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WDCR 2011 Spring Comp School: Day 2b-3
Posted by
davecarama
,
03-23-2011
·
1,797 views
After lunch, it was back to the classroom, only this time, they changed instructors, we were starting school #2.
I was assigned to Jeff Werth. Turns out he is an 8 time national champ, currently drives an AS Camaro. He is a nice guy and VERY knowledgable. He asked what I wanted to learn. I told him I need to work on braking less in turn 3 and 10, and I need to learn other methods of passing and mind games while on the track. One of the best things about Jeff, was that he LIKED that I was aggressive and he LIKED that I was willing to pass anywhere, anytime. I was worried that those traits would get me in trouble.
Find out about Jeff Werth here:
http://members.tripod.com/wre_racing/
The rest of day 2 went as expected, except that in one of my sessions I had a snap oversteer in turn 5. And by snap oversteer, I mean I was facing one direction, and almost immediately found myself full lock sideways catching the car. I pulled in after that happened and had my crew look the car over because something felt loose, and weird with the steering. That and the steering wheel was loose (and that can be a little dangerous).
They fixed everything up and the day went off without any hitches.
Day 3 (Last day of school)
It was about this time that I realized how much carnage was happening on track with group 2. They had to pull out the flatbed every session on Sat and Sun. I was beginning to wonder where all of the fully prepped cars were coming from. Could there REALLY be that many that readily available?
I continued to grid near my buddy in the CRX to practice racing skills. By the way the instructors spoke, it was as fun to watch us as it was for us to be driving. About mid day, I noticed certain cars waiting for me to grid so they could stage behind me. The Integra for instance said he followed to learn a few line tips, and the Mazda RX7's father actually asked me if he could follow me for a few laps! That is pretty cool, but I learned later, that they learned too much from me, they were becoming difficult to keep up with, keep in front of, pass, or catch up to! And the worst part, they were learning how to make my passing opportunities unsuccessful! Not good, not good at all!
Since this was on the weekend and I am writing this well within the week, I'll tell you some of my highlights of the day and move on to the races.
There was a mustang in our group, driven by "Joe the Greek". They guy had a frikkin fast car, and he knew how to drive. I was faster in the back section of the track though. I got a run on him through ten so that I was at speed when we hit the straight. He was faster than me in a straight line, so I stayed tucked in behind his bumper and that guy pulled my slow butt right down the straight, but he broke at the 600 mark!?!? I pulled out and passed him on the inside of 1... he didn't like that... he got back in front of me in the straight after turn 9, and I set him up again to draft down the straight. This time right out of the turn he pulled full track right, and I mean all the way out to the edge! I stuck my nose behind him and followed him right into the turn again, only this time, the Integra was close enough by the braking zone to get right up next to me on my left. The rustang pulled back to the left and made the turn normal, as did the Integra, and I was left inside pinching. They both got around me, but I kept up with the integra to flow around the track.
In the following classroom chat, the instructors asked the Mustang guy why he drove on that side. He said in his big greek accent "I wanted to see what it was like out there" (everyone broke out into laughter) then he said "I didn't know what that Miata was going to do, I knew he could out brake me, so I wanted to keep him behind me". To me the entire experience was cool. Passing, getting passed, drafting, getting blocked, figuring out how to get by one but keep the other behind me. It was a great test and humbling to be thought of as a threat by these much higher horsepower cars!
Another thing I remember from this day was Brian Price approaching me. If you don't know who that is, he has just about every track record in the region, and an all around good guy. Find more about him here: http://rpperformance...ory/brian-price He said he was impressed with the way I went through ten. He said it didn't look like there was much left on the table, that you could see the car sliding. That kinda made my day!
Later on he was sitting in turn 4 and said I locked the rear up almost every lap, but not in a bad way. I think he said it was like perfect threshold braking. He said the wheel was smoking, but moving ever so slowly around as I came into the braking zone at my top speed. Again, pretty cool from such a champion!
Rob Robinnette was in my class in his MONSTER ITE car. If you don't know who he is, he wrote up some GREAT how-too docs on the 3rd Gen RX7
Find out more about Rob Robinette here: http://robrobinette.com/
He was taking the school also, and in group 3 (big bore) with me. The instructors used one of his videos to demo the track in class for the school... pretty cool for him I'd say!
Yeah! Like I said, the guy is fast!!! This is his personal best lap around Summit Point main, a 121.7 which is 6 hundredths off Skips S2000 overall record. He has removed the air conditioning and other stuff so the car is about 50 lbs lighter this year. He is looking to break the record this season.
Well, he passed me in turn 5, and I took my position back in turn 6. It sounds like nothing, but my fastest ever at Summit Point was a 1:30;0, so this was a huge opportunity for me to take that pass! I don't know what he was thinking when it happened, he went around turn 6 on line and kept it out there. But the line in turn 6 is so wide, you can fit 2 more cars in that gap. Since he decided to go out there, I decided that I could sneak in, and I did! He took it back in 9, but later told me that he got a lot of experience passing that weekend, but I was one of the only people to pass him... so I did it again later in the day! All in my 180K mile Miata!
I did have a few not so good moments that day. There was a GTP that dumped a good bit of oil on the course from turn-in of 4 through the apex and into the braking zone in 5. It was slick out there pretty much the entire rest of the day... but I never got that through my thick skull. So I hooked up with the CRX on track again and had some heated battles! That is until I hit turn 5. He took the inside, and I went for the outside, which can work giving you the apex for 6, except that it was still slick with oil soak and oil. I made it in there, and started my way around, but got caught in the slickness and begun a spin! The CRX got by, and the RX7 and white pinto too... I got myself back on track, and on pace immediately. I got an at'a'boy for that one. because the instructor heard me pinging off the rev limiter in turn 9. He was impressed that it had absolutely no negative effect on my driving for the session. It was out of my head as quickly as it happened.
BUT
The next session I broke late and tried to turn in... went deep, went wide, too wide, and went off again in the inside of the track. When I got off the track, the chief stuart came in, complementing the session with one exception. Car #63 continues to make the same error and that seriously concerns them. That driver needs to use more discretion... That one hurt. Needless to say, I didn't spin again after that public embarrassment.
But the embarrassment is not over yet. I made another HUGE mistake... one that was not mentioned or discussed in class, and I probably shouldn't mention it... It did happen though, and although most likely not a huge deal, I still feel like a jackass... it is on video, and I will post it in tomorrows post about the final race of day 3.
Stay tuned...
I was assigned to Jeff Werth. Turns out he is an 8 time national champ, currently drives an AS Camaro. He is a nice guy and VERY knowledgable. He asked what I wanted to learn. I told him I need to work on braking less in turn 3 and 10, and I need to learn other methods of passing and mind games while on the track. One of the best things about Jeff, was that he LIKED that I was aggressive and he LIKED that I was willing to pass anywhere, anytime. I was worried that those traits would get me in trouble.
Find out about Jeff Werth here:
http://members.tripod.com/wre_racing/
The rest of day 2 went as expected, except that in one of my sessions I had a snap oversteer in turn 5. And by snap oversteer, I mean I was facing one direction, and almost immediately found myself full lock sideways catching the car. I pulled in after that happened and had my crew look the car over because something felt loose, and weird with the steering. That and the steering wheel was loose (and that can be a little dangerous).
They fixed everything up and the day went off without any hitches.
Day 3 (Last day of school)
It was about this time that I realized how much carnage was happening on track with group 2. They had to pull out the flatbed every session on Sat and Sun. I was beginning to wonder where all of the fully prepped cars were coming from. Could there REALLY be that many that readily available?
I continued to grid near my buddy in the CRX to practice racing skills. By the way the instructors spoke, it was as fun to watch us as it was for us to be driving. About mid day, I noticed certain cars waiting for me to grid so they could stage behind me. The Integra for instance said he followed to learn a few line tips, and the Mazda RX7's father actually asked me if he could follow me for a few laps! That is pretty cool, but I learned later, that they learned too much from me, they were becoming difficult to keep up with, keep in front of, pass, or catch up to! And the worst part, they were learning how to make my passing opportunities unsuccessful! Not good, not good at all!
Since this was on the weekend and I am writing this well within the week, I'll tell you some of my highlights of the day and move on to the races.
There was a mustang in our group, driven by "Joe the Greek". They guy had a frikkin fast car, and he knew how to drive. I was faster in the back section of the track though. I got a run on him through ten so that I was at speed when we hit the straight. He was faster than me in a straight line, so I stayed tucked in behind his bumper and that guy pulled my slow butt right down the straight, but he broke at the 600 mark!?!? I pulled out and passed him on the inside of 1... he didn't like that... he got back in front of me in the straight after turn 9, and I set him up again to draft down the straight. This time right out of the turn he pulled full track right, and I mean all the way out to the edge! I stuck my nose behind him and followed him right into the turn again, only this time, the Integra was close enough by the braking zone to get right up next to me on my left. The rustang pulled back to the left and made the turn normal, as did the Integra, and I was left inside pinching. They both got around me, but I kept up with the integra to flow around the track.
In the following classroom chat, the instructors asked the Mustang guy why he drove on that side. He said in his big greek accent "I wanted to see what it was like out there" (everyone broke out into laughter) then he said "I didn't know what that Miata was going to do, I knew he could out brake me, so I wanted to keep him behind me". To me the entire experience was cool. Passing, getting passed, drafting, getting blocked, figuring out how to get by one but keep the other behind me. It was a great test and humbling to be thought of as a threat by these much higher horsepower cars!
Another thing I remember from this day was Brian Price approaching me. If you don't know who that is, he has just about every track record in the region, and an all around good guy. Find more about him here: http://rpperformance...ory/brian-price He said he was impressed with the way I went through ten. He said it didn't look like there was much left on the table, that you could see the car sliding. That kinda made my day!
Later on he was sitting in turn 4 and said I locked the rear up almost every lap, but not in a bad way. I think he said it was like perfect threshold braking. He said the wheel was smoking, but moving ever so slowly around as I came into the braking zone at my top speed. Again, pretty cool from such a champion!
Rob Robinnette was in my class in his MONSTER ITE car. If you don't know who he is, he wrote up some GREAT how-too docs on the 3rd Gen RX7
Find out more about Rob Robinette here: http://robrobinette.com/
He was taking the school also, and in group 3 (big bore) with me. The instructors used one of his videos to demo the track in class for the school... pretty cool for him I'd say!
Yeah! Like I said, the guy is fast!!! This is his personal best lap around Summit Point main, a 121.7 which is 6 hundredths off Skips S2000 overall record. He has removed the air conditioning and other stuff so the car is about 50 lbs lighter this year. He is looking to break the record this season.
Well, he passed me in turn 5, and I took my position back in turn 6. It sounds like nothing, but my fastest ever at Summit Point was a 1:30;0, so this was a huge opportunity for me to take that pass! I don't know what he was thinking when it happened, he went around turn 6 on line and kept it out there. But the line in turn 6 is so wide, you can fit 2 more cars in that gap. Since he decided to go out there, I decided that I could sneak in, and I did! He took it back in 9, but later told me that he got a lot of experience passing that weekend, but I was one of the only people to pass him... so I did it again later in the day! All in my 180K mile Miata!
I did have a few not so good moments that day. There was a GTP that dumped a good bit of oil on the course from turn-in of 4 through the apex and into the braking zone in 5. It was slick out there pretty much the entire rest of the day... but I never got that through my thick skull. So I hooked up with the CRX on track again and had some heated battles! That is until I hit turn 5. He took the inside, and I went for the outside, which can work giving you the apex for 6, except that it was still slick with oil soak and oil. I made it in there, and started my way around, but got caught in the slickness and begun a spin! The CRX got by, and the RX7 and white pinto too... I got myself back on track, and on pace immediately. I got an at'a'boy for that one. because the instructor heard me pinging off the rev limiter in turn 9. He was impressed that it had absolutely no negative effect on my driving for the session. It was out of my head as quickly as it happened.
BUT
The next session I broke late and tried to turn in... went deep, went wide, too wide, and went off again in the inside of the track. When I got off the track, the chief stuart came in, complementing the session with one exception. Car #63 continues to make the same error and that seriously concerns them. That driver needs to use more discretion... That one hurt. Needless to say, I didn't spin again after that public embarrassment.
But the embarrassment is not over yet. I made another HUGE mistake... one that was not mentioned or discussed in class, and I probably shouldn't mention it... It did happen though, and although most likely not a huge deal, I still feel like a jackass... it is on video, and I will post it in tomorrows post about the final race of day 3.
Stay tuned...
