mickeykelley

I am still on a cloud......My 18 year old son (2010 Camaro V6) and I (2008 Z51 MN6 NPP) did a Drivers Education event with the Porsche Club of America Central Texas at the Texas World Speedway in College Station this weekend. Naturally, it was mostly Porsche of every description. But in the beginner there was some of us old ***** including a 63 Vette (327/250hp). 50 years of innovation really showed as his car struggled with drum brakes, floating, etc., but he had fun. This was an instructional event where we had an instructor in the seat with us at all times. In my case, John had 12,000 laps on this course and really knew his stuff. He took me from very nervous and not sure what the hell I had gotten myself into, to being on cloud NINE. All I can say is THANK YOU JOHN, YOUR THE MAN. If you have never done this sort of thing, you have no idea what you are missing. I had no idea just how GOOD the 08 Vette is. WOW. They taught us in both classroom and track and let me tell you, these guys are great and know their stuff. Being mostly Porsche owners, these are top notch, well educated, professionally stand up people who do this for very little money ($300 a weekend with 4 track sessions (20-25 mins) each day). Instructors are all volunteer. My guy is an executive at Dell and my son's was some soft of CEO heading to Australia the day after the race. That is the caliper of people I am talking about, no slouches here.

We learned breaking on a dime, apexing and vehicle geometry and dynamics. We stayed in 3rd gear almost all day except on the straights where you have to shift to get over 90 or so. In my case, I got to 125 on the front before having to drop to 45 to make a hard right (the instructor hit 145 driving mine and he was just out for a Sunday joy ride with me as passenger to show me) and 100 on the back. He worked me up to where the last day it was just feeling right when you hit the line, make the turn and go full out in the wildest sling shot you can imagine. On the last session, I cleared all settings and found that with all the high revs, etc., I averaged 60 mph on the session, had a max of .96g on the turns and averaged 14.5 mpg and our run crap tires just barely squealed one time. He had me taking many turns at 70 to 80 and still rolling on the throttle. In his car he said he does the same turn at 135. No thank you. It took awhile to work up to it, but once he had me experience the amount of force the car could handle in a slower turn then said just get that feel at 90 and you have it made. My son learned quicker than me and found his V6 Camaro held its own. He could not get the super fast acceleration on the straights but still it and he did very well. Also fantastic bonding time before he heads to the Air Force in Jan.

Again, wow.....

carpe dm

Great day for you, and some wonderful memories. It is fun to learn the capabilities of the car (and ourselves) on a track!

toxin440

I've run on that track before in my Z06 with a group called "the drivers edge" same exact setup as what you did, price and everything. Fun as hell and very educational, that place was even more fun because I graduated from A&M in spring of 05... so it's like an old stomping ground anyways.

it sounds like you were running the reverse track config that I ran while there... that straight is good for some mondo speed, i hit about 140's before I had to get hard on the brakes.

5 Liter Eater

I've been to TWS for the same two day performance driving school (see sig pic) and it is an absolute blast! The people are very nice and the atmosphere very relaxed and friendly. Highly recommended and surprisingly affordable. Next time spring for a garage. Makes it even more enjoyable.

mickeykelley

Class of '78 here. We ran clockwise..

mickeykelley

I agree and already decided it would be worth the extra $50......Learned a lot this first trip besides the driving part.......