looney2n

was a success

I was a little hesitant to take my new C2S to the track, having never driven on a track.

Arrived 6am Saturday (an hour before most everyone showed up) and walked around and had some morning chats with those that drove in Friday night.

Started out nice and easy with my instructor and I was not very smooth at first. Even though I was passing a lot people in my group, my moves were a little jerky.

After my instructor kept beating into my head about small degrees of turning and letting the car move to the outside of the track coming out of some of the turns, he was pretty tired.

Anyway, I learned a whole bunch about some maintenance items like brake bleeding and pad changes and a whole bunch about just how great these cars are coming off the showroom floor.

Overall, had so much fun I couldn't believe it. Met tons great folks and got my sign off for SOLO on Sunday morning..................

Can't wait for the next opportunity

Thanks for reading, Jack

Gary R.

Welcome Jack!
Now begins the slide.. what track were you at?

looney2n

Hey Gary,

It was at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw.......................a very nice event put on by the Blue Ridge PCA group.

RSRRacer

I live in Marvin NC in the Sedgefield neighborhood off Waxhaw Marvin road. Would be glad to help you out at the next track event. I'll have you addicted in no time and buying a race car.

Chris Brown
704 578 8214

RJay

First, congrats and glad you had a great time. Hate to be a downer, but something in your post really disturbed me. You say this was your first time at the track ever? And you were signed off to solo after one day of instruction in which the instructor was beating on you?!? This seems horribly wrong to me and frankly, unless you've got a lot more experience with karts or AX or something, I'm stunned that a PCA DE program would allow that. Not in anyway casting aspersions on you or your ability, but I have to question both the wisdom and the motivation of the instructor. Did you drive with PASM on? And if so, I might have thought he'd have sat with you the next day with it off so you could learn a little more. With such a powerful car and so little experience, my advice is, if this happens at your next event, request another instructor. There'll be plenty of time in the future to solo.

mdrums

+1 confused here too... 1st time out ever on a track, never DE'd before and signed off to solo the next day?

mhm993

+1 on continuing with instructors.

DarkSideDE

Jack,

May we suggest - when you go to your next DE - you insist on having an instructor.

The Blue Ridge Region had difficulties getting instructors in - and may not have had the best that PCA has to offer. This might have even been their first time at CMP -

It's nice having a person in that passenger seat - and there have been threads here that discuss it -- you learn something different from each instructor - and we wouldn't want you to miss out!

Glad you had a good time - sounds like the guys put on a nice event.

shustermeister

Count me in with the guys above - very hard to believe that after 1 track day, you were signed off to go solo. Do yourself a favor for the first 3-4 events at least, and get as many people in the right seat as you can, with the goal of learning something from each one. Most DE instructors have been doing this stuff for years and have many golden nuggets of track/car/driving knowledge that will help you be safe, drive fast and smooth, and learn about the dynamics of performance driving.

Welcome to the slippery slope...

mrbill_fl

??? 1st track weekend and now run in solo group?

IMHO, you should decline solo and move to advanced instructed group... for another 4 weekends min.

while you may be a natural.... an instructor will help you keep your car on the track and out of the armco.

-welcome, and I'm glad to hear it went so well!

pcar928fan

Concur w/ the rest... I have not seen PCA do that kind of thing (w/ LSR down here anyway in the last 10 years!) where they solo someone in the first weekend. It would not matter the experience. If you had a pretty good bit of experience they might move you to the blue group WITH and instructor and then do an instructor the first day of the next DE and see where you are at, but man I have not seen a Via' Con Dios on the second day EVER in my instructing career. I did get a solo approval the end of my 2nd day 12 years ago, but I had quite a bit of motorcycle racing experience before the cars...

Again, Jack, not trying to be negative towards you here in ANY WAY! I am always glad when ANY Porsche (or other High Performance car) owner takes it to the track! My hat is off to you! These are expensive cars and while we try to make it as safe as possible there is always the off chance that something bad could happen on track.

So, glad you had a good time and are ready to learn more! This is the first small step in a LONG JOURNEY! If you are like the rest of us on this thread it will be a VERY ENJOYABLE journey for you too!

Best,

shiners780

Could be that he got signed off to go solo for one or two sessions on day two? That happened to me at my first DE. Day two sessions = instructor/solo/instructor/solo. While I have never asked to go out solo, I have never had an instructor in the car for every single session at any DE I have attended. Every instructor I had let me go out for at least some sessions by myself. (Maybe they just couldn't wait to get out of the car? )

And yes, I have been out of the instructed run groups for several years now but still seek passengers for further learning.

race911

I concur with the above that the event likely had too few instructors. Unfortunate that it happens more often than we like (private groups for me, don't instruct with any PCA regions).

Somewhat related, how do you guys around the country deal with someone experienced (and yeah I'm talking 20+ years for me) rolling into town as a visitor? I've been recruited as an instructor without ever having turned a wheel on some tracks. Made for some interesting times learning together with a student!

DrJupeman

Jack, congrats, welcome to the slipper slope of fun.

What's the over/under on how many days until Jack starts talking about buying a dedicated track car?

DarkSideDE

Ken,

We've used instructors that were not familiar with the track - BUT... when we have more than enough instructors - we invite someone like yourself to come down for the weekend and get familar with the track, then maybe the next DE you'd instruct.

Also, if you were to instruct and did not have knowledge of the line - we'd ask for 1) recommendations - (we don't want any one sneaking in that doesn't have the experience) and 2) for you to show up at the Friday Test & Tune. We'd put someone in the car with you - and they would show you the track.

********
One of our instructors had fun at CMP a few years ago. They didn't know the track - and they were asked to instruct. So they got into their student's car and asked the student (blue) to drive - from that session he learnt the track.

I think it depends a lot on the group and the track. We do Roebling - and a driver that knows what they are doing can pick it up quickly. If it were Road Atlanta - I don't think so.... LOL