The Porsche survived another "Drivers Education" event at Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis this past weekend.
It was FANTASTIC! I got cleared to solo and had a lot of fun. The car was running great. I was running places a gear higher than before. And added more rpm to several turns and to NASCAR 3 and 4. (the part of the road course where we go up on the banked oval) I started the sessions with the idea of NOT looking for more speed (at the demand of my instructor) and worked on smoothness and line only. Amazingly, without feeling anything, speed just happened without any dramatics. I am pushing 130 on the straight now, which is faster than ever before. I'm getting this because my entrance speeds are faster and my exit speeds are smoother. Things are falling into place at that track.
Saturday was cold and tire adhesion was low. There were several slides, a couple dent wizard specials and one major shunt. An M3 took out the rear and entire side of his car. Lost it in turn 5, spun, backed it in and side-slammed into the tires. He was in my group. I also had some excitement there once and played some loosey-goosey and did a little tire chirping at about 75mph. My instructors only comment was "that was interesting". (The mistake we both made at that spot was trying to "force" ourselves to go fast and then braking and or shifting in the wrong spots which upsets the balance of the car. This plus cold track equals disaster. We both knew better.)
I had a guy in a Z3M Coupe that I passed in between turn 2 and 3 try to hang with me and did exactly the same thing. He missed the tires though. I saw it in my mirrors. It's wild to see it and keep your concentration going through the esses. You want to watch! It was cool! Slow motion, right behind you. (The mistake he made was he was upset that I passed him and he tried to keep up.)
I've been moved to the third level now - Intermediate/Advanced. My instructor says my ability exceeds my seat time so I just need more track time. It's cool that he has sort of taken me on as his protoge'. He comes out to the track just for me and won't take on any other students. We meet during the week before the events and talk before and after each session. He's also real concerned with the mental part of the game, making sure I don't do too much too fast. More of this is in your head than you think and now I am starting to realize what he means.
If any of you have ever thought of being a BETTER driver, not just a faster driver. But a driver who can really CONTROL his/her car rather than just ride in it, you need to take courses like these. It's an incredible learning experience. You don't have to have a Porsche or go super fast to learn a lot. You can take it to what ever level you want. One thing is guaranteed, you will be a better and safer driver for it.
Sorry for the long post. I'm still on a high!
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P.S.
Boy do I have a lot of brake dust and rubber boogers to get off this car! But no scratches or chips. The Colgan-bra, which is over a Xpel-bra, is doing it's job!
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