Thomasmoto

Hey gang, well I had a whole new experience this past weekend at the DSE Southern Slam in Kershaw,SC. I had never auto crossed before and only had run paced laps around Road Atlanta in my 79 Trans Am, but it wasn't anything like this. First off, if you and your car will survive these types of events I think they could handle anything. I had no idea road racing could be so hard on a car. My first wake up was trying to go full throttle, wow, all over the place. I swear my car doesn't spin and slide that easily on regular roads. All the higher horsepower cars, 500 hp and up, were dealing with traction issues. We were all trying to apply power very carefully and one guy in a 69 Camaro hit the guardrail hard on the drivers side. There was really only one place on the track where if you went off course you could hit the rail and sure enough he found it. After the traction issues the next thing that got my attention was worrying about other drivers running into you. I tried to bide my time and get in with the group of cars that were a little slower than me so I wouldn't have to worry about them trying to pass me. I had a good time and I'm glad I did it, but I think I'm gonna stick to drag racing. Just FYI. The auto crossing wasn't quite as bad, I may try that again.

RaleighSS

I take you were at CMP ... Did you do a full course event along with a Autocross? Did you have an instructor with you? I am worried that your first experience was a bit marred... I have instructed for the better part of 6 years in many high HP cars including GT3 / Viper / Corvettes / Ferrari and others.. any of them have issues at WOT with tire spin but the Corvette with Traction Control on can be easily modulated and driven at a high rate of speed with ease. In an HPDE you should never have worry about contact from another car... Passing is only in specific zones only with a signal given by the car being passed. I will be at CMP in may instructing for the NASA event and would be happy to ride shotgun with you if you wanted to give it another try ...

Thomasmoto

Yes, we were at CMP. I did not have an instructor with me. They did offer that if you wanted one. It was guys from the big sponsors of the event. I have done the BMW Performance Driving School so I know what you mean. Yes I did modulate the accelerator to counter tire slip. And yes, at the drivers meeting everyone was given specific instruction about passing zones, but when we actually got out there many did not adhere to the previous instructions. I'm not saying I had a bad experience, I just didn't like how hard it hammered the car, especially on deceleration the engine didn't seem as stressed as the tranny, I have an A6 and the trans temp shot up to 234. Using both the engine and the brakes to slow the car for the turns was very hard on the brakes, rotors and tires. My Vette is our daily driver so sacrificing those things isn't worth it to me just to get a better time. I am glad I did it and I will probably auto cross again, it wasn't as hard on the car, again. In fact I'm pretty sure we will auto X on this years Hot Rod Power Tour. Thanks for your help and offer, but I doubt I'll be going back there anytime soon.

moespeeds

If you sweat the car like that, then road course work ain't for you. Glad you had a good time and got away without a scratch!

BEZ06

You definitely need to attend the Nat'l Corvette Museum event at VIR June 24-25!!!

You'll get outstanding classroom instruction about running the track, and you'll have an in-car instructor who will coach you in the best way to get the most from your car.

Here's a link where you can register:

http://www.corvettemuseum.org/regist.../virinfo.shtml


The NCM events are the best events there are for a novice to get the most out of their track experience. It sounds like the event you attended wasnt really novice driver oriented at all.

C'ya at VIR in June!!!

Bob

Thomasmoto

Nope, if y'all see me it will probably be at the drag strip.

lakebumm

We ran the autocross on Sunday at CMP after the DSE group finished.

What were your times in the autocross?


BILL

Falcon

Where was the Autocross course set up at CMP?

lakebumm

On the west course, but it was pretty wide open.

Lots of fun!!!

BILL

mikeCsix

It's really too bad your first hpde event was so sour. Our cars were really made to go around turns and do it very well, after having done 5 sessions I find I want to do more, not less. RaleighSS sounds like he has it down pretty well, I'd take him up on his kind and generous offer. I know my car with all of the nannies turned on and running between 7 - 8/10's is very respectable (even with run flats) and not hard on the car at all. Sure, you go through brakes and tires but they are reasonable inexpensive/easily obtained. Sounds like your run groups were really screwed up too, they are typically arranged for drivers of similar capability so passing isn't in issue. Speaking of passing, if I were attending a track event and other drivers were not adhering to the rules I would exit the track and demand a refund for the event and a complaint to the organizing body. In my opinion these cars are too expensive to wreck and with drivers of various capabilities the rules are in place to keep it sane/reasonable. Out here, I run with PCA. Safety is paramount and rules are firmly adhered to. There are turn workers at every station watching for infractions where you will be black flagged and ordered off the track for a short discussion of the infraction. Too many black flags or a bad attitude will finish you for the day. This is supposed to be fun event, not an intimidating one. We want to be able to drive our cars home after the event and by the time I get home, my face hurts from smiling so much.

X25

This is unacceptable. You shouldn't even need to report such glaring issues; a good track day organization would get them pulled over immediately and ask them to either fix their behavior or stay out of the track for the rest of the day.

lakebumm

Mike and Ozer,

This event that the OP ran was a qualifier for the Optima Challenge and was put on by Detroit Speed Engineering for the Pro Touring cars. Mostly camaros and mustangs.

http://www.detroitspeed.com/speednew...recap-pg1.html

I'm not disagreeing with you about the passing rules, etc., just wanting to clarify that it wasn't your normal HPDE event.

Saturday was open roadcourse and sunday morning was the autocross for those cars. The autocross we ran was on sunday afternoon and was put on by CMP.


BILL

08velocity

Having seen Kyle & his wife Stacy drive not only on Tv, but in person I'm sure if you had taken them up to ride with you, your experience would have been 180 degree's different, and you would have learned ALOT !! from them. Super nice peaple and very talented drivers. sorry you had a bad experience .

Thomasmoto

Sure, you go through brakes and tires but they are reasonable inexpensive/easily obtained.

Yea, it would have been different if I had a spare set of tires, brakes and rotors like many there did. I have drag radials for the strip and that makes that a much better event for me. As time goes by if I come across some spare rims and what not I may go for it again. I was actually pretty happy with my driving, of course more seat time always helps. And I had to go to this event solo. Had any family or friends been able to attend I could have better prepped. And yes this was an Optima Ultimate Street Car Qualifier so it wasn't a typical hpde. Half the cars there were on tires that had less of a treadwear rating that the rules stated so it really wasn't a fair playing field for comparing lap times. And my Michelin Pilot Super Sports are a 300 so I was at least at a 30% disadvantage there. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching that's just how it was. If I do it again I'll just ignore the rules and run what I brung too..:-) In fact that statement was made at the 1st drivers meeting. That's OK, but why list rules if they aren't going to be taken seriously? I saw one car with the same drag radial tires I run at the strip. Shoot I would have driven down there on those if I had known it wouldn't matter. Again this wasn't a typical deal and I do appreciate those that put it on. It is really tough, especially in this economy, to do events like these so I truly salute their investing as they do.

X25

Treadwear ratings are not a good indicator for the newest tires. They do come with much-improved compounds that last much longer, and these compounds also better at preventing choking, letting the tire come with 10/32" tread depth compared to 8-9/32" depth of usual performance tires, substantially increasing its life. In short, 300 treadwear PSS tire is substantially stickier and lasts 50% longer* at the track than a PS2 tire at the same size.

* --> Michelin's claim.

Thomasmoto

Well I can certainly tell you they do last longer, but they sure don't seem to "stick" any better.