griffined
SVT driver
My 1st open track event, NASA HPDE at Sears Point Raceway (Infineon)
Looking back I would have to say that this past Sunday was the most fun I’ve had lately with my clothes on. One toke on the "go fast pipe" is all it takes to get hooked. The only downside was the extra rubbing I had to do at the car wash afterwards to get the small rubber black marks off of the front, hood, and sides of the car. I got there at 7am, and since I was pre-registered and pre-tech inspected, waited until the drivers meeting at 8 in my car. Some of the folks who were there overnight had frost on their cars, but it got warmer as the sun came out. It was a nice cloudless day, the kind that makes folks willing to pay the high price of living in California.
There were about 40-50 folks there for the High Performance Driving Event. NASA split the Medium and Advanced groups (3 and 4) off from the Novice and Beginner groups (1 and 2). Since this was my first time driving on any kind of track, I signed up for the novice group 1. We got a lecture on the rules, the flags, the passing zones, and lots of emphasis on safety. Not racing each other, and bringing your car home unscratched and dented at the end of the day was emphasized again and again as the goal for everyone. Those of us in group 1 got our instructors assigned to us, and we had some time to spend with them before our first session on the track. We also got the arm bands that signified our group, and that we had completed the paperwork and tech inspection required to drive on the track.
We talked about driving the line, apex's, passing and braking zones, and safety! Both of us (myself and Chris my instructor) hopped into my 00R, and drove over to the pre-grid area of the paddock. I was a little excited at this point, but kept telling myself to be calm. Soon we drove through the break in the track wall, and onto pit lane. Every car was lined up single file, and as soon as the last group that was on the track took the checkered flag, signifying the end of their session, we were led out onto the track by a pace car. During our warm up lap, my instructor was pointing out the read and white FIA berms, and where I should have the car on the track relative to the line. It’s not a normal thing to deliberately run up onto the “curbs” when cornering, but the berms are not normal curbing.
Green flag! This is what every one was waiting for. I had lots of things on my mind, the BIG two were not wrecking my car, and not getting in the way of the folks behind me who wanted to go faster. I concentrated on listening to my instructor’s feedback, advice, and especially the times where he was telling me to steer, accelerate, and brake. The cars were still grouped together like a Congo line our first time around, and when we hit the first passing zone, I stuck my hand out the window to signal a couple of the cars behind me to pass if they wanted. Driving in a careful manner I completed the first lap while looking for the flag stands, letting the faster folks pass, and learning the line around the track. Over the next couple laps, things settled down considerably with the faster folks having passed, and me having passed a couple slower folks and gradually increasing my speed on the track. Just when it was getting comfortable, we saw the checkered flag waving, signaling the end of our first of four 20 minute sessions. After the cool down lap, we pulled off the track and back around the grandstand to the parking area. Following each session there's a mandatory "download session" that the drivers go attend in the racetrack's media center. We spent about 30 minutes discussing how the session went, and hearing folks confess to messing up, and hearing the list of violations reported by the corner workers and track officials. Once again the need for safety, compliance with rules, courtesy, and common sense was echoed strongly. After the session you got a sticker that showed you attended, and was required to be stuck on your car in order to drive in the next session for your group.
The remaining three sessions were pretty much like the first one, except as folks got more track time, the pace tended to pickup. I began to consistently drive the line my instructor showed me, and as a result was able to comfortably drive through the corners a little faster, generating a little more lateral g's. I was able to accelerate a little sooner, a little harder, and for a little longer each lap as I became familiar with the track and how much room I had. You don't really look down at the speedometer when you’re out there, because it's not as important as seeing what's on the track ahead, and picking out your braking and turn in points. I know that at two points on the track I was up to a little over 100 MPH, and pulled 2nd and 3rd gears before 4th and quickly braking. I never really messed up like some of the folks did when they spun out, or went off track, but a couple times I completely missed a apex, or turned in too soon. No biggie, but you could feel how much momentum you'd lose when you had to brake hard and then drive around a corner. It would also upset the balance of the car when you goofed up, and the tires would make more of a howling sound than when you were on a nice smooth line. I really didn't get the car into a 4 wheel drift or understeer until the 4th and last session of the day when I had a little more speed and familiarity with the track. I also never felt my ABS working until the last session, when I was going a little faster, and braking a little later and harder at the end of the straights. Throttle induced oversteer is a different story. I was working on learning just how much power I could apply how soon when exiting a corner all day. It was easy to get the rear end to step out a little when exiting the hairpin turn 11, and just a little opposite lock would let it catch and you could then blast up the front straight and through turns 12 and 1. Coming down through the carousel, under a bridge in turn 6 and then down the straight to turn 7 was another place where I could wind out 3rd gear. The last great place to catch and pass folks was though turn 10 and down to the hairpin turn 11. Before I know it, the day was over! My instructors said I did very well for the first time out, and complemented me on my smoothness when driving. They also noted that my car has plenty of torque.
I did get to ride in one of the instructors RX-7s during a advanced group session. The best way to describe it was one long continuous roller coaster ride. I was constantly looking ahead to see how to brace myself in the car against the cornering g forces, which were stronger than I have ever felt in a car. While the RX-7 didn't pull out of the corners like my car does, he didn't slow down as much for them either. Except for the straights, one or more of his tires was making some kind of howling noise the entire time. I was certain that if at anytime during a turn, something broke or a tire blew out, we would have left the track and hit something with a ton of force!(perhaps with the roof of the car!) This was a different feeling than when I was driving my car, and was most concerned about the places where a wall was close to the track.
I don't think I will ever want to push my collector car hard enough to keep up with the pace of the advanced group. There's also a lot more passing, even in the curves. I saw a new M3 pass us in a corner under braking while we were going up the hill into turn 2, and that alone impressed the heck out of me! Many of the advanced group cars were trailered, and clearly roll caged, non-street cars with racing tires. I do think there will be other open track events for me, it's only a matter of when and where.
:rolling:
Looking back I would have to say that this past Sunday was the most fun I’ve had lately with my clothes on. One toke on the "go fast pipe" is all it takes to get hooked. The only downside was the extra rubbing I had to do at the car wash afterwards to get the small rubber black marks off of the front, hood, and sides of the car. I got there at 7am, and since I was pre-registered and pre-tech inspected, waited until the drivers meeting at 8 in my car. Some of the folks who were there overnight had frost on their cars, but it got warmer as the sun came out. It was a nice cloudless day, the kind that makes folks willing to pay the high price of living in California.
There were about 40-50 folks there for the High Performance Driving Event. NASA split the Medium and Advanced groups (3 and 4) off from the Novice and Beginner groups (1 and 2). Since this was my first time driving on any kind of track, I signed up for the novice group 1. We got a lecture on the rules, the flags, the passing zones, and lots of emphasis on safety. Not racing each other, and bringing your car home unscratched and dented at the end of the day was emphasized again and again as the goal for everyone. Those of us in group 1 got our instructors assigned to us, and we had some time to spend with them before our first session on the track. We also got the arm bands that signified our group, and that we had completed the paperwork and tech inspection required to drive on the track.
We talked about driving the line, apex's, passing and braking zones, and safety! Both of us (myself and Chris my instructor) hopped into my 00R, and drove over to the pre-grid area of the paddock. I was a little excited at this point, but kept telling myself to be calm. Soon we drove through the break in the track wall, and onto pit lane. Every car was lined up single file, and as soon as the last group that was on the track took the checkered flag, signifying the end of their session, we were led out onto the track by a pace car. During our warm up lap, my instructor was pointing out the read and white FIA berms, and where I should have the car on the track relative to the line. It’s not a normal thing to deliberately run up onto the “curbs” when cornering, but the berms are not normal curbing.
Green flag! This is what every one was waiting for. I had lots of things on my mind, the BIG two were not wrecking my car, and not getting in the way of the folks behind me who wanted to go faster. I concentrated on listening to my instructor’s feedback, advice, and especially the times where he was telling me to steer, accelerate, and brake. The cars were still grouped together like a Congo line our first time around, and when we hit the first passing zone, I stuck my hand out the window to signal a couple of the cars behind me to pass if they wanted. Driving in a careful manner I completed the first lap while looking for the flag stands, letting the faster folks pass, and learning the line around the track. Over the next couple laps, things settled down considerably with the faster folks having passed, and me having passed a couple slower folks and gradually increasing my speed on the track. Just when it was getting comfortable, we saw the checkered flag waving, signaling the end of our first of four 20 minute sessions. After the cool down lap, we pulled off the track and back around the grandstand to the parking area. Following each session there's a mandatory "download session" that the drivers go attend in the racetrack's media center. We spent about 30 minutes discussing how the session went, and hearing folks confess to messing up, and hearing the list of violations reported by the corner workers and track officials. Once again the need for safety, compliance with rules, courtesy, and common sense was echoed strongly. After the session you got a sticker that showed you attended, and was required to be stuck on your car in order to drive in the next session for your group.
The remaining three sessions were pretty much like the first one, except as folks got more track time, the pace tended to pickup. I began to consistently drive the line my instructor showed me, and as a result was able to comfortably drive through the corners a little faster, generating a little more lateral g's. I was able to accelerate a little sooner, a little harder, and for a little longer each lap as I became familiar with the track and how much room I had. You don't really look down at the speedometer when you’re out there, because it's not as important as seeing what's on the track ahead, and picking out your braking and turn in points. I know that at two points on the track I was up to a little over 100 MPH, and pulled 2nd and 3rd gears before 4th and quickly braking. I never really messed up like some of the folks did when they spun out, or went off track, but a couple times I completely missed a apex, or turned in too soon. No biggie, but you could feel how much momentum you'd lose when you had to brake hard and then drive around a corner. It would also upset the balance of the car when you goofed up, and the tires would make more of a howling sound than when you were on a nice smooth line. I really didn't get the car into a 4 wheel drift or understeer until the 4th and last session of the day when I had a little more speed and familiarity with the track. I also never felt my ABS working until the last session, when I was going a little faster, and braking a little later and harder at the end of the straights. Throttle induced oversteer is a different story. I was working on learning just how much power I could apply how soon when exiting a corner all day. It was easy to get the rear end to step out a little when exiting the hairpin turn 11, and just a little opposite lock would let it catch and you could then blast up the front straight and through turns 12 and 1. Coming down through the carousel, under a bridge in turn 6 and then down the straight to turn 7 was another place where I could wind out 3rd gear. The last great place to catch and pass folks was though turn 10 and down to the hairpin turn 11. Before I know it, the day was over! My instructors said I did very well for the first time out, and complemented me on my smoothness when driving. They also noted that my car has plenty of torque.
I did get to ride in one of the instructors RX-7s during a advanced group session. The best way to describe it was one long continuous roller coaster ride. I was constantly looking ahead to see how to brace myself in the car against the cornering g forces, which were stronger than I have ever felt in a car. While the RX-7 didn't pull out of the corners like my car does, he didn't slow down as much for them either. Except for the straights, one or more of his tires was making some kind of howling noise the entire time. I was certain that if at anytime during a turn, something broke or a tire blew out, we would have left the track and hit something with a ton of force!(perhaps with the roof of the car!) This was a different feeling than when I was driving my car, and was most concerned about the places where a wall was close to the track.
I don't think I will ever want to push my collector car hard enough to keep up with the pace of the advanced group. There's also a lot more passing, even in the curves. I saw a new M3 pass us in a corner under braking while we were going up the hill into turn 2, and that alone impressed the heck out of me! Many of the advanced group cars were trailered, and clearly roll caged, non-street cars with racing tires. I do think there will be other open track events for me, it's only a matter of when and where.
:rolling:
Last edited:
