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With members’ houses in the background, Romain Grosjean navigates the turns of The Thermal Club in his No. 28 Dallara-Honda. 

DLNews Sport:

THERMAL, Calif. — Hidden behind 18-foot noise-canceling walls, the rich folks of The Thermal Club drive their Ferraris and Porsches around a private track that might shape the future of a desert town. A temple to motorsports crossed with a ritzy country club, the personal property is about 45 minutes southeast of Palm Springs, and its residents – who have paid up to a $175,000 initiation fee if they want to live here – have their private airport for private jets.

Josef Newgarden said his No. 2 team (which has a new lead engineer) used The Thermal Club test as an opportunity for building cohesion. 

For the first time, the NTT IndyCar Series made a practice run last week at The Thermal Club, which is not your average racetrack. Choosing the desert oasis to host America's premier open-wheel racing series for its two days of preseason practice was a bold move that has generated rave reviews and introduced IndyCar to an audience of wealthy automotive enthusiasts with decent capital and some good taste.

The 17-turn, 3.067-mile circuit – known as the North and South Palm Circuits – is a tight and tricky layout, with some turns so narrow that drivers have to use their mirrors to see if they are clear before accelerating in. Each team was allowed eight sets of Firestone Firehawk tires for the two-day test, and rookies received an extra set.

IndyCar drivers turn laps on the second day of testing at The Thermal Club, which is nestled in the Coachella Valley that is ringed by mountains in Southern California. 

The series' top drivers had plenty to work on. "The track is pretty technical and tough," said Ed Carpenter Racing driver Conor Daly, who ran four laps. "Many corners are very close together, and the esses are tight. So the track is very demanding, and I think it will be a great challenge for us."

Attending a racetrack in person is a thrilling experience, but don't worry if you can't make it - watching the race on TV can be just as exciting! Plus, you can see an aerial perspective of the drivers' experience.