J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
11/4/24 4:26 p.m.
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Did New Jersey Motorsports Park simply have some extra asphalt laying around after a multimillion-dollar repave and renovation of its facility this year? Not necessarily. Much more thought than that went into adding The Devil’s Pass to its Thunderbolt Circuit.


Thunderbolt Classic Circu…

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TR7
TR7 HalfDork
11/4/24 4:31 p.m.

Mmmmm, we call it "the octopus". 

J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
11/4/24 5:25 p.m.
TR7 said:

Mmmmm, we call it "the octopus". 

Maybe "Octopus Pass" doesn't sound as intimidating??? If they named it the Kraken's Pass, now we're talking.

thewaitingthrophyman
thewaitingthrophyman New Reader
11/4/24 6:27 p.m.

Octopus is the correct name for the corner by the locals... should be fun as I'm usually on the limiter in 3 or in 4th having to down shift normally so the extra bit of track will make that a firmer decision depending on how funky the left hander gets...

  I'm curious what happened to the "clip" arrangement they were supposed to do this along with a 180 at T7 into the octopus, all of this was supposed to get done with the repave...   

PMRacing
PMRacing UltraDork
11/4/24 9:08 p.m.

I wonder if they'll ever join the two circuits like originally planned.  I raced the 12hr there in 2011.  Fun and challenging track!

mfennell
mfennell HalfDork
11/6/24 11:43 a.m.

So they're actually laying asphalt now or soon?  It didn't get done last winter because they hadn't worked out a drainage plan (I think).

Bikes probably won't use it, at least for the track days I attend.  

J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
11/6/24 11:53 a.m.
mfennell said:

So they're actually laying asphalt now or soon?  It didn't get done last winter because they hadn't worked out a drainage plan (I think).

Bikes probably won't use it, at least for the track days I attend.  

The Devil's Pass should be available for the 2025 season, per NJMP.

confuZion3
confuZion3 UltraDork
11/6/24 12:07 p.m.

I always liked the 11a->11b section when coming off of the octopus. It was super fun on bikes because, as far as I remember, it was basically just a straightaway.

mfennell
mfennell HalfDork
11/6/24 2:02 p.m.
confuZion3 said:

I always liked the 11a->11b section when coming off of the octopus. It was super fun on bikes because, as far as I remember, it was basically just a straightaway.

Depends on the bike!  On a slower bike, the front straight effectively starts at the exit of 10. They pay for any mistake on the exit of 10 for a very long time.

Funny thing, I have 20+ days at Thunderbolt and I've never heard anyone call that section the Devil or Octopus. It's just 9 and 10.

thewaitingthrophyman
thewaitingthrophyman New Reader
11/7/24 7:40 a.m.

In reply to mfennell :

been going there since it opened 08-ish term was coined early on back then in BMWCCA and NASA groups, maybe is just sticks there?

The Devil is what the track likes to call it...

J.A. Ackley
J.A. Ackley Senior Editor
11/7/24 12:10 p.m.
thewaitingthrophyman said:

In reply to mfennell :

been going there since it opened 08-ish term was coined early on back then in BMWCCA and NASA groups, maybe is just sticks there?

The Devil is what the track likes to call it...

What if we combined them? The Devil's Octopus? I kinda like the ring of that.

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