Part 1:

For this time around I’ve signed up with The Driver’s Edge. This particular school is a Texas based organization that comes recommended from a friend of Rich’s Gotta love the community we have here.

One thing I must mention is the phenomenal communication I had with this particular school prior to the event. Rick Schwalenberg, President and founder, took the time to contact the participants and discuss the event. He took the time to explore on my previous DE experiences that I had filled on my application, passed out ‘homework’ for me to complete and memorize before the event, and even helped score a deal with Tire Rack for my suspension and wheels. After some back and forth e-mails and the phone call, I happily agreed to start in the ‘Green’ group at square one. The school keeps a ‘report card’ on each driver. So when you attend an event you they have a basis of where you last were and what your strong/weak points are.

Even a stock DSM has its days…
My car has come quite a ways from the first NASA HPDE that I did back in August. Finally tracked down my boost leak to the stock plastic UPIC pipe, replaced that only to break the next weak link, which was my injector seals and BISS screw. Replaced the rear passenger wheel bearing and picked up a new hydraulic press in the process because it was cheaper than taking it to the shop. Following the ‘replace with race parts’ I ended up with a few additions:
- Dejon UPIC and K&N filter
- Koni Sports w/ H&R OE Spring
- Kosei K1-TS w/ 255 rubber (X-mas came early)
- fresh pads and rotors

Tuesday night I began the last steps in preparation for the weekend, a simple brake job which turned into a nightmare. A caliper bolt had seized into the left driver caliper bracket. Essentially not allowing my caliper to move and squeeze evenly on the rotor. It explains why my car would pull to the right under aggressive breaking after the last track event. So a little banging, some cursing, banging with a BFH, I finally got discouraged and broke out the cutting wheel. I separated the bolt freeing the caliber, but rendering the bracket useless. I suspect the two pieces have fused together and have only myself to blame for not checking after the last event. To cheer me up I turned my attention to installing the SS lines. But after rounding out the first two nuts on the hardline with the flare wrench, I thought it wise to call it quits before I break something and really mess up my chances for this weekend. Wednesday turned into a frantic day at work as I spent every free moment calling places trying to get a replacement bracket. Finally it was placed in the hands of the dealership and is scheduled to arrive Friday morning. I took the precaution to get new rotors as they were off (turning them was only $3 cheaper). One last phone call to the shop where I arranged a tech inspection on Friday, and now we play the waiting game.

Which brings us to exactly where I am now, Thursday, 48 hours to go, I don’t have a driver front brake assembly complete, and I’m driving a yellow TDI Beetle. On the bright side this thing gets a million miles to the gallon and my fiancé has graciously offered her RSX if my Eclipse is still down. All this and it’s not even Friday

Wow, is all I want to start off saying.

There is nothing worse then getting close to the day you actually need your car to be one the road, and something breaks a few days out. I think it is a plague that circles our community.



I'm hoping that the worse turns out good in the end and you get everything that you need done. As well as you don't run into anymore problems.

Keeps us updated.

Good luck.

Sorry to hear about your troubles...I wouldn't even attempt to install the SS lines this close to the event, get everything else done. The first time I road raced, I had a completely stock braking system (calipers, rubber lines, rotors) and just swapped in some Porterfield R4E (race/endurance pads) in the front, and bled with Valvoline synthetic fluid (gold bottle). I beat on the brakes all day long, doing very long sessions (30+ min) and never had a single problem with any of my brake equipment. The calipers got so hot that the ceramic caliper paint boiled off and turned black on parts of the caliper...rotors/calipers/lines held up (well except for the fact the dust boots melted/cracked, but who needs those anyway? )

eclipsegsx1736 said:

Sorry to hear about your troubles...I wouldn't even attempt to install the SS lines this close to the event, get everything else done. The first time I road raced, I had a completely stock braking system (calipers, rubber lines, rotors) and just swapped in some Porterfield R4E (race/endurance pads) in the front, and bled with Valvoline synthetic fluid (gold bottle). I beat on the brakes all day long, doing very long sessions (30+ min) and never had a single problem with any of my brake equipment. The calipers got so hot that the ceramic caliper paint boiled off and turned black on parts of the caliper...rotors/calipers/lines held up (well except for the fact the dust boots melted/cracked, but who needs those anyway? )

Click to expand...

Sorry to go off the thread topic, but I have a few questions for you. Number one- I see in your sig that you're using a GT2871R. What turbine housing are you using? Did you find a bolt-on housing, or are you running it in a t3 housing with a t3 manifold? I have a friend who is willing to give me a GT2876R and I haven't been able to figure out if the standard gt30/gt35 bolton housings bolt to GT28 turbos.

Number two- how did you like the R4Es? Did you do any street driving on them? I'm trying to decide between the R4E and R4S for my car- I don't really care about rotor wear, dust, noise, but I do care if they will stop the car safely without being heated up.

Caithness said:

Sorry to go off the thread topic, but I have a few questions for you. Number one- I see in your sig that you're using a GT2871R. What turbine housing are you using? Did you find a bolt-on housing, or are you running it in a t3 housing with a t3 manifold? I have a friend who is willing to give me a GT2876R and I haven't been able to figure out if the standard gt30/gt35 bolton housings bolt to GT28 turbos.

Number two- how did you like the R4Es? Did you do any street driving on them? I'm trying to decide between the R4E and R4S for my car- I don't really care about rotor wear, dust, noise, but I do care if they will stop the car safely without being heated up.

Click to expand...

The turbo was custom built by Victory Performance for someone else, so I don't have all that much info on it. There are a bunch of different GT2871's floating around and they all seem smaller than the one I have. Mine looks like a 50 trim but the compressor housing is a little smaller. Its a 56 trim wheel. The turbine housing says Precision on it, and that's all I know. I have a stock 2g manifold on it so it's a Mitsu flange. It seems to flow in between a evo III and a 50 trim based on my lb/min, I've hit around ~41 lb/min with it at 24ish psi.

I had the R4E's a few days on the street, and while they did squeak pretty badly (sounded like worn out brake pads), they stopped when cold pretty well. Didn't notice anything unusual...hell my MetalMasters (horrible pads BTW) don't work that great when cold.

We pick up on Friday before the event. This is what it looks like in fast forward:
- pickup bracket, drive to another dealership to pickup guide pin
- tire blow out on suburban coming home
- arrive for tech only to find the shop has no power, squeeze tech in 30min. before closing
- play Tetris with the Eclipse (EZ-up, 4 tires, liquids, tools, coolers...etc)
- drive to make beginner's meeting with 1min. to spare
- sleep...much needed sleep

Sat. begins at the crack of dawn as my brother and I arrive at the front gates to TWS. At 6:45 in the morning you tend to miss clearly marked signs such as 'no parking' which leads to endless head smacking as we relocate our EZ-up. We finally settle in along the hot pit fence and begin prep work for the cars. It's the usual tape the nose /headlights, change tires, check pressure and fluids, remove everything from the car, etc. 7:45 is the driver's meeting followed by our first class where we review flags and passing, driver position, and then bam...go time! Of course I hadn't finished changing out one tire and frantically slapped it on to make the grid on time.

This first session out was an introduction parade under full yellows without helmets. I find a place in the grid and wait anxiously for my instructor. Long and behold, I get introduced to Mr. Chuck Willis. I met Chuck through Rich here on DSMTuners and he has helped me locally with DE venues and local speed shops. Instantly knew I was in for a treat as Chuck races a 3000GT and understands AWD platforms. After adjusting the seat we get acquainted and start right into the car. He's kind of surprised to see a GSX at the event, knowing the DSM track record. Seems one of the coordinators had a '90 talon with a 2.3 stroker in it and never seemed to make it through a full session. We were instructed that our instructors would be driving the first 2-3 laps to familiarize themselves with the car and to allow us to see the line that they would hopefully impart upon us later that weekend. Corner stations and helper cones for turning, apex, and trackouts were all identified, and then it was time to swap places. I took it easy around the track seeing familiar markers and following the line that Chuck showed me. It wasn't too different from the line I was taught at the NASA HPDE, but it filled in the many blanks in between the apexes and adjusted it for the AWD capability. Chuck began with an emphasis on the sweepers as those are the corners that led to the straights. Once those points were hashed out we move to the setup/throw away turns that prepared us for the right entry into the sweeper. All too soon the session is over and we were herded back into class. It was a great feeling to be back out on the track and it felt more comfortable with the guidance from my passenger seat.

Back in class we started by covering basic essentials for enjoying ourselves and building a basic foundation. One would expect an in depth introduction into turns, or how to brake and apply the throttle. But instead we started with breathing, proper mindset, communication with the instructor, letting the instructor know your learning style, and so on. I was taken back as I thought, 'Isn't breathing an automatic function of the body?" These fundamentals would allow us to stay mentally sharp and make the most of the instructors and our time on the track. We talked a little more about the flags, where the corner stations were, and then introduced passing into this next session. We all had a good laugh while discussing passing as one of the BMWs was a V12 850 series that had a nifty feature that automatically raised the windows at speeds above 90mph. Stick your hand out, I dare you. We delved a little into braking and how to properly apply the brakes. A 'limo stop' is the effect we were trying to achieve. Quickly and firmly apply the breaks to scrub off the speed and then roll of the brake to not unsettle the car. If done properly the weight transfer is controlled and equates to smoothness. I had some time before my next track session so I took the time to walk around the paddock and meet some of the drivers in my run group. It's a diverse mix with ages ranging from teens to seniors. Even the cars are an interesting collage with a Viper, a NSX, a pair of Vettes, a few S2000s, fleet of Minis, a swarm of STIs, one EVO, the new MazdaSpeed3 with 200 miles on the clock,some BMWs for good measure, and it wouldn't be a track day without a few Porsches.

Our flag went up by the pit entrance so I rolled on up to the grid and Chuck hops in the passenger seat. He hands me his gloves and explains the advantage of not having to grip the steering wheel to keep it from slipping. He also takes a look at my shoes and shows me the difference between the soles of his and mine and how they affect the feedback through the pedal. After donning our helmets we setoff for our first hot session. Caution flags are dropped from the corner stations and we're rolling down the front straight. Unlike my first HPDE, I didn't shift gears and I didn't go barreling into turn 1 at 135+mph. Instead I stayed in 3rd around 80mph and began piecing the track together. Keeping comfortable speeds I began to see the difference from the line I knew and the line that I was driving. Chuck explained that the tires could only do 1 of three things at any point, which are braking, turning, and accelerating. That was the reasoning for breaking up the corner into 4 distinct parts. Entry and lining up for the braking zone, straight line brake, turn in, and once the car had rotated use the throttle to accelerate out of the corner. Simple, we have 15 corners, 4 parts per corner, that's only 60 things to do right on per lap. Yeah right...about that time I get a, "Are you still breathing?" Nope. I held my breath all the way down the back straight, duh. The session was great as the car responded to my inputs, I didn't scrub the tires or push the car, and was very pleased with the amount of improvement I felt from the last HPDE. But there's always room for more.

The rest of the day went pretty much the same. Flip-flopping between classroom and track time. Each session on the track had an objective. The first session was to get a feel for the car and show the track and the line. Session two was breathing and connecting the dots that formed the corner. Session three was concentrating on setting up for corners and smoothing the line. Session four we got into visualization and looking ahead. This of course was all spoon fed to us at an individual level. Thus we had some cars picking up speed early and others working intently on their passing signals. I had quite the work out with my left hand, but made a conscious effort to keep at a quick but controllable pace. About half way into the third session though everything began to fall apart. All of a sudden I was developing a bad habit in turn 6 and 12 and I was constantly in the wrong gear, accelerating while turning or even before turning, and lifting off. After the session I asked Chuck what I did wrong, and he smiled and replied, "Nothing really". Umm..no, I'm sure I messed up somewhere. He said I picked up the pace and began to break through other barriers that I previously had not seen, such as shifting and gear selection. Looking back at that session I do remember catch up to cars on the front straight and using 5th to make passes and also scaring myself in some of the sweepers. I was also shifting up to 4th on the back as I got more comfortable with the car. Chuck said the good news was I was making predictable and consistent mistakes, and those could be ironed out next time around. I just needed to slowly work on adding more speed and stay within my comfort zone.

Before the last session for the day I was instructed to take my turn on the slalom course. Peter would be showing me the ropes through the course and took the car out first to see how it handled. He said it was different than the STIs because their boost would come on so abruptly that accelerating smoothly was different than my GSX. I was curious how they did the in slalom and asked him to give my car a good go, just to see what it could do. He happily agreed. We cleared the course around 50-55 mph. I have no idea as how that compared, but he did say that he could probably take it a bit faster as the wheels weren't straining yet. So one more go and we really threw it into the course. It wasn't the pretty nimble dance as the Elises or Minis, but it was fun as the car swung out from one cone and just would not break traction as we mauled our way around the next. It was fun to see just how much grip the AWD platform combined with the tires could give. My turn. First run is 45ish no cones dropped, good visualization and looking ahead to the oncoming cone and not the one I was negotiating. Second run I was cooking it a little to hot and clipped 2 cones. Third run things flow smoother as I mimic off a 57mph run. I learned something crucial to from this exercise. I don't have a good projection of where my passenger wheels are. This revelation translated to the track in two turns where I was roughly a car width from the track edge that I was suppose to be at.

Session four, time to piece things back together. We take to the track and slowly built up speed. I'm still having problems with turn 6 where I loose the order of operation of brake, turn, then gas, but turn 12 is solved. Not by slowing the car down, but adding a bit of control and trust in the car. Instead of coming in flat out, Chuck suggests I let off the gas just a hair to transfer the weight to the front and then turn in. Using the throttle I gently add more juice and the car naturally rotates and sling-shots out of the corner. I hold the throttle in and sure enough the car tracks to the proper outside line without any fuss. WOW!!! I want to do that again, I want more of that. I spend the remainder of that session trying those new found skills in different corners and achieving that same feeling. Chuck is just a joy in the car with positive reinforcement and elated 'Turnin, gas, gas, GO! GO! GO! Yes! Now were cookin!' We were along the back straight about half way through when this black beast appeared exiting the corner. In a blink of an eye it was rushing up on my tail and I gave the point by despite being half way down the straight. It was the Viper and it passed me as if I was standing still. Despite the speed difference in the straight Chuck said to stay with it. I entered turn 7 in 4th gear, tracked out, and lined up for 8 and 9. By the exit I was nose to tail with the viper going into turn 10. The big RWD monster took an outside line as I start middle going into this button hook. I hear, "Out turn him, out turn him!" from the passenger seat as I progressively turn adding more steering to meet the apex for turn 11. I'm still right on the Viper and can see his tail tracking out as he came in too hot. At the exit I'm coming out much faster as the Viper has to negotiate the curbing to make turn 11. I got a point by on the straight as he made it onto the straight. What a rush! The cabin bursts into excitement like we just took the checker. Calming down we set our focus back on the track and allow the Viper to pass and give ourselves some room on the main straight. As we make our way around again I see a standing black flag up. Coming back into the infield I see some interesting skid marks and my brother's Miata off course sunk in the mud. We pulled in and called it a day.

The day had taken its mental and physical toll on the body. All I wanted to do at that point was pass out, but I got engaged hearing my brother's experience. He too is having the time of his life and becoming very surprisingly quick. Despite only being able to attain 100mph on the front straight he was do some serious footwork and car control in the corners. His exit speeds were quite high allowing him to also charge on the Viper and Vettes. His instructor mentioned that he was a natural driver and despite the off, he was nailing the corners and carrying a lot of momentum. His favorite session was 4 where both Vettes had to break on the front straight to allow the Miata by. After 1 and 2 he was gone. After dinner that night I made it a point to revisualize the track and break down each corner. Where is the entry, what speed/gear I should be in, what markers should I be looking for, where to brake, where is the apex and the trackout point. After repeating this 4-5 times I quickly realized that my mind wasn't going to digest anymore and that my recollection of the corners was beginning to fade. Time for bed.

Sunday morning brought in the cold front. Temps had dropped into the low 50s and everyone was breaking out their winter clothes. Tire pressures dropped a steep 5psi and the thought of driving with the windows down just seemed very unpleasant. As I waited for our run group to arrive again I began reciting my corners. I made a decision last night to limit my shifts. I would shift to 4th on the two large straights and use the momentum to maintain my speed until I was required to hard break for turns 3 and 10 and downshift to 3rd. The car is happy so see the cold weather and Chuck cautions me about the change in feel of the turbo and tire pressures. We take the warm up lap feeling the course and testing the surface under these cold conditions. Back on the front straight and we're off. We gobble one corner and spit it out as we race towards the next. I string one corner after the next and then the next, and soon I see the front straights again. That was it! That was a good lap! Around we go again, picking up a little more speed but sticking to the plan. A little bobble here, and there, but another decent lap. As this first session continues I've driving and pushing a little faster every lap. I find myself catching half the pack and passing instead of being the passed. The fun comes to end as the checkers are brought out. Chuck inquires about what changes I made over night, and I explained my plan. By keeping in 4th off the sweepers I couldn't rely on my power gear to pull me out, instead I was driving a 3500lbs. Miata and relied on momentum rather the engine. This made the turns that much more important and forced myself to drive the line. What a feeling and a great start to the day.

Session 2 was much the same. We came out with the mission to not only shoot for that one good lap, but to repeat it and make it consistent. The car came alive and once again I found myself gobbling up cars. First a BMW, then a school of STIs (they loved to run together), and then an S2000. Chuck leans over and asks, "What is the most dangerous corner?" Ah ha...trick question. I replied, "One that I am uncomfortable with." While that being partially true, he was looking for, "The next corner after you pass someone." The person being passed stays on their line to maintain predictability, while the passer is off line and performing the pass. This situation is a recipe for disaster, offline and approaching at a high speed. We begin to change the focus of the session to offline cornering and how to properly negotiate the four elements of cornering. I'm cautious at first as I'm not comfortable getting that close to the other vehicles, but after a few repetitions, I get the hang of it. Properly setting up a corner by giving that little buffer for me to make a charge and then dealing with the corner entering from the middle/inside of the track. At the end of the session Chuck motions to go grab my helmet and meet him at his garage after lunch. It was time for a ride along.

Chuck drives a 3000GT and this thing is packed full of technology. Active aero, 4wheel steering, electronically selected shock settings, and the best bit of all, 275 on Volk rims that tuck in the fender well. How unfair is that? With the boost around 12 psi we pull out of the grid and hit the track with the instructor run group. Everything is like watching a video in fast forward. Chuck drives the line he is teaching me and I pickup a few pointers where I was slightly out of position, or why the weight transfer at a certain point was required. I remember seeing a Vette pass us on the inside of turn 3, he slides the car around the corner, charges up hill, and takes the bump slightly sideways. Unreal. Unfortunately our session is cut short as the car is spiking to 15psi and encountering fuel cut, and then we loose all but 3rd gear. We make it off the track without causing any flags and Chuck dives under the hood. The IC piping is crazy under the bonnet, but things look vaguely familiar. Now here's a little secret...good way to score points with you instructor is to fix their car We check the shifter cables and the linkages and they moved freely. Under closer inspection of the linkage that connects to the selector shaft I notice a pin that had worked its way out. I point it out to Chuck and I get the go ahead to dive in. I slide the shift linkage back over the selector shaft feeling for the hole that the pin slides into. Sure enough it popped in half way and the gears began to click again. Using a set of channel locks, we managed to press it back into place. Through out all this excitement I turn to see the green group gridding. I sprint to clean up and get the car onto grid.

Session 3...ugh. For some reason I wasn't able to take the track at the speeds I had done the first two sessions and for the first time my car pushed in the carousel. I tried slowing down, but that didn't solve anything. Chuck asked if I was fatigued, but I felt fine and I didn't think my concentration was slipping. I wrote it off that I was too excited coming onto this session and just concentrated on corners again. This session ended with an accident though. I had just passed a red 350Z on the front straight and was following behind an NSX through turn 3. The driver made a crazy line and apexed early. For sure he would be flung off, but he brought the rear around and took off up the hill. I was about 2 car lengths behind him when he entered turn 4 and once again he early apexed. The tail wagged a little so I eased off the throttle and pulled to the inside of the track. This time he was not so lucky as he spun off the track and a black flag popped up at the next corner station. We pulled into the pits. The talk of an accident filled the paddock as one of my friends asked me about it. I said sure, I was behind the gray NSX when it spun, but I didn't think that it was anything bad. It was a different car, it was the red 350Z I passed on the straight. She early apexed turn 2 and tracked out to the rumble strips. For whatever reason she ended up driving off the rubble strips and dropping 2 tires off. We were warned about this situation and talked about what to do if you have or going to have an off track excursion. The story goes that she straightened the wheel, but lifted off the throttle and caused the rear to snap spin bringing the car back across the track into a tire wall. It hit square on the passenger side. No one was injured and the car suffered purely cosmetic damage along the passenger side. The driver was a bit shaken, but couldn't wait to make it back out at the next event.

Back at the paddock everyone took it a step down and was a little shaken. Seems that my brother had a bad session that round and had been taking it easy since the first session this morning. I took my mind off the accident by doing a once over on the car. Fluids looked good, checked the tires for signs of rubbing, check tire pressures....wait a second. This morning it was 5 psi low. It had warmed up enough to shed the outer layers, but I never checked the tires. Sure enough they were 7 psi up and the likely culprit to my cars behavior. Dropping the pressure back down, it was time to gather up all the know-how and head out for the last session. I was feeling a little off, whether it be due to the accident or just tired from 2 days of automotive bliss, so I asked Chuck to watch my driving if I started to slip. Naturally he gave me a smile and says your doing great as he hands me the gloves. Once the track went live, my second wind breathed new life into me. It was my last session and although no track records were going to be set, I still wanted to drive. The first turn was all sorts of fumbled up, but for a good reason. I was driving with the car's characteristics from the previous sessions. A voice from the passenger seat, "What are your braking for? Bad Kevin." But I also felt the car return, it's stable and responsive again...time to get back into it. I start laying down some consistent laps as I find that comfortable rhythm. As I make my way to the back straight one of the STIs pulls up hard on my tail. I get the car out onto the straight and signal him by. As I crest the top between turn 7 and 8 I ask my instructor if he sees the STI. He points in the distance as it's out in the field testing its rally capabilities. No sooner as I look forward to turn 9 I see debris covering all over the track. I would later find out one of the Vettes lost it here spraying grass, mud, and dirt everywhere. Then later in turn 14 the same thing, an Audi decided that he would upstage the Vette. With those corners in mind I regain composure on the front straight and wave by another STI. My instructor looks back and mentions there's one more car on the straight with us. It's my brother. I remember saying, "He's gonna have to work for it." I lead into turn one follow by my sibling in his white Miata. We talked a bit about his line and mine, and I knew I wouldn't be able to carry in the same speed as him, but I could match his exit speed quite well. Everything is going well and I've managed to put 3 car lengths between us as we approach the last set of turns before the main straight. And of course wouldn't you know I botch the entry going in to deep and have to let off the gas and just bounce off the other two curbs. I hit the main straight much slower expecting to see the Miata right in my mirror, but instead it's 4-5 cars back still. He had latched onto my bumper and followed my horrible line into the last series. Chuck and I had a good laugh and I waved him on by. My brother's instructor Stan turned to him and said, "He's waving you on by, guess he wants to see what you got." It was an absolute blast as our cars were pretty evenly matched. He would rocket into the turn leaving me behind, only to have me make ground with exit speed and the extra umph from the 4G63. It was the perfect way to end a fabulous weekend.

Recap:
This weekends DE program held by the Driver's Edge was an amazing experience, both physically and mentally. In a perfect world we all would be learning on a Miata with stock tires, automatic transmission and in the rain. But instead there are those of use that defy logic. Some choose high HP cars such as the Viper and Vette, others gravitate to the well balanced S2000s and NSXs. But then there are those of us that enjoy the chaos brought to us my Mitsubishi. Chuck is one of those individuals and I am honored to have had him as my instructor. I'm looking forward to another event in Dec. where we will be running TWS in the opposite direction. And I'm bringing a 1G along for the ride! C-ya next time.

Damn it, where are the pics? Lots of words but no visuals

Great writeup, good times, you're off to the the races...

not yet. I really enjoyed the environment and will be staying in green for the next event. I feel that I cheated a bit since I had run this course in this configuration before. I'm anxious to get into time trials, but the new people I can call friends and get to drive with is more than satisfying. I'll probably do 4-5 more of these before alternating back into NASA HPDE. I want to experience both sides as NASA did concentrate more on the racing environment, but I'ld like to get more seat time and basics under my belt.

I promise pictures next time Chris. My brother is an excellant photographer, but he's in my run group so no photos. In Dec. he'll be there as support and photo and hopefully I can design a rig to hold a camera in car. My friend Ruben who drives the black STI from above had some in car stuff. I'll see if I can get the vid.

Sounds like a blast! I decided last week that I'm going to try getting an instructor ride-along at my next event (I've never had an instructor!), and your story solidifies that plan.

Chuck was not only able to show me the track, but also what his experience was from an AWD stand point. Ruben's instructor drives a spec Miata and you could see the difference in our lines. His line closley resembled my brother's using a lot of momentum where subtle differences of that line allowed me to utilize different aspects of the AWD system and apply power a bit sooner. Slight variances in corner entry meant that braking and turning were done earlier at the expense of some momentum, but then allowed the AWD grip and power delivery to do its job and rocket out of the corner. We have them on our car, might as well make all that weight equate to something.

I would definitly recommend having them show you what they are capable of or what your car is capable of. Not as a benchmark 'that if they can do it so can you', but to give you an idea and understanding of the line that they are showing you. Chuck said a ride along on Sat would have been useless as I was adjusting to my capabilities and grasp of the track. But after the first two sessions that ride along provided some fine tuning to what he was trying to show me.

Instructors are great. I had my first track event last friday and it was so easy and comfortable. I did not expect to pass anyone that day, especially a race-prepped miata! (In his defense it was his first day, too. Oh, yeah, I passed him in my wifes 3800lb A6 cause he couldn't get away in the corners!) My instructor had more confidence in me and a better idea of my abilities after a few laps than I did! I will probably want to do an advanced school next year after a few HPDE's, if I can afford it after putting my wife through the basic driver training. She's jealous now She wants to take her twin turbos to 120+ on the front straight of PIR, too! It would be cool someday to try a more open course, I didn't even use 5th gear in the Talon or 6th gear in the Audi

It is nice to have a woman that loves you more than your DSM does and will let you borrow her ride for the last two sessions of the day. She also understands it is better to race than throw money away. I just wish it was cheaper, if she likes the track as much as I do, we will have to start robbing banks together...

AWD is not a bad thing on a racetrack, but Quattro AWD is sublime! Throttle on oversteer was almost impossible in the Talon but helped me late apex in the heavier, but similar pow-to-weight A6.

I didn't get any pics either, you need a suppt crew for that! I will have the headrest camera mount made of advanced composite (wood, resin, fg cloth and some bolts!) ready for my events next year and might get some in-car stuff.

It takes some serious suspension setup and/or center diff to be able to achieve throttle oversteer due to the 50/50 nature of the center diff. With momentum cars, it seems like bringing a knife to a gun fight. But what it takes to make those cars fast translates directly to other cars. Without power, they depend on making perfect corners to be fast and when they dont there's nothing they can do to pick up that lost pace. I suppose that's why they make good training cars. I'm looking forward to the day I can get a ride in a Miata. After watching two spec Miatas in the instructors run group, it takes some serious mental instability to want to corner like they do.

I hear you on the significant-other situation. If all holds together, my fiance will be picking up her 350Z this Fri. I lost on color, but at least I convinced her not to get those power-heated leather seats I want her to really attend a driving school since she's never driven a RWD car before, much less have 300HP on tap. Plus if she likes it we'll have something to do together rather than dancing lessons. WTF

Ok managed to dig up a few pics of the event. These were from my friend Ruben's STI that ran in our run group.

Vid - Taking the carousel


Vid - Front straight action (yes that white dot is me getting smashed on the straight)


Vid - This is a show of all the green groups cars coming in from a session.