I'll be there offering Droving advise and white knucking it from the right seat.

Since I sold my track car, I will be available (by appointment only) to test drove any vehicle that needs a "second opinion". This is the sacrifice that I will make for students.

Ciao!

 

hey bill...did u ever get my replies via email? give me a shout this weekend...

...u still have your trailer?

later
bill

 

I personally think you could leave out the part about the rain.

If we do run CW, will the "safety cones" be at the end of the front straight? They're in my way...

 

Care to further comment on TDE & safety? I've been thinking about adding one of their TWS events to my schedule for this year.

 

Mike, TDE is generally fine. They have an issue in their top run groups with drovers who really should not be there (social promotions) and a lot of their "incidents" are in their 2 top groups. I attribute this primarily to the fact that they have no advanced instruction program, so when drovers are promoted to yellow or red, they are just summarily dumped there, and allowed to collect bad habits & over-aggression. LOTS of crazy droving there. But in green & blue, they are fine.

This is one of the 2 reasons I chose not to instructt TDE this year, the other being lack of time with the baby. PCA has the advanced program (of which I am honored to be a part) and its results speak for themselves.

TDE has a great variety of cars, good insructors, and is run by a guy who is one of the nicest ppeople you will ever meet, who genuinely wants his customers to have a good time.

 

I've commented on TDE here in the past...

I run TDE events whenever I can. As VR said, Rick is a great guy, and runs a good event. I also agree with VR about the lack of advanced instruction in the higher run groups... heck, that starts as soon as you go solo in Blue. There's just not enough instructors around to go with solo students, whereas PCA always seems to have extra instructors for a ride-along.

But, they are still very fun events, in a lot of ways very similar to PCA events. Heck, most of the people (and instructors) there run both organizations.

--michael

(VR: it's funny that you don't instruct with TDE anymore--there's an instructor with TDE that won't instruct for PCA anymore because he disagrees with "teaching the 911 line for all cars"...)

 

(non-Porsche content follows, but it IS related to the upcoming track weekend, at least for me...)

Just got my M3 back from the shop (Track Time Performance here in Houston; some of you probably know about Curt ). Due to incorrect part shipments and other snafus (none of which were the shop's fault), it took about 3 weeks to get the work done.

Biggest change is probably the PSS9 coilovers. At full soft at all 4 corners, the car rides almost like stock, if not better controlled. At full hard, well, your kidneys are being pounded into oblivion, at least on Houston roads. Obviously, the car was lowered a tad with the new springs, and a full track alignment was done.

The UUC SSK is fantastic. The brakes don't feel any different (Axxis Ultimate pads with SS lines), but hopefully they'll have much more fade resistance than the stock pads on the track. And, with pretty much every piece of rubber bushing or mount in the car replaced, it feels like a new car.

I can't wait to try it out on the track this weekend! I'm going to do a little bit of "suspension tuning" on the street, but naturally that will be limited... but, if you're in central Houston and you, um, see a silver M3 just slightly exceeding the speed limit on Allen Parkway (safely and within reason, of course! ), wave at me...

--michael

 

Didn't see your replies other than the e-mail conversations we have had. Were there others?

Don't have a trailer.

 

I think I know who that is. And that person is either wrong or myopic. PCA teaches a sensible school line. It is no more a 911 line than it is an M3 line. that said, the advanced instructors often will show alternate lines in some places that may be more suited to certain cars, but only when they feel the drover is ready for it.

I think back in the old days--I mean like 10+ years ago--the "911 line" was what PCA taught there, along wiht a dose of haughtiness that there "was no other line". Which also explains why they kept losing students & instructors to other groups. But Kerry & Jake have really brought the program along, which is why we have nearly 200 people signed up for this weekend.....and TDE doesn't.

The person you mentioned really needs to get out of the 20th century. PCA had moved forward at TWS, but it sounds as if he hasn't.

 

Well, we'll agree not to name names on this forum, because I really like the guy. But, with that being said, I haven't had this kind of "rigid" instructing experience at either a LSRPCA or TDE event. I've always had instructors who have "adapted" themselves to my needs, and as I've moved along through the ranks, have encouraged me to experiment with my lines and other aspects of my driving to make me more, well, "well-rounded". I've been shown the "race line"(s), the rain lines, etc., and over time, I've figured out which lines _I'm_ comfortable and fastest with, knowledge I've gained over time.

(Not to mention that my ultimate goal is to go racing, where as you all know one has to be prepared to drive pretty much anywhere on the track in traffic...)

I do understand the concept of teaching a consistent line, especially to novice students, for reasons of consistency among instructors and also for safety reasons. I've had many conversations with instructors about this topic.

So, in conclusion, I've had nothing but positive experiences with LSRPCA and the instructors there. I don't know what happened 10+ years ago, but I agree with you that LSRPCA puts on a very professional, safe, and well-organized event. That's why I keep attending them...

 

cool...just wanted to make sure u got my last couple of email responses...

no trailer? how did u get your car to track?

if ya have time look me up this weekend...later

 

At least the tropical storm is coming in tonight and not a day later. We'll probably see some rain this weekend, but hopefully it'll all move out by Saturday.

We just need to be careful on those "off-track excursions"... hitting mud at high speed isn't the best thing to do...

 

Especially sideways. You might scratch your roof...

 

****. I just washed my truck.

 

I just got back from Specs with a bottle of Woodford Reserve and a handful of cigars. As I said earlier, I'll be offering Bourbon neat and a smoke at the MH if anyone is interested before or after dinner on Saturday evening. Just follow the cigar smoke.

Steve