novice's impressions...first track day Streets of Willow CCW
 

Yesterday I did my first track day and I had a great time. Here are some of my impressions/reflections:

I have been autocrossing for a number of years (off and on...with a break in the middle with an infant). I have only autocrossed the brz once.

I was lucky enough to have instruction for the whole day. A friend of mine actually gave me the track day as a birthday gift. He happens to be an instructor and gave me good instruction for the whole day. Scheduling worked out because he was a run group away from me. So there was a break in between us being out to talk and fix his car (a rock flew up underneath his car and hit the battery spilling acid on the headers making a smoky mess).

My car is relatively stock. I had DOT4 fluid and and HP+/HPS pads. The stock tires gave me enough grip for how hard I was pushing the car. I did not like the feel of the soft sidewall. This was especially evident coming down the left to the front straight. It felt like the car leaned and then leaned a little more due to the sidewall. It was unnerving.

I do have a Cusco accelerator pedal which I believe helped with heel toeing.

The bowl: This part of the track scared me for some reason. I couldn't figure it out until after the event. I think I'm so used to autocrossing and driving on the street that any time I feel a strong g force pulling me down into the seat I think something is wrong/unsettled with the car and I'm alert for having to react. I went slow through this section the entire day.

Braking on the front straight: I couldn't figure out where to start braking and how quickly to blip from 4th to 3rd and then 3rd to 2nd. I ended up choosing the wide line for the left after the straight. It seemed to line me up better for the slow speed turns that followed.

Power output of the car was satisfactory for this track. I did give a bunch of point-bys, but didn't care too much. The car only felt gutless in a couple of uphill sections.

Gear selection: unlike autocross where I leave it in 1 or two gears, selecting gears and when to change them was a new challenge.

I gained confidence throughout the day and had a really good time. I think it still scared me a little to be on track. This is partially due to wrecking on the Nurburgring a number of years ago. Leading up to this track day there was a lot of joking that if I made it through the day I'd have 1-1 with days on track. I am now 1 for 1 and have to go back again to improve my record (besides I won a free track day in the lunch raffle :D ).

video: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7i0gor2e1o&feature=c4-overview&list=UUXQz23trpy-vaCZrUAbSCTQ"]Streets of Willow CCW BRZ last session of the day - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M97kmkYOR4c"]Final Session Streets Of Willow CCW with telemetry overlay (first 3 minutes) - YouTube[/ame]

Hey I'm the white BRZ in front of you at the beginning.

I'm gonna try to make the Feb event so I hope to see you there!

Cool. I think I saw you and your friend driving home as well. I was there with the guy with the trailered vette with the non painted front nose.

I'll show you the correct bowl line next time you go. It'll take away all the fear, AND be about 1.5 seconds faster, just by changing it. Short version is that you want to double apex it; you apex entering before/as you're braking, and again exiting. It's a "out in out in out" turn, regardless of power, for any properly balanced car.

Braking on the front straight is heavily tire dependent. CCW is known for cooking brakes here.

Also forgotten detail...I ran most of the day in Traction sport mode (or tap the traction control button once). It was enough to not get in my way.

I think I was doing better the session before the last session (session 3)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPc-HLMFiX8"]3rd session Streets Of Willow CCW with telemetry overlay (from 3:40 in) - YouTube[/ame]