New Z-06 takes on GT3 at Trackday...
 

...much douchebaggery ensues. Driver of Vette claims he has "two and a half days of track experience," and is out to prove his car is faster than a GT3 no matter his lack of experience.

Worst Trackday Video Ever? Z06 Driver Risks Life To Beat A Porsche


Love it when he tells his instructor, "hold my glasses" while on the track. Just crazy all around.

Beware the red mist.

Instructor should have used his left hand when giving hand motions to guide his student -- left hand, and up as close to the steering wheel as his hands can be in a safe manner. Using the right hand down low puts his gestures close to the limit of the driver's peripheral vision.

Plus - the instructor should have had the driver stop in the pits at some point for a little discussion on the purpose of a track day.

Did I hear techno music in the background?

And finally - I didn't realize a Vette could understeer that badly! :D

-Z

Lots of ego in that video. Both cars were driving pretty sloppy to be honest. Did the porsche finally realize it and let them by? Damon wonder they didn't end up making contact a few times

Yeah, pretty sure he has the radio on to boot. They are both pretty bad. I had to laugh though, when the guy in the Vette started honking his horn and cussing out the window at other cars. That's a novel approach. I think he just graduated from the Grand Theft Auto racing school.

If it weren't for the electronic nannies in his car, he couldn't have completed a lap.

I think he was trying to compensate for something. Maybe the fact that he was driving an automatic, or that he may feel his physique is below average. (Pure speculation, BTW).

-Z

Disclaimer: I am not inferring that Vette drivers have to compensate for something... This may be an isolated incidence: the star of the video's car of choice of vehicle could be mere coincidence. :D

Red run group at a Speedventures event no doubt. SV at ACS...Been there done that :eek:

I don't know why the instructor was even in the car. The hand signals were either unseen or completely ignored…Likely both.

They both got a little sloppy in the red mist, particularly the GT3 in the "Playground". I don't think I saw the same line twice from either car, but the exits to the oval from the Playground were all over the place. Obviously the last cone was taken out early in the session. Avoiding contact under the circumstances was actually commendable.

….But you gotta love a guy who puts his new GT3 to the task while still in paper plates!

Remind me not to sign up for a trackday with that guy on the entry list.

I wouldn't consider the instructor an instructor by any stretch...

9:20 is where the GT3 owner realized, I like my car more than I care about fast laps against a Z06...

This typical american car owner douchbaggery is why I removed myself from the crowd entirely. I'm sure he went home and fired up the internet to tell all his Corvette pals how he beat every M3 known to man, an SLS, GT-R, GT3 etc etc...

He likely failed to mention (6:35) his high bank corner speed being almost identical to a Miata...

Flat out.

There, FIFY :)

Yes, he had zero confidence in the banking. His fastest speeds of high-120's in the banking were when he was behind the GT3 and in red mist. Alone he slowed considerably. I go through the that section between 132 and 135mph in my 3500lbs 997TT on street tires! That Z06 could hold 140 easily on R-coumpound tires.

I don't see the aggressive duel as negatively as some do. The red run group is the place for that. If a participant is not comfortable with wheel-to-wheel action, they either do what the GT3 did in the end and back out, of they go to a point-by run group. It takes two to tango.

I had a similar duel with an M5 at the same track at the last Speedventures event just last month. It wasn't quite as reckless, but just as competitive and we hi-fived each other when it was over.

I think this is about that Vette driver:

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Never knew "douchebaggery" was limited to American car owners.. Ya learn something new everyday.. :rolleyes:


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I think that's the point--the 'Vette driver sure seemed a bit reckless. I wouldn't want to be running in close quarters with him.

And I doubt he was high-fiving the GT3 pilot at the end of the session. :D

No worries... I think maybe his co-pilot was simply there to wave other cars out of the way with his Jedi hand gestures.:cool:

"That's not the line you're looking for"

They both gave each other plenty of racing room when side-by-side. Neither one dive-bombed a corner or closed the door on the other. The Vet driver never had to bail off track to avoid rear ending the GT3, nor did he push the GT3 offtrack to avoid contact. Those would be reckless moves.

I think this Vet driver is getting a bad rap. Yes, he's in the red mist, but so it the GT3. Yes, they're all over the place, but when racing for a position the other does NOT want to give up, you can't stay on a time trial line lap after lap.

If you guys spent a couple years wheel-to-wheel club racing, this contest would not seem nearly as extreme. It's a little over the top for a DE day for sure, but hardly criminal.

You use the term racing a couple times in the post above. My understanding is that the event was a TRACK / Driver's Ed event, and not a RACE. The lack of safety gear in the Vette adds to this notion.

Track events are not the right venue for RACING. There is a lack of safety equipment, lack of training, as well as a totally different expectation. The only similarity between track days and club racing is they occur on the same closed circuit road. It is idiots like the Vette and GT3 drivers that THINK track days = racing, just like they think owning a racecar means they are professional racecar drivers. It is these same idiots that give track days a bad rap.

"Winning" at a track day is as easy as beating a 95 year old man in a foot race. Yeah - you crossed the finish line first. So what. Really want to prove your mettle? Get your racing license, suit up, grow a set, and be prepared to get your a$$ handed to you.

-Z-man.

Couple of noobs out playing cowboy with their new rides while wearing rugby helmets. Ugliest track vid of 2015. Eeesh!

Next up: Noob puts car into the wall and now it is on fire. Lawyers get involved and sue everyone involved. Tracks quietly close their doors to track day DE uses to contain their financial risk. We saw the same thing happen to motocross tracks all over the country 20 years ago.

Z-Man, I agree with all three of the material points above, particularly the last one. If it's racing they want, they should equip the car and make the investment into a race license and participate in a sanctioned organization.

The only thing i would say is…When you go to a track event, if this type of behavior worries you, stay out of the open-passing run groups. You just didn't see the other "races" in this session, but I guarantee there were several. If these guys are comfortable risking their cars and their lives due to a lack of safety equipment and oversight that's their choice. They are adults…maybe stupid ones, but adults with free will nonetheless.

I sold my race car and quit the POC two years ago. I still like to go out on the track in a semi-competitive, but far less formal way from time to time. I can honestly say, in two years of doing these private track events in the open passing classes, I have not seen a single car-to-car contact. When I see these guys around me, I just do a touch-and-go at the black flag station and get back on behind them.

No one posted about the Vette drivers strange chronic lip-licking/tongue-flicking & the manic grins? That was pretty disturbing.

Not sure where the hate comes from.

Looks like two guys with fun cars out on a track with other fun cars out on a track in a session that doesn't have coordinated forced passing/no passing zones.

Mediocre skill, maybe they both shouldn't be out there in a session like that, but they kept it off the grass, kept it off the wall, and kept it off other cars.

At least they're doing it at the track and not on the road.

Rigiht cars, right venue - WRONG ATTITTUDE. That's my issue with the video.

Track days are designed for people who want to LEARN how to drive their cars at the limits on a racetrack. It is not meant for "racing," posting videos on Youtube about how you "beat" a GT3, and for bragging. Those two cats did not learn a thing there. Granted, Jedi hand gestures really don't work too well - but right from the get-go the Vette driver had one thing in mind - go faster than anyone else out there. "Winning!" Notice how he was sitting? Almost up out of his seat - like a dog pulling on his chain. That body language alone, plus the licking of his chops, plus his swearing at other drivers while passing them incidates that he's there for the wrong reason. As an instructor, I've seen this time and again.

The biggest reason there was no crumpled sheet metal / fiberglass is: luck. Second biggest reason: the driver nanny aids were getting quite a workout.

IF he would have taken a session to have an experienced instructor show him how to actually drive, his lap times would have improved significantly, and the new video would have been him passing the GT3 on the first lap.

-Z

No, that's what YOU want out of a track day. There are run groups designed for "LEARN how to drive at a car's limit" with point-by passing, no-passing, and lead-follow. These guys are in a RED run group with open passing. If you run with that group, you know what you're getting into.

IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO! This bashing the VET guy like a villain, and treating the GT3 guy like a victim is ridiculous. The Vet guy drove better than the GT3 guy. The GT3 early apexed constantly and went wide on everything. If you took away 1/2 the long straight and banking, the Vet guy would have left him in the dust.

LOL...He wasn't concerned with his "lap times". He was concerned with beating that damned GT3! ;)

I ran the POC Performance Driving Series for three years. I got so sick of people wanting to be in the faster groups, then whining about "HE GOT TOO CLOSE TO ME" and "I DIDN'T POINT HIM BY BECAUSE I'M JUSTY GOING TO PASS HIM IN THE STRAIGHT!". Some people are only happy if they're on the track by themselves.

The best DE group was always the red group. They had to earn that run group with experience, but they were the closest knit group (depute the on-track battles) and self-policing. The non-passing and point-by groups were at each others throats constantly. I felt like a camp counselor for whiny girls.

Jeez, you car guys sure are a bunch of prima donnas! You should try motorbike racing and track days! You can use slower riders for berms to improve your lap times, and nobody cares! hahaha

Ha! Thats right! Put these DE only do-gooders in my race car for one race and they'd wish they were on the track with that Vet.

People bash these guys in open passing sessions. If it sacres them...just stay out!

I think this thread illustrates why some people drive around cones in a parking lot and some people race. All good... just different things for different people :)

Hehe, I raced MX and Grand Prix for 8 years and knocked handlebars with Steve Bauer, Davy Williams, Brian Meyerscoff and Jeff Ward more than once in expert class on SoCal tracks. There was a high skill level and a lot of shenanigans (T-bones and legs thrown) while racing. We also put a lot of time in the hospital healing from track injuries.

Cut to the Vette vid. These guys had almost zero skill and Vette Noob routinely wrote checks he could not cash but his nannies served as overdraft protection and kept him on the track surface... for now. From what I saw they had no business going door to door with zero skill and zero safety gear in an experienced, open passing/no rules DE session. One of them will get killed. The lawyers will get involved and sue everybody, and race tracks will quietly close their doors to DE enthusiasts in order to reduce their exposure to the legal system. That is the problem I have with this vid. It happened before 25 years ago with dirt tracks and it will happen again if a no-rules DE session begins taking out participants because they were stupid.

Everybody who likes rubbing fenders and swapping paint should earn their racing license, strip and cage their car and go out and do it. Don't show up in a mixed DE group in 500hp street cars with rugby helmets and expect to go racing. It risks everyone around them and track access for the rest of us.

Maybe the difference is that Racing isn't DE. Maybe what's getting everyone going is that there's a third option and that's Track Days.

So, maybe I'm wrong but could there be

DE - Driver's Ed, learn to drive your car and push yourself and your car to the limits in as safe an environment as possible.

Track Days - There is some direction and education initially, but ultimately what you're working towards is paying your cash so you can take your car to the track and flog the hell out of it, hopefully, fairly safely.

Racing - It's you against them. Stuff happens.

I've not actually been to any of them, but I can see and have read how some track day organizations are less structured and less safety oriented than they are an opportunity to get your car on the track so you can be fast and furious. I also believe that there are some organizations that focus much more on education and safety.

So, could it be that some folks here are imagining "Track Days" as being more like a "DE day"?

The vette guy needs to relax a bit. Maybe he should get a racecar so he can go racin'. Rubbin' is racin'? It would probably be far safer and more educational for him.

I could see the vette guy getting into this kind of trouble.
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With NNJR PCA, the Red run group is reserved for experienced drivers and instructors. Passing rules are more relaxed - passing in the corners, and perhaps passing without a point-by has been instituted by now (Haven't done DE in a couple of years).

i am all for relaxed passing rules - with experienced drivers. The GT3 and Vette drivers are NOT experienced drivers.

Want to run with the big boys? Learn how to drive your car on the track - learn the proper line, effective braking and throttle control...etc. Learn track etiquette and track awareness. Understand respect. Then you can join the red group. OR - go get your racing license - which will probably take a bit longer to achieve.

its not but that seemed on point for the acod ive experienced. nonsensical trash talking from the individual exhibiting lower intelligence and less skillthan the person they're insulting