On Sunday August 21st, I took my 74 Coupe to a private track in Joliet, IL.

It was a day that was open to the public, and for $75, I was able to take my car onto the south circuit of the track. The circuit is 2.1 miles long with 15 turns. You can go here for the layout of the track:

http://www.autobahncc.com/Track_Rental.html

Each heat had a pace car followed by 5 cars. Each driver was to maintain his position in the pack. For my heat the cars were as follows:
1. Acura TL
2. Acura TL
2 Porsche 924
4. BMW 135
5. Me

My car was the oldest of the five. I could not keep up with the rest of the cars and second pace car came out on the track for me to follow. We all completed 8 laps =16 miles. I averaged speeds between 50-75 mph.

You can take a look at some of the pictures that I posted from the event in my album.

One thing I observed was that there were more Corvettes in the parking lot and track area than any other brand of sportscar!

I was a little disappointed that I could not keep up. I think the design of the C3 is more for straight ahead power and not so much for cornering and turns. I also realized that I need to refresh my front and rear suspension.

Still I enjoyed myself and am going to try to get on the north circuit which has less turns and longer straightaways.

CULater

Dave

 

Looks cool.

I think it takes some nerve just to try.

If you factor in that your car looks like its going 120 while parked, I think you had an unfair advantage.

thanks for sharing.

 

Dave...did the same thing on Touring Lights with my 76 May 5 at VIR's 3.27 mile, 17 turn track. Fun but my group had five race cars with 400-585 hp in it and me. It wasn't the car that was slow though, it was me! I didn't run my car high enough or hard enough into the turns running the engine at or near max rpms constantly. I was afraid I'd roll the car and in one 25 minute session rode with the pro in the pacing car and learned how much harder I could push my car. The next sessions of four I lowered my lap times one minute each session, drove the car much harder, learned the lines better, accelerated harder and braked harder to the point I wanted to with a 35 year old car. It was less than regular racers would do but I learned a rhythm and got better. Much support from others and it was a heck of a one time experience for me but I learned I'm not a race driver since my lifetime of driving has been to protect and make the car last efficiently...not exactly what a race driver needs. Think in terms of flying a fighter plane minus the upside down parts...hopefully. I came home with the red side up and drove the cars two hours home intact. It was a unique day on a terrific track where I hit speeds up to 120 on a straight rising to a dead rise you couldn't see beyond after I got used to the track's curves.

Here's two of the laps as though you were a passenger looking forward over the hood. Everybody there had 400 to 585 hp in their engines in DB9, Porsche C3R's, BMW M5's and one Boxter that does 165 from the factory and me with my stock 76 L48! Still, the biggest difference was the driver, not the car though it would have mattered. I was left alone at the back and it actually helped me develop a rhythm and confidence as I went around and around. I improved and met all my own goals.

A terrific day. Just click to see the two laps in hd digital video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjK2uPWc9Bk

Lance P.

 

Dave, I don't know about you but the whole thing was so new to me that I focused so hard on the track line at the speeds and rapidity which each thing happened to me and the car that I mostly drove without looking at the instruments, listening to the engine and focusing on the environment outside the car. Things happened in my inexperience so fast that I wasn't used to it and chose to focus on steering, the track ahead and shifted and braked without looking at my right hand or concentrating on my right leg as both operated independently. I think I shifted the gears between 6-800 times that day and only remember seeing the speedo once on the long rising straight when it hit 100 and kept climbing, knowing a blind fall was after the rise then the next turn left which I'd have to lift off then brake a little even with the right line.....

I don't know how much I concentrated but it was a lot...and I slept well in the motel that night...drove home the next morning about 120 miles.

What did your driving experience feel like to you? Did you ever drive on a road track before? Mine was flat but rose and fell 170' in elevation which makes it real tricky...just look at all the black skid marks on the track leading off it. Track record is 1'18" in an open wheeled car. Most ZO6's run hard can turn 1'53" with good drivers and other reasonably fast cars would be something like 2'15-25" for reference. This track was one of Paul Newman's favorite tracks to drive on.

Lance P.

 

we had to wear a helmet, have numbers though they would have put them on the windshield with white shoe polish...I bought some that were cling on good to 140 mph which I never hit.

Lance P...your car looked good.

 

I love to hear about CF members taking their rides out on track day events. I have done an little autocrossing and it is the most fun I have ever had in a car (even slow cars). I live smack in the middle of the US and have not been able to locate a track close to me. I have looked into SCCA Solo II events and wil most likely have a go at these next year, but other than that, it is all dirt tracks.

Thanks for sharing your experience and feel free to post more photos (I am sure you were to busy driving).

--Sam

 

I took a 2 day ZR1 course at Bondurant High Performance Driving School, in Phoenix last april. My 1st time on a track in a car. (Have been on motorcycles)
Its quite an experience in a modern super car. We were encouraged to drive aggressively.
We learned a lot of techniques in cornering, apex sighting, braking, heel-toe throttle control...More than I imagined I would learn. Once it all came together in the car, WOO HOO!!
If you can ever swing the cost, I highly recommend it! Even though you drive an older car, learning proper driving techniques really would make the experiences in your own car that much more enjoyable. Old technology notwithstanding.

 

Yea, I'd highly recommend it to anyone. I got with a group that rents out tracks, and run my late model Vette on Hoosiers. The fun factor is beyond just abount anything else I've experienced. My average track speeds may be just a tad higher than those mentioned.

 

Hallet raceway is 1/2 hour west of Tulsa. There are plaenty of opportunities to run there if you want to. Your in KS so its probably the closest.

http://www.hallettracing.net/

 

There were c5 and c6 vettes in the open classes where passing was allowed when their sessions were on the track and they flew around the track along with two lotus, several Vipers, one Ferrari 430, several porsche c3r's, one aston martin db9, bmw M5's and some open wheel cars that really flew. Good cars, modern technology. If I had run a 3' lap I'd have been ecstatic and the modern Vettes with good drivers could run 2'15" or less for the 3.27 mile, 17 turn plus two kinks track with 170' of elevation changes.

Much faster on the straights pushing 140-170 mph versus my 100-120 mph. They also had anywhere form two to two an a half times the horsepower at their command so it's all relative and went into corners much faster than I did which meant faster out of corners as well. Inexperience on my part. 2' lap times means an average of 98 mph versus 3' lap times at an average of 65 mph roughly. To average 98 on a course with some 35--50 mph sharp corners means really booking it on the three straights, one of which is full of snake esses run properly at high speed as a straight. VIR is a fun course with few metal barriers and lots of fields and tire barriers right on the NC border in Va. I felt like I was flying at my speeds given my first time ever on a race track. Frankly, I would not want to start in a ZR1 for the first time ever though I sure would like to own one. Plenty of seat time on something less powerful would be more logical to learn on or the Bondurant school first as a sensible course. Some corners were interesting names: Nascar, Oak Tree, Snake Esses, Roller Coaster, Hog Pen......fun names. It is a flat, non banked asphalt track.

Great fun for a day for me though and I was very happy with my '76 doing everything I asked it to do.

Lance P.

 

Isn't the number "43" Herbie the Love Bugs number?

 

That's funny....Herbie probably would have waxed me though I did improve and was getting the hang of it. The club that resides there had the track for the day and there were 42 racers in several classes. You had to have your car professionally inspected by a mechanic and made right within 30 days on their form then a cursory inspection on site that morning. A driver's meeting for all, required, at 8:30 then 10 or 10:30 a.m. start by scheduled class. There were 42 cars there and several of us were doing the touring lights class run by the club...following a pacing car at "highway related" speeds. My group with an aston martin, two porsche c3r's two bmw m5's, a boxster and a wired, hopped up recent mustang with open headers and my '76 stock L48 four speed small block! I have never been so nervous as sitting in line at the pits ahead of the starting line the last five minutes. My wedding was less nerve wracking...then we got going and we all started to get our legs under us. The others had all raced five or more times previously so I was slow finding my way. I was concerned I'd roll the car which I later learned was not so at the speeds I drove. I slid off the track after two laps to let two guys go past me since we weren't allowed to pass and waited in the pits then proceeded on my own and began to learn and get a rhythm and pick up my speed, the lines, etc. I was way behind them but the only time any of us saw "highway related speeds" was going up through them or down through them in corners. Hardly highway related. Learned a ton riding with the pro for one 25 minute session then really began to improve. Felt like riding in a fighter jet minus the upside down parts when done well. he left the fast cars easily behind because he could push the pace car in the corners so much harder with so much control. Frustrated a couple of the M5 drivers who groused that a Volkswagen GTI stock with 200 hp engine and auto tranny could do that to htem. We hit 130 in that car and saw 7,000 rpm on the tack as the pro drove it when I went with him so he knew what he was doing.

It was EXHILERATING BIG TIME!

They gave us all good advice at the drivers meeting...more pressure in your tires and if you get tired, quit...you need to focus and be sharp at all times or you end up in a wreck or sliding off the track. Good advice. I never slid or did that but the last session only drove half of it because I'd been outdoors in an open car on and off all day since 7 a.m. and by 5 p.m. I wasn't sure at 67 my focus was as sharp as it needed to be and I had plateaued in my speeds getting faster..

So, I called it a day and felt like I'd met every single goal I set for myself. When I was 20 I never thought I'd drive any kind of performance car on a race track and I'd done it.

Hell of a day, all things considered. Pity my 28 year old blonde pit crew was only a 36C in shorts and a tank top! I wanted to see her turn a wrench but had to settle for cleavage!

Lance P.....and yes, the car did look good for being in its 36th year. It had been re engineered for 8 months to be safe ahead of time which was also satisfying.

 

Yea "Lance" once you get on the track, it's like a bug you can't shake. My cars an LS7 ZO6, and sometimes seeing 150 mph. A decent SA helmet is $400 bucks, with the Hoosier set up I'm using over $3K. Really trying to hold the line there as a hobby, but not much I can do about burning through brake pads.

 

vette5.5....I was told by one of the modern Vette owners that day that he replaced pads every four hours of track time and rotors every six hours of track time I think I remember him saying. The Ferrari guy said his pads cost $1700 a set....and wore at about the same rates running hard...heat and depending on the makeup of the pad with respect to composition..eating lunch with these guys was very interesting listening.

One guy flew over and drove his Lotus, one of two on the track that day, just for the day from Scotland. I think he had the Lotus flown over in the belly of a 747 if I remember right. A very addictive and high budget hobby I gathered, at least for him. I saw and heard a lot which was all new to me so it wouldn't be a shock if I got some of it wrong.

Serious business when on the track though and I was very impressed with the track's safety focus and staff all day long. Very easy to get in some pretty serious trouble pretty quickly.

I left with new respect for the C5 nd C6 Vettes and the people who drove them. There was one woman driving at the track that day and she owned a Boxter convertible and brought a coach who rode with her. She could make it move pretty well too. Was one of the "touring lights" group I was in. Pissed me off to be whipped by a broad driving a German car! Not much I could do about it given my zero experience start..

Lance P.

 

$1700 brake pads on a Ferrari, guy ain't lying, as the padlets on my ZO6 are $500 bucks, but don't burn through them nearly that quick. We have women in our track group too, and fine by me. If you think the mentioned brake prices are high, check into the Ferrari F40 carbon fiber parts pricing.

 

I have not been able to reply to the thread since I first posted-too busy with work and family!

Thanks for all of the responses.

I realized after getting off the track that I was not driving the car as hard as I could. I was never near the redline. I did fish tail coming out of one of turns and had to let off the gas to get the car under control. I also thought I was going to roll the car at one point.

I hope to follow up and drive with one of the club members in one of the club cars and learn how to drive on the track. I am sure that will help my driving. Not sure when I will get back on the track but it was an experience I will remember the rest of my life.

Dave

 

You will enjoy the ride with someone more knowledgable because you can watch more than you ever can driving and you'll find a comfort level. It will show you what a car can do and then you won't have to guess if your car can do it. I was worried about rolling in the corners but had no need to and added 20 mph to my entering speeds after riding with the pro...as one example. I had the lines figured out more or less already on my own and studying ahead of time. After that, decide not just how fast your vette will go but how hard YOU want to push it weighing damage against speed. Push it enough and something will break..trust me!

The numer 43 on mine came from their registration form. They ask you what number you want and tell you to list three possibles and I picked three: 8, 17, 43. That happens to be my birthday, 8/17/1943, so any one of them worked for me.

I paid about $50 from some guy here in the south over the Internet to make static cling race car numbers for me..three...one for hood or trunk, two for doors, that are good to about 140 mph and come off easily with a little spray water and gentle lifting at an acute angle back from the interface. they can be reused.

Lance