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I've Found My New Addiction...

Gorgon

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 15, 2002
Messages
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Location
Philadelphia, PA
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And it's High Performance Driver Education. I went to my first event with the local Porsche club this past weekend at Summit Point, and OMG! what a great time! It was so much fun really putting the car through its paces on a race track and taking the car to the limit. What I found was that the car was more capable than I was (very timid about hitting the limit) and that there is more that this car can do. It also showed me the limits of the car as designed. The stock brakes just aren't up to the task of heavy use and the seats offer the worst support ever. My knee was used more often than not to support me around turns and my instructor worked overtime to keep out of my lap. ;) I was also surprised at how much a Z51 suspension car will roll on the track as compared to what you see on the road. It was real bad but eventually as my driving improves I will look to upgrade the sway bars, etc. The new Goodyear GS-D3's worked very well for the event. The first day or so the track was wet and these tires worked very well. Very pleased with the wet and dry performance.

It was fun running with the Porsche group, great guys, very helpful. There's always some jabbing at the Corvette driver, but I had a couple other students from my class that commented on how they enjoyed watching my car work through the curves and how planted it looked.

This was the last event of the season and now I have a list of stuff for Santa to bring me for next season. :) Have you ever seen so much brake dust generated in two days? ;)

Leon

brake_dust2.jpg
 
Leon,
I'm not familiar with Summit Point, but if you enjoyed that, you should plan a trip to Spring Mountain in Pahrump, Nevada. I haven't done it myself, but several of the folks in my local Corvette club have, and they all raved about the experience.

And I'm not just saying that because they're forum sponsors. By all accounts, the folks at Spring Mountain know what they're doing, and the escape makes for a nice winter get-away.

-Patrick
 
Glad to hear you had such a great time! Did you have an instructor drive you around the track in your car talking you through that track letting you know he was driving at like 70% or 80% what it was capable of? It always cracks me up a little to see what people think of that if they do it...I'd be willing to bet that the biggest majority of people even at 70% would have thought that's the limit of what their car will do. I also get a little laugh out of how it amazes most people to see how calm and relaxed an instructor is driving, shifting, steering, braking and when they're driving at the same speed they're grabbing and stabbing frantically at all the same things. Everyone starts there though, it's time and experience at pushing a car through corners (and learning How to drive through a corner) that brings the smoothness. Track time can be a blast, but it can also be an incredibly humbling experience.
 
Glad to hear you had such a great time! Did you have an instructor drive you around the track in your car talking you through that track letting you know he was driving at like 70% or 80% what it was capable of? It always cracks me up a little to see what people think of that if they do it...I'd be willing to bet that the biggest majority of people even at 70% would have thought that's the limit of what their car will do. I also get a little laugh out of how it amazes most people to see how calm and relaxed an instructor is driving, shifting, steering, braking and when they're driving at the same speed they're grabbing and stabbing frantically at all the same things. Everyone starts there though, it's time and experience at pushing a car through corners (and learning How to drive through a corner) that brings the smoothness. Track time can be a blast, but it can also be an incredibly humbling experience.

My first session my instructor drove my car around the track to show the line, etc. I wouldn't say he was at 70%, more like 50-60%, nice and smooth. He only did this for two laps and then we swapped sides and let me learn the line and then I pushed farther and farther at each consecutive session. There's a night and day difference in the feel of the car at the same speed when you hit the apex perfectly and smoothly versus apexing too early or late. Once you find that line it's your own limits that really keep the car from going any faster. ;)

Humbling was taking a ride in an instructor's car (friend of mine) during a Black session run. Wow! I thought he was kidding when he said "Let me know if you feel nauseas. There's no shame in pitting, there is shame in puking in my car..." What incredible driving skill you need to have to throw an old 944 Turbo around the track at those speeds, that close to the limit and not have any current fail safes, like ABS, stability management, traction control... Great times, and I didn't get sick at all. :)
 
I participated in a local Solosprint School this past May, and can relate to your experience. I really got an appreciation for what these machines can do, and for the conditioning of race drivers that run full races (ie. Formula 1, Nascar, etc...)
 
Driving on the track and riding with somebody that knows what they are doing is a really great experience. I spent three days at the Bondurant school of high performance driving about 4 years ago. I loved every minute of it. It's amazing what you can learn with the proper instruction. The other good thing about that school is you get to abuse their cars and not your own. I use some of the things they taught me every time I get behind the wheel.
 
You should definitely come over to BeaveRun (www.beaverun.com) on the other side of PA. Worldclass track and really good management, they don't let people get out of line on open lap days.

Maybe we'll see if you can keep up with my 160hp 3,000lb 4-door japanese sedan. ;) :beer
 

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