National driver giving pointers on the track

[jester911]

I posted some of this on the tech forum but figured it fit better here.
I had a chance to do two 25 min. sessions at Road Atlanta with a pro driver named Stan Wilson. He really helped me a ton.

I went to SCCA drivers school in a spec miata in Feb. so this isn't my first track experience but there we never had someone in the car with us.

I started out really thinking I would try to learn the line but not attempting any real speed. Mostly because my car is a street car on street tires. However being a Porsche it is like a fish to water so...

I also was a little intimidated with turn 12. I have seen to many mishaps there and seeing that concrete wall straight ahead coming down the hill was a little disconcerting at first.

It took a few laps but Stan finally got me to wait until I got completely to the bottom of the hill and then turn in and hard on the gas.

When I did it correctly Stan commented on how he had never felt it done when in the right seat.
I felt the car compress mainly on the left side since it is a right hander and when I gassed it the car practically turned it self onto the front straight.

I also got turn 7 down pretty well. He had me brake harder than I thought I should but then I was able to exit the turn with much more speed which meant more top speed down the back straight.

All in all it was a very instuctive day. Not to mention alot of
fun.

I also have to comment on the tires I have. I bought fuzions about a year ago and have been very pleased with them on the street. What I didn't expect is how well they performed on the track. They really stuck and performed much like race tires. I drove pretty aggressively
and I never felt like they would not hold.

Well anyway now I am defintely going to find a way for more track time. Nothing quite comes close to it.

[2.7RACER]

Jerry,
I can't imagine anyone calling it school without an instructor in the car.
Southwest Motor Sports runs four school days per year at Sandia Motorsports Park. About half class room half track. The typical student is lapping very hesitantly the first session. By the third or fourth session they have a complete understanding of the line, braking, apex's, shifting, etc.
Now they aren't ready for racing at the end of the day, but they are typically much smoother and faster.
My recommendation, get an experienced driver to ride with you when ever possible. Even better, ride with them. I've learned from virtually every person I have rode with.
Each person seems to have a little something that works.

[jester911]

Yeah Doug,
I hear ya. Don't get me wrong about SCCA drivers school. There was some good instruction there. We walked the track with them, and also did track tours in a street car to show us the line and such.

Very professionally run. However there were about 130 students in 3 run groups. Because of this there was very little
1 on 1 instruction. Mostly the school is preparing you for driving on a track in traffic safely and learning to watch and read the flags.

The main gist is safety. Which is a good thing but it just didn't leave alot of time for actual driving instruction.

This event I drove in was called a PDX. It is something new the SCCA is trying. It is not W2W racing but it is performance driving. It is firstly designed for giving the corner and track workers a chance to drive the course while the drivers work the corners and also instruct in our cars.

Because there were not that many workers that signed up they opened it up to any other members interested.

I am just looking for any track experience I can get.
This was even better than I expected. I will surely go again given the opportunity.