Sharing my first-time at the track experience

Hello, my fellow Porsche enthusiasts. I attended my first Drivers ED yesterday and wanted to share my experiences with this BB.

The track is Blackhawk Farms Raceway in S. Beloit, IL.
http://www.na-motorsports.com/Tracks/Blackhawk.html

About 50 students showed up and to my pleasant surprise each student was paired up with an instructor for the day. After a brief safety/rule review, we got broken up into 2 groups. The first group (where I was) went to the race track while the second group went to class.

My instructor was an older gentleman who's been racing professionally since the '60s. He drove my car a few laps to ascertain its handling characteristics and to show me the right lines around the track. Then we switched seats. For the next 45 minutes I was driving! Even though it was a Drivers ED, it felt like a race. Because you could pass cars on straght-aways (can't pass in a corner). So I was passing slower cars, and faster cars were passing me. What a blast! Its a twisty course. Most of the time I stayed in 3rd gear. On straight-aways I red-lined it which is around 100mph. There was only 1 corner where I had to downshift into 2nd. That's the corner that was giving me trouble - its hard to downshift, brake and turn at the same time. I could never get the right line.

After the 45 minutes, the 2nd group went on track and I went to class to learn all about racing. After class, instructors only went in their cars and all the students had to do corner duty. I picked a corner and watched the cars go by. We had an assortment of flags handy to warn oncoming traffic of hazards. I did see 1 car start smoking/leaking oil. Another car ran off the track into the grass. Exciting stuff.

Then it was my turn again for another 45 minutes of fun. This time I was feeling more confident and drove much more aggressively, braking later and much harder. Also upshifting to 4th gear on straight-aways. I got into trouble just once. I was carrying too much speed into the corner and took the wrong line. I ran out of track and the car got onto the gravel. I lifted off the throttle a little bit and the car started fish-tailing. But I recovered and we continued. Because of all that aggressive driving I started feeling car-sick. But the feeling passed after pulling in.

My instructor invited me to be his passenger in his 944 turbo. Its almost a stock car with only racing slicks, harnesses and a chip added. Like a fool I got in. My god! I was scared sxxtless. On the straight-aways he was going about as fast as I was. But in the corners he was going so much faster! Every time we approached a corner I thought NO WAY ARE WE MAKING THIS CORNER! But we made it fine every time and overtook some 911's. I could only take 2 laps with him. I got really queazy and asked him to pull over and let me out.

All in all I had a great time and a very memorable experience. I definitely want to do it again (taking a Dramamine perhaps to fight the car-sickness?)

I put on about 100 miles on the track with brand-new brake pads. I haven't checked them since, but have the feeling they should be replaced already.

Boris
1987 911 Carrera 3.2

Interesting that he drove your car. In my regions they don't do that for liability reasons. Your are right, it is a blast.

I don't think that it's a requirement that a student allow an instructor to drive the students car. Then it could be a liability issue.
Boris has admitted that he was frightened when he was sitting in the right seat when someone was driving that knew what he was doing.
On the other hand how is an instructor to know how any particular car will handle that someone has tried to improve? It's little things like do the brakes work?
It's not a lot of fun sitting in the right seat with someone of limited skills in a car that you know absolutely nothing about.

I did my first DE this past weekend as well. My experience was about the same as Boris.

I have a fair bit of autocross experience, but this is a whole new deal. Humbling experience if you think you know how to drive. Boris' comments about breaking, downshifting and turning all at once while trying to hit a good line are right on. Not too much downshifting in autocross. It's not easy.

My instructor also drove my car. From a safety perspective any instructor should not be pushing his students car anywhere near the limit. My instructor handled this fine. He was however much faster than me, with my own car, even though he wasn't pushing it.

It makes you realize the incredible potential of your Porsche and how much you as a driver have to learn.

I learned so much this past weekend, but the biggest lesson was that developing my skills is the way to make my car go fast. Spending lots of money on a little bit of increased HP won't come close to what can be achieved by improving my skills.

Even on the track, hitting top speed on the straights was not a big thrill compared to the turns and braking. This is where the skill comes in and the challenge begins.

Forget stoplight races, Porsches are for the track.

I had a fantastic time and will be doing my next event in 3 weeks.

Chuck

------------------
'86 Cab, '77 Targa, Family Truckster

I was thinking of doing this through my regional PCA. The problem is, I've been to two PCA events in my area, one before I purchased my 911 and one after.

I've never seen such a bunch of stuck-up, unfriendly, cliquish bunch of guys in my life. I thought maybe I was wrong about this, but I've met and talked to three other people in my area that have 911s. I asked if they were in the PCA and ALL of them said NO. When I asked why not, they said they felt exactly like I did. Two of them were in it for one year only, and then dropped out.

I'm hoping to do this somewhere out of my area. Sounds like fun.

------------------
1988 black on black Coupe
www.cheaterswayside.com/911/gallery.asp?sort=0&userid=339

I really enjoyed this driving experience and want to continue participating in these events. However: getting car-sick definitely puts a damper on things. Anybody else experience it and how do you prevent it?

I thought about taking Dramamine but the package says it may cause drowsiness and not to operate heavy machinery

Hmmm, I've never been car sick while driving, but have had the problem when a passenger.

I think Bonine will work to counteract the motion sickness and let you drive as well.

Chuck

------------------
http://home.earthlink.net/~cgrieb/index.html