend.
Why is the Lefthander a compromise corner?
Because the Righthander that follows it leads onto No-Name Straight. Giving up some speed in the Lefthander to take the Righthander on a better line, and get to full throttle sooner, is usually worth more over the straight than the speed lost in the Lefthander.
Which is the fastest corner at Lime Rock?
The Downhill. In LapLift's data the median minimum speed there is 94.7 mph, and 99.7 mph for the quickest third of drivers.
Is the gap between the groups the drivers or the cars?
Mostly the cars, which raise minimum speed by a similar percentage everywhere. The useful signal is where the gap departs from the typical 3.1%: Big Bend and West Bend well below it, and the Lefthander, where the quickest third are slower than everyone else.
Where does the data come from?
From the best public lap of each driver who has shared laps at Lime Rock on LapLift, 20 drivers as of October 2026. Minimum speeds come from the same detector the app uses for its vMin corner scores.
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