Waterford Hills Road Racers

Waterford Hills is located north of Detroit, not far from the Pine Knob Resort & DTE Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan. This is a 1.5 mile road racing track (not an oval) with right and left turns, hills and straight-aways. The fastest cars hit over 120mph on the back straight just before heavy braking to make a 90 degree right-hand turn. With one corner speed as low 25mph and another at 80mph, there’s a lot of acceleration and braking every lap.

As you might imagine, this makes for a LOT of action—especially when there are 20–30 cars on the track at the same time! What kind of cars? You name it, we’ve had them racing here: Corvettes, Mustangs, BMWs, Miatas, Porsches, open wheel single seaters, and screaming mid-engine sports racers. You can see some of these cars on our official website’s gallery page.

Races are run in accordance with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) competition rules, and all cars must pass SCCA technical inspection. We honor SCCA and NASA licenses, and any Waterford Hills licensed driver can also race at Midwest SCCA Regional races, so our license is a passport to many road racing venues.

Every spring we hold an SCCA accredited drivers school to bring new drivers to this type of racing. There is more detail on this on the driver school page.

Once you enter the OCSC grounds, go past the clubhouse, and work your way to the far left back corner. Soon enough you’ll see the entrace to the track. Enter through the Waterford Hills gate, and park in any grassy parking area.

There are bleachers for track viewing in turns two, four, and six. The Hill is between turns two and four and has a great lawn view, sometimes with a car show, and it’s close to the concessions.

Inside the paddock there are three great locations to watch the races. There are bleachers on either side of the tower facing the front stretch, and there is a platform on top of the boutique/tech building located at the center of the paddock. Feel free to ask any questions about the racing past or present—there are plenty of willing and knowledgeable people that want to tell you about the best kept secret in southeast Michigan.

Yes, we have some. Mostly they boil down to being a decent and responsible human being. If you’ve been around a race track before, you’re already aware of the inherent hazards. If not, just keep your head up, and you’ll be fine. We do also have some insurance considerations that may not be obvious—i.e., not all the rules may make sense to you, but guess what, you still have to abide by them! Here are some specifics:

• Paddock road is closed to pedestrian traffic during racing action.
• No motorcycles, bicycles, rollerblades, golfcarts, scooters, or skateboards are allowed in the paddock.
• No alcohol is allowed.
• All children must be accompanied by an adult.
• Tower access is restricted to race officials.
• Only authorized vehicles are allowed in the paddock.
• Dogs must be on leashes. Owners must clean up after them.
• Follow the directions of all race officials.
• Paddock speed limit is 5mph.
• Watch out for vehicles moving in the paddock.
• Profanity will not be tolerated.