ppith

(Sorry about the formatting on this message, but it's pretty much from a webpage that I tried to paste into a message with heavy editing...)

So I wake up early this morning because I'm excited about going to the race track. I wake up at about 4:45AM and cannot fall back asleep. My alarm was set for 6:00AM so I browsed the web and prepared for my track event. I grabbed everything I needed including my digital
camera and headed out to top off my car with gas before heading down to the race track. I arrived at the Sandia Motorsports Raceway track at 7:00AM. This was about half an hour earlier than requested; however, this gave me a chance to shoot the bull with some of the participants and watch all of the numerous cars pour into the lot throughout the day. <p>Our morning class consists of going over the track layout, discussing some of the difficult turns, talking about car physics, and proper performance driving techniques. I had already read about many of these techniques online, but learning about them in a classroom and then applying them while
a professional instructor sits next to me was amazing. We had our first run on the track following the first class. My instructor was a fire marshall as they were shuffling around the instructors for the day. I let the fire marshall
drive my car around the track for three laps before he handed it over to me for two laps. It was great to have him show me the various driving lines I should be following around the track along with where to use the apex cones. The turn-in cones were the same color so I just had to remember that the apex cones always followed the turn-in cones. This course is a fourteen turn course. You can get an aerial shot of this image from <a href="http://www.sandiamotorsports.com">
Sandia Motorsports Raceway website</a>. The road course I raced on touches the top and bottom parts of the largest oval in the photograph. After the first driving session, we head back to the classroom for a brief talk as well as discussion of more advanced driving techniques that would not be covered in the day's lessons (heel-toe downshifting, double clutching, drifting on an early apex line, etc). By the way, the apex of a turn is where you want to be when taking a corner so that you can maximize your exit speed out of a turn (and thus run a road course in the fastest time possible). &lt;p&gt;We soon had lunch and another track session where I was paired up with another instructor named Lars who would help me for the rest of the day. After the second track session with Lars, I quickly realized that road courses (i.e. non-oval tracks) favor light and nimble cars versus heavy cars with
horsepower (unless they have brake, suspension, and tire upgrades). A stock Mazda Miata and new body style MR2 were definitely faster in the road course than my S4. However, the drivers of those cars had much more experience on this race
track than I did. In the afternoon, we had one last classroom session which was mostly a review plus a question and answer session. Over lunch, we watched a video created by the driver of a Porsche 944 that discussed every corner on the
course in great detail. In the afternoon, I progressed in my track times throughout two more runs on the road course. Lars was great: always pushing me harder yet being cautious at the same time whenever I would approach a corner at an
untested speed. &lt;p&gt;There were only three times on the track where I felt really nervous (yet somehow retained my composure and did not wreck my new S4). During the first track run, I gunned it on the first straight with a blue Miata on my
tail. I braked hard into the next turn and in my rear view I saw the car come up on my tail really fast. I continued to take the turn at my comfortable speed when I saw the Miata spin out of control in my rear view mirror. Thankfully
the driver of the car controlled the spin and did not wreck his car (or slam it into mine). The two other incidents both occured on the first turn of the road course after the second long straight. For the most part, I always approached
this corner at approximately 80mph. However, if the driver does not slow down to 40mph - 50mph and turn in gradually (yet come very close to the early apex cone and then use as much track as possible) the car will start sliding. I give
myself a pat on the back for choosing an all wheel drive car (with stability control) at this point since both times I slide it was a very controlled four wheel drift which I lightly left off the gas and applied the brake to prevent my car from sliding off of the road course. The driver of the blue Miata admitted his fault during our next class session.

&lt;p&gt;One of the best parts of my day was getting to ride in a red Porsche 911 that was heavily modified. My instructor Lars drove it in an open session. The student session only allowed passing on the straights. However, the open session (for more experience drivers) allowed passing anywhere on the road course (though some of the hairpin turns are too narrow for this).
Following a rolling start and half of the open session race, my mentor pulled over to the pits (we agreed to meet there) while I strapped on my helmet. He then helped me into the *VERY* tight five point harness (I could not move my body once I was strapped in). I noticed the Porsche had heavily modified brakes, suspension (no body roll whatsoever), and slick tires. Both seats had five point harnesses instead of a standard seat belt and a roll cage had been inserted into the car making the interior a bit cramped (good thing I'm only 5'2) especially when you consider headroom with a helmet. Soon, we were off and I was thrown into my seat from multiple directions from the acceleration, braking, and insane g-forces the Porsche was pulling on every turn.
It was as if the car was riding on a rail, glued to the road, whatever cliche you want to use. A few times I noticed we slid on the track a little, but it was always a controlled slide and I never felt like my life was in danger at any moment. My instructor was very considerate when he kept asking if I was feeling okay (I never felt sick once though I can imagine people
getting car sick from being in a race car). I got to take a picture of my mentor at my graduation, and another person was
considerate to take a picture of both of us together.

Click the URL of this message to check out pictures from this event I took with my digital camera. I'd post a movie of one of the rolling starts of a more advanced group (you can see the red Porsche I rode in as well), but I'm running out of room in my web space so I can't upload the movie unless someone wants to host it.

MNM3/4

Thank you for this post! I love to hear real world track experiences. I'm treating myself in Aug.