JayG

Congrats, it is a VERY slippery slope and highly addicting

At least in the San Diego region, you can always request an instructor regardless of your run group or skill level. Once you get to know the guys and gals at the track events, it's pretty easy to get someone to ride with you as a coach. You can also get a ride in someone else's car. Often it's a E-Ticket ride !

It doesn't matter how much experience you have, you can always benefit by having an instructor/coach.

I am fairly new to tracking my car, just over a year and am signed off for solo and I ask for an instructor at least for the first session or 2, especially if it is a track I have not driven.

jlanka

For my street car (GTI) I purchased an extension plate that I mounted onto the gas pedal that gives an extra inch of pedal.

sugarwood

That link was broken.


timeline-from-green-to-black.
Here it is again.
https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-a...-to-black.html

sugarwood

I could have written that verbatim! End of a straight going from 4th to 3rd, I am braking much harder than I ever do on the streets.
It feels like all my attention is on just mashing the brake and not blowing the turn that rev matching is the last thing on my mind.
This probably has to be a learned and practiced behavior. I was thinking of practicing this on an empty street.

jlanka

Yes, definitely do this.

Dr911

4:30 am on the interstate 30 min every day for a month will take care of this.

Also, consider installing a heel toe pedal to attach on top of your gas pedal makes things a lot easier

Wild Weasel

Here's my video of the last Green session on Sunday afternoon.

NYoutftr

SWEET

If you drove a little slower there would have been more of my car in the video

Nice driving

Wild Weasel

Thanks.

I'm not kidding when I say I think I was the fastest in the Green group. And I'm not being modest when I say that's not really a good thing.

I think my most fun run was the one I didn't get video of. The last session on Saturday in the rain. I spent a bunch of time toward the end chasing whoever was in the silver Corvette. He didn't seem so quick in the other sessions, but that driver could really hustle that thing around in the wet!!

I kept catching him and then we'd catch traffic and he'd get through and away and then I'd chase him down again. Over and over. It was great fun! And then the checkered came out.

sugarwood

Weasel, can you take a photo of where you mounted your GoPro?

Wild Weasel

It's not a GoPro. It's a Blackvue dashcam mounted behind the rear view mirror.

linzman

Nice video. If you ever plan on using video to get better, you'd be better served with something where you can see yourself in the image to see steering inputs, car angle, etc. Your car is quick, but don't be too anxious to move up yet, maybe yellow, but stay there a while. While it's fun to run with cars of similar speed, if you're reinforcing bad habits and focusing on speed instead of car placement and inputs, you're not going to get better very quickly. For example, you are still missing apexes by quite a bit, when you get quicker you will run out of track out room by doing that. By consistently doing it right now, you will start carrying more and more speed without trying too hard, and you won't be fighting the car while you're doing it. Keep it up, and have fun out there.

Wild Weasel

I appreciate the feedback.

I've got no desire to move up quickly or anything. Next weekend I'll be at Mosport and I expect there will be quicker people there. Watkins Glen has people from all over at it so I doubt there were many people in the Green group who'd been there more than once before.

I'm having a ton of fun out there, and that's really the point, right?

sugarwood

This seems like great advice. Esp. for someone in a slow car. I noticed that when people were behind me, I'd get a little distracted and push a little out of my comfort zone, but not in a good way. So, I plan to stay in Green for the reasons listed above.

Wild Weasel

Well... nobody was quicker in Green... but I'm in Yellow now.