Post by ciscokid on Apr 29, 2008 12:46:38 GMT -5
April 28,2008
7:30-8:00am: Arrive at Skip Barber Race School classroom at Laguna Seca Raceway. Get fitted and dressed in race suit and helmet for track session driving Formula Dodge race cars.
8:00-9:15: Meet'n'greet. Class Lecture about vehicle dynamics, load transfer, what to do in o/s, u/s situations, finding the right line, etc.
9:30: Introduction to our cars. Overview of how to handle a spin, what to do if you go off track, getting in and out of the car and operation of the cars ignition and transmission.
10:00- First outing on track. There were 10 of us in class which they split into two groups. The first time out they had five guys in their cars, and five guys loaded into the two Mazda3 pace cars we were following. My brother and I were in the group that had to ride pace car first. The first few laps were slow to get everyone to know the track increasing speed after that for 10 laps. One guy that was riding in our car stated feeling nauseous after two laps so we had to pull into the pits to let him out before continuing on.
We finally complete the first groups session and we get into our cars for a shot at it. First few laps start off slow, getting to know where our turn in, apex and exit cones are placed, and what to look for in the Corkscrew. The first few laps we din't really need to use the brakes at all except for the Corkscrew and turn 11. Both turns seemed a bit sharper than they are in GT4, also the section from the Corkscrew to turn 10 was a little narrower.
After our 10 laps we pulled into the pit for a short break before all 10 cars go out following 4 pace cars. We were out there for another 20 laps or so, again increasing speeds even more, doing switchovers ever lap, and several guys spun out. One guy said he spun 3 times, my brother did once, and I was able to avoid it altogether.
We came into the pits for another short break before heading out for one last session in those cars.
s13.photobucket.com/albums/a282/ciscrack/Skip%20Barber/
12:30pm: Break for lunch before going to paddock for skid pad exercises.
1:30: Head out to paddock for threshold braking, slide recovery and an autocross session.
Again split into two groups, my group went to the threshold braking exercise first. Using a Mazda3 with traction control and ABS disabled, we had to accelerate to 45 mph before getting to the cones, slamming on the brakes to find the line where wheel lockup occurs and recognizing how to react to that situation. My first couple attempts I didn't brake hard enough to lock-up the wheels, but pretty much found the line just before and made slight pumps of the pedal which fooled the instructor into thinking the car still had ABS working. I took a few more passes, pleasing the instructor by getting the tires to skid and relaxing enough to stop it quickly.
Next up was autocross in an MX-5 Miata. The track was a small loop with 4 turns and a S section. Again we start out slow to learn the turns, then increase speed to find cornering and braking threshold and effectively use trail braking in the decreasing radius turn. We took turns for about 10 minutes with each of the 2 instructors. My second time out I was getting tire squeal on almost every turn and went into a couple small slides with successful recoveries.
Finally we get to the slide recovery part of the day using RX-8's with shaved rear tires. They had two circles of cones set up that we would do laps around. The circles was sprayed with water all around with dry patches on the straights. We again got a ride with both instructors for their input on our reaction to sliding. At first I was turning too hard into the turn and reacting slightly late to recover before spinning. After a few passes I was getting to hang of recovering, but had a hard time accelerating out of it. I was doing pretty well by the end of my time, the transition from wet to dry pavement upset the car easily as well, so I got some experience correcting a fishtailing situation, which I have done before anyway.
After we finished with that we got our reward of getting to ride with the instructors around the autocross course, pretty much drifting on every turn. One guy seemed like he could hold the drifts longer and hang it out a little farther, which I was able to get into his car.
We finished up about 5pm, got our graduation certificates and a few other goodies before our 2 hour drive home.
7:30-8:00am: Arrive at Skip Barber Race School classroom at Laguna Seca Raceway. Get fitted and dressed in race suit and helmet for track session driving Formula Dodge race cars.
8:00-9:15: Meet'n'greet. Class Lecture about vehicle dynamics, load transfer, what to do in o/s, u/s situations, finding the right line, etc.
9:30: Introduction to our cars. Overview of how to handle a spin, what to do if you go off track, getting in and out of the car and operation of the cars ignition and transmission.
10:00- First outing on track. There were 10 of us in class which they split into two groups. The first time out they had five guys in their cars, and five guys loaded into the two Mazda3 pace cars we were following. My brother and I were in the group that had to ride pace car first. The first few laps were slow to get everyone to know the track increasing speed after that for 10 laps. One guy that was riding in our car stated feeling nauseous after two laps so we had to pull into the pits to let him out before continuing on.
We finally complete the first groups session and we get into our cars for a shot at it. First few laps start off slow, getting to know where our turn in, apex and exit cones are placed, and what to look for in the Corkscrew. The first few laps we din't really need to use the brakes at all except for the Corkscrew and turn 11. Both turns seemed a bit sharper than they are in GT4, also the section from the Corkscrew to turn 10 was a little narrower.
After our 10 laps we pulled into the pit for a short break before all 10 cars go out following 4 pace cars. We were out there for another 20 laps or so, again increasing speeds even more, doing switchovers ever lap, and several guys spun out. One guy said he spun 3 times, my brother did once, and I was able to avoid it altogether.
We came into the pits for another short break before heading out for one last session in those cars.
s13.photobucket.com/albums/a282/ciscrack/Skip%20Barber/
12:30pm: Break for lunch before going to paddock for skid pad exercises.
1:30: Head out to paddock for threshold braking, slide recovery and an autocross session.
Again split into two groups, my group went to the threshold braking exercise first. Using a Mazda3 with traction control and ABS disabled, we had to accelerate to 45 mph before getting to the cones, slamming on the brakes to find the line where wheel lockup occurs and recognizing how to react to that situation. My first couple attempts I didn't brake hard enough to lock-up the wheels, but pretty much found the line just before and made slight pumps of the pedal which fooled the instructor into thinking the car still had ABS working. I took a few more passes, pleasing the instructor by getting the tires to skid and relaxing enough to stop it quickly.
Next up was autocross in an MX-5 Miata. The track was a small loop with 4 turns and a S section. Again we start out slow to learn the turns, then increase speed to find cornering and braking threshold and effectively use trail braking in the decreasing radius turn. We took turns for about 10 minutes with each of the 2 instructors. My second time out I was getting tire squeal on almost every turn and went into a couple small slides with successful recoveries.
Finally we get to the slide recovery part of the day using RX-8's with shaved rear tires. They had two circles of cones set up that we would do laps around. The circles was sprayed with water all around with dry patches on the straights. We again got a ride with both instructors for their input on our reaction to sliding. At first I was turning too hard into the turn and reacting slightly late to recover before spinning. After a few passes I was getting to hang of recovering, but had a hard time accelerating out of it. I was doing pretty well by the end of my time, the transition from wet to dry pavement upset the car easily as well, so I got some experience correcting a fishtailing situation, which I have done before anyway.
After we finished with that we got our reward of getting to ride with the instructors around the autocross course, pretty much drifting on every turn. One guy seemed like he could hold the drifts longer and hang it out a little farther, which I was able to get into his car.
We finished up about 5pm, got our graduation certificates and a few other goodies before our 2 hour drive home.
The Moast. Evil. EVAR. (next to Viper, that is...)
