Putnam Park is a 10 turn, 1.78 mile road course nestled 40 minutes west of Indianapolis. It’s relatively flat, fast and wildly fun. The fastest riders will throw down low teens and possibly get in under the 1min10sec mark. At the time being, I run in the low 1:20’s with plenty of room for improvement.
Below is a turn-by-turn dissection of Putnam Park and the chosen lines, braking points, corner entry, apex points and corner exit strategies I use. Hopefully, you find the stills, descriptions and videos helpful at your next Putnam Park track day.
In the pursuit of faster lap times, feel free to leave feedback
Before we begin, here are a couple of bike and rider specifics:
- Street Experience: 10 years or approx. 20,000+ miles logged to date
- Track Experience: 4 years or approx. 8 track days to date
- Bike: stock 2006 Yamaha R6
Putnam Park Straight-Away:
On a hot lap, I’m hitting 140+ on the straight at Putnam. See the slight dip in elevation, just past the flag stand? Nothing daunting, but the front can get lofty here if you hit it at the right time.
Braking Area for Turn 1:
Coming down the straight I’m always in full-tuck and get up to 5th gear towards the end of the straight. I accelerate all the way down until the 1st set of rumble strips on the the left-hand side of the track. Once I see those, I pop up from behind the screen and start braking duties for turn 1.
Putnam Park Turn 1
T1 Entry
Turn 1 is probably the most popular opportunity to pass as the heaviest braking is happening right before the turn-in point. Crafty riders will sneak up on the inside of you and block pass going into 1. My preferred entry is stay to the left side of the track and drop down one gear to 4th…other times 2 gears to 3rd.
T1 Apex
Turn 1 has many lines, but I prefer to apex 1-2 feet from the curbing as it allows me to carry good mid-corner speed and change my trajectory if needed. At this point, I’m using only maintenance throttle and I start drifting outward to complete my exit and set up my turn 2 entry.
Turn 1 exit is a continuation of scrubbing off some speed and bringing the bike back up from heavy lean. Try to use as much track as possible and stay to the outside to set up for a fast approaching turn 2.
T1 Exit/T2 Entry
Putnam Park Turn 2
T2 Apex
Leaving the exit of 1 and setting up 2, I apex early and keep my line tight here so I can apply maximum throttle from apex to exit. Lot’s of lean angle here and I occasionally clip the curbing with my right knee.
T2 Exit/T3 Entry
Power out of 2 all the way to the outside edge using maximum track. I usually end up near the the end of the rumble strips and have the bike stood up momentarily with a handful of throttle.
From the exit of 2, aim your bike at the rumble trips on the right side of the track (T3 apex). The rumble strips are short and go by fast, but executing your turn 2 exit correctly can make the concrete between 2-3 seem like a mini-straight.
Putnam Park Turn 3
T3 Apex
I usually run about 1 ft from the curbing and then tighten up my line on the exit of 3. Once I clip the rumble strip, I ease off the throttle and smoothly get my body to the left side of the bike to set-up turn 4.
T3 Exit/T4 Entry
As you can see, I keep the bike on the right side of the track (right of the seem) but start to tip-in ever so slightly. My eyes are up and looking half-way between turns 4-5.
Putnam Park Turn 4
T4 Apex
Turn 4 is the first left-hander on the track and can catch a few people by surprise as it is slightly off-camber. Your first go through 4 should exercise some caution. This is without a doubt my favorite turn on the track.
I see the most mistakes (IMO) by riders entering turn 4. Usually people see the rumble strip and turn-in way too early which completely kills your drive on exit. I prefer a late turn-in which allows me to pick the bike up and start applying throttle as soon as possible. Again, I close the apex on exit and get closest to the curbing near the end of the paint.
T4 Exit
Lean-angles can be pretty intense through here and I’ve mistakenly dragged my knee in the middle of the track. With a late apex to turn 4, the key here is clipping the end of the rumble strips again to maximize my drive in the short-shoot between 4-5. Accelerate hard out of 4 and run it out to the edge of the track. Be wary of the ruts after the curbing, it is not fun to hit this at speed – I speak from experience 
Putnam Park Turn 5
T5 Entry
Between 4 and 5 I’m accelerating hard and getting the bike back to the left side of the track. As I approach 5 I stay in 3rd gear and close the throttle slightly to settle the bike and prepare for turn-in.
T5 Apex
Turn 5 is deceptively fast as it opens up slightly on exit which will allow for more corner speed and some insurance asphalt…if you get it wrong. Just as I’m touching down in 5 my eyes are up and focused down-track near turn 6.
T5 Exit/T6 Entry
Putnam Park Turn 6
T6 Apex
Once I hit “turn 6″, which is merely just a kink in the pavement I’m accelerating hard and using little lean angle. I brush pass the right-side curbing, sit up and start heavy braking for 7.
Putnam Park Turn 7
T6 Exit/T7 Entry
Turn 7 or commonly known as the “Bus Stop” is the slowest turn on the track. In my few track days, I’ve been witness to several crashes here. People will run in way to too hot or high side themselves to the moon exiting this corner. It is probably the easiest corner to target fixate, since it is a slow 90° turn and you are under heavy braking.
T7 Apex
My goal at recent track days have been to smooth this corner out, increase corner speed and run a tighter line when apexing. I usually grab 2nd going through here, but will occasionally grab 1st if I’m following a slower rider into the turn.
T7 Exit
With a hi-strung bike like the R6 you have to keep it on the boil or you will end up in the dead-zone (under 8,000 rpms) and lose ground on corner exits. I try to get as much drive out of here as possible for the short-shoot between 7-8. As I pass the end of the rumble strips I’m revving the 6 all the way to the top and then letting the revs settle down going into turn 8.
Putnam Park Turn 8
T8 Entry
Turn 8 or “Dead Bear” can be another crash-fest as there is just enough of a straight between 7-8 to gas it and get in too deep. Other than the straight, this is the only place on the track where I’m relatively in the middle of the track prior to turn-in.
Note the seam in the middle? I stay to the right of this to do my braking and then start my turn-in near the corner worker station that is off to the left.
T8 Apex
The great part of Dead Bear is the plethora of lines you can run and it’s camber towards the end of the turn. Go in early and block the inside, much like turn one or turn-in mid corner and close the apex on exit. The positive camber will allow some extreme lean angles here and plenty of knee-draggin’ goodness. Dead Bear is also the only “up-hill” turn at Putnam so it can be easy to target-fixate as it is momentarily blind. I still catch myself dropping my eyes down to the apex of the turn instead of beyond it.
T8 Exit
I gas it out of 8 and run it out to the rumble strips. Passed the rumble strips is a small bit of tarmac to use if you get a little overzealous coming out of 8. Be cafeful going beyond the curbing as there are usually deep ruts left by the cars.
Exiting 8, I will get the occasional head-shake as there is a small dip coming back to the left side of the track. Once my body is back over the top and the bike settled, I get ready for turn 9. I see several riders getting lazy with the throttle between 8-9 and they will tend to drift into 9…losing valuable time.
Putnam Park Turn 9
T9 Entry
Turn 9 is long, wide and combines many turn in points. Be wary of riders exiting the pits going into 9, they normally will signal, but never assume.
T9 Apex
Going into 9, there is a seam that runs somewhat parallel with the apex. After I’ve apexed, I will tend to cross over this seam and run all the out to the curbing on the outside of the track.
T9 Exit/T10 Entry
I usually let the bike drift out about 1-2 feet from the curb and then get it pointed for the final turn. By this time, my eyes are already up and looking passed turn 10 and down the straight.
Putnam Park Turn 10
T10 Apex
Turn 10 is the only turn that keeps me in check. It has the dubious pit-lane wall, which is lined with tires, but still not ideal place to crash. I tend to apex early going into 10, running a tight line and using a conservative throttle hand.
T10 Exit
Once I’m through, it’s max throttle and I’m banging through the gears down the straight.
Finish Straight
For safety sake, I move to the middle/right side of the track to not interfere with any riders exiting pit-lane.
That is my dissection of a track day lap at Putnam Park Road Course, I hope you found some of the content insightful. Be sure to check out my videos and I say hey when you see me out at your next track day.
The following stills were taken from the on-board video below, I apologize in advance for the fuzziness and the sticker on my wind shield. Duly noted for next time.
[...] Creative Crawler : Freelance Graphic Designer : Indianapolis, IN … [...]
Aw, this was a really professional post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a great article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never seem to get something done.
FYI, I can’t view this correctly on the latest Montif browser.
Thank you for your help!
My name is Piter Jankovich. oOnly want to tell, that your blog is really cool
And want to ask you: is this blog your hobby?
P.S. Sorry for my bad english
i am usually surfing throughout the web just about all of the afternoon as a result I choose to read a bunch, which is not commonly a good matter as almost all of the websites I view are constructed of useless trash copied from similar web pages a zillion times, on the other hand I gotta say this blog is in reality decent and even has some genuine substance, so kudos for splitting the phenomena of solely replicating other folks’ sites, if you ever want to have fun with playing a few hands of myspace poker with me let me know – you have my email address
[...] Creative Crawler : Freelance Graphic Designer : Indianapolis, IN» Blog Archive » Putnam … [...]
Excellent send! I was definitely impressed from the top quality in the means. Thank you alot.
Hello. Great job, if I wasn’t so busy with my school work I read your full site. Thanks!
I’m delighted! After reading your post I can tell you are passionate about your writing. Keep up the great work and I’ll return for more! Thank you.
Simply want to say your article is as tonishing. The clearness in your post is simply spectacular and i can assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the gratifying work.
I’ve seen progression in every post. Your newer posts are simply wonderful compared to your posts in the past. Keep up the good work!
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article
great post as usual!