As one of, if not THE busiest speed venue in the UK, Curborough will be known to many. That doesn’t make it simple though – there are enough foibles to challenge.
Off the line it’s often a bit slippy, but if tyre warming is still allowed, you can offset this a little. Up through the gears to Flagpole. It’s a quick entry, but stay right until the bend appears in your vision over the crest. A tight line is safe, but not the quickest. Then go through under power, but remember that on the exit of this fast left is a slightly tighter right!
It’s worth building up speed here as this is an important section.
Now, we stay left and take a very late move right at the kink to line up a wide entry to The Molehill. I scrabble over the inside kerbs to open up the next kink right and the short squirt to Fradley Hairpin.
Probably the key bend on the circuit, Fradley Hairpin determines your exit speed all the way to the finish. Under steer will most likely be your main issue here and depending on what car you are in, try to minimise it as much as you can . A tight line often provokes it, so I brake up to the outside of the mid corner and then dramatically tighten my line right- this gets me back on line and often teases the back out which helps. It’s important to get on the power as soon as you can though for the flat out blast along Shenstone Straight and over the line.
The only change to the above is at the end of lap one. Instead of blasting over the line, you get on the brakes (marker boards help with distance) and turn through a one hundred and twenty degree right. Your exit is key here. So, rather than chucking it in and provoking – yes you guessed it – under steer, try to run a smooth parabola around and get on the power as soon as you can through Woodside for the second approach to The Molehill.
