Once at Willow Springs Raceway, after some course instruction and a little lunch, I hopped back into the Jeep so that my experience
 |
| Willow Springs Raceway was the perfect acid test for Jeep's Grand Cherokee SRT8. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
would be seamless, from the road to the track. Again, it didn't disappoint, but the SUV's inherited height and heft did become more apparent, due to the speeds attained, especially around the slightly off-camber Rabbit's Ear corner, the second turn out of the pits, a 450-degree radius sweeping right that allows for tremendous speed if your right foot maintains a steady throttle.
Through turns three and four, overseen by the Budweiser Balcony, a really tricky assortment of steep uphill and then equally steep downhill sections that form a convoluted "U" shape atop one of the highest elevation changes I've ever seen on a racetrack, the GC did well, as long as, once again, a steady throttle was applied amid short, purposeful braking when necessary. Coming down off of the hill, but still fairly high above
 |
| Coming down off of the hill, but still fairly high above the pits, the course turns sharply left through five. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
the pits, the course turns sharply left through five, but if set up right it's a really quick corner, and then, after a rollercoaster-like dip, up, over and just lightly to the right through turn six, otherwise known as Monroe Ridge. Again, the Grand Cherokee SRT8 performed flawlessly, feeling almost like it was in the air over the ridge, but no doubt maintaining four full contact patches just the same. This is good, because by the time I got down the Wing's Leg stretch to the longest, most uniform turn of all, close to 130 mph (209 km/h - U.S.-spec speedometer)) had racked up on the speedometer, and, at least on the first few times around, I automatically applied some brakes to slow down and set up the 900-degree radius aptly named Sweeper, turn eight. I'm glad I slowed down too, as turn 9, which is really just an extension of turn eight with a tighter 600-degree radius turn-in, snuck up on me quickly, and its off-camber configuration made it so I needed to use all of the ensuing track, which is fortunately quite wide, before entering the half-mile (2,400 foot) straight.
