Texas Driving Experience-AWESOME!
01-13-2008, 10:05 PM
#1
Texas Driving Experience-AWESOME!
Hello Everyone,
After having my 02 Z06 modded by 21st Century Muscle Cars by having a hurricane intake,Pfadt coil overs and sway bar, and drilled and slotted Baer rotors installed, I wanted to take her out for a drive at the road course before shipping her out to Germany, where I work and live.
I signed up for the Texas Driving Experience introduction to road racing course, and am very happy to report it was a great learning experience.
we spoke with Don Barnes and Michael Johnson for a racing dynamics presentation before the training began, and then were paired up with Lisa Boyd and Phil Osborne.
The 1st half of the day was conducted with Scion's, and we wear taught braking techniques. We then headed to the skid pad and learned how to induce and correct oversteer and understeer.
Afterwards we trained on a slalom course, then applied all that we were taught on an autocross course.
After having lunch we got in our cars (myself and my friend in my Z06) and other students in a C6 Z06, a 04 Z06, and a porsche 911, and did a shadow session with te prepped C5 Z06's that they use for other events, to learn the proper racing lines of their road race course. Afterwards we had a critique and question and answer session, and then we got in our cars and ran on the track for 30 minutes to apply all that we had learned.
Lisa and Phil were both very professional and enthusiastic, and we were all impressed with their driving skills when they would demo manuevers with us, which lent to their credibility as instructors.
The entire program was very well done, and tuaght me many things that I never knew even though I have been participating in different courses and events the past few years, which goes to show you can always learn something every time.
I also noticed that there was a teens skills course to teach teens techniques to help gain a better understanding of driving, and I wish I had something like that when I was a teenager!
There was a another fun event in which people could get a demo drive on the C5 Z06's which looked great in yellow in full racing regalia.
I'd suggest the Texas Driving Experience for anyone wanting to get into road racing, autocross, or to just learn more about what you can do with your car in a safe and controlled environment.
here is a youtube link to the slideshow I made...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-khQPN5RR0
and here is a link of some of the video I took...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkUWo38ea8
Marc
After having my 02 Z06 modded by 21st Century Muscle Cars by having a hurricane intake,Pfadt coil overs and sway bar, and drilled and slotted Baer rotors installed, I wanted to take her out for a drive at the road course before shipping her out to Germany, where I work and live.
I signed up for the Texas Driving Experience introduction to road racing course, and am very happy to report it was a great learning experience.
we spoke with Don Barnes and Michael Johnson for a racing dynamics presentation before the training began, and then were paired up with Lisa Boyd and Phil Osborne.
The 1st half of the day was conducted with Scion's, and we wear taught braking techniques. We then headed to the skid pad and learned how to induce and correct oversteer and understeer.
Afterwards we trained on a slalom course, then applied all that we were taught on an autocross course.
After having lunch we got in our cars (myself and my friend in my Z06) and other students in a C6 Z06, a 04 Z06, and a porsche 911, and did a shadow session with te prepped C5 Z06's that they use for other events, to learn the proper racing lines of their road race course. Afterwards we had a critique and question and answer session, and then we got in our cars and ran on the track for 30 minutes to apply all that we had learned.
Lisa and Phil were both very professional and enthusiastic, and we were all impressed with their driving skills when they would demo manuevers with us, which lent to their credibility as instructors.
The entire program was very well done, and tuaght me many things that I never knew even though I have been participating in different courses and events the past few years, which goes to show you can always learn something every time.
I also noticed that there was a teens skills course to teach teens techniques to help gain a better understanding of driving, and I wish I had something like that when I was a teenager!
There was a another fun event in which people could get a demo drive on the C5 Z06's which looked great in yellow in full racing regalia.
I'd suggest the Texas Driving Experience for anyone wanting to get into road racing, autocross, or to just learn more about what you can do with your car in a safe and controlled environment.
here is a youtube link to the slideshow I made...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-khQPN5RR0
and here is a link of some of the video I took...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkUWo38ea8
Marc
Last edited by stingraymarc; 01-16-2008 at 04:22 AM. Reason: added links for pictures
01-15-2008, 07:35 AM
#3
In Germany, they have the Nurburgring which is open just about all year round and is open to the public ,with 1 lap of the 12 mile course costing a little over 50 dollars...in the Hockenheim ring they have what are called "tourist driving" days in which you pay about 20 dollars or so and can go on their road coarse against some fine exotics and high performance cars. I have done what we call HPDE's in Austria for about 200-300 dollars, and in Italy for as little as 20 dollars when its a special sports car or corvette "gathering".It included a road race,slalom,autocross, and other fun stuff that I didnt take part in, like a burnout competition.
They generally dont do 1/4 mile competitions, I think, because with the availability of the autobahn, you can drive fairly fast as often as you like (I drive to work topping out at 150MPH before slowing for the exit), so the "stoplight to stoplight" mentality that we have to see how fast a car can go is not a part of their car design or measure of how fast a car is. You have to be almost at 85mph on the onramp just to be fast enough to get onto the autobahn. So we look for different types of challenges out there, mostly on road race courses, to test a drivers all around ability as well as the cars.
Im going to take part in road racing events in France,Belgium, and Holland this upcoming year to make up for lost time.
its really amazing driving the courses in Europe, and oddly enough, mostly cheaper as you just sign a waiver stating basically "the track is not responsible if you damage your car or kill yourself"..in fact if you damage your car and part of the track, YOU have have to pay for the damage to the track!
They generally dont do 1/4 mile competitions, I think, because with the availability of the autobahn, you can drive fairly fast as often as you like (I drive to work topping out at 150MPH before slowing for the exit), so the "stoplight to stoplight" mentality that we have to see how fast a car can go is not a part of their car design or measure of how fast a car is. You have to be almost at 85mph on the onramp just to be fast enough to get onto the autobahn. So we look for different types of challenges out there, mostly on road race courses, to test a drivers all around ability as well as the cars.
Im going to take part in road racing events in France,Belgium, and Holland this upcoming year to make up for lost time.
its really amazing driving the courses in Europe, and oddly enough, mostly cheaper as you just sign a waiver stating basically "the track is not responsible if you damage your car or kill yourself"..in fact if you damage your car and part of the track, YOU have have to pay for the damage to the track!
01-16-2008, 08:27 PM
#4
finally,
here are the pictures...
[IMG][URL=http://www.slide.com/s/QOMBzV0n3T-kcrWBDTSfgOiomSGSJt0t?referrer=hlnk]
[IMG][URL=http://www.slide.com/s/OJmOeXqK5D-VfrOyqB2vaNNUP3V_mhSd?referrer=hlnk]
[IMG][URL=http://www.slide.com/s/3lg9Y0nj3T_-k1QY6xro2kk5YKgZf1_J?referrer=hlnk]
here are the pictures...
[IMG][URL=http://www.slide.com/s/QOMBzV0n3T-kcrWBDTSfgOiomSGSJt0t?referrer=hlnk]
[IMG][URL=http://www.slide.com/s/OJmOeXqK5D-VfrOyqB2vaNNUP3V_mhSd?referrer=hlnk]
[IMG][URL=http://www.slide.com/s/3lg9Y0nj3T_-k1QY6xro2kk5YKgZf1_J?referrer=hlnk]
01-18-2008, 08:31 PM
#6
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Feb 2007
Location: Highland Village TX
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Hey Marc. Glad you enjoyed your experience at TDE. I certainly enjoyed working with you and your friend...Lisa and I had as much fun as you guys. Good luck in Germany and have fun with the Z0 6!
