I just returned from instructing for Viper Days at Hallett. It was my first trip to the track, and I absolutely loved the place. It's family owned and operated, and the folks there are friendly and professional. And the track is an absolute hoot. Very technical, with a lot of very different corners, varying camber, and a good amount of vertical relief. There is very little time to let down your guard on this track. Something is always happening, and you need to be on your toes nearly all the time.

Friday I spend the day with VR riding shotgun, and made some significant improvements in my driving. We went in with objectives of working on corner entry and gaining confidence in my car control. The place really rewards trail braking and rotation, and so it was perfect for what we had to work on. Mission accomplished there.

I drove the pace car for the Viper Cup and the Viper "club" races. VR's instructions (he's the race steward) were "drive 65, turn the lights off at T7, and DON'T GO OFF THE TRACK. Oh, and btw, they are filming the races for Versus, so no pressure". The pace car was a Dodge Challenger. Lots of engine, and lots of weight, and horsing it around the track was fun, but not without some anxiety given that it was the first time I'd done pace car duty. We'll be on TV in September.

The track photographer has a cherry picker, and shoots pictures and slow motion video from above and on the ground. Here are a couple of clips. I thought it was pretty cool to see it in slow-motion.

http://vimeo.com/14168358

http://vimeo.com/14168323

If you've not been to Hallett, DO IT!

 

Hey Mike, was my Signal Orange 930 there with Bob W. or was it mostly Vipers? I believe that is the old girl's home track now..

 

Mostly Vipers. The only Porsches there were mine, a SpecBox, and a Cayman.

 

I agree, the track, people, and photography at Hallett are all great. My avatar is from there, and I got some great super slo-mo videos too.

Here's some of my in car video from Hallett last year.

 

Great track. Lots of elevation changes. One very cool thing they did a few years ago was run it both directions. Just like going to two different tracks on the same day.

 

Mike-

Put the Cimarron Region's PCA Club Race on your 'not to be missed' list...
October 16-17. Not even back yet from High Plains PCA Race in CO, but already looking forward to that venue!

Kim

 

I originally planned this weekend as recon for the Oct club race. Family plans however have changed, and now I can't make the race.

 

Wow. I love the footage! How great to have it in slow-mo from a cherry picker. Very few people will have that opportunity. Did you get any in cabin film? Track looks great, love your colour car too, even though someone was trying to tell me that Green and Porsches should never go together.

Jealous icon here.

 

That is such a bummer... Hallett is absolutely great. The track, the venue and the people make it a very fun PCA race. Put it on your calendar for 2011.

 

Fun times, even though it was 108 on Friday & 106 on Saturday.









Professional Racing and Driving Coach

 

Hallett is a cool track; my "home" track. Sorry I couldn't make it Dave.

the super slo mo is cool. Here's my car last month going CW. Most of the time we go CCW

http://vimeo.com/13791504

 

is it the 930 they call the "pumpkin?" i've seen it there before.

 

Was it hot out? I didn't notice...

It was a fun weekend. Thanks for the help on Friday. What a great series of sessions!

I really like working with the Viper crowd btw. Good folks.

 

I had great fun as always in both your left & right seats!







Professional Racing and Driving Coach

 

Yeah, I heard the Viper Cup guys were whooping it up this weekend...