Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course: The Complete Track Database

Mid-Ohio is our home track, and it earns the obsession. 2.4 miles, 15 turns in its full club configuration, real elevation, and almost no place to rest. It rewards precision and punishes ego — the classic line about Mid-Ohio is that you can't buy a lap time with horsepower here, and two decades of pro racing results back that up.

This page is the hub of our Mid-Ohio database. Corner-by-corner guide, setup sheet, and TT strategy pages hang off it as they publish; event dates and reference times below stay current.

Fast facts

Item	Detail
Location	Lexington, Ohio — 60 miles north of Columbus
Length	2.4 mi club course; 2.25 mi Pro Course (no back chicane) used by NASA
Turns	15 (club) / 13 (pro)
Character	Technical, medium-speed, significant elevation change
Signature corners	The Keyhole (T2), Madness (T9–T11), the Carousel (T12)
Big events	IndyCar, IMSA, vintage weekends; NASA Great Lakes runs three weekends in 2026
History	Opened 1962; transformed under Jim Trueman's ownership in the 1980s — full history

What makes the lap

Three sections decide your time. The Keyhole — a long, decreasing-feel right-hander feeding the back straight — is the corner that sets your speed for the longest full-throttle section on the track; drivers who overslow the entry or pinch the exit give away time all the way to the braking zone for Thunder Valley. Madness through the Carousel is where mid-corner discipline pays: get greedy on entry and the exit ruins the run through the final section. And Thunder Valley's downhill braking zone is where most amateur laps die — a compression braking zone that flatters you in the dry and humiliates the unprepared in the wet.

The full corner-by-corner analysis with braking references and passing zones is the track guide (publishing next in this series). For the how-to on running your first competition weekend here, start with the TT weekend timeline.

NASA TT reference lap times (Pro Course, 2024–25 official results)

What "fast" means at a NASA Great Lakes TT weekend, from official results:

Class	Winning pace	Note
TTU	1:18.3	Purpose-built sports racer territory
TTGT	1:25.3	Unlimited-spec production silhouettes
TT1	1:28.8–1:30.7	Fast production cars — GT3 RS worked example
TT3	1:31–1:35	Well-driven Caymans, M3s
TT2	~1:39	Thin class in GL — a real opportunity

Treat these as planning numbers: they are winning laps, not entry requirements. Field sizes in GL TT classes ran one to five cars per day in 2025, which means podiums — and class wins — are more accessible here than the lap times suggest. If you haven't classed your car yet, run the numbers before you pick a target.

2026 NASA Great Lakes dates at Mid-Ohio

Three chances this season, per the official region schedule: April 17–19 (event #2), May 22–24 (event #3), and August 21–23 (event #6). The May and August dates historically get the best weather; April at Mid-Ohio can be genuinely cold in the morning sessions, which changes tire strategy for the first stint of the day.

New to NASA competition entirely? The complete Time Trial guide covers licensing, classing, and costs.

FAQ

How long is Mid-Ohio? 2.4 miles in the full 15-turn club configuration. NASA and most club events run the 2.25-mile Pro Course, which bypasses the back chicane.

What is a good lap time at Mid-Ohio? Context-dependent: on the Pro Course, 1:40 is a solid advanced-HPDE lap in a capable street car, low 1:30s wins TT3, and outright TT1 winners run high 1:28s. Pros in prototypes go far faster on the club layout.

When does NASA run Mid-Ohio in 2026? April 17–19, May 22–24, and August 21–23 — three of the eight Great Lakes points weekends.