paver

I did my first ever DE last weekend. Ran at Barber with the Alabama PCA.

I hired Seth Thomas to be my in-car coach for the weekend. It was a great experience. Seth is a first class guy and a great driver/coach.

My only previous track experience was a few days at Barber driving PSDS Carreras and Caymans early last year. Seth was very patient and helpful of this newbie...might even say brave for riding with a rookie in such a potent car. He taught how important it is to keep my vision well ahead of where the car is. It made all the difference in the world. Whenever I looked way down track, I seemed to hit apexes and trackout points easily. When my focus fell right in front of the car-uhhh, not so good. So, I have plenty to work on for my next session.

What a treat it was when he drove the car...holy ____! Made it feel like we were just crawling when I was driving. The thing that stood out to me was, for lack of a better way to say it, he could keep the car so snugly pressed into the pavement. It was very impressive. He also showed me how to come up with contingency plans. One involved some creative GT3 offroadin'. I think knowing that there are emergency options helped feel more confident. Prior to that, carrying full power all the way to the braking points was a bit scary.

All in all, it was a rich experience. My car performed well. Although I don't have a lot of comparative experience, it seemed fine with RE-11's, Brembo type III's and PFC 08 pads. I almost spun once. It was in a pretty forgiving place so it was a good thing to put in the database. Saw a car go off right in front of us cresting the hill at 4. Thankfully they weren't hurt and very minor damage to the car. Saw a lot of cool cars. The mix of cars is always interesting to me. Old, new, Porsche, BMW, sedans, coupes, old 240Z's. It's good to see people having fun playing with cars no matter what they drive. Also saw a Ferrari F430 Challenge car(wicked sound to say the least) and something that looked like a LeMans prototype(not sure what it was-never got to talk to those guys). Goldcrest from Atlanta was there. It was nice to know if something broke they could work on it. Met a lot of friendly folks. One older gentleman we talked to grew up with Mr. Barber. He is still friends with him and said on occasion he and Mr. Barber would get "something" out of the museum collection and take it for a drive...he specifically mentioned taking a 2000 era Ferrari F-1 car on track...that amazed me!

Bottom line- it was a long lead in to my first DE. Between figuring out what kind of car I wanted to buy and then actually finding it, it took almost a year. I'm glad it finally happened. Next event...April 7th Little Talladega.
EDIT: Thanks to the rennlisters who answered questions and gave me advice.

stujelly

barber is awesome. What a nice facility. And the museum, wow.

Lucky you tho have that facility so close.

Did the school and then got to come back in my rs, which was even sweeter.

Good luck and have fun

mdrums

Awesome...you really did it right with getting Seth in your car!

jenk12m

ahh, seth told me he was coaching a newbie at barber. im glad to see it went great and seth is a great guy.

paver

It was definitely money well spent. I hope to get more coaching from him soon.

paver

Stujelly, thanks. Barber is an incredible facility-track, museum, the grounds, giant spiders...everything.

lopro

sounds like a great experience glad to hear you had fun and learned lots. Eyes up is a very important part of getting the hang of being on a track, Really smart to hire SETH Ive watched numerous videos of him driving and he kicks ace. Great job and glad to hear about your experiences. Really interesting.

P.J.S.

I remember my first hit of gt3 track crack... It is a nasty habit :-)

Good for you! Smart approach as well.

paver

PJS, last year when I was posting about whether to buy a Carrera S or a GT3, I think you were the one that said "Skip the gateway drugs and go straight to the heroine". I still laugh when I think about that.

P.J.S.

I still agree with that!
I started in a 996 gt3 and it was a lot to handle at first but I loved it
I did do an scca licensing class in Chevy cobalts after 20 or so 996-3 days which was fun and educational but not quite as "exciting"

Rennlist is a great enabler... I mean resource :-)

lopro

FIXED: Hahah FIX
Rennlist is a great PUSHER... I mean resource :-)

you mean pusher

ATL Fahrer

Glad to hear you had a good time. Barber is the Augusta National of tracks in the US - unbelieveably well kept.

Come on over to Road Atlanta when you get a chance. Very different track and you'll get a completely different perspective on carrying speed and breaking points for a GT3!

cbweaver1

Hey Lindsay,

Thanks for sharing, I'm really happy everything went great for you. You went first class all the way with a great coach and a great track to take your first hit of the GT3 crack pipe. +1 on the "Augusta National" comparison, this is so true---even the bathrooms are perfect! I love that track, the museum, the whole venue.

TTYL,

Chris

fjpdds

Nice report there paver. Sounds great. I will be there next month with Rezoom
How do you contact Seth for his coaching?

lopro

try to pm him - He is a member on the forum. Seems to be a very cool down to earth guy