Laguna Seca and the “Corkscrew”: the most famous corner in the world

A circuit carved into the hills of Monterey

Perched on the arid hills of the Monterey Peninsula, in California, the Laguna Seca circuit was born out of a need for safety. When the famous Pebble Beach Road Races, run on open roads, were judged too dangerous in the late 1950s, the local organisers decided to build a proper closed track. The circuit opened its gates on 9 November 1957, funded by businesses and private individuals from the area. Its name, “laguna seca”, means “dry lagoon” in Spanish, a reference to the dried-up lake it winds around.

With its 2.238 miles (about 3.6 km) and its eleven turns, Laguna Seca is not the longest of circuits, but it more than makes up for that with its terrain. The track climbs and plunges without respite, with a total elevation change of 180 feet (nearly 55 metres) between its highest and lowest points. That tortured topography makes it a merciless judge, right up there with the most demanding tracks on the planet, which we go through in our pick of the 10 most legendary MotoGP circuits.

MotoGP has written several chapters of its history here: Grand Prix bikes raced at Laguna Seca from 1988 to 1991, then in 1993 and 1994, before a big comeback from 2005 to 2013. One Californian quirk: local anti-pollution rules long banned two-stroke engines here, so only the premier class ran its races during that final era, without the support classes. This coming and going explains why Laguna Seca holds a place apart in the MotoGP story.

The “Corkscrew”: the drop that makes your head spin

If Laguna Seca is known the world over, it owes that first of all to a sequence unlike any other: the “Corkscrew”, literally a “corkscrew”. Officially, these are turns 8 and 8A, a left-right that snaps shut at the top of a ridge. The rider arrives blind, with no sight of the exit: there is nothing but sky to go on before the track drops away brutally beneath the wheels.

What makes the Corkscrew so spectacular is its dizzying drop. The track falls around 59 feet, nearly 18 metres, the equivalent of a building five to six storeyshigh, over barely a handful of metres. The gradient reaches as much as 18% at its steepest point. Taking on that trap at full speed is an act of faith: the visual references vanish, the bike goes dangerously light as it crests the ridge, and you have to have memorised the line down to the millimetre. It is the kind of challenge you only find on the wildest tracks, like the race to the clouds at Pikes Peak or the treacherous streets of the Guia circuit in Macau.

The Corkscrew is often described as the most famous corner in motorsport, all disciplines combined. In 1996, driver Alex Zanardi pulled off a pass there in CART (American single-seaters) that went down in the record books. But it was a bike, twelve years later, that would write this corkscrew into legend for good.

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20 July 2008: the pass that tipped a legend

It is Sunday 20 July 2008, round eleven of the MotoGP season. On one side, Casey Stoner, the Australian, reigning world champion, aboard his Ducati Desmosedici in blood red. On the other, Valentino Rossi, the Italian icon, at the bars of his Yamaha M1, in the middle of a comeback after two frustrating seasons. Stoner had dominated the weekend, taking pole position with a 1'20''700 and even setting what would become the race lap record at 1'21''488. On paper, he was the favourite. Both men are also at the heart of two of our profiles, the one on Casey Stoner, the Australian legend and the one on Valentino Rossi, an extraordinary career.

The race turned into a duel. For more than thirty laps, the two rivals swapped the lead, wheel to wheel, in a fight of rare intensity. And it was at the Corkscrew that Rossi struck the big blow. In the plunge of the corkscrew, the Italian stuck his Yamaha up the inside, cut across the line, ran wide at the second apex, clipped the kerbs, kicked up the gravel… and somehow managed to stay upright while holding Stoner off. A do-or-die pass, right on the edge of going off track, that many compared to Zanardi's famous move twelve years earlier.

Under constant pressure from Rossi, Stoner finally cracked : on lap 23, the Australian went into the last corner too hot and ran into the gravel trap. He managed to rejoin and save second place, but 13.001 seconds behind the winner. Rossi won for the first time in his career at Laguna Seca. On the podium, legend has it that Rossi, all smiles, said to a fuming Stoner: “ that's racing, Casey ”. Chris Vermeulen, on his Grand Prix Suzuki, completed the podium in third place.

Beyond the spectacle, that win was a major psychological turning point. It set up Rossi's triumphant end of season; that year he took another premier-class world title, proving that the Yamaha versus Ducati duel could tip in favour of the Yamahacamp.

Why Laguna Seca is a cult track

A circuit becomes a cult one when it combines technical challenge, history and emotion. Laguna Seca ticks every box. The Corkscrew has made it a place of pilgrimage for riders the world over, each of them dreaming of taking it on at least once. Its reputation has spread far beyond real-world racing: the track has become a star of video games, notably of the Gran Turismosaga, where millions of players have learned to dread its blind plunge.

The venue also hosts the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, one of the biggest gatherings of historic cars and motorcycles in the world, often mentioned alongside the British festival at Goodwood. Every year, collector machines come back to life there under the Californian sun, keeping the flame of motoring heritage alive.

But it really is the 2008 duel that sealed the Corkscrew's mythical status. That pass appears in every compilation of MotoGP's greatest moments, to be ranked among the founding acts of a sport that has since seen other phenomena emerge, such as Marc Márquez. Laguna Seca has not hosted MotoGP since 2013, but the memory of that plunge is still intact: a corkscrew of asphalt carved into the memory of every enthusiast.

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Summary table

FAQ — Frequently asked questions

• Where is the Laguna Seca circuit?
  It is in California, near the town of Monterey, on the Pacific coast of the United States. It opened on 9 November 1957.
• What is the “Corkscrew”?
  It is the nickname for turns 8 and 8A at Laguna Seca. This “corkscrew” is a near-blind left-right sequence that drops about 18 metres, the height of a five- to six-storey building, over a very short distance.
• What happened between Rossi and Stoner in 2008?
  At the United States Grand Prix on 20 July 2008, Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) passed Casey Stoner (Ducati) at the Corkscrew with a do-or-die move. Stoner, under pressure, ran into the gravel on lap 23 and finished second, more than 13 seconds behind.
• Why is that pass so famous?
  Because it happened in the most spectacular corner in the world, between two champions at their peak, and because it set up the end of season that handed Rossi the world title. It appears in every compilation of MotoGP's great moments.
• Does MotoGP still race at Laguna Seca?
  No. The premier class raced there from 1988 to 1991, in 1993-1994, then from 2005 to 2013. MotoGP has not been back since, but the circuit remains a cult place in motorcycle culture.