I'm going to driving school!
- Thread starter stoney
- Start date
I had to go once to get rid of a traffic ticket. It sucked.
nice!Feb 22 at Thunderhill raceway. Suck it bishes!
18 Feb and we will be in Nawlins for the Krewe of Bacchus Mardi Gras parade
and NOT driving!
You'll have a great time.
Your instructor will not be a professional racer though. They will be a club racer or lapping enthusiast but will still be able to teach you a great deal.
Track time and class time are less than three hours but you'll be sick of the classroom and still get plenty of track time. Just beware the cone chicanes (to keep speeds done for safety reasons) on the front straight and approaching 8.
Make sure your car is mechanically sound (check your pads, make sure your brake fluid is in good shape, if in doubt, bleed, etc.) so you don't miss any of your track time.
Enjoy.
Remember, track driving is no where near as violent as autoX. You must be fluid. You must first memorize your braking, turn in, and apex points, then insert speed. Smooth, smooth, smooth.....keep telling yourself that.
What club are you running with?
What club are you running with?
Track time is a ton of fun. 
My girlfriend is a driving instructor for the local Audi Club chapter. What do you drive?
My girlfriend is a driving instructor for the local Audi Club chapter. What do you drive?
Track time is a ton of fun.
And she is faster then you too!
Nice! I doing the good ole' Defensive Driving course on Wednesday BORING!!!!
None. It's driving school put on by Thunderhill. That being said, they do a TON of SCCA events there.
As for speed, I know that. I've been out there a few times for motorcycle events, so I know the track pretty well already. I'm there to learn, not go fast. I can go fast once I've learned how to drive.
OMFG. SO AWESOME.
I've been given the thumbs up to go solo next time. At one point an instructor told me to give it more gas to push the car harder through the corner, but I was 5th gear pinned. We got a good laugh out of that one.
It was fun as hell, I was hanging with the Evo's and STI's until the straights and reeling them back in until they were in the way through the windy's. And I kept REALLY pissing off a dude in a Z06 vette that couldn't drop me because I was carrying way more speed through the corners and exiting fast enough that he had to pull over for me to pass.
What I learned:
Line choice- I can see the line, I know the line, but was having trouble holding it in turn 2 (long late, asymetrical apex), 6 (high speed, slightly off camber), and 11 (super low speed, but type 1 turn so I need to carry speed onto the back straight)
I need to work on my turning point.
I am comfortable late braking.
Being on the gas is a very good thing.
I need better tires.
I need a stiffer car, or more appropriately, I need to install my Koni's.
My steering is mushy, I need new bushings.
And lastly, my car is a true momentum car. It has no pop, so the only way I will go fast is through momentum.
I've been given the thumbs up to go solo next time. At one point an instructor told me to give it more gas to push the car harder through the corner, but I was 5th gear pinned. We got a good laugh out of that one.
It was fun as hell, I was hanging with the Evo's and STI's until the straights and reeling them back in until they were in the way through the windy's. And I kept REALLY pissing off a dude in a Z06 vette that couldn't drop me because I was carrying way more speed through the corners and exiting fast enough that he had to pull over for me to pass.
What I learned:
Line choice- I can see the line, I know the line, but was having trouble holding it in turn 2 (long late, asymetrical apex), 6 (high speed, slightly off camber), and 11 (super low speed, but type 1 turn so I need to carry speed onto the back straight)
I need to work on my turning point.
I am comfortable late braking.
Being on the gas is a very good thing.
I need better tires.
I need a stiffer car, or more appropriately, I need to install my Koni's.
My steering is mushy, I need new bushings.
And lastly, my car is a true momentum car. It has no pop, so the only way I will go fast is through momentum.
stop drinking and drivingFeb 22 at Thunderhill raceway. Suck it bishes!
Sounds sick!
What kind of car are you driving? (sory if it's posted above, don't feel like reading the whole thread).
I bet your slower "pop"less car will make you a better driver in the long run.
took two bondurant schools in my early twenties.
you learn so much from them.
to this day, every car i've ever owned has had tons of suspension and brake work done to it before the h.p. is increased.
it has to drive right before it can go fast.
enjoy.
then save your $$$$ and do it again.
you learn so much from them.
to this day, every car i've ever owned has had tons of suspension and brake work done to it before the h.p. is increased.
it has to drive right before it can go fast.
enjoy.
then save your $$$$ and do it again.
Made a promise to the g/f. For every dollar I put into my car/bikes (ie fun stuff) I put $1 into savings and $1 into CC's. I think I'm also going to add my IRA into this as well. So... I'm not doing much for a little bit, as for every $1 I spend, $3 go into savings/debt.
Hmmm... I like that idea, might try to sell that to my wife!
It's forced savings. I am keeping a tally on excel of how much I put into each, such that when I hit my taget, I can buy parts. The hardest thing is putting away the money, then buying. I want to do it the other way. So difficult...
I have a set of Koni Dampers on the shop floor, but I can't install them without new springs, tophats, and camber plates, which will be $500 roughly. So that means I need to save $1500 before I can buy. It's hard, but it's definately working.
I have a set of Koni Dampers on the shop floor, but I can't install them without new springs, tophats, and camber plates, which will be $500 roughly. So that means I need to save $1500 before I can buy. It's hard, but it's definately working.
You haven't mentioned heel and toe braking, is your car an automatic? Serious drivers are well advised to spend on track time as opposed to wasting it on a street car. How similar are your lap times?
That's your "report card"!
That's your "report card"!
It was a non-timed day. This car will become a track car, as when I will be able to afford a new car it will be worth less than $3k. It's pointless to sell it. The day I get a new car, this one loses it's interior. Which will scrub ~10% of the weight out of the car. It will also begin it's progression to being *just* street legal enough to get to the track until I can afford a trailer/truck.
*edit* see attached thread**
http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173089&highlight=subaru
Money will be spent on track time, with parts being replaced as wear demands. My susp is getting a little bouncy, hence the new dampers. I'm doing it all in one go to save money from having to do multiple alignments. In one go with camber plates, I get track and road settings, and only pay for one hyper-detailed alignment.
The car is a stick, it's the only way to go. Heel-toe is beyond my current skill levels, it's something I want to work on, but I need to spend time on the skid pad at the track, as it is a safe place to practice.
*edit* see attached thread**
http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173089&highlight=subaru
Money will be spent on track time, with parts being replaced as wear demands. My susp is getting a little bouncy, hence the new dampers. I'm doing it all in one go to save money from having to do multiple alignments. In one go with camber plates, I get track and road settings, and only pay for one hyper-detailed alignment.
The car is a stick, it's the only way to go. Heel-toe is beyond my current skill levels, it's something I want to work on, but I need to spend time on the skid pad at the track, as it is a safe place to practice.
Cool Man..good luck wit all dat!
I almost went racing once.
Had/have IMSA and SCCA licenses.
Was all set to pull a serious trigger,
but chickened out and bought a new car instead.
I almost went racing once.
Had/have IMSA and SCCA licenses.
Was all set to pull a serious trigger,
but chickened out and bought a new car instead.
This thread is awesome, thanks for keeping us in the loop.
With regards to heel-toe and double-clutching, my friends give me ish about it to this day. About 5 or 6 years ago, the syncros started to wear out on my 3 cyl Geo Metro. In order to be able to downshift from third to second, I learned how to double-clutch and subsequently heel-toe. Not only is it fun to do, but it makes downshifting a hell of a lot smoother.
Every Subaru owner needs to figure out double clutching if they ever want to get into first gear while moving.
Haha, double clutching makes for a happy transmission, not limited to shifting into first at a slow roll.
heh. my STi RA gearset cured that problem...
The Joker: stripping your wagon and turning it into a track car is just going to be a huge money pit, especially if you're still stuck in the upgrade-everything mentality. don't say i didn't warn ya.
I am aware of this, but I do not want to risk my daily driver once I have the ability to have a 2nd car. I will be doing no engine mods or other mods that will effect the reliability of the car until I have a 2nd car.
Sweet! Driving schools rock. I've done a few BMW CCA (you can use any car) schools on the New Hampshire Intl Speedway road course. The last one was Oct 28 in a monsoon. Nothing like trying to rail turns with water flowing across the course. I ended up spinning off the track (turn 7 if you know the course) at 50-60 mph which was an interesting experience. It happened so fast that I didn't have a chance to get skeered. My dad is an instructer candidate.
The car is a 1993 325is which got a 2.8l engine a couple of years ago. The last one gave up the ghost at ~180K miles. Also: Bilstein/ H&R suspension, Conforti chip, carbon pads, r-compound Yokahama's on 17" BBS rims (not pictured b/c of the rain), aluminum fly wheel, short throw shifter kit, harnesses, adjustable track bars, and a few other mods. The car is such a blast to drive. More fun than my dad's M3. Its the most balanced car I have ever driven.
The car is a 1993 325is which got a 2.8l engine a couple of years ago. The last one gave up the ghost at ~180K miles. Also: Bilstein/ H&R suspension, Conforti chip, carbon pads, r-compound Yokahama's on 17" BBS rims (not pictured b/c of the rain), aluminum fly wheel, short throw shifter kit, harnesses, adjustable track bars, and a few other mods. The car is such a blast to drive. More fun than my dad's M3. Its the most balanced car I have ever driven.
Attachments
Learning Weight Transfer Dynamics is beyond words. There is nothing like feeling that you can't possibly go any faster through a corner only to hear you instructor saying "a little more gas, a little more gas, GIVE IT MORE GAS!".
Once you understand it you feel like a rock star. There is so much more to driving than funding the fastest line. R-compound tires are a double bonus b/c you also get much stiffer sidewalls meaning that you can carry even more speed through corners.
Have you thought about RWD cars? I personally think that AWD is over rated. On the track it can cost you speed b/c of the extra weight.
This thread rocks. I just went back and read the whole thing. Its so refreshing to hear people talk about the importance of good suspension and brakes and not about how their car has 800hp.
There are ice time trials in NH this weekend that I might head up for.
I won't own a car unless it has AWD:
Nice late apex on that second corner!