[Campo]

Originally Posted by ddeflyer

So first thing, the natural noises around you on a race track can give you alot of information. You likely will gain a good chunk more information if you turn your radio off.

I didn't watch all of your videos but a couple of items I did notice:

Not sure what was up with following that Porsche, but at one point you start wobbling the car around like you see in F1 while under yellow. This is a bad idea, you don't need to scrub off street tires and sometimes people spin their car in the middle of a straight playing "race car driver warming up tires".

In terms of line, I think you need to get someone who has competitively raced on that track/configuration to help you with where to go. I saw alot of pinched corners, late turn ins, a line not accounting for value of the second turn on a tightly coupled pair, etc. A little instruction on where to be will probably net you quite a good reduction in lap times.

Thanks ddeflyer, I left the radio on thinking it would help me drive more relaxed like everyday driving, but I think I'll leave it off in the future. Following that Porsche I must have been in the first or second lap of the session. I was trying to warm the tires a bit - is it really that pointless on street tires? At an event several months ago I had chunked the rears, and someone said I needed to get them up to temperature before getting on them too hard. Should I just do a couple warm up laps instead of doing that wobble? (this was the first time I ever tried it, and honestly felt a little silly)

There were definitely a few corners/combinations that I struggled finding a good way through. I experimented quite a bit, and that probably made me look really inconsistent - run wide one lap, pinch it the next, etc. I had an instructor the first time I was at this track several months ago for a couple sessions, and I was trying to remember what he had told me - I don't think I remembered much...

Originally Posted by enivid

I think some of that is about to go viral.

oh dear...

Originally Posted by jvincent

Big +1 to this.

Having an instructor in the car is a big help.

I hope to go back and have an instructor again. I place a really high value on having someone that knows what they're doing go with me. I had one once before on this track, but don't remember a lot of what he told me at the beginning of this year.

Originally Posted by dradernh

Are you sure you're sitting close enough to the wheel? One rule of thumb frequently used with students is to ensure that at a minimum their inside wrist rests on top of the steering wheel when their shoulder is firmly against the seatback and their arm is straight out as yours is in this shot:


The issue is control of the car when it's seriously out of shape and you're fighting to save it. The closer you are to the wheel when that happens, the easier it is to operate the darn thing, although with an airbag I don't think you want to be NASCAR close.

Thanks dradernh, yeah, I was having a hard time getting the seat-back up verticle enough when I was doing the seat-belt-pop thing.I'm not sure how else to explain that - you put the seat-back back and lean backwards, then pull the lapbelt tight, and pull quickly on the shoulder belt so it locks, then raise the seat-back up into the locked shoulder belt so it stays locked. I never really got it quite right, and you're right, I ended up without enough bend in my arms. I'm hoping to get proper seats, a loop/half cage with harness bar and harnesses eventually. I know they're not exactly necessary, but I do like a tight belt from past years of off-roading in harnesses.


Thanks for the feedback guys! I really appreciate it!