- Length
- 6.23
- Theme
- Andalusia
- Number Of Turns
- 26
- Length (Unit)
- mi
This is an absolute BEAST of a track that winds through the many hills of Andalusia. Very highly recommended for anyone looking for a challenge. Have fun!
LAP GUIDE
Zahara Hills International Raceway is known for being a very technical track. This gorgeous course winds its way through the Andalusian countryside, providing a series of utterly stunning views as well as a series of utterly exciting turns that leaves drivers of all skill levels on the edge of their seat. It's one of the most intense and demanding courses yet made for GT6, so to master it, you'll need this guide. Let's get started.
Sectors 1 and 2: Start, the Bootleg, Old Cottage Sweep
This intimidating course starts off with a long downhill run past the end of the first sector and into Turn 1, also known as the Bootleg for its resemblance to the turn at Watkins Glen. Just like that turn, racers are dropped at high speed into a right-hander that turns and goes back uphill just past the apex. Because of the extreme entry speeds and the length of the front straight (just under half a mile), this is usually the site of a few spectacular, hair-raising overtakes during the race as it's not unusual for competitors to enter the turn in excess of 190 miles per hour, even in regular supercars. Due to the fact that the turn tightens partway through, trail-braking is both important and very risky here; while doing it correctly can help position the car for the rise on exit, getting it even slightly wrong can result in a massive accident.
Once through the Bootleg, the track rises again into the next turn, a long left sweeper that racers call Old Cottage Sweep for the old cottage that formerly resided on the outside of the turn, near the apex (since abandoned, destroyed and replaced with a couple of spectator stands). Because of its wide, flat-out nature, this is a popular overtaking zone in pretty much any situation involving group racing, especially at race start; if someone manages to get by into the Bootleg, it's very easy to slipstream back up to them and set up an overtake on the outside heading into Zahara Hills.
Sector 3: Zahara Hills, Complejo de Alonso
Sector 2 ends just after Old Cottage Sweep, on the short straight leading to the Zahara Hills turn. This turn, named for its beauriful sweeping view of the local countryside, can best be described as a miniature Bootleg: it's slower and less extreme, but overall very similar. After that, the track heads back uphill, over a sharp crest, and then dips back down into Complejo de Alonzo, a medium-speed, left-right S-bend named for Spanish Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso.
Sector 4: Stonefield, Pine Cove
After crossing the Sector 4 start line just after Complejo de Alonzo, we then head along a reasonably long straight to Stonefield, a somewhat tight left-hander that cuts through a small field of rocks; this area is not only a popular overtaking zone, but also a place for spectators to hang out both before and after races, taking pictures of themselves sitting on the rocks and using them as surfaces to cook and eat off of. After that comes the long, curving straight known as Pine Cove because of the pine trees that line it as it makes its way uphill to the terrifying and beautiful Windmill Park complex.
Sector 5: Windmill Park
Of the many memorable sections of Zahara Hills International Raceway, this section of track is known as the most memorable. Named for the windmills just on the outside of the final turn in the complex, this section offers drivers a jaw-dropping view of the numerous fields and small woods spilling off into the distance, as well as the gorgeous mountains bordering this region of Andalusia.
The complex starts off with a tight hairpin over a sharp crest, where overtaking is possible but also very dangerous. At many points throughout a given race, an overtaking driver will brake too late, causing the car to get light over the crest and open the door for the other driver to attempt a counter-move. After this, it's steeply downhill into a tight, medium-speed left that begins heading just as steeply uphill on exit, and after that is perhaps the most daunting, difficult turn on the course: a right-hand hairpin that proceeds over what is perhaps the sharpest, steepest mid-turn crest in all of racing; indeed, the track seems to drop all but vertically in the middle of the turn, before continuing just as steeply past both the track's signature trio of tauntingly peaceful windmills (the most popular spot for fans to head before and after the race), and the sector line.
Sector 6: Gordon Murray Corner
After the sector line, it's uphill again, first through a full-throttle right-hander dominated by a long series of stands on the inside, and then back down into Gordon Murray Corner, a slower left-hander leading out onto a small straight past the sector line and into Indianapolis.
Sector 7: Indianapolis, Mountain Straight
The very short Sector 7 opens with the medium-speed, 90-degree right known as Indianapolis, so called because of the slight resemblance the corner has to those at Indianapolis Motor Speedway: it's almost completely flat, has almost the same radius, and is just tight enough that less grippy cars will have to slow down significantly, while still allowing the better handling ones to continue through at full throttle. Mountain Straight follows, a long straight that heads uphill towards the end for the right-handed Bugatti Rise.
Sector 8: Bugatti Rise, Caída Repentina, finish
At the end of Mountain Straight is Bugatti Rise, a medium-speed, continulously-uphill right that drops off on exit. Due to its late-braking nature and the fact that it resides at the end of a long straight, this turn tends to see a lot of action at the beginning of the race, as drivers tend to get into slipstream battles on the straight before and then attempt to outbrake each other into the turn.
After Bugatti Rise comes another very tense and difficult complex, known as Caída Repentina, which is Spanish for "Sudden Drop." The section takes its name from the first turn in the complex, an extremely steep downhill left kink where the track drops away nearly vertically on entry, leaving the braver racers in midair for a split second. The turn is made all the more difficult because of the fact that it's just severe enough that racers have to enter the turn exactly straight to avoid either going wide as a result of the drop, or hitting the inside wall while trying to clip the apex. Successfully navigating this turn, the track wanders back slightly to the left, and then to the right, before the final turn. The course's last corner is, rather poetically, the polar opposite of the first: a tight, relatively easy, uphill left-hander that leads back onto a hill that, in turn goes through a very slight right, and then back onto the main straight.
LAP GUIDE
Zahara Hills International Raceway is known for being a very technical track. This gorgeous course winds its way through the Andalusian countryside, providing a series of utterly stunning views as well as a series of utterly exciting turns that leaves drivers of all skill levels on the edge of their seat. It's one of the most intense and demanding courses yet made for GT6, so to master it, you'll need this guide. Let's get started.
Sectors 1 and 2: Start, the Bootleg, Old Cottage Sweep
This intimidating course starts off with a long downhill run past the end of the first sector and into Turn 1, also known as the Bootleg for its resemblance to the turn at Watkins Glen. Just like that turn, racers are dropped at high speed into a right-hander that turns and goes back uphill just past the apex. Because of the extreme entry speeds and the length of the front straight (just under half a mile), this is usually the site of a few spectacular, hair-raising overtakes during the race as it's not unusual for competitors to enter the turn in excess of 190 miles per hour, even in regular supercars. Due to the fact that the turn tightens partway through, trail-braking is both important and very risky here; while doing it correctly can help position the car for the rise on exit, getting it even slightly wrong can result in a massive accident.
Once through the Bootleg, the track rises again into the next turn, a long left sweeper that racers call Old Cottage Sweep for the old cottage that formerly resided on the outside of the turn, near the apex (since abandoned, destroyed and replaced with a couple of spectator stands). Because of its wide, flat-out nature, this is a popular overtaking zone in pretty much any situation involving group racing, especially at race start; if someone manages to get by into the Bootleg, it's very easy to slipstream back up to them and set up an overtake on the outside heading into Zahara Hills.
Sector 3: Zahara Hills, Complejo de Alonso
Sector 2 ends just after Old Cottage Sweep, on the short straight leading to the Zahara Hills turn. This turn, named for its beauriful sweeping view of the local countryside, can best be described as a miniature Bootleg: it's slower and less extreme, but overall very similar. After that, the track heads back uphill, over a sharp crest, and then dips back down into Complejo de Alonzo, a medium-speed, left-right S-bend named for Spanish Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso.
Sector 4: Stonefield, Pine Cove
After crossing the Sector 4 start line just after Complejo de Alonzo, we then head along a reasonably long straight to Stonefield, a somewhat tight left-hander that cuts through a small field of rocks; this area is not only a popular overtaking zone, but also a place for spectators to hang out both before and after races, taking pictures of themselves sitting on the rocks and using them as surfaces to cook and eat off of. After that comes the long, curving straight known as Pine Cove because of the pine trees that line it as it makes its way uphill to the terrifying and beautiful Windmill Park complex.
Sector 5: Windmill Park
Of the many memorable sections of Zahara Hills International Raceway, this section of track is known as the most memorable. Named for the windmills just on the outside of the final turn in the complex, this section offers drivers a jaw-dropping view of the numerous fields and small woods spilling off into the distance, as well as the gorgeous mountains bordering this region of Andalusia.
The complex starts off with a tight hairpin over a sharp crest, where overtaking is possible but also very dangerous. At many points throughout a given race, an overtaking driver will brake too late, causing the car to get light over the crest and open the door for the other driver to attempt a counter-move. After this, it's steeply downhill into a tight, medium-speed left that begins heading just as steeply uphill on exit, and after that is perhaps the most daunting, difficult turn on the course: a right-hand hairpin that proceeds over what is perhaps the sharpest, steepest mid-turn crest in all of racing; indeed, the track seems to drop all but vertically in the middle of the turn, before continuing just as steeply past both the track's signature trio of tauntingly peaceful windmills (the most popular spot for fans to head before and after the race), and the sector line.
Sector 6: Gordon Murray Corner
After the sector line, it's uphill again, first through a full-throttle right-hander dominated by a long series of stands on the inside, and then back down into Gordon Murray Corner, a slower left-hander leading out onto a small straight past the sector line and into Indianapolis.
Sector 7: Indianapolis, Mountain Straight
The very short Sector 7 opens with the medium-speed, 90-degree right known as Indianapolis, so called because of the slight resemblance the corner has to those at Indianapolis Motor Speedway: it's almost completely flat, has almost the same radius, and is just tight enough that less grippy cars will have to slow down significantly, while still allowing the better handling ones to continue through at full throttle. Mountain Straight follows, a long straight that heads uphill towards the end for the right-handed Bugatti Rise.
Sector 8: Bugatti Rise, Caída Repentina, finish
At the end of Mountain Straight is Bugatti Rise, a medium-speed, continulously-uphill right that drops off on exit. Due to its late-braking nature and the fact that it resides at the end of a long straight, this turn tends to see a lot of action at the beginning of the race, as drivers tend to get into slipstream battles on the straight before and then attempt to outbrake each other into the turn.
After Bugatti Rise comes another very tense and difficult complex, known as Caída Repentina, which is Spanish for "Sudden Drop." The section takes its name from the first turn in the complex, an extremely steep downhill left kink where the track drops away nearly vertically on entry, leaving the braver racers in midair for a split second. The turn is made all the more difficult because of the fact that it's just severe enough that racers have to enter the turn exactly straight to avoid either going wide as a result of the drop, or hitting the inside wall while trying to clip the apex. Successfully navigating this turn, the track wanders back slightly to the left, and then to the right, before the final turn. The course's last corner is, rather poetically, the polar opposite of the first: a tight, relatively easy, uphill left-hander that leads back onto a hill that, in turn goes through a very slight right, and then back onto the main straight.
