Date : Aug 18st 2018
Location: Summit Point , WV
Track: Shenandoah circuit.
1. Preparation.
I didn't have enough time to add more to the car. I changed post office and summer is the busy season for my wife. so I check the fluids and kept driving my car to go to work. Also, I could only participate in 1 day out of the 2 day weekend. The best advice I was given was to keep the car the way it was. Steve, my last instructor , commented on how the car felt good while braking so I took it as a compliment of choosing the right product. Tires are all season , 500tw. They still look brand new, which shows that I am the bottleneck of performance as of right now.
Track Day
Still running on the novice group, I was less stressed than my first day but still very excited. Steve was there but I got assigned Tim as an instructor. We ran the circuit low speed and I told him I was monitoring my speed before breaking at the end of the straight and that I wanted to reach 115mph by the end of the day. He agreed on the target and off we go on our first session. The weather was cooler than last event ( low to mid 70's) and I immediately felt the rear was too loose seriously limiting my exit speed out of corners. So I decided to work on entry speed instead. It was a great session, I remember the flow of the circuit very well and passed a few cars as I was already faster than half of the novice group.
Before the beginning of the second session, I took upon myself to decrease the rebound on the rear dampers. Since my tire temps were good, I've soften the rear to gain more mechanical traction. I explained what I did to my instructor and we were at the back of the novice group in the pit waiting for the session to begin. There was a WRX in front of us. I asked how 4 wheel drive would help on this track, he said they should be superior to a RWD due to the mid corner grip required. Well, the first 2 laps where there for me and the WRX to pass most of the group and I chased the guy for 3 laps before he decided to push it further and I got stuck in slow traffic. he had more power than me exiting the corners but I could catch up in with faster entry speed and better flow in some succession of turns. Driving wise we were at the same level and it was a great experience. The car felt great reducing the damper setting in the rear. I still suffer from understeer but I was getting more and more confident of the brakes. At the end of the second session, I almost reached 120mph at the end of the back straight.
While we exited the car, I joke around that his job was done since I reached my goal of the day. It was the best session I've ever done. I was starting using the understeer and weight transfer even more now and felt like the speed is starting to come.
Before the third session, I went to meet my instructor that mentioned that he will send me solo. WHAT ! He mentioned that I was running at an intermediate level pace and that I should go on my own.Yes, I was passing everyone, Yes I was getting better but I didn't think I would reach that level that early. I do have racing experience in the virtual world but I didn't think I would be making so much progress in 2.5 days or 10 sessions.
Well, I went by myself. But I was all the way back. So I took it as a session for passing by myself. The track is a busy track and passing takes a lot of focus off the driving. I maybe had 2 good laps out of it but I was consistently hitting 110 to 115 mph at the end of the back straight. It was very fun but I felt like slow traffic would do the train to often and prevent faster traffic to pass in the passing zones. There was a Porsche Boxter that tried to follow me during the session. I clearly was faster in the turns but he would consistently catch me back during the straight, I pushed 2 good laps and he was off my mirrors. It felt good to be able to go faster than a car with more horsepower.
Finally, the last session of the day arrives. I decided to be in the front, this time for a clear track. We don't have a caution lap in the 3rd and 4th session, so I push the car right away. I did about 7 laps before I started to lap cars. during that stint , I hit between 120 and 122 mph at the end of the back straight. I felt like I was "flowing" the track. My focus was on my driving exclusively. This was the best session ever! I now started to feel in unison with the car. knowing what it will do after each input. I started to feel like my tires and a street alignment was the reason for not being able to push it further.
It took me a full week to stop talking about that session.
