TeamDrugMoney

Hello All

I want to pass along some info of an event I just attended down at VIR. It was a David Murry 2 day event with open track both days. The track opened at 8:30 and ran til 4:30 with an hour closed for lunch from 12-1. There were several unique things about the event. It was open track all day so no run groups. You just keep gas in the car and go out, and go out, and go out, and go out, and go out!

Now the cool part is that David Murry is there all day to chat about whatever you have in mind! There was a guy from Smartycam there that would install a camera in your car for you to use (if you don't have your own camera). Then you would take the video to David Murry and he would review it for you, offering suggestions as he sees fit. I brought my data to David from my Traqmate and the video several times and he was obviously VERY informative. His approach of teaching/instructing is really great. There is no doubt with all that David has experienced in the racing world that he has a lot to offer drivers and he can very easily translate this into easily understandable terms.

I cannot say enough about David's interest in helping others. Here is my personal experience that really blew me away at the event. The track closes at 4:30 and on the second day I brought my data and video to the room where David was at around 3:45 to see if he could help me shave off any more time from my laps. He was with someone else and then there was another person in line after that, then it would be my turn. I took the option of gong back out on track as I knew there was only so much track time left. I went back out on track and then at around 4:45 when I was packing up (now keep in mind this is the second day and by this time the event is officially over) David asked me if I wanted to go over my data one last time. He obviously saw that I was waiting before and left to go back out. The idea that even though the day was over and he took the time to go over my data was really cool of David. What a top notch guy!

Another unique feature was David Murry speaking at the end of day 1 about the track and running the line. He called it a "digital track walk" with pictures of all turns and an explanation of the correct line. The morning of day 2 he had a discussion of car setup, all aspects.

The event was priced at $699 for the two days. When you break it down it comes to $50 an hour. I feel that is reasonable for an event of this format. When you factor in David Murry hanging around for paddock driving coaching comments and help I find the event to be the bargain of the year!

They have rented the track for April 20-21, 2011 and I hope to see some of you there!

I would also like to give a shout out here for Peter Krause. http://www.peterkrause.net I worked with Peter at VIR on the first day and continue to learn a lot from his coaching. If you have interest in learning more of how to analyse your track data through the coaching process, then spend some time with Peter Krause! If you just want a great coach, then use Peter Krause. He is great with data analysis. Peter is a regular at VIR and the open track format is perfect to work on stuff. I just won't spend the $ on coaching anymore unless it is an open track format. Four 25 minute PCA sessions (as long as all goes well) are just really tough to make good use of coaching time, plus traffic and other stuff. I have worked with Peter in the past and would highly reccomend him to others.

I had a post a while back about how much more I am learning with my Spec Miata as opposed to my GT3. I just cannot say enough about using a slower, less expensive and more forgiving car for training. The bottom line is that I got a GT3 a bit too soon in my driving career. I honestly feel that the GT3 stunted my driving growth a bit over the past year. Through the previous combination of items mentioned the GT3 just is not the right car right now for me to continue to move forward. On the other hand, the Miata is everything I need right now. If you would have told me tist a year ago I would have called you crazy. For me now it is all about feeling the car and what it is doing as it approaches its limits. I just wasn't comfortable getting that close to the limits in the GT3. Part of that was picking up the GT3 at the Factory in Stuttgart last year. There's a lot of emotional connection to the car. I sure am a lot less concerned about a POS Miata!

I am not affiliated with either Peter Krause or David Murry in any way, other than being a happy customer of each! I am just a fellow track junkie like you that likes to scratch that itch! Hope to see you at VIR next April 20-21!

TeamDrugMoney

Oh, forgot to post this...

http://www.davidmurry.com/

comatb

Right on Many driver's buy too much car too soon. I am partial to the 944 platform obviously, but it is the best Porsche to learn on as it is well balanced and you must learn to keep momentum. Once you learn to drive this type of car the adjustment to faster cars is much easier. Too bad you had to go the Miata route. A 944 would have also been a great choice.

mooty

i wish there's such a program with pro drives for nor cal.

Veloce Raptor

Pretty simple to set one up, really, especially mid week.

Druggie, glad you had good experiences!






Professional Racing and Driving Coach

TeamDrugMoney

True and I understand. Pros and cons to both, but for the immediate need it was to get a cheap disposable car. Maybe the next move would be SP Box once they come down in price. I remember quite a while ago someone making the comment that if you really want to push a car to the limits (especially to learn on) it has to be something you just don't care much about. Seems to make sense to me.

Ha Ha, give me a call in a couple of years and maybe be I'll be ready to run that event for you (yea right!, NOT!)


Hey, watch the name calling! (Though I represent that!)

jerome951

Sounds interesting. Out of curiosity, how much did your laptimes improve w/ David's and Peter's feedback and coaching?

Nizer

Mike, you're just trying to make me feel better about missing the event, right? LOL. Nice write-up.

TeamDrugMoney

Hmmmm... I am going to say about 3 seconds. It's kinda hard to estimate this as I have never been to VIR with my Miata, and have not been to VIR for some time as well. That being said (enough of the excuses), I still continue to work on my trial braking and rotating the car into the turns to get it pointed in the right direction and ready to take on acceleration. Both Peter and David helped me tremendously with this effort. There were also simple things like "make your shifts more quickly" and "be either on the brakes or on the gas with no time of indecision" and the ineviteable "hit the brakes hard". The cool thing about the data is that you can see all this in the data! Data is King, right? I would say at this point my Data Acquisition System is the best money I have ever spent as a learning tool (and not just a lap timer). It is just as important to me as good coaching. Keep this in mind, Peter went out in the Miata with me for only about 20 minutes and the rest of the day we would send me out to run the track and then return to the RV to look at the data. I was told to carry more speed in 3 specific turns (as well as other things) and it all worked out. Same thing with David. He was just looking at my data and video and could make comments.

I will say this, when I was at Watkins Glen last month I had an hour session with David Murry. I think I got more out of him driving my car with me a passenger as I did him being the passenger. I also sent him out on track by himself so I could collect data for comparison. WOWZERS do I have some learning to do! His approach to the Bus Stop makes me look like I am a green driver out there! Humility is a good learning tool!

During my last run of the last day at VIR I put down my best time of 2:24:6 in the Miata. I was fairly proud of that time, but know there is tons more to shave on that time. What I was proud of is I was really getting the feel of just how important trail braking is on track. There were several times where I hit the turn with trail braking just right and it all starts to make sense. Then there were times where I hit the brakes too soon and didn't have enough speed left to trail brake and then felt the difference of going through the turn with the car not pointed in the right direction. This all may seem obvious to many of you out there, but I am making significant progress in my driving and look forward to more improvement. The key for me is knowing that I don't know everything about this sport and need to work on my skills. Will I ever be as good as Patrick Long, NO! But I don't just want to go in circles all day out on track.


Yea, well you just better make the April 20-21 date Buddy!

930man

I had a blast so much track time.. I got to work with Tom Long what a great guy and great driver! Good to meet you dude! My lil ole M3 ended up quick

TeamDrugMoney

Ummmm... yea it was! My little Miata was rocked by the wind when you blew by me!

Great to chat with you down there and look forward to putting together a Canada trip next year if it works out! LCMT and Calabogie all the way!

tmark

Mike and Matt,

Thanks for the kind words.

In advance of our "official" announcement, we will be hosting a David Murry Track Days event on April 20-21, 2011 at VIR.

Craig Stanton will be with us to offer in-car work to a maximum of four participants each day @ $500 per day.

"MoTeC Joe" Hullett will be with us again to provide data support.

Kerrigan Smith and the Synergy Racing crew will be available for technical/mechanical support.

And - oh yeah - we'll be offering seven hours of open pit lane/open track each day.

Online registration is now available at www.davidmurry.com.

Tell your friends.

-Mark Taylor

MJR911

2.24 is very respectable at VIR in a miata... especially without the aid of miatas in a pack to push (figuratively and physically) a bit.

What did David have to say about the fast left hander at the top of the esses... t10 I think? Slight lift? Flat ?

TeamDrugMoney

Well, thanks for the vote of confidence of my lap time at VIR. If I understand correctly, the track record is something like 2:20 or so? Can anybody verify that? I am pretty sure that is was Peter Krause said.

As far as the left hander at the top of the esses, I don't really remember anything specific about that turn from David. I don't remember him saiying it should be FLATOUT! I think Peter told me to just brush the brakes and go. From looking at my data I think there was some more speed that I could have gotten there, but not sure what the limit could be. I show a top G force of 1.23 and speed of 88 mph. I am certain I could have carried more speed in that turn. For me that would be one of the last turns to work on as an off there could be quite eventful. Talk about mowing some grass!

I am sorry for not remembering anything specific about that turn. Since nothing came to my memory I am going to guess a brush of the brakes and go was the right line. What I do remember is Daivd saying the uphill Esses should be taken as two right hand turns. At first I did not undestand what he meant, but once out on track and running the line it all made sense. I was flatout through the esses in the miata with not even a brush of the brakes entering it. I am not so sure I could do that in the GT3 (just yet).

Nizer

Sabine would want you to try