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As long as I can remember I’ve been promising myself that I would race some day. Unfortunately promises are easier to make than they are to keep. I kept letting life get in the way. Years go by, slowly at first. One day I simply woke up and realized time was marching by too fast – I wasn’t waiting any more. It was time to get on the racetrack, learn how to drive, and keep my promise.

I’ve been bench racing for years. I’ve read all the blogs and forums. I drank up all of the wise advice I could find online. “The best mod you can make to a car is seat time,” “Be humble or you won’t learn anything,” “Don’t try to ‘prove’ anything to your instructor.” I read many of the books recommended by other enthusiasts – yup, when I finally made my way out onto the track, I was going to have a leg up on all the other Noobs. Whatever. That plan went right out the window. The first time out, things were happening so fast I couldn’t remember my Carroll Smith from my Fred Puhn, and I was just a passenger!

Here are some of the selected titles I’ve found as recommended reading from the blogosphere and forum gods. They are a little more concentrated on how the car works at speed. The idea is if you fill your brain with enough technical awareness - it’ll be easier to interpret what your butt-O-meter is telling you on the track.

Autocross was always fun. I’d often finish my last run of the day thinking, “Wow, you were right on the edge, that was really fast.” Well, yes and no. Auto-x is very quick, precise, and demanding. The pace and decision-making are rapid. But I didn’t know what fast was yet. (Well, technically, I still don’t LOL) Before signing up for my first HPDE event, I tagged along with my friend Chris to watch and ride along. He was an instructor with the local club, and really enjoyed explaining why & what he was doing. During the warm up laps he went through the fundamentals of how he prefers to drive, the line and brake points, while pointing out some of the things that I would experience during the session so I wouldn’t be surprised. Near the end of the warm up lap the tires were warm, the engine temps were up, and we headed into one final corner before the long front straight.

I was surprised.

Not the mundane, “Hey, look. I found an extra $20 in the laundry.” kind of surprised. More like “Who turned up the gravity and how are we possibly going this damn fast?” surprised. “How in the hell did we just slow down to make that corner?” Wow. It was nothing like I imagined. It was better.

OK, so not everyone has a friend with lots of track experience. But I’ve also found so many helpful people at all the different clubs. If you go out to an event to see what its like before you drive, do yourself a favor and bring a helmet. Most clubs allow certain members to drive on the track with passengers, and you’d be surprised how often complete strangers are invited along for a ride.

We were in a very well prepared C5 Z06 with some suspension and motor work. I immediately thought, “I’ll be out on the track with cars and drivers this fast?” Gotcha. Now I understand that humility thing. Our first session lasted 25 minutes but seemed to fly by in mere seconds. As Chris began his cool down lap, and the ambient noise allowed we started to talk about the run. I really didn’t have too many questions yet because everything was still a blurred rush of memories of what I had just learned.

Look ahead.
Pay attention to the flag stations.
Be aware of what’s around us.
Test your brakes in a spot before you ‘need’ them.
Pay attention to the temps.
Watch the mirrors.
Whew.

“Good, you look comfortable” he said, “after lunch we’ll turn it up a bit.”
Turn it up? We could go faster? Wow, I have a lot to learn.

I don’t know how many other people go to watch/ride before trying their first HPDE or school. I found it beneficial. Being at-speed on a track is initially so foreign your senses can get pretty overwhelmed. We spent session after session out on track. Each time Chris would point out something different, a different line, proper track etiquette, another warning about managing the brakes and how to listen to the car’s feedback. All of this familiarity I was gaining - with the track and the environment - was going to really help me relax and focus during my first turn behind the wheel (at the next event.)

If you’re going to a facility that you know has electricity available, throw a couple of fans and extension cords in with your gear. It’s really easy to crack a rotor if you don’t properly control the cooling after the session. Occasionally move the car forward, then back to expose the area of the rotor under the caliper. Otherwise two areas of the rotor will cool at different speeds which can lead to warping/cracking and otherwise screwing up a great time.

The off-track experience was just as valuable as riding along that day. There isn’t exactly a full pit crew waiting for you at the club level. You can’t just toss the keys to the head mechanic after a session and head for the Fleetwood trailer to hang out with the hotties. I watched and helped as Chris opened up the hood, brought out the fans for the rotors, and occasionally rocked the car forward or back to let the rotors cool evenly. He began his regimented review of the car that he’d obviously done hundreds of times between bygone sessions. “The better prepared you are, the more time you can spend on track. Nobody needs the hassles of shit breaking and ruining your day.” Here’s a list of things we had in abundance:

Essentials for PEOPLE:

• Water – tons of it for drinking.
• Food – light, quick, easy to eat. Remember to eat.
• Sunscreen
• Proper clothing – most clubs require long sleeve shirts, closed toe shoes, long pants. Depending on weather and schedule, you may be more comfortable changing back and forth into shorts/t-shirt.
• Safety Gear – Snell SA helmet (mine is a SA2000 – so it’s good until 2010 at the most)

Essentials for the CAR:

• Fluids – all of them, oil, transmission, power steering, radiator, brake fluid
• Tire Repair kit – I saw a lot of punctured tires, it ruined a couple of people’s day
• Tire Gauge – weather and conditions can make a big change in tire pressure/performance
• Brakes – Spare rotor, spare pads, extra brake fluid, bleeding kit
• Tools – Full set of hand tools (including torque wrench,) jack, jack stands, duct tape, elec. tape, and zip ties. (You can always use zip ties.)
• Electric Fans - Don’t forget the extension cords.

You can’t bring your entire garage, and even if you did, chances are you couldn’t fix anything major (It can happen. Another friend lost #4 rings, and the resulting crank case pressure sprayed enough oil through the dipstick to cause a pretty exciting fire on track) – bring enough equipment to handle any small stuff that comes up. If you’ve done a good job preparing the car, that should be minimal. But better safe than sorry. What’s required for good car prep? Great you should ask, that will be my next post…

Kyle
InertiaSport