The National Corvette Museum opened NCM Motorsports Park in 2014. In the years since, it has become a beloved road course in a market long starved for one.
Motosuke Fujii/Chevrolet
The National Corvette Museum started working toward building the NCM Motorsports Park road course back in 2007, when the Corvette was still a front-engined sports car available with an LS2. The track was not completed until 2014, with 2023 marking its tenth season. Like the Corvette’s development into a mid-engined world-beater in the same time, the track showed up just in time to meet a growing demand for driving-focused tracks.
The eventual circuit added a track to the the home of America’s sports car in Bowling Green, Kentucky, but the thing that makes NCM Motorsports Park so notable is the track itself. Two separate track ribbons combine to build into a full course inspired by the Circuit de la Sarthe that hosts the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In its most technical layouts, the two inner tracks are packed with mid-speed corners and elevation changes. The two-mile Le Mans circuit, however, replicates specific components of the Circuit de la Sarthe itself: the Porsche curves, the Mulsanne corner at the end of the long hunaudières straight, and even one of the two chicanes that now breaks up that long straightaway.
NCM Motorsports Park is open for track rentals, specific events, and even C8 Corvette rentals. The track is also at the heart of day one of the Smoky 600, Road & Track’s upcoming rally through the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee. Track time on day 1 is followed by time at distilleries throughout the region and drives through the legendary roads of the Great Smoky Mountains. Applications are open now, and the rally is set to start on June 6th.
Keyword: The National Corvette Museum's NCM Motorsports Park Is Kentucky's Home Track