RSRRacer

Well, given that my first 20 or so DE days were in a 996 with ABS, a change to a 1970 RSR Replica was fairly dramatic. It was a little much and I called it a day. I did however ultimately master the car.

I expect that if I were to enter a PCA club race in a non ABS car I would be able to adjust fine and results would not differ. No, wait, I am sure I am wrong, my success in club racing has been fully dependent upon my utter dependence on ABS....

OK to directly answer the question how often do I go off? About once every 9 months, or about once every 15 track days.

RSRRacer

During my Rennlist induced introspectve therapy session I have decided to buy a 997 Cup Car. Please join me in GTC4 and impart some wisdom regarding the nuances of fore and aft balance and overall braking technique. Road America 2008 is fine with me.

mglobe

Interesting to hear that from you Dave, as its always been my opinion as well, but from a pretty inexperienced point of view.

Unfortunately at my most recent event, I failed twice, the only two times I've been off track. Both from overcooking a turns by not taking into account track conditions that were placing limitations on the car. I was driving the track like nothing was different from the conditions I was accustomed to. Failure on my part.

RSRRacer

And a fish does not understand the concept of fire.

TedA

VB997 Memorial test and tune January 2007 at VIR. Great weather for that particular time of year. Brand new to me track car, 0 hr. rebuild on the motor. First left into the climbing esses fine......first right, I'm going backwards into the infield at approx 100 mph. Head gasket blew spewing coolant on the driver side rear tire.........no warning. No impact, only a trashed motor and a little grass fire in the infield.

deep_uv

2 straight drive offs and 2 spins. The most dramatic being a spin in T12 at 90mph at TWS. Late turn in, forced the apex, off backwards on the inside. Stopped 20 ft. short of the flag station at T13. Watched the corner worker bail out of the bunker in my rearview as I approached. Amazingly, only a torn CV boot. Lots of dirt and grass to vacuum out later, though. Instructor very not impressed. I still pucker a bit through that turn.

deep_uv

I have video.

mglobe

That wasn't an off. I pulled over to have a sandwich while waiting for you to catch up.

John H

If you have not been off, you're not trying hard enough.

4 Kurves

Hummmm. I've spun my 996 Cup exactly twice in two seasons of racing - once last Sept at Buttonwillow when I high centered on curbing (ran out of "focus" in the previous corner) and it was costly. Would have been nothing if not for that flagger stand.

Then just last Dec, entering turn 3 at Willow Springs my power steering line came apart right in front of the left rear wheel with predictable results. That one was just a nice little 360 through the rocks, sand and dirt.

Not sure if I subscribe to the "not going fast enough because you haven't spun" point of view.

John H

Well, I don't know. I've learned alot from my spins. Keep in mind I have not spun in a race but during DE's. In my mind races are not the place to be trying anything new or different. testing or de's ok. I just don't know how you can think your at the car's limits unless you've accidently gone just past them.

schwank

While I understand the thought behind it, it has been my experience over 20 or so DE events that EVERY outing in the morning driver's meeting we are told that it is not a race, that it is not for driving 10/10. I do not ever expect a driver in a DE to have the level of focus of a racer. Seen way too many weird things happen to push my car to that level at a DE event.

Do I try to go faster? For sure. As I posted above, I have had an off before. But in the groups I run with, given only certain passing zones, it is useless to run full out. The cars are generally of far differing capabilities... and traffic is common. I like my car and until I am competitively racing it, if it comes home damaged in any way, the day was a failure. There's no trophy... no reason to push to that level.

wanna911

I've been off about 6 times or so (only two years), mostly because my first DE car was an E39 on very slick 20 inch wheels and tires. I would spin in Turn 5 at Road Atlanta once almost every time I went in that car, and one time at turn 6.

Once I got my TT I spun once in turn 10 after going in too hot gathering up the car, and then getting a buttload of snap oversteer in the opposite direction. This was my first day in the TT. I also rolled off once after my brakes and tires werent warm enough going into turn 1 in a time trial. But the worst in the TT was brake failure at TGP (talladega grand prix) and I went off track, into a ditch and airborn, the car suffer nothing but the plastic panels being damaged on the bottom.

Veloce Raptor

I could not disagree more.

RedlineMan

It's called a turn, Katie. See Avatar.