911Jetta

This weekend I finally completed my first DE!

I get it now...and I'm so, so impressed and continue to be amazed at how good of a car the 964 is. I drove 4x30 minute sessions throughout the day and also spent another hour+ lapping with my instructor in his race-spec Miata...an absolute go-cart (could hang with any car on the track through a section of turns...but lights out on the straight sections).

I really gelled with my instructor, which is important and so lucky. He had a great style and really answered my questions and was very patient. Two way radio was really neat also...I would come out of a turn and tell him on the radio what I thought I did wrong and he'd make a great comment and then point something else out. All very casual and lighthearted. I'm surprised at how much leash he gave me while I was driving the car...but it actually helped a lot to go over the limit a bit, see and "feel" my mistake and learn to do it better the next lap...or **** I missed my turn-in point...hopefully the next lap. My car is a mostly stock 964 and I'll have to say it hung in there with me the whole time...it felt very honest in it's imputs and reactions. Despite it's rear-engine reputation, I felt the car was working with me, not trying to work against me...

Back to the car...I had about two hours of full gas, redline in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th and the oil temp never went past 9 o' clock! I can't believe how strong the brakes were...keep in mind I have a '90 with stock single piston rear calipers, I never ran out of brakes even lap after lap of 130 on the straights and then full on braking into 2nd and 3rd gear turns. (and I just changed the brake pads for the first time the night before...that kept going through my head). Actually the hardest thing for me to get used to was jumping on the brakes after going 130 mph on the straights...you just never ever brake with this kind of force on the road (of course...).

Days before the event I asked on the forum about tire PSI...I ended up leaving the house with 32 PSI front, and 33 PSI rear. Of course I forgot to check there pressure after each session (my mind was spinning)...the tires felt great, but got greasy on the last lap of two of my session. Otherwise the tires look great today also...

I met up at the track with a bunch of my Turbo friends, and they only added to the fun. When I wasn't lapping, I taking hundreds of pictures of fender flares and wings and laughing with these crazy characters!

Sunday we did our secret North Greensboro "test-loop"...glad I brushed up on my (limited) "skills" the day before...a couple hours of following very highly boosted Turbos left the front of my car covered in a fine mist of oil and my head a little bit light-headed from the fumes!

I pulled into the garage on Sunday evening and just sat in the car for a couple minutes just trying to take it all in...hours of track time, loud exhausts, seeing friends, looking at Turbos all weekend and hundreds of mountain miles all without any problems. It did everything I asked of it and didn't skip a beat, not even for one second. Porsches are amazing!

911Jetta

......

Gary R.

Welcome to the addiction! My guess is the tires felt "greasy" because they were over pressure, next time put a post-it note on your speedo (you don't need it) that says CHECK TIRE PRESSURE and have a good digital guage sitting out right in front of where you park.. You should post this in the DE forum, always good to see new people joining the fray...

Frank 993 C4S

Beautiful pictures - thanks for sharing. These cars are quite addictive!

boxsey911

I hate to tell you this but......you are now addicted and it's going to cost you $$$$!

joey bagadonuts

Great write up and pics. It sounded like the prep you did ahead of time really helped you get the most out of your experience.
Thanks for sharing!

ACSGP

Nice pics, yours was the sanest looking car there

elbeee964

Favorite bits of VIR, Jetta?

Any squirreliness with Turn 10?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqfv2..._safety_mode=1

cobalt

Ahh VIR. I will be there in 3 weeks. Love the mist and smell of racing fuel in the morning. One of my favorite tracks. I have to admit I have never seen so many 930's at one track event. Lately our events look like that with all GT3 and GT3 Cup cars. Hard to peddle fast enough when a GT3 Cup is flying up behind you.

BTW you just opened the gate to the slipperiest slope there is. Enjoy and buy a longacre gauge they are very accurate and durable. You don't want those tires getting greasy I hit nearly 140 in my C2 on both straights and it is not fun with greasy tires.

Enjoy the addiction.

911Jetta

Any squirreliness with Turn 10?

Of course there was!

It’s taken me so long to finally get on track, that just being there was my favorite part!

VIR is wonderful track, 3.27 miles long with lots of elevation +/-, and lots of interesting corner sections. All kinds of different types of turns. Given my obvious limited experience, it’s a great track for a 911 (I also had an hr+ worth of laps in a race prepped Miata…those straights are a little too long in that car).

Turn 1 – loved coming down the straight with that pucker factor kink at the tree…diving into the braking zone at 130+ was an amazing feeling. I had trouble braking hard enough, not trouble with the brakes, trouble mashing on the pedal hard enough! Brake NOW!

Turn 3 – I just headed full speed for the small barn, then turned.

I really loved the turn 3, 4, 5, 5a, 6, 6a combination. It was easy to see and feel that messing up turn 4 effected 5, 5a, 6… (or something like that)

Turn 7, 8 and 9 – screaming uphill under power through those turns was epic. The smooth curbing was appreciated and you really feel the car take a set after each turn. I really liked turn 9 as you hit the apex a little later and you are nicely set up for turn 10.

Turn 10 – I probably drove this turn the worst of all the turns. I had a couple tail out slides, one big one that was fun and was able to I drive out of it with a big smile on my face. I only got “close” to getting this turn right a couple times. It’s a tough one! Saw a Mustang go off big time right in front of me, but luckily he stayed on the grass on the right side of the track.

Turn 11, 11a – Lots of fun also (reoccurring theme?). Always fun aiming at a big oak tree while in a turn. Fortunately it’s on the inside of the apex, so you could easily power wide. Get Oak Tree right and it really carried you on down the track for that long back stretch.

Turn 14 – It seemed to bother a few people I talked to that you couldn’t see 14 as you were screaming down the track? Drive over the hill and then you finally see the baking zone markers. This was a fun section because it was all horsepower and interesting seeing how fast the Vettes and Mustangs were? Fast! I seemed to do ok on 14 and like the feeling of turning into 14a and looking down the hill at the paddock.

Turn 15 – suited the 911 well, full gas through the short straight as you set up for 16.

Turn 16 – My instructor helped me a lot on 16. Hit it right and it carries you on through to the straight after 17a.

Turn 17 and 17a- This we were I had the biggest laugh with my instructor. Lap after lap exiting 17, through 17a my instructor said “full power now!”…I kept joking with him “it’s not a Miata!”, it kept feeling like the rear need a little more finesse to keep from flying off the track…after working on it for a couple laps I did a really good 16, 17, 17a sequence and really flew through it and rocketed down the start/finish straight! What a feeling!

(++++ remember it was my first time on the track so I'm sure my comments about the track turns above will be painful for those of you with lots of experience. Much respect!)

PS. Gary R. - great hint about the post it note. That's a simple and really good idea. I'm going to tag different part of my interior with notes next time I'm at the track...it's way too easy to forget even the simple things while there...too much eye candy around and I loose my mind!

elbeee964

Heh. You, too?
My only spin was at 10. (And ONE is all I ever, ever want to do at 10. Too easy to wrinkle body around there. Me no likee.)

17 is a turn of faith re rear tire/suspension integrity.

That little mid-straight kink before 1 - always made the road become sidewalk-wide to my eyes. (Another me-no-likee.)

There's so much track acreage/width between 1 & 2 that 'the line' for me was an ever-random adventure. "Aim for the pagoda!"

I could practice the esses (5-9) all day long and Still be not satisfied. Not once did I feel I got 'em right. "sloppy" was what I kept thinking.

I'll be going back.

911Jetta

Just got video of a couple laps...

During one of my track session I had beautiful Cobra (with Roush Racing engine!) follow me for a couple laps. I waved him by a one point (on video) but he sat back for a bit...

Wow, I really butchered every turn, but it was a lot of fun!!! (remember it was my first time)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6q1kvRxXiw

and a couple screen shots...

ppashley

great pics. love the first one.

elbeee964

Heh.
"Ok - who's the rally driver?" [said in the same "U-boat commander" style of, Risky Business]

candela

oh man, that looks like a good time