Fast curves, Hot oil, & Used rubber

That was the slogan on the back of the N.A.S.A. shirt I was wearing when I arrived at VIR on Friday the 28th.

It probably should have read: Slippery curves, Cold rain, Varying track surface.

Those were the conditions at VIR last weekend. Saturday wasn't too bad, but the wet weather on Sunday definitely turned our sessions into an exercise in car control as the track was one big skid-pad.

I looked on the bright side of things, and thought that this would give me some experience driving in the rain and drizzle; something I've never done before.

When I arrived at the track on Friday evening, the first thing I did was seek out my instructor, Tom Hall, as I wanted to make sure the harness he would be wearing was adjusted properly. Upon meeting him, his brother Jeff, and their "rowdy-dog" Rigby; Tom said that he was about to start preparing some Bratwurst & beer on the grill, and I was invited to hang out & eat with them. What a welcome! (And some damn fine brats too)! As a side note, we all had a lot of fun watching kids drag race their motorized skate boards up & down the paddock!

I managed to "borrow" some floor space in one of the track-side garage suites from Steven Kwiat who was there driving his "new" Boxster in GTS2... Thanks Stee & Co. !

Saturday morning came very early, but being at the track, I was happy to be getting up early. The old faithful NASA wake up call came booming over the loud speakers at about 7:13am, I think (I hadn't yet had my cup of coffee), and as people started to come out of their tents, trailers, and motor homes the energy of the day started to build. There were happy people everywhere. Lots of camaraderie, and good spirits.

The typical classroom sessions followed the all hands meeting in the morning, and the first track sessions went well considering the cold track, and cold heads.

Some of the things that I worked on were:

Eliminating shifts:
(particularly the downshift to 2nd gear at Oak Tree)...
I learned that taking a slightly different line through turns 10-11a allowed me to stay in 3rd gear, while maintaining my over-all time through Oak Tree. Even though I didn't pick up any time, I was able to eliminate some of the stress on the car's systems, (transmission, engine, and tires).

Unwinding earlier:
Through turns 5, 6, & 6a.
This allowed me to ultimately enter the uphill esses in 5th gear, instead of 4th, and eliminating a potentially dangerous up-shift while traveling through the esses at full throttle.

Static hand position:
Eliminating "shuffle steering".
Allowed me to be ready for, and quickly correct an oversteer condition, which if you watch the videos, you'll see kept me out of the tire walls on Sunday!

My instructor Tom Hall,(or as his brother calls him "destructor") was a great driving instructor. His communication was very clear, and effective, and never demeaning, or littling. Tom races in the Spec E30 series with NASA.

Here are some video's from Saturday the 29th:


NASA HPDE2 @ VIR-FULL 03-29-08 SESSION 1 from NOT///MPOWER on Vimeo.

VIR_03-29-08_session_2 from NOT///MPOWER on Vimeo.

Sunday was a different story all together!
The video below pretty much sums it up: