Feb. 5- We show up at the track about 7:45am to check in for the class. We were the first ones there, are given a USB thumb drive to plug into a drive in the car that records audio and video of both the driver and passenger, and the track. They have have a breakfast bar for us as we're waiting for everyone to show up. It's not until about 8:30 that we head over to the classroom to go over what to expect and some info about the car. The classroom is the garage right next to the F3 cars, so there was also some discussion about those cars.
We head out to the paddock area for a slalom and cornering test. They lead us through the slalom first, showing the proper line at slow speed before letting us try it. There were 6 drivers and we each took 2 turns going through it 3 times, switching drivers after each turn.
The cornering test was heading into a short straight, bending to the left then a hard decreasing radius turn to accelerate out of. Again, 2 turns 3 times each. They take us back to the classroom for a short bathroom/water break before going on track.
Before I proceed, I need to mention that it had been raining already during most of the night and we had off and on showers all day. Showers off pretty much every time we got out of the cars and went indoors.
We then head out to the track to do sighting laps, finding out how wet it was, seeing the line they wanted us to drive in the rain and getting a better feel for the car. So we had 4 cars total, instructors leading and 3 of us driving with a passenger. We did 6 laps rotating places each lap before going to the pits and switching drivers for another 6 laps. Then it was lunchtime. And the rain stopped when we went inside.
Back on track after an hour, same routine as before but trying to push a little harder finding the limit of the car in rainy conditions. So one driver does 6 laps, pit in for 5 minute break, switch drivers and back on track for 6 more laps. Then a 20 minute water/bathroom break. Rinse and repeat 2 more times.
Feb. 6- More rain, even harder than the day before. We got to the track and there's a river flowing down the track below the bridge before turn 2. So again, the breakfast bar and another briefing on what we're doing that day.
Today we start with an autocross course they put together in a parking lot behind turn 4. They pulled us off to the side of the track at turn 2 to show us how slick the dry line of the track really is so we could better appreciate how well the car handles. It's really slick, like we could run a few steps and slide a few feet on it slick.
They say this is the first class they've done autocross with, so they lead us through the course a few times before letting us go out on our own. We each make 3 passes before switching drivers. We take a short break and they tell us we're going to do a timed competition now. We each make one pass w/o passengers, then have a second round before they tell us our times. My first try was decent had I not braked too late and set off the esp which kinda cuts the car off for a second. The second try was 2 seconds faster. After the 6 of us finished the 2 instructors took one turn each for fun.
We head back to the class, my times were 53.xxx and 51.xxx. I came in second to the rich guys son from Hawaii who had already done the program back in September. We were all between 51-53 seconds except for the old guy who's too scared to push hard. He was 55-something. The instructors had times of 48.xxx and 50.xxx even though they both made significant mistakes. Amazingly only one cone was knocked down between the 12 runs.
Then the human wikipedia of all things Audi, Paul Girrard, gave us a talk about Audi technology vs. MB and BMW mostly. Lunch after that.
By the time lunch was over it had been some time since the last rain fell. We go back on track to do 8 laps each, rotating after every 2 laps. Every lap we do you can tell some parts of the track are drying out pretty well. We're able to start inching our way onto the dry line of the track and increasing speed. By this time we're able to get up to 100mph before hard braking to make turn 7 at about 30mph. We still have to be careful exiting the carousel before that as it's off camber, still a bit wet and we have to cross over wet to dry sections before straightening out.
We do this rotation of 8 laps for each driver a total of 4 times during the afternoon. By the last turn the track was mostly dry except for that Lake Infineon area at turn 10. The wettest parts of the days made that puddle stretch across the entire track and probably over an inch deep on the right side that we had to stay away from. During those laps I had a white car in front of me that totally disappeared from sight even though it's only 30 feet in front of me. Oh, and the windshield wipers turn on and speed up by themselves depending on the conditions. That was handy.
Anyway, I'm sure there's details I left out. All the important stuff is there though. Our instructors were this guy
www.formulad.com/drivers/tony-brakohiapa.html and Ken Hobson. I can't find him online, but he said he set a track record at Mosport the first time he ever went there. Tony B also drove in the last LeMon race my brother was in after christmas at Thunderhill raceway in North Cali. There's another race coming up in April or May that's gonna be in Reno. My brother said his team might need another driver for it. ;D
Glad you guys like the pictures. I wish I made a short vid of the autocross part. After I get my dvd I'll see if I can figure out how to edit some of those later laps to post on youtube. Maybe my brother will do it with his if I can't figure it out.
The Moast. Evil. EVAR. (next to Viper, that is...)