AJAX
05-16-2004, 07:57 PM
was held this weekend.
The details:
Friday evening they had a "classroom" deal for a few hours and covered the individual exercises we would be doing Saturday, as well as basic things like weight xfer, the friction circle, etc.
The 3 exercises Saturday were accident avoidance, skid pad, and a combo straight/sweeper slalom that led into a hard braking lefthander. In the afternoon they cleared all the exercise cones, and they had a mini course that combined all the elements. This was a no helmet day.
Sunday was a non competitive (no posted times) auto-x for the students, and the volunteers got a free track day. Helmets required, but they had some loaners.
Thoughts:
I was a little nervous about this...it's always something I have wanted to do, but not sure if I should be using a new $60k car to pull it it off. Further, I wasn't sold on the loaner helmet thing, and was a little concerned about thrashing the Pilot Sports (hey, I'm a complete noob at this, cut me some slack!) Running back and forth with the helmet got old, and finally one of the instructors just told me to keep it. As far as tire pressure, I filled them to 38/40 cold, and did not check them after that, either day. I did not get any rollover wear, so I guess this turned out ok. I was too busy trying to sort other things out to even think about understeer. I ended up finding a way around this (more later.) SMG setting was S-5. I am now very familiar with what activating the DSC feels like.
The event is held at the HPD driving course, so it's relatively free of obstructions. The road course has a few telephone poles that are protected by big ass rolls of grass/hay. Surface was concrete.
The class was being sponsored by the BMW CCA, but there was quite a variety of cars there. A few E46 M3's (more E36's,) M5's, bunch of Miatas, Z3's, a WRX STi, Toyota Matrix, etc etc.
Exercises:
They split us into 3 groups, and I drew the accident avoidance first. I got about 6 runs in. Can't say that I was a fan (too short.) Since it's a concrete surface, the wet down the skid pad with water and Dawn; unfortunately this runs off to the acceleration portion of the avoidance course. Not a flood, but enough to make a difference to me.
It took me 4 runs to figure out, but the runoff was causing the DSC to activate. At first, I thought I was bumping the rev limiter. I then upshifted to 2nd, but then it activated there also. I ran DSC on for all runs but the last (they told us to drive like we normally would on the street.)
Except for my last few runs, I was pretty consistent tapping the outside cone of the "obstacle." I just could not bring myself to tap the brakes before entering. The last run, with DSC off, I was able to get it rotate through without hitting anything. It was a weird/nice kind of "out of control but in control feeling."
I drew the slalom next, and liked it the best. The straight portion was an offset, and you could run it the easy way, or the hard way. I ran it the easy way all but the last 2 (I was having so much fun the easy way, I forgot about the offset.) Out of 6-7 runs, I only took out a couple of cones, and was able to keep fairly close. I think I did all these with the DSC on. *Pat's myself on the back* I got a few compliments for aggressiveness on this one :)
The skidpad was fun, but too short. They had us drive around, DSC off, to get the feel of how the car behaves whenever throttle is increased slightly, and then decreased. Once you had a few turns of that, they let you get silly. During our lunch break, a couple of the instructors got out and basically drifted the whole thing repeatedly. Fun to watch. We were not allowed to do that.
What did I come away with after all this? First, I talk to myself while driving...didn't expect that. One hell of a sunburn, let me tell you. And a better appreciation of what my car is capable of. However, the inconsistent time between runs, different instructors telling you different things to focus on, etc all leads to a LOT of mental sorting. I also had some conflict with the DSC. Except for the skidpad, they told us to leave it on if that's how we drove it on a day to day basis. But I couldn't help thinking that from a maximizing individual exercise performance perspective, it was getting in the way.
Oh yeah, a filthy car. I had soap residue all over it. Gonna have to wax it quick.
Auto X
Not all the students came back, but the staff more than made up for that. It was a little disorganized. Once you made a run, where you got told to stage up for the next differed from worker to worker. We also had people line up, shut it down, then go off to get water, not to return in enough time. I never did figure out what the "final" system was.
We did walk the course, but during my first 3 runs, I fell victim to figuring out where the hell the next gate was, what that pointer cone was telling me to do, etc. I wasn't looking far enough ahead. I wasn't taking out cones, but I was not positioning the car well at all. The next 2 were trying to figure out the right driving line, when/how hard to brake.
My last 3 were the best, and the difference was the DSC. It was alarming (really!) to see how much "looser" the car actually could be. My first run off was an adjustment. I didn't really do anything different, from an acceleration perspective, but man, it was night and day. Getting on the throttle DSC off meant the tail was coming out... a lot! Too much power. Despite this, I had my best run so far. The next 2 runs I tried to learn how to adjust for this. I ended up knocking more than a second off.
How did I do? My first run was an atrocious +50 seconds, because I came into a left 90 too hot. Instead of just taking out the cones, I stopped, backed up, and drove around. Can you say "OMG you NOOOOOOB!" The next runs were in the mid 43's with DSC on. My final was a 42.06 which felt very smooth.
Fastest track time of the day (I think) was a a low 38 by a guy in a Corvette. The only other E46 M3 that showed up ran a mid 41; he's a regular, so I was pleased. All the other "tuned" regulars were running 39's and 40's.
I didn't run as many times as I could have. I spent a lot of time asking questions, riding with the regulars, drinking water, and just trying to soak as much of it in as possible. The vets seem so much faster and their cars do amazing things.
The SMG was neither an advantage or disadvantage today. Once you got into 2nd, you could stay there the whole course. Coming to the trap, there was a couple of times I felt I might have been able to use 3rd, but didn't.
Am I hooked?
Dunno. I had a lot of fun, that's for sure. I am still a little hesitant about the "new car" thing. The instructional bit got to be too much after a while. *Just shut up and let me drive. I can't tell if you're saying the same thing as the last guy, and I'm spending too much time trying to process what you're saying instead of looking ahead* I think that comments should be held till after the run is over, then go over it with me looking at the course map. I finally found a couple of guys who share this philosophy.
They do this once a month, so I think I'll afflict the Pilot Sports once more before shelling out for some 18's and track tires to make sure.
The details:
Friday evening they had a "classroom" deal for a few hours and covered the individual exercises we would be doing Saturday, as well as basic things like weight xfer, the friction circle, etc.
The 3 exercises Saturday were accident avoidance, skid pad, and a combo straight/sweeper slalom that led into a hard braking lefthander. In the afternoon they cleared all the exercise cones, and they had a mini course that combined all the elements. This was a no helmet day.
Sunday was a non competitive (no posted times) auto-x for the students, and the volunteers got a free track day. Helmets required, but they had some loaners.
Thoughts:
I was a little nervous about this...it's always something I have wanted to do, but not sure if I should be using a new $60k car to pull it it off. Further, I wasn't sold on the loaner helmet thing, and was a little concerned about thrashing the Pilot Sports (hey, I'm a complete noob at this, cut me some slack!) Running back and forth with the helmet got old, and finally one of the instructors just told me to keep it. As far as tire pressure, I filled them to 38/40 cold, and did not check them after that, either day. I did not get any rollover wear, so I guess this turned out ok. I was too busy trying to sort other things out to even think about understeer. I ended up finding a way around this (more later.) SMG setting was S-5. I am now very familiar with what activating the DSC feels like.
The event is held at the HPD driving course, so it's relatively free of obstructions. The road course has a few telephone poles that are protected by big ass rolls of grass/hay. Surface was concrete.
The class was being sponsored by the BMW CCA, but there was quite a variety of cars there. A few E46 M3's (more E36's,) M5's, bunch of Miatas, Z3's, a WRX STi, Toyota Matrix, etc etc.
Exercises:
They split us into 3 groups, and I drew the accident avoidance first. I got about 6 runs in. Can't say that I was a fan (too short.) Since it's a concrete surface, the wet down the skid pad with water and Dawn; unfortunately this runs off to the acceleration portion of the avoidance course. Not a flood, but enough to make a difference to me.
It took me 4 runs to figure out, but the runoff was causing the DSC to activate. At first, I thought I was bumping the rev limiter. I then upshifted to 2nd, but then it activated there also. I ran DSC on for all runs but the last (they told us to drive like we normally would on the street.)
Except for my last few runs, I was pretty consistent tapping the outside cone of the "obstacle." I just could not bring myself to tap the brakes before entering. The last run, with DSC off, I was able to get it rotate through without hitting anything. It was a weird/nice kind of "out of control but in control feeling."
I drew the slalom next, and liked it the best. The straight portion was an offset, and you could run it the easy way, or the hard way. I ran it the easy way all but the last 2 (I was having so much fun the easy way, I forgot about the offset.) Out of 6-7 runs, I only took out a couple of cones, and was able to keep fairly close. I think I did all these with the DSC on. *Pat's myself on the back* I got a few compliments for aggressiveness on this one :)
The skidpad was fun, but too short. They had us drive around, DSC off, to get the feel of how the car behaves whenever throttle is increased slightly, and then decreased. Once you had a few turns of that, they let you get silly. During our lunch break, a couple of the instructors got out and basically drifted the whole thing repeatedly. Fun to watch. We were not allowed to do that.
What did I come away with after all this? First, I talk to myself while driving...didn't expect that. One hell of a sunburn, let me tell you. And a better appreciation of what my car is capable of. However, the inconsistent time between runs, different instructors telling you different things to focus on, etc all leads to a LOT of mental sorting. I also had some conflict with the DSC. Except for the skidpad, they told us to leave it on if that's how we drove it on a day to day basis. But I couldn't help thinking that from a maximizing individual exercise performance perspective, it was getting in the way.
Oh yeah, a filthy car. I had soap residue all over it. Gonna have to wax it quick.
Auto X
Not all the students came back, but the staff more than made up for that. It was a little disorganized. Once you made a run, where you got told to stage up for the next differed from worker to worker. We also had people line up, shut it down, then go off to get water, not to return in enough time. I never did figure out what the "final" system was.
We did walk the course, but during my first 3 runs, I fell victim to figuring out where the hell the next gate was, what that pointer cone was telling me to do, etc. I wasn't looking far enough ahead. I wasn't taking out cones, but I was not positioning the car well at all. The next 2 were trying to figure out the right driving line, when/how hard to brake.
My last 3 were the best, and the difference was the DSC. It was alarming (really!) to see how much "looser" the car actually could be. My first run off was an adjustment. I didn't really do anything different, from an acceleration perspective, but man, it was night and day. Getting on the throttle DSC off meant the tail was coming out... a lot! Too much power. Despite this, I had my best run so far. The next 2 runs I tried to learn how to adjust for this. I ended up knocking more than a second off.
How did I do? My first run was an atrocious +50 seconds, because I came into a left 90 too hot. Instead of just taking out the cones, I stopped, backed up, and drove around. Can you say "OMG you NOOOOOOB!" The next runs were in the mid 43's with DSC on. My final was a 42.06 which felt very smooth.
Fastest track time of the day (I think) was a a low 38 by a guy in a Corvette. The only other E46 M3 that showed up ran a mid 41; he's a regular, so I was pleased. All the other "tuned" regulars were running 39's and 40's.
I didn't run as many times as I could have. I spent a lot of time asking questions, riding with the regulars, drinking water, and just trying to soak as much of it in as possible. The vets seem so much faster and their cars do amazing things.
The SMG was neither an advantage or disadvantage today. Once you got into 2nd, you could stay there the whole course. Coming to the trap, there was a couple of times I felt I might have been able to use 3rd, but didn't.
Am I hooked?
Dunno. I had a lot of fun, that's for sure. I am still a little hesitant about the "new car" thing. The instructional bit got to be too much after a while. *Just shut up and let me drive. I can't tell if you're saying the same thing as the last guy, and I'm spending too much time trying to process what you're saying instead of looking ahead* I think that comments should be held till after the run is over, then go over it with me looking at the course map. I finally found a couple of guys who share this philosophy.
They do this once a month, so I think I'll afflict the Pilot Sports once more before shelling out for some 18's and track tires to make sure.
