JP66

Sometimes I wonder if the heavens are conspiring to give me a message . . .



Good News is they gave me a discount and put me in a full racing school at half price. Too funny! I give SBRS an 11 for customer service.

Gary R.

Hey buddy..

First of all I don't agree that the initial 3 day SB Driving school is worth anywhere near the 3+K they charge unless you plan on running their series and paying their salaries for a couple years (or you won it in a raffle).. Their instructors may have been top notch back in "the day" but I had one in my car and I wouldn't pay spit for him. Take your car, start doing Driver Education events. If you are cut from "the cloth" you will be addicted and your life will be comprised of planning your next event... and then worry about God and your family.. (Honest). If, after MANY DE's you still feel you want to get into wheel to wheel racing (figure 2K per weekend for budget Porsche racing plus the off-year 15-20K bang for majors) then ask at that time what is the new best thing to be racing in.. That's when you have a PRO build a race car (or buy one built) and find out who the best coaches are to work with you (they WON'T be from the Skip Barber school I assure you)..

Come to the NY Metro DE on July 17th, I will be there and happy to talk to you without any smoke being blown up into your orifices...

JP66

There is nothing I would like more than to sign up for the DE on the 17th-18th but sadly at the moment I'm working the 18th thru the 20th. I did sign up for the HVR DE on the 21st so hopefully that will be my first DE. After that I'm planning my schedule for the remainder of the season around every available DE at Lime Rock except that I can't make the CVR DE on August 8th because I'm on a family vacation. Still . . . can't wait to meet on the track!

JP66

And finally I actually own a Porsche 2011 911 Carrera 4 with PDK. I know not the optimum car for DE, but I am sharing the car with my wife so it had to make us both happy, and a Cayman S with manual was not gonna happen. Ah well, maybe the next time
Not sure I agree with the folks that said the Bridgestone Potenza 050A's would be noisy on the road, but then I might have been distracted by the wonderful sound of the engine!

Now the hard part . . . waiting until July 21st for the HVR DE at Lime Rock.

And had a chance to meet Rick from DeMan Motorsport in NY. WOW! What a shop. If that place doesn't give you the racing bug I don't know what will. I guess I'm super lucky to have 2 fantastic shops so close to me.

Gary R.

Looks great, I may see if I can take the 21st off if they still need instructors..

JP66

Would be great if you could make it!

Quick question: the car has the TPM system. Are the readings too unreliable to be of use?

Gary R.

It's only use is a warning should a tire drop pressure rapidly and it's likely you will know before that. Invest in a good tire pressure gauge, I would start your tire pressures down around 30 PSI cold on a warm day. Check immediately when you park, look for around 36-38 PSI hot. If it takes a couple minutes to park I would use 35-36 PSI hot. If higher drop them down. Check after every run, at the end of the day before going home get them up around 40 PSI because you will almost assuredly be under pressure at home then next day. Recheck at home and adjust if necessary.

Any of the sub $50 gauges here are fine..

911Königin

Hobby? Life blood

Dr911

+911 x ( MX-5 )

ProCoach

Beautiful car! Keep us posted!

At some point, I would still recommend a pro school. SBRS, Roos or others. Still think the teaching methodology used by those schools serve people well throughout their career...

Gary R.

Peter - I bet once he has some experience he would get a LOT more out of hiring you for a weekend event and (my guess) save some money too!

JP66

I laid out all the dates available at Lime Rock between now and November, and happily or sadly depending on how you look at it, I have commitments like college orientation with my daughter, college drop off, work, and vacation that all conflicted with a couple of the available PCA DE days so I opted to add a couple classes with SBRS.

As it stands right now here's what I'm planning for my first season:

1) PCA/HVR DE 7/21 at LR
2) SBRS HPDE 7/28 at LR
3) SBRS AHPDE 8/17 at LR
4) PCA/CVR DE 9/9 at LR
5) PCA/CVR DE 9/24 at LR
6) PCA/HVR DE 10/10 at LR
7) SBRS 3 day RS 10/12-14 at LR (very tentative depends on how I'm doing)
8) PCA/CVR DE 11/7 at LR

Does that seem reasonable? Am I planning too much time for my first season? Will going with different instructors be potentially confusing?

Thanks guys!

Gary R.

You would do well to put other tracks in the mix also, like Whiskey Hill (Palmer) and NJMP (Thunderbolt is my preference, but Lightning is good also). It helps you to see/feel different types of corners, elevation changes, etc.. Next year make Watkins Glen a priority, it's a pilgrimage..

hf1

SBRS full racing school is great but I would recommend taking it only after you've done some track days driving solo with PCA. I think it will be an overkill at this early stage.

JP66

Got my helmet today, a Bell GT5 Touring. Thank you Stable Energies! Big difference in the fit of various helmets so definitely nice to have a local shop where I could try them on. . . .


but now I'm on a totally different note. . . .

I'm going to lose a bunch of my track time this year 'cuz I have to go to 777 flight school for 5 weeks in mid-September.

Question: If I buy time with private coaches, do I get track time?

I don't mind traveling some distance. The issue is my schedule isn't flexible, and I really would like to get as many days as I can on the track this year just to see if I can "do it".

Anyways, I know I could call a coach and ask directly, but I just thought I'd ask here since others might be interested in the answer as well.

Thanks!