Project Trackday

Note: I don't have any pictures from Sunday on track so all the pictures in the post are ones that were taken Saturday...

Back early on day 2 to prepare for another day I arrived around 7:20am just as the sun was coming up.  It was still pretty cold but the forecast was a dry and sunny day for the entire day.  First thing I did was to check the brake pad wear, especially in the fronts.  Being this was the first time I had asked so much of them I wanted to make sure that there was still plenty of pad material on there because I knew I was going to ask more of them on the second day.  Surprisingly there wasn’t much brake wear at all, so all I can say is that I am extremely pleased with the performance and durability of the Yellowstuff pads.  (This was again verified at the end of Sunday, and I’m confident these pads have plenty more track time left in them)

The morning started as usual with a class session, and then back on track where for the first time we tried yet less braking between turns 3-4 and holding 4th gear all the way through from the exit of 2 through hard braking for turn 7.  This was a vast improvement from staying in 3rd all the way through 4, upshifting on the exit and then back down to 3rd on the entry to turn 5 as I was forced to keep the momentum in the car to prevent it falling out of the power band.

Something clicked in this first session early on going into turn 7 and it made a world of difference.  I experimented with braking late and turning in just the same time I was starting to release the brake (before the front could decompress) and the turn in was so sharp that I had to turn the wheel back a bit.  The following lap Mike told me  to treat turn 1 like “an autocross sweeper” and I did the same late brake and turn in before the front decompressed, and ended up coming in to turn 2 so fast that I had to really adjust my braking into the corner.  Finally I was starting to use the load transfer characteristics of the car instead of trying to fight it…  The remainder of the lap I focused on hitting the points at the higher speeds I was now achieving and using the load transfer to my advantage.  Mike was very happy with the progress and mentioned that I had now “opened a whole other door” and was “on another level now”.  He mentioned that he had wanted me to get to that point at the end of day 2, and was happy that I was already there so we could keep on moving the yardstick further.

We discussed staying in 4th gear all the way from midway down the main straight until turn 7 and then I took a ride with him to see how it was done.  The goal was ‘Momentum Driving’, and it was extremely important since the Miata was so down on power compared to the rest of the field.  I noticed that exiting turn 2 Mike was able to keep his car at 4300+rpm and therefore had good power out of the corner.  My goal was to exit the same corner at enough speed not to get bogged down in 4th coming out of the corner.

Session 2 we worked on momentum driving and I focused on looking for a visual cue for turn 8 (which had been the corner I was still early apexing a bit because I couldn’t see the apex or exit until 3/4 ways through the turn due to the rise.  Finally I found a good reference point and was able to start consistently hitting the apex.

Coming into turn 1 I was braking late, using the load transfer to turn in and then just a light push on the brake to get more front bite into turn 2.  Going through 3 I lined up for 4 and then braked not to slow down but to settle the front end before turning into 4.  Braking into 5 to get front turn in and then flooring it to hard braking for turn 7, turning in early to clip the apex and flooring it to the entry of 8, taken in the outside middle of the seam on the track, turning in and waiting for my visual cue before getting on the gas.  On the brakes into 9 towards the outside middle of the seam, crossing over to the inside of the seam through 9 (not using the inside curbing) to look for the curb to the right of the pit entry, getting my rear left on that and then the front right over the apex of 10 to do it all over again.

In session 3 I was held up late in the session in the turns for a few laps by a 996 Turbo and Mike told me to stay behind it, testing my ability to follow and on my lines (not watching the car in front’s lines).  I had hit all of the cues and was not letting another car in front get me distracted or off my line even though I was having to brake 150ft earlier into 1 due to the car ahead.  Once we ended the session we stopped in the pit to discuss the session and Mike gave me the go-ahead to do the final session solo.

Cleared for solo in session 4

The final session of the weekend was a combined session with both Green and Yellow groups running together, and was 35 minutes instead of the usual 25 minutes.  Having watched a Yellow only session I was a bit concerned about the number of cars on track synchronously (28 cars on track for the yellow group alone), but as they pulled into the paddock several cars packed it in and called it a day.  Start of the 4th session I was just going to go out and do my own pace but making sure I kept an eye on faster cars coming up, and I felt once I got into a rhythm it really wasn’t a problem at all.

Mike suggested I get a feel for how the car feels different through the turns without the extra weight of an instructor in the car, especially on the left handed turns where there was no long that extra mass on the inside of the corner.  It was definitely different not having the extra weight, the car was accelerating faster (no surprise), and was quicker through the left turns (4 and 8 ) but it felt more on edge on the right turns (as I was going quicker and also because the CG of the car had been shifted).  At one point I peeked down and saw I was hitting 100mph into braking for turn 1…

Late into session 4 (maybe 5-10 minutes until the end) my fuel gauge was starting to creep towards empty and I was following a 944 around the track.  I wasn’t much slower or faster, and over an entire lap I felt I was maybe about on parity with it even though it had the go in the straights to pull away.  I contemplated on pulling into the pits and calling it a day but I was confident that there was enough gas to run out the session.  A lap or two later as I was exiting 10 the 944 spun in front of me, and in hesitation I lifted off the throttle too quickly, inducing a big oversteer moment.  In my lack of experience I instinctively tried to countersteer to catch the slide and got into a huge tankslapper.  Once that happened I knew I was in for the ride, put both feet in (brake + clutch) and hoped for the best…

I hit the exit hay bails on 10 hard going backwards, but I already knew what I had done wrong..  Getting off the gas in panic was the first mistake, but secondly I should have been more conscious of the track layout and known that 10 was the only corner with a guardrail to hit, so I shouldn’t have even tried to save the slide.  Shortly after the track crew, ambulance and Mike were alongside, and I was asked if I was hurt in any way (no.).  Mike mentioned the damage was minimal but I really didn’t want to see what damage I had done..  I drove the car back to the pitlane, sat for a minute and then came out to see the damage.  The rear finish panel and the passenger tail light was cracked, but other than that no other parts would need replacing.  Mike mentioned that if that damage had happened early on Saturday we would have just duct taped the broken plastic parts and kept on going all weekend.  No mechanical damage whatsoever.  How lucky was that!?

Assessing the damage once I got home...

Headed up to the tower for a debrief/report of the accident and then I headed back down to pack my things for the long trip home.  Plenty of time to think over what had happened.  I came to the conclusion that it was a rookie mistake to get spooked at an incident happening right in front of me, but other than that I had made huge strides over the weekend.  I can’t wait until summer ’10 rolls around so I can do it all over again!  This will be the last event for the 2009 season for Project Trackday and all I can say is this has been such a blast so I would highly recommend to anyone who has the interest and means to get into this sport to not be scared away by how much it can cost.  I pulled it off for under $4000 even though at times it seemed like it was improbable, and I had the best summer/autumn ever getting to drive this car around.  I competed in 5 autocrosses and completed 1 weekend trackday (with over 200 minutes of track time).

During the offseason I will be doing some repairs to the car, and depending on the budget I may be upgrading the suspension (shocks and springs) or wheels/tires (going to a 15″ rim to open up my tire compound options).  As for Project Trackday 1.0, I completed my goal so this portion of the project is complete.  Next season I will be keeping track of how much running a season (entry fees, repairs, etc) costs to give people an idea of how much it costs to run a car through these events…

’09 has been a blast, see you in ’10…