TeamDrugMoney

Had the best/worst day of my life up at Monticello this past Wednesday. Let me explain…

I was asked by member Steve to come up as a guest for the day to run. Thanks big time for that Steve. Great track to run so who could say no to open pit lane at Monticello?

Several days before Steve told me that Rick DeMan was coming up for the day to work with another driver and if I wanted to work with Rick for some coaching that was an option. Rick would work with the both of us throughout the day. I thought since it is basically an open pit format that those are the days to work with someone on skills. The situation just kinda presented itself to me and I am glad I took advantage of it.

So here’s what I got out of it all…


1. Rick DeMan is a fantastic driver and coach! Riding in the car with him you quickly understand why he has so many lap records. The great thing is he can coach on a level that makes sense, being straight forward, concise and knowledgeable. I love it when he shows you car control in the pits and starts slowly walking and leaning as if in the car. His approach is exactly what I would want out of a coach. Rick Rocks!


2. It is a good thing at times to be taken out of your comfort zone. This was the good and bad thing about the whole day. Rick was exposing me to a way of getting the car around the track more quickly and to reach this goal I need to get out of my current patterns. One of my issues to work through is trial braking. Before getting in the car with Rick I felt I was doing a pretty good job of driving my GT3, though I knew there was room for improvement. After getting out of the car with Rick driving I felt my driving career was moved back about 2-3 years in progress! A little reality check can be a good thing from time to time and I got slapped with a Rick Deman dose of reality of how deficient my skills are.


3. A slow car can be a good thing. At one point in the day my front tires started to cord. Rick pointed to one of his Boxsters and out we went. It ends up he let me go out in his Boxster bunches and bunches of laps. Talk about hospitality Rick!!! This ended up being a good thing (That even Rick speaks of) as it slowed the process down a bit and made me focus on skills. No more did I have my great GT3 throttle pedal that would help me recover from a deficient exit from a turn. It was time to make those turns correctly or the next straight would be painful.


4. I am thrilled to have recently purchased a Spec Miata (though I wish I had more loose $ around to get a spec Boxster) as this slower car will make me hungry for the speed and force me to get things just right. I did not want to sell my Boxster when the GT3 arrived last year, but it gets kinda tough to store all this crap, right? I am now making room for a momentum car as I need to move away from the GT3 pedal syndrome for a bit. A side benefit is less worry of taking an off track excursion in a 10K vs a 100+K car as I practice getting closer to the limits.


5. Monticello is a fantastic track and member days with only 8-12 cars on track is a pretty cool experience and great opportunity to work on skills without distractions.


Just wanted to share a pretty cool experience I had!

RickBetterley

I don't see any 'worst day' in this. Sounds like a great experience.
Yet another example of buying a slower car in order to learn how to drive fast.

Minoclan

I think that you may understand a little better why I sold my GT3 to get a slower and cheaper car.

TeamDrugMoney

The "worst" part is accepting humility, just when you think you know how to drive your car. I have no problem with admitting I have much to learn.

I was at Mosport several weeks ago and another drivers car was busted for the weekend after one day of a 3 day event. He drove all the way up there for 4 sessions. The cool thing is he was ok with that, saying "I have got 30-40 more years of this so missing 2 days will not hurt me.

So my point in all this is if we mastered all this driving stuff we would have no reason to go to that next track event! Wouldn't that suck to not have something to look forward to?

Matt Romanowski

We all fall into that catorgory. Sometimes it's hard to turn from being the instructor to student, but it's nice to have someone come out and kick your butt and move you up a notch. Sounds like you had a great day - nothing bad about it.

RickBetterley

I like your attitude.
That 30-40 days is a bit tougher for this 57 year old guy, though

himself

None of this training would be necessary if you just drove Flat Out to begin with.

Glad you had a great time and a learning experience. Almost everyone can benefit from a coach/pro in the car. Not only will it make you a better driver, but a better instructor as well.

-td

cello

Yeah, if this the 'worst' we get, we are all pretty fortunate

You more so than most, Mike

Sounds like a great experience happened at a great setting !

KOAN

"Glad you had a great time and a learning experience. Almost everyone can benefit from a coach/pro in the car. Not only will it make you a better driver, but a better instructor as well."


....+1

Nizer

TDM: You're killing me.

93 FireHawk 968

Thanks for sharing your experience.....

TeamDrugMoney

Yea, but isn't that new build of your gonna be pretty fast also? Have you had that out on track yet? Haven't see you at an event this year yet.

Ain't that the truth!

We'll catch up at Monticello!

Rick DeMan

Hi Mike,

It was my pleasure and equally rewarding working with you!

Keep going slow..!!!

Rick

DM993tt

I think we all know learing to drive a slow car fast is the key. I drive a Rwd 993 TT with loads of power, I drive it flat out and win all my DE's. In my years of instructing I have driven lots of very fast new expensive hardware. When instructing a friend in an 86 Targa, he wanted to see if he was leaving much on the table in comparison to me so he let me drive it. I had a blast and was running consistent laps 8 seconds faster than his best on a 2 mile track. He was mildly humbled and reallized he had lots more room for improvement than he realized. I realized how much fun a non power assisted, bare bones, under powered, 911 was to drive. So much so that I regressed a bit further and pick up the orage car.

Sure I spend a little more time watching my mirrors in DE's, but it rewards you when you when you get it right and lets you know when you get it wrong.

The best part is that it only sees's DE's as rece prep, and it is my entree into vintage racing.

slavik

awesome story...the spec miata will definitely be a great learning experience...