Mike
04-05-2008, 10:51 PM
Taken from here: http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=276064
This was posted today on another forum. I liked it, and thought it was worth a repost here.
"I am putting this here instead of in the track forums because there is nothing here of interest to people who go to the track but may be amusing to people who don't.
Today I did my first track day. VIR north course, which is all of the twisty bits, with the long sections cut out and some wicked nurburgring-esque uphill bits added to close the North loop. It was raining and treacherous.
I learned a lot things today about cars, driving, myself and other enthusiasts.
I discovered that a track is crucible that burns away all the irrelevancies till only the truth remains. You have no idea what good fast driving is, nor how good you are till you've gotten on a track. This is almost a cliche but you understand it only when you put yourself in the crucible and light the burner.
All driving enthusiasts think they are naturals, but actually very few are. Instinct will not get the rest anywhere, even though they think it does. Driving well is such a technical activity, it is like training artillery crews to operate with mechanical, reliable, consistent precision. Its all about managing the inertia of the car and for most people, it does not come instinctively.
Further, it is shocking, shocking, to realize 1. how much safety buffer I leave in my driving and 2. how far beyond where iI think the limits are, they really are. #1 is particularly shocking. I am being asked to approach what I feel is the limit and I am frightened to do so because I have no plan B. How can I use up all of the track, or go flat out through the dropping last corner, loading up the chassis, reaching frightening speeds, and no way out?!
Thats when I realize just how small and limited I am as a driver. I am not even being asked to brake late or brake hard. I am just being asked to follow the line, get on the throttle, unwind the wheel on the throttle to go from inside to outside, and that is terrifying
I don't trust the road surface! its slippery. its soaking wet. Grip varies drastically depending on how hard its raining, whether its uphill or downhill, on camber or off camber. I keep feeling like I am going to go flying off the track in these nasty conditions so I am reluctant to use up the track.
As the laps go on, I get more comfortable, I pick up a considerable amount of speed and start passing other cars, while still getting passed by the more expereinced drivers in my group. My instructor appreciates the smoothness of my inputs but urges me to use more of the track, to let the car go outward after the apex. After the second session, I am starting to feel quite good. I am starting to feel that the rainy track is treacherous but can be worked with if I stay cool and do what the instructor says. i am not feeling the confidence inspiring G forces that let me feel the grip, but my remaining cool headed and following procedure, I pick up a lot of speed and start feeling really good. There are lots of offs in my group as well as the advanced groups, with cars going skating off the track, with huge long slides grass and mud torn up everywhere. But I am feeling good and in control.
Then for the third session, the rain has stopped and a dry line has appeared from the other groups. I continue to do what I was doing in the previous session, i.e. be cool, be smooth, follow the procedure, and I start flying around the track (relative to my group). i am passing virtually everything in sight. I am learning to track out, finding enormous importance of that to finding the right line. I am passing car after car after car.
Then it starts raining again, the dry line fades out and I find myself having lost focus. I lose my cool, stop following procedure, and start panicking about the loss of grip. I stop tracking out, but keep going on the throttle as normal, which kicks the tail out on difficult down hill sections. That unnerves me even more. The session is wrecked. I am missing turn in points, I am off the line, not hitting the apexes. I have regressed badly. Cars that I had been passing in the dry AND the wet are cruising by me.
I am so thankful when the session end flag is waved and we pull in.
After that we go to the skidpad and the instructor is surprised at how much grip the Elise has and how fast I am going around the the cones without over or understeer. Then he wants me to goose it to kick the tail out. But I have become quite disoriented, I can see nothing but the cones and I can't do anything except keep the car on a very tight fast line in a circle. I surprise myself because I expect to be going wide, coming in, going wide, but no, the Elise is on RAILS. The instructor wants me to goose it and I do but the world is whirling round and round so fast, I find myself reacting not to what I can see but what I can feel and as soon as it comes around, I catch it and go back on the rails. The instructor isn't happy because he wants me to try to hold the drift. but I am not catching it with thought, I just react to what the car does. Tomorrow morning, the first thing I have is the skid pad session, and I will try to do what the instructor says. the problem is that my mind doesn't think ahead of the car.
The skidpad session also leaves me confused. Where did the car find so much grip?! Why was it feeling like it was on ice when out on the track? Was it because of the cambers and the declines? Was it just my fear of going off? Can I honestly blame the tyres for their lack of rain grip for having messed up my last session?
The amazing thing I realized is that its not about the cars at all. For all drama the enthusiast community is involved in about desirable cars and better and worse cars, the only thing that matters is good a driver you are. And the car can't help you with that. I feel so stupid having spent $57k or so on an Elise to realize that a beaten up Miata or CRX or E30 would produce just the same results on the track for me.
its also remarkable to realize how important it is to get on the track. I would bed that most of the best drivers at VIR today were of a level that most people can get to with training, expereince, diligence and dedication. And yet, they are so so so advanced and so beyond my level! It is imperative for a driving enthusiast to get on the track to get a measure of his/her ability and to understand what good driving is REALLY about. Its not about lap times and pasing people on the outside. its about managing the intertia of the car in the most efficient way possible. And without going on a track and trying to push your own limits, you will never find out where you're at.
Frankly, I am frightened about tomorrow. When i think of the last right hand corner leading onto the straightway, coming out of a dropping right hander, the springs compressing at the bottom of the dip, the instructor asking for full throttle, the G loads building up at 95mph going onto a straight that is not fully visible yet because you are not on it yet and you're coming out of the dip, man, its scary. The classroom instructor said a few times about the high pucker factor through there and he was right.
Earlier in the day, the forecast was for it to be dry tomorrow but now its rain again. I am going to try to be cool, remember the procedure, stay focused on following the procedure.
And oh yeah, what bwob said about 90hp is true. Its astonishing how efficiently a track strips away illusions of the importance of the car's performance and puts the responsiblity squarely on the driver's shoulders. If you're not good, the car isn't going to do a damn thing for you. And it didn't. i would have been just as fast or slow today if my car had 90hp instead of 190. in fact I wish that it did have 90hp.
interesting that at the track, most cars were Miatas and 3 series BMWs (E30s and E36 mostly) with a number of 911s and some 944s. other common cars were 350Zs and corvettes. A yellow Ultima GTR was the highlight of the day.
I hope I will follow up this post with another one tomorrow reporting that the Elise hasn't been wrecked."
This was posted today on another forum. I liked it, and thought it was worth a repost here.
"I am putting this here instead of in the track forums because there is nothing here of interest to people who go to the track but may be amusing to people who don't.
Today I did my first track day. VIR north course, which is all of the twisty bits, with the long sections cut out and some wicked nurburgring-esque uphill bits added to close the North loop. It was raining and treacherous.
I learned a lot things today about cars, driving, myself and other enthusiasts.
I discovered that a track is crucible that burns away all the irrelevancies till only the truth remains. You have no idea what good fast driving is, nor how good you are till you've gotten on a track. This is almost a cliche but you understand it only when you put yourself in the crucible and light the burner.
All driving enthusiasts think they are naturals, but actually very few are. Instinct will not get the rest anywhere, even though they think it does. Driving well is such a technical activity, it is like training artillery crews to operate with mechanical, reliable, consistent precision. Its all about managing the inertia of the car and for most people, it does not come instinctively.
Further, it is shocking, shocking, to realize 1. how much safety buffer I leave in my driving and 2. how far beyond where iI think the limits are, they really are. #1 is particularly shocking. I am being asked to approach what I feel is the limit and I am frightened to do so because I have no plan B. How can I use up all of the track, or go flat out through the dropping last corner, loading up the chassis, reaching frightening speeds, and no way out?!
Thats when I realize just how small and limited I am as a driver. I am not even being asked to brake late or brake hard. I am just being asked to follow the line, get on the throttle, unwind the wheel on the throttle to go from inside to outside, and that is terrifying
I don't trust the road surface! its slippery. its soaking wet. Grip varies drastically depending on how hard its raining, whether its uphill or downhill, on camber or off camber. I keep feeling like I am going to go flying off the track in these nasty conditions so I am reluctant to use up the track.
As the laps go on, I get more comfortable, I pick up a considerable amount of speed and start passing other cars, while still getting passed by the more expereinced drivers in my group. My instructor appreciates the smoothness of my inputs but urges me to use more of the track, to let the car go outward after the apex. After the second session, I am starting to feel quite good. I am starting to feel that the rainy track is treacherous but can be worked with if I stay cool and do what the instructor says. i am not feeling the confidence inspiring G forces that let me feel the grip, but my remaining cool headed and following procedure, I pick up a lot of speed and start feeling really good. There are lots of offs in my group as well as the advanced groups, with cars going skating off the track, with huge long slides grass and mud torn up everywhere. But I am feeling good and in control.
Then for the third session, the rain has stopped and a dry line has appeared from the other groups. I continue to do what I was doing in the previous session, i.e. be cool, be smooth, follow the procedure, and I start flying around the track (relative to my group). i am passing virtually everything in sight. I am learning to track out, finding enormous importance of that to finding the right line. I am passing car after car after car.
Then it starts raining again, the dry line fades out and I find myself having lost focus. I lose my cool, stop following procedure, and start panicking about the loss of grip. I stop tracking out, but keep going on the throttle as normal, which kicks the tail out on difficult down hill sections. That unnerves me even more. The session is wrecked. I am missing turn in points, I am off the line, not hitting the apexes. I have regressed badly. Cars that I had been passing in the dry AND the wet are cruising by me.
I am so thankful when the session end flag is waved and we pull in.
After that we go to the skidpad and the instructor is surprised at how much grip the Elise has and how fast I am going around the the cones without over or understeer. Then he wants me to goose it to kick the tail out. But I have become quite disoriented, I can see nothing but the cones and I can't do anything except keep the car on a very tight fast line in a circle. I surprise myself because I expect to be going wide, coming in, going wide, but no, the Elise is on RAILS. The instructor wants me to goose it and I do but the world is whirling round and round so fast, I find myself reacting not to what I can see but what I can feel and as soon as it comes around, I catch it and go back on the rails. The instructor isn't happy because he wants me to try to hold the drift. but I am not catching it with thought, I just react to what the car does. Tomorrow morning, the first thing I have is the skid pad session, and I will try to do what the instructor says. the problem is that my mind doesn't think ahead of the car.
The skidpad session also leaves me confused. Where did the car find so much grip?! Why was it feeling like it was on ice when out on the track? Was it because of the cambers and the declines? Was it just my fear of going off? Can I honestly blame the tyres for their lack of rain grip for having messed up my last session?
The amazing thing I realized is that its not about the cars at all. For all drama the enthusiast community is involved in about desirable cars and better and worse cars, the only thing that matters is good a driver you are. And the car can't help you with that. I feel so stupid having spent $57k or so on an Elise to realize that a beaten up Miata or CRX or E30 would produce just the same results on the track for me.
its also remarkable to realize how important it is to get on the track. I would bed that most of the best drivers at VIR today were of a level that most people can get to with training, expereince, diligence and dedication. And yet, they are so so so advanced and so beyond my level! It is imperative for a driving enthusiast to get on the track to get a measure of his/her ability and to understand what good driving is REALLY about. Its not about lap times and pasing people on the outside. its about managing the intertia of the car in the most efficient way possible. And without going on a track and trying to push your own limits, you will never find out where you're at.
Frankly, I am frightened about tomorrow. When i think of the last right hand corner leading onto the straightway, coming out of a dropping right hander, the springs compressing at the bottom of the dip, the instructor asking for full throttle, the G loads building up at 95mph going onto a straight that is not fully visible yet because you are not on it yet and you're coming out of the dip, man, its scary. The classroom instructor said a few times about the high pucker factor through there and he was right.
Earlier in the day, the forecast was for it to be dry tomorrow but now its rain again. I am going to try to be cool, remember the procedure, stay focused on following the procedure.
And oh yeah, what bwob said about 90hp is true. Its astonishing how efficiently a track strips away illusions of the importance of the car's performance and puts the responsiblity squarely on the driver's shoulders. If you're not good, the car isn't going to do a damn thing for you. And it didn't. i would have been just as fast or slow today if my car had 90hp instead of 190. in fact I wish that it did have 90hp.
interesting that at the track, most cars were Miatas and 3 series BMWs (E30s and E36 mostly) with a number of 911s and some 944s. other common cars were 350Zs and corvettes. A yellow Ultima GTR was the highlight of the day.
I hope I will follow up this post with another one tomorrow reporting that the Elise hasn't been wrecked."