5 Tips for Choosing the Right Track for Your First Track Day
My last article was about how to prepare your Porsche for your first track day. In this article we’ll explore what track to pick and how to prepare before ever setting a tire on the pit lane.
Selecting the Track
If you’re brand new to track days, you don’t want to over complicate things. Pick a track with relatively low speeds. Streets of Willow is a great example of this. It offers a long straight, but avoids complex turns like #9 at “Big Willow” where things can easily get out of shape. Start small and work your way up. Autocross is another great way to find the limits of a car in a controlled environment. If you spin at an autocross course you’re more likely to hit a cone than a concrete wall. If you take a daily driver to the track the goal is to drive there, track it and drive back. That last part is the most important.
PRO TIP: Every track is different and takes time to learn. As you get better, tiny nuances will become the difference between shaving off tenths. At the beginning you should really focus on making it around the track and working up to speed. Don’t stress about lap times.
YouTube and Track Maps
The first thing to do before ever driving a new track, is to google a map of the track. Once you have a map of the track on hand, pull up an in-car YouTube video of it and watch the video alongside the image. You can find turn by turn guides for most race tracks, and you want to watch these until you become familiar with the corners and configuration. This will be a huge advantage to you before you ever get to the race track.
PRO TIP: Pay attention to where bumps are on the track. Just like the pothole you avoid on your morning commute to work, race tracks have imperfections you can often spot in videos. Watch the drivers hands and listen. You want to make a mental note of where these potential problem spots are before you get to the track. Watch videos until you are sick of watching videos and then watch them some more!
Visualization
It’s not the stuff of folklore, it’s what top level pros do before every race. The catch? Nothing. It’s free and you can do it in your living room! Once you’ve memorized the track layout sit down and imagine you are driving through every corner. The more detailed you can make your visualization the better. Put all your gear on and treat it like meditation. If anything distracts you during your mental lap reset to the start finish line and go again. The aim here is to picture things as they progress in real time. Hold your arms out, move your feet and hands exactly how you would in your car. The more authentic you can make it, the more you will benefit; more than you can even imagine. Work up to 5 laps in your head, uninterrupted.
PRO TIP: Sit in your actual car during visualization. Everything you can do to make a more realistic experience is going to make the first time on track a better experience. Top level drivers can visualize a lap accurate to within a few seconds of their actual track times!
Observe and Learn
Get to the track early and watch other people drive. Ask questions. Every single time I go to a new track I watch people run before hand. Drive around the access roads and look at each corner from a different perspective. Do this before and after your sessions if you have time. The curvature and inclination of a road will give you insight into how you need to drive and where you may gain or lose grip. It’s not the easiest thing to figure out, but getting in this frame of mind will help you understand things better.
(In the photo above Steve O’Hara of Formula Atlantic and karting fame talks to Steve Nichols a former Formula 1 designer about track conditions.)
PRO TIP: Smart men learn from their mistakes, wise men learn from the mistakes of others. Watching other people’s mistakes can save you big money. Talk to some of the people with experience at the track you are visiting. There may a particular corner or section they can offer advice on. Don’t be the guy who goes home on a trailer because he didn’t take the time to get free advice!
Get a Ride Along (preferably with an instructor)
Riding right seat can often teach you more than driving yourself. Especially if you do it with someone who has experience. The first thing I do if I haven’t been to a track is try to get a ride. A lot of organizations allow this and you would be foolish to pass the opportunity up. Riding passenger allows you to not worry about what’s going on with the car and really feel things out. You can focus entirely on where the road goes and compare note with the instructor after. It preps you to be even more ready when you do take your car out for your first session.
PRO TIP: Even the best drivers in the world use driving coaches. Get with someone from the start and you'll excel from the start!
In the next article we’ll look at the basics of driving. How do you take a corner? What is an apex? How do you determine the fastest way around the race track. Stay tuned!
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