Went to RA for my 4th track day and had a blast. Due to a schedule conflict, I went Sunday this time instead of Sat. It was nice having the extra hour or so of track time, but I kind of missed the down-time in between sessions. It seemed like as soon as we finished, got a drink and checked the lugs,and air pressure, it was time to head back out. The first session was horrible, I felt out of place. It seemed like i was doing everything wrong and just could not get into the groove. After a long break and lunch, the 2nd session felt much better. I started getting progressively faster throughout the day and for the first time, really did alot of trail braking which seemed to help me in a few of the turns (mainly 6, 7 and 10a). Staying on the brakes a little too long nearly got me sideways between 10a and 10b once, but I saved it. Then later on, I got sideways between 10b and the bridge. I somehow chased down a Z06 in the braking zone going into 10a and was on his bumper through 10 and 10b. However on the exit of 10b, I was trying a little too hard to stay with him and the rear end started to get away from me. I corrected and it went the other way, then corrected again and straightened it up. I think I finally figured out how to get through 7 as fast or faster in the bottom of 3rd gear and I previously could in the top of 2nd. One of the highlights for me was finally passing a Vette coming out of 12. Who knows, maybe he wasn't driving all that hard, but it still felt good all the same. One of the Z06 owners said my friend and I were driving the wheels off our cars which made us feel good. My response was that we had to since we were so underpowered compared to most other cars out there. More on the "driving the wheels off" now... On the 5th session of the day, I was pushing harder than I had all day. My confidence was up and my lap times were down (according to my seat of the pants accelerometer). I had picked up 5-10 car lengths on my buddy (and our cars are VERY evenly matched). Oh yeah, Andy was a few more car lengths behind my buddy. Maybe he can chime in and tell what it looked like from his point of view. It's a good think I put some time between us because about 20 min into the 5th session, I lost it coming out of turn 5. Ironically, 3 cars crashed in 5 on Sat, but I believe that was mainly due to the rain. I think I entered the turn ok and clipped the apex, but somehow shot wider than normal - past the curbing and heading toward the gravel at corner exit. I'm not sure if my wheels lost grip on the painted curbing or if I got nervous when I saw the gravel rapidly approaching and gave too much steering input when at full throttle. Anyway, somehow the rear got loose and started heading right toward the wall. I countersteered to the right and the rear jerked to the left (and felt like it was going to send me into the opposite wall). I countersteered left and it came back around. I thought I was going to be able to straighted it up, but it went back around to the right and did a 540 sending me backwards and back toward the right wall. At this point it was both feet in and smoke everywhere. I was thinking this is going to hurt and cost me some money. When I hit the grass, i did another 360 and continued backwards, but miraculously missed the wall - I came to rest about 5 feet from the wall. What's crazy is that out of 2.5 miles of racetrack, my Dad happened to be in the exact spot of the incident and captured the sequence on film. I'll try to post them. Unfortunately, my camcorder battery died about 10 min before the spin. I would have LOVED to see that video! I felt happy/lucky/blessed to have escaped with no bodily or car damage. I definitely learned the limits of my car (at least in it's current configuration). My wife and kids came so it was very cool having my personal cheering section throughout the day. Too bad they picked the only time so far that I had an off-road excursion.
Sounds like several good saves. You might want to pick up the racing books Siegel recommends. Those books will help you drive faster and know where to push.
I didn't see you spinning until I was coming up over the curbing, and by that point you were already on the grass facing the wrong way. Overall, I had a pretty good time too. I thought it was funny that my friend Daniel overheard the guys running the blue wagon talking about me. They said something like "Why's that black WRX so much faster? I dunno man, but I saw that he took out his back seat. Maybe it's that!"
Thanks - I don't know if you'd call that "saving it" though, maybe avoiding disaster. I've got pics, but no video - camcorder battery died. I'll try to post 'em.
You missed a good show. That is funny - it's either the turbo upgrade or the rear seat delete that made you faster. BTW, When you were in front of me in the first session, I was impressed with your acceleration coming out of 7, 10b and 12. I didn't get re-acclimated to the track until the 2nd and subsequent sessions.
"I felt happy/lucky/blessed to have escaped with no bodily or car damage." Everyone on the track with you felt the same way buddy. You passing me on Turn 1 on the inside without a wave by convinced me. Some folks are out there to learn not take out someone else's car or to prove how big their peener is. I for one wouldn't sleep well if I took out some guy's GT-40 driving like that. I figure you are running high 1:50's? Faster than I yes.. I'm slow but trying to learn not impress folks. I'm not embarassed that I am slow. Your car should be able to run 1:45ish at least. With a back seat and stock turbo. Here is a vid from last summer. Not me drivng. Only hitting about 115 down the back stretch. Maybe you can pick up a line from it until I go through the new video after the track resurface. Beau prolly dropped a couple seconds off this in A where as I stayed the same since I was trying to stay out of the way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz6QuPXzGGo
I'm guessing you meant to reply to Andy (with the wrx) and not me (with the Cobra). I never passed you (never even saw you on the track) and I certainly never passed the Ford GT. I too am one of the slower cars in the B group, so I'm right there with ya - trying to learn and get better.
Hey, by no means do I mean offense to you at all. I do admit that it was my fault when you came out of the pits and I cut you off like that. I was trying for a good time that run, and I dove in to turn 1 waaay too deep causing that understeer. I had to go easy the rest of the day anyways. Those carbotech brake pads worked too well, and made chunks out of my rotors. snakecharmer - yea, its amazing what a VF34 can do, and just imagine how it will be when I get off the OTS map and get a real tune!