The HACK
07-09-2004, 03:31 AM
Just kidding. Had a chance to "measure up" to some East coast drivers at the O'Fest driving school.
First, they "class"ed us by engine displacement. 4-6 baggers got Tuesday, Ms and 8-12 baggers got Wednesday. Unfortunately, Tuesday got overbooked and I was asked by the event organizers if I'd mind driving on Wednesday...No problem I said.
3 basic run groups, A (advance), B (intermediate), and C (beginner) unlike the usual West Coast school I'm used to, where there's 4 classes (A-D). Cal Speeday layout is simple. 2/3rds of the Oval connects the infield. You start from the end of the infield onto an almost 1 mile long straight part of the oval (slight bank), let the car drift up to the top of the oval, upshift from 3rd to 4th right after the transition from the flat to the bank, and I was nearly running out of 4th gear before the short chicane designed to slow driving school students down. There's a small darker block on the wall, I was using that as a visual indicator for a light tap on the brake, turn-in, off the brake and full throttle immediately as the car transitions off the bank into the chicane. Look all the way to the LAST cone marking the end of the chicane, aim for the cone and BLAST your way onto turn 2 of the NeckCAR oval. Let the car drift up about 1/3-1/2 way up the bank, place the car on the bottom of 2 light colored patch on the road, look up at the braking zone and clamp down from 110 mph down to ~45mph to enter the infield. Good braking performance is vital here, as you make a 90 degree left hander, hug the left hand cones, let the suspension settle for a split second and turn in smooth and slow to the 90 degree right hander. Here's the 2nd passing zone, a relatively short one that requires significant amount of cooperation and HP to pull off properly. At the end of the passing zone is a double apex left hand 180 degree turn, the first apex is a throw away. Brake hard and let car carry to about 75% right side of the track, turn in, look through the apex at the exit and let the car run out onto the end of the rumble strip. Here's another passing zone, medium length with another chicane at the end, by the second session I was hauling so much @ss that I had to lift slightly before entering the chicane, otherwise I'd be scaring myself sh*tless. My instructor, Matt, was telling me that in his racecar he'd go full throttle through the chicane without lifting. Maybe if I'm running on R-Comps.
At the end of the chicane is another 180 degree turn, except this time it's a nasty decreasing radius turn. Late, LATE apex into the turn, let the car go as far out left as possible, down shift into 2nd from 4th, turn-in, full throttle and unwind right before the apex, drift out to the exit on the left, and another chicane follows. This one I can take full throttle since the track opens up significantly after the chicane for the last passing zone. At the end of the long straight, there's a deceptively late right hander, followed by another left, and a right that requires you to place the car parallel to the grass, light tap of the brake and full throttle again through a left hander. The left hander with a stack of tires marking the apex will line you up to the double apex left hander that leads you out to the front oval, so if you line it up right you can gain massive exit speed through here. Trick is to ignore the tire stack, pretend it's not there and as soon as you tap the brakes and turn in, aim the car at the END of the tire wall (there's a porta-potty there that Matt told me to look for) and squeeze in the throttle. Light lift to make the turn in at the last turn if you're going too fast, again ignore the first apex, aim for the last one and unwind slowly and slightly as you exit.
There's a good mixture of West coast drivers vs. East coast drivers, since it's O'Fest...I'd say about 65% West coasters, 35% East coasters. The classification sort of threw me for a loop, since Ds are now classified as C's, and B's were actually mostly C students. I was having a field day passing E30 M3s, E36 M3s, E46 M3s, and E39 M5s. This is a true HP track since about 80% of the track you're under full throttle. By my second session I was literally passing people on every single passing zone, and catching up on people through the turns. Unfortunately I have had about 3 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours, and by the third session I was fucking up all over the track because I was physically and mentally exhausted, plus my brakes were fading like crazy because the rotors were way below spec. Ended up wadding up a cone badly, dead centered it on my bumper.
Then I woke up and realize, duh, I've been to this track 3 times while NONE of the B students I was with had been to this track. :D
First, they "class"ed us by engine displacement. 4-6 baggers got Tuesday, Ms and 8-12 baggers got Wednesday. Unfortunately, Tuesday got overbooked and I was asked by the event organizers if I'd mind driving on Wednesday...No problem I said.
3 basic run groups, A (advance), B (intermediate), and C (beginner) unlike the usual West Coast school I'm used to, where there's 4 classes (A-D). Cal Speeday layout is simple. 2/3rds of the Oval connects the infield. You start from the end of the infield onto an almost 1 mile long straight part of the oval (slight bank), let the car drift up to the top of the oval, upshift from 3rd to 4th right after the transition from the flat to the bank, and I was nearly running out of 4th gear before the short chicane designed to slow driving school students down. There's a small darker block on the wall, I was using that as a visual indicator for a light tap on the brake, turn-in, off the brake and full throttle immediately as the car transitions off the bank into the chicane. Look all the way to the LAST cone marking the end of the chicane, aim for the cone and BLAST your way onto turn 2 of the NeckCAR oval. Let the car drift up about 1/3-1/2 way up the bank, place the car on the bottom of 2 light colored patch on the road, look up at the braking zone and clamp down from 110 mph down to ~45mph to enter the infield. Good braking performance is vital here, as you make a 90 degree left hander, hug the left hand cones, let the suspension settle for a split second and turn in smooth and slow to the 90 degree right hander. Here's the 2nd passing zone, a relatively short one that requires significant amount of cooperation and HP to pull off properly. At the end of the passing zone is a double apex left hand 180 degree turn, the first apex is a throw away. Brake hard and let car carry to about 75% right side of the track, turn in, look through the apex at the exit and let the car run out onto the end of the rumble strip. Here's another passing zone, medium length with another chicane at the end, by the second session I was hauling so much @ss that I had to lift slightly before entering the chicane, otherwise I'd be scaring myself sh*tless. My instructor, Matt, was telling me that in his racecar he'd go full throttle through the chicane without lifting. Maybe if I'm running on R-Comps.
At the end of the chicane is another 180 degree turn, except this time it's a nasty decreasing radius turn. Late, LATE apex into the turn, let the car go as far out left as possible, down shift into 2nd from 4th, turn-in, full throttle and unwind right before the apex, drift out to the exit on the left, and another chicane follows. This one I can take full throttle since the track opens up significantly after the chicane for the last passing zone. At the end of the long straight, there's a deceptively late right hander, followed by another left, and a right that requires you to place the car parallel to the grass, light tap of the brake and full throttle again through a left hander. The left hander with a stack of tires marking the apex will line you up to the double apex left hander that leads you out to the front oval, so if you line it up right you can gain massive exit speed through here. Trick is to ignore the tire stack, pretend it's not there and as soon as you tap the brakes and turn in, aim the car at the END of the tire wall (there's a porta-potty there that Matt told me to look for) and squeeze in the throttle. Light lift to make the turn in at the last turn if you're going too fast, again ignore the first apex, aim for the last one and unwind slowly and slightly as you exit.
There's a good mixture of West coast drivers vs. East coast drivers, since it's O'Fest...I'd say about 65% West coasters, 35% East coasters. The classification sort of threw me for a loop, since Ds are now classified as C's, and B's were actually mostly C students. I was having a field day passing E30 M3s, E36 M3s, E46 M3s, and E39 M5s. This is a true HP track since about 80% of the track you're under full throttle. By my second session I was literally passing people on every single passing zone, and catching up on people through the turns. Unfortunately I have had about 3 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours, and by the third session I was fucking up all over the track because I was physically and mentally exhausted, plus my brakes were fading like crazy because the rotors were way below spec. Ended up wadding up a cone badly, dead centered it on my bumper.
Then I woke up and realize, duh, I've been to this track 3 times while NONE of the B students I was with had been to this track. :D