mpruden

I'm new to the sport, with 9 months and ~10 track days under my belt. I haven't had a chance to get as much instruction as I'd like, so would love any candid feedback from the community - good, bad, or ugly.

Car is a 993 targa on street tires. It is stock except for PSS10s.

You can probably ignore turns 1 and 3. I was uncomfortable with the water at the apexes and purposely drove them painfully slow and off line.

Appreciate any feedback!

RobertR1

I'd say just be more aggressive all the way around. Carry more speed into the turns, let off the brakes earlier and get back on the throttle to not keep loosing speed. I don't know your car but looking at the speeds (if they're accurate) you can probably brake a bit harder and start scrubbing speed off faster which would shorten the braking distance meaning you can stay on the gas longer before you apply the brakes.

Think about keeping your avg speed up through the corner. Pick a couple of turns that are safe to push the limits. Turn 13 at the end of the back straight is a great one to practice late braking and turning in faster as you have a lot of run off. T2 is also really good. It's safe to run into it hot and just release the steering if you overcook it and catch it again.

T2 is also really good to practice getting on the gas earlier and earlier until you over do it. It's quite safe there.

mpruden

Understood - that's one thing I've noticed from carefully watching the more advanced run groups. Pretty much all the cars brake later than us guys down in the intermediate group. This is very obvious when watching the brake lights for cars entering turn one.

Also - the speeds should be a bit more accurate than the standard HLT videos. I'm using an external GPS unit. Also, I plan to add a gopro as well so I can see my hands. This is all a cheap stop gap until I get real data acquisition system.


Excellent advice. I've considered pushing it into T2, but never the one at the end of the back straight. Would you recommend trail braking there to get the car to rotate toward the apex? I've found it can be pretty tough to get the front end down at that apex curb unless I take off a lot of speed. Of course anything I can do there would be very helpful. All of these new 400-600HP cars can do whatever they want down there (like the Corvette in front of me) and just take off toward T1.

RobertR1

I'd focus less on trail braking for now and more on just moving your absolute brake marker pushed down the track. In Turn 13 for example, just brake later and later until you can't make the corner and have to use the run off. Then you'll know how much braking power your car has and more importantly the behavior of your car if you over do it. Once you have that confidence and knowledge you'll quickly be able to improve your braking at all other parts of the track. For me, I found that to be a faster way of improving.

I used an external GPS with my HLT also. Without it, the speeds are a mess....Was just too lazy for the go pro and setting it all up..

tgsmith4845

Pretty smooth driving. It's tough to go too hard when the track is dry in spots and wet in others. There is definite room for improvement as with all drivers. Have you had much coaching? I'd say consider signing up for a PCA GGR event. They've got some great instructors who'd be happy to ride with you and offer some helpful advice. They're at Thunderhill 3/18-19.

Full disclosure, I'm the former Track Chair at PCA GGR and have been DEing and racing with them for 6 years now. Regardless, I always advise Porsche owners to drive with Porsche groups who know how these cars handle and how best to squeeze speed out of them, safely, without swapping ends, especially older model 911s like yours. PM me if you'd like to chat.

mpruden

Got it. Sounds easy on paper

I've had two days of coaching, both in pouring rain, one with HOD and the other with the PCA Diablo region.

Overall, I've found it difficult to get in car coaching. I love HOD, but in hindsight, I think they initially soloed me too soon. Similarly, the Diablo PCA instructor also wanted to solo me after just a handful of laps. I like to think I'm a pretty conservative and smooth driver for someone new. Not sure why they wanted out of my car so fast

The good news is that I have signed up for the GGR event and am really looking forward to getting some coaching. The bad news is that now that I'm signed up for coaching, it will certainly rain. Don't blame me.

I'll shoot you a PM with more background.

stronbl

Excellent. We'll see you there. Tim's advice is spot on and hit him up for some in car coaching if he's not too busy between club races. But also speak with our CDI Jim McClelland who can help find someone for you as well if you hadn't already signed up for instruction. By the way, rain can be fun too and very educational - not too many better tracks than Thunderhill in the rain from a safety standpoint either - but I agree with you, you're due for a dry track experience.

mark kibort

a very comfortable lap, not fast.... so, as was said you need to find the limits at every turn , and not short shift. take it to near reline on every shift and take it down a gear to get the most amount of rear wheel control as you enter and exit turns.. the line was good over the track. also get a camera angle that shows steering angles vs what the car is doing... otherwise we cant really tell much other than line and sounds.

Tom W

Your video brings back memories. I was very happy with a 2:20 in my 993 cabriolet when I was getting started. With practice and seat time, I got better and hit the 2:14's before I bought the Turtle and started the free-fall down the slope to racing.

If you're comfortable, that's great. But - you won't get better until you teach yourself to slowly push your comfort zone. Don't get hung up on the braking points, that can easily lead to braking late and too much. Concentrate more on consistency and trying to get onto the throttle sooner. The speed will come as you get more practice.

A 'cheap' data system (is there such a beast?) will be a great help. I started with a TraqMate and was amazed at how inconsistent I was in the corners. One time T8 would be 88 mph, another 98. It taught me that I could go faster (and occasionally I did) but I had to learn to do it every lap.

One way to look at it - Where you terrified in the turn? Did you have the car get slightly loose where you had to make a correction? If there was no correction, you were below the limits of the car. The trick is to slowly creep up on the car's limits without vastly exceeding the driver's limits and going off the track. And driving with GGR or other groups that provide instruction can be a big help.