Autódromo Huachalalume - Pista Corta Reverse

Overview

Autódromo Huachalalume, officially the Autódromo Juvenal Jeraldo, is a permanent asphalt circuit at the Portezuelo de Huachalalume, in the rural area between La Serena and Coquimbo in Chile's Coquimbo Region. It belongs to the Club de Automovilismo Deportivo Norte Chico, which owns the 102-hectare site and runs most of what happens on it. Besides circuit racing, the venue hosts timed track days, drag racing, drifting, motorcycle racing and cycling. The club organises its own speed championship, with classes such as Formula Nacional 600, Sport Cup Multimarca and GT Nissan V16, and national series visit during the season.

Technical Specifications and Track Features

The full circuit has nine numbered corners on the official map. A long pit straight runs along the western side of the site, with hairpins at its northern and south-western ends, and a winding loop of corners fills the eastern part of the property. A link road across the middle of the site cuts off that eastern loop and forms a short track, described in 2018 as 1,400 metres long with a 500-metre straight. The club's regulations use both the long and the short track for championship rounds. Lap records date from the Panam GP Series round in December 2012, when Jorge Bas took pole in 54.900 seconds and Francisco Cerullo set a race lap of 55.106 seconds.

The circuit's own track-day format is called Fast Time. It consists of timed sessions rather than races: each driver works towards the best possible lap without beating the minimum time of their category. Sessions take up to ten cars for ten minutes, the first one sets the groups, and the day ends with a final for each category. Almost any road car from around 2012 onwards may take part, standard or modified, while SUVs and formula cars are not admitted.

Facilities and Specialized Areas

A wall separates the main straight from the pit lane, which is one-way and limited to 10 km/h, with garages reserved for the cars entered in the event. The club has also built a control tower for drag racing, which has its own regulations and several dates a year, including a national drag expo. Fast Time drivers need a season licence with personal accident insurance, which also covers several other Chilean circuits, and pay an entry fee per round. Optional practice is offered on the Friday or Saturday before an event. Track days are run by the club and by outside organisers such as Apex Motorsport and the Honda Fest, while Bajo Nubes runs the drift events.

History

The Club de Automovilismo Deportivo Norte Chico was founded in 1958 to bring together motorsport fans of Chile's fourth region, and became a legal entity on 19 May 1972. Juvenal Jeraldo Serrano later donated the land, which gave the club a track of its own, and the asphalt circuit opened in 1985 under his name. The club says it has since invested more than 1,300 million pesos in the site. The Chilean Formula 3 championship has raced here regularly, including the opening rounds of the 2011 closing championship and the first two rounds of 2012. The Panam GP Series closed its 2012 season at the circuit, Turismo V8 held its 2015 calendar here, and Fórmula Total ran its seventh and eighth rounds on the short track in 2018.