audipwr1

Yeah those were the guys - nice dudes gatta get them graduated up to adv - wanna see those cars run in anger

SSTHO

Hope to be able to join all of you post-Sebring around CA tracks. Plan is to leave the 7.2 GT3 in SF.

hlee1169

Dan, beautiful pictures. The orange GT3RS is mine, and the green Cayman R is my brother's. HOD was prohibited from offering coaching at Sonoma, so I had to run in the beginner's group to do a lead-n-follow for my brother, who has never driven at Sonoma before.

hlee1169

I took a picture of the 991 GT3 and F Type R - both brand new, with only 1100 miles on them.




The dad was driving the .1 GT3 while his sons were driving the 991 GT3 and the F-Type. I happened to be behind them when the .1 GT3 spun at T2:

Comanche_699

hlee- glad you like the pix.

I am still trying to understand why Sonoma changed the rules so new drivers have to get their practice somewhere else first - (thunderhill or buttonwillow?) I haven't really been able to get a straight explanation on that. So - had your brother driven at a bunch of other tracks previously?

Also, great catch on that .1 spin out at the top of turn 2. - good audio in the video too. PM me and I can email or dropbox some high res pix if you want. I'm sure I've got a few more of you and your brother's cars I can share.

- dan

hlee1169

I heard that the racing school at Sonoma has an exclusive deal with the track, so no one else can offer coaching. In my personal opinion, this is not a good idea because Sonoma is one of the most technical track with not much runoff at several turns. T10 has a lot of dirt on track, and I believe a BMW Z4 M lost it there and had to be towed away. My brother has already 10+ track days at Thunderhill and Laguna Seca, so we were doing better than other beginners who were clearly driving at track for the very first time. I usually recommend beginners to start at Thunderhill first.

In my video the OBD2 reader failed to send info for some reason, so the speed and engine rev info were missing. I was glad I was not pushing to close the gap. The 991 GT3 sounded really sweet though, very similar to a cup car.

I will pm you my email address, thanks.

audipwr1

The bmw lost it in the eases

That T2 spin video is scary - bad place to slow down - gatta get around and keep moving - feedback that the new guy unfortunately didn't get im sure because no instructors

ngng

that 991 got LUCKY. typically when somebody spins out they'll shoot back across the track...into that 991. shoulda got the hell outta dodge! and stopping there is asking for trouble, you have people pinned coming up the hill. NEVER STOP ON THE TRACK UNLESS YOU HAVE A RED FLAG!

ngng

I wish somebody had the full story. The version I heard was that in 2015 no for profit company will be able to rent the track because it competes with some deal sims raceway has. non-profits will still be able to run. I didn't hear anything about coach restrictions though.

ngng

do you normally take that line going up 2?

hlee1169

Yup, but since they had no coaches, and dad spun out, the son in the 991 GT3 probably was wondering what he should do, but I totally agree that the exit at T2 is a bad place to stop since cars coming up won't be able to see.

hlee1169

I assume you are talking about the approach to the entry of T2. I was following PCA handbook's line where it says that do not arrive earlier than the end of entry berm, and the turn-in point is one car length after the end of the berm.

audipwr1

there is that detailed of a line handbook? Wow

Seemed a tad late to me, but everyone has their own method on T2 - I confess I lack consistency and speed there

ngng

Man, that's crazy to me! HOD usually runs a good event too. Shame on Sim's Raceway for putting down the ban hammer.

audipwr1

Couple pics