Vis a tergo

Gone Racin'

Yeah, I lived. Driving my car on the track was an incredible experience. You have no idea how much concentration and trust in your car is takes until you're actually behind the wheel with the tires at their limit going around a corner at 80 mph. I ended up going to lovely Willows, CA the night before and staying at a hotel, since driver sign-in was at 7:30 in the morning the next day. It turns out that the Amerihost that I stayed at was a popular place for drivers and their cars -- when I pulled into the parking lot there was everything from standard Corvettes and Camaros to trailered full-race Porsches and Ferraris sitting waiting for the next morning. I set the alarm for 6:00 AM and went to sleep. I actually did sleep, which surprised me.

It turns out that I had planned things pretty well, and I ended up being one of the first people to the track. I secured a choice spot in the paddock right near the main building, directly in front of the grill. The shaded area around the grill turned out to be more important than the access to food since temperatures got up into the high 90's. I recognized a couple guys from a trip I made about a month ago to check out a track day at Laguna Seca, so I had people to answer my initial questions right away. It turns out that everyone is so friendly and helpful, that it wasn't really a concern in the first place. Once I completely unloaded my car of every loose item and all its extraneous weight (think spare tire, carpets, loose change), I went and checked in to get my badge and schedule. It was all very well organized and I had no problems getting to the right place at the right time at any time during the day. I had some time, so I was able to meet some more people, including the founders of the club; Troy and Dave. As I said before, everyone involved was extremely friendly and helpful. The drivers' meeting was next, which is mainly a chance to introduce the new drivers (that would be me) and talk about safety and rules and regulations to make certain everyone is on the same page throughout the day. Once that was taken care of, they excused everyone except us Novice drivers. The group of fifteen of us then gathered around Hank, who served as our classroom instructor. He was a very entertaining guy, with a dry wit and a lot of driving experience. He made it clear what was expected of us, and what we should expect in our initial experiences out on the track. Once the classroom instruction was done, it was time to go to the track!

We were told we had ten minutes to get everything together then meet our driving instructors out in the hot pits. I was a little nervous because I had to change some of my clothes to comply with the regulations out on the track, plus I had forgotten something to put numbers on my car. When I got out to my car, my instructor was walking up. It turns out that it was Fabian, one of the guys who shared shop space with Laurent, my buddy who had talked me into finally tracking my car. He's a pretty mellow guy, and had owned and raced an RX-7 himself so he was really a good choice for both my demeanor and my car. He happened to have some "racing tape" (duct tape) that we fashioned into some pretty rough numbers on the side of my car. I put my helmet and gloves on, slipped the earpiece that would serve as the communication method between Fabian and I, and we were off.

We were a couple minutes late to the grid because of the situation with my car number, but it wasn't a problem. In fact, it was kind of nice being able to leave the pit with no cars around me to distract me while I was learning the track. Each session was 25 minutes long, which ended up being just the right amount of driving time before you were ready to rest, and give your car a rest. All five sessions involved learning more about the track. The first session was driven at a comparatively slower speed because it was almost impossible to learn all fifteen turns along with the gear, speed, turn in point, apex point, and exit point associated with each one even in one day of driving. My biggest problem, deduced from comments made by Fabian, was that I wasn't using enough of the track. The idea in most turns is to start braking at the far edge of the track, finish braking in a straight line, start turning in to the apex on the inside of the turn, when you are headed straight the apex, start applying the gas and let the speed of the car allow you to drift completely out to the outside edge of the track again. Lather, rinse, repeat. I was starting about three feet in from the outside edge, hitting the apex about a foot inside and not applying throttle until I was well through the turn. I'm sure this was frustrating for Fabian since he drives three classes up from me in Advanced in a fully prepared racing car (http://www.radicalwest.com). I made it through the first session without an incident, and even passed a couple cars including a supercharged 500 hp Camaro. When I got back to the paddock, I kept the car running and popped the hood to let it cool down. It had reached close to 230 degrees water temperature, and I wanted it to cool off before the next session. It was then that I noticed the growing puddle of water under my car.

Luckily, the normal "debriefing" session that happens after each driving session had been cancelled by Hank. He told us to just talk to our instructors about what we did well, and not so well. So, I got a chance to look at my car pretty quickly. It turned out that I had a leak in the radiator hose, which seemed to be a loose clamp. I tightened down the clamp some more and it seemed to stop the leak. Between sessions I had about fifty minutes to get ready for the next one. This time was spent trading stories with the other drivers and getting to know the drivers that were in your run group, and of course doing any repairs that are needed. The two guys from my group that had parked closest to me asked me about my car, so we talked for a while and ended up hanging out most of the day together. One of them, Afshin, had a highly modified 1983 280-ZX that was able to keep up with my RX-7, which really impressed me. What impressed me more was that he had changed his bigger injectors and modified fuel computer at the last minute because of problems, or it would've been even quicker. The other guy, Matt, had a new Subaru WRX, completely stock including all season tires. Once all of the "bench racing" was done with, we hit the track for our second session. After having driven the track for about ten laps and talking about it with other people at about the same skill level, the level of confidence definitely goes up. The butterflies were gone and I was able to concentrate on really hitting the turn-in points and apexes correctly. I started to realize that I was supposed to press the gas pedal a lot earlier in the turn than I had been, and there was quite a difference in how much trust I started putting in my car, mostly the tires and their grip on the road. The end result is not actually "steering" the car to the different point in the turn as much as it is turning the wheel and modulating the accelerator to make the car push out to the outside of the track, or turn in to inside of the track. This is the feeling that you can (or should) never feel on the street, and it's scary. It's scary and addictive. As the session went on I started remembering shift patterns and braking points and began to feel much more comfortable allowing my car to do some of the driving work. I was hearing a lot more "good" and "excellent" comments from Fabian, which made me a little braver each time. By the end of the session I felt like I was getting the hang of driving the car at its limits and I couldn't wait for some more. We parked the car and it was time for lunch. Hank had scheduled the first debrief session for 11:30, right in the middle of lunch. It was alright though, since I wasn't hungry anyway and the line at the grill was really long. The debrief session went well. No one complained about any of the on-track behavior. Everyone was doing the correct hand signals, and passing correctly. By the way, passing was only allowed in specific designated straight parts of the track in the Novice group, and then only with a point-by from the driver being passed. Hank seemed surprised, and impressed, that everyone was so well behaved. The debrief went smoothly so we went to hang out in the shade for a while. We had quite a long wait until our next session since there was the lunch hour, a time trial for the more advanced drivers, and then a break for our group. The shade we chose was the covered seating outside the grill, with a great view of the back of my car and the drips causing another slowly growing puddle of water under it. Groan.

In talking about my situation, we hoped that it was a case of a small leak near the top of the hose, and that the hose had enough extra that I could cut off below the hole and reattach it. It was a testament to the friendly atmosphere to note that I had three people helping me cure my leaking coolant problem. Thankfully, the hoped for situation was also the actual situation. There was a pinhole leak at the top of the hose near the clamp. With a simple slice with a utility knife, resecuring the clamp and replenishing the lost water, I was on my way again. The third session was another order of magnitude better than the second. I was becoming very confident in my car's abilities and was pushing it further. Now Fabian's "good" and "excellent" comments were starting to be peppered with "you went in a little fast there" and "you almost spun it there" comments. His assertion at one point was that if I kept pushing like I was, I was due to spin out before the day was through. I can't remember exactly how long it was after that statement that I came around turn 14, a sharp 120 degree turn after a long 100 mph straightway, and came upon a gold Porsche 944 spun right in front of me. Apparently this is a common place for people to spin, coming from such a high speed into such a sharp turn it seems like it takes forever before the turn in point. So people turn in too early, can't hit the apex and end up spinning their car by a combination of mistakes; turning more and letting off the gas a bit which lightens the rear end of the car allowing the too-much-turned front end to bite and physics to take its course. Luckily, turn 14 was one of the turns that I had become comfortable with early on, and I had waited for a very late turn in, so my car was fully settled and under control allowing me to scoot by the Porsche with plenty of room to spare. Fabian seemed pleased with how things had transpired, and if he was happy, I was happy. By the end of the session, my car's water temperature was heading up into the uncomfortable zone, so I took it easy for a lap, then the checkered flag came out, and it was time to do a cool down lap and come in. I did my now familiar routine of stopping the car, not putting on the parking brake (it could cause the rear brake rotor to warp from the heat), opening the hood and letting the car cool down to 88 degrees Celsius.

The repair work to my radiator hose seemed to hold, and did hold, and is still holding. So, that wasn't a concern the rest of the day. The last two sessions were progressively faster, which started to make it really fun, but also started to show signs from the car that I was pushing some of its components to their limits. The first sign was the water temperature, which was starting to head into the 106-109 degree Celsius (~235-238 F) range earlier and earlier in the session, because I was holding the engine closer to redline for longer stretches of time. The brakes started squealing from the heat being generated from my later and harder braking. When I parked the car, the edges of each tread line in the tire had a mound of previously molten rubber hardened onto their edges. It was then that I realized that at the track, the ratio of fun to expense is at least monotonically, if not logarithmically, increasing,. These brand new tires would last ten days at the track. The heat in my engine will probably necessitate a rebuild much sooner than expected, as well as modifications to try and make it run cooler in the interim. A new brake system would be mandatory for any further advance in my driving skill. So, I intend to start playing Lotto. Everyone acknowledges this phenomenon at the track, and laughs about it. Some, like Fabian, are walking examples of it. He ditched his RX-7 and bought a $75,000 Radical just for racing. I'm thinking more along the lines of getting a cheap Miata and modifying it to Spec standards, which would probably be less expensive than my RX-7 when all is said and done. For now, I'll drive the RX-7 though.

So, if you haven't been able to ascertain by now, I had an absolute blast at the track. Not only was the driving fun, but the people were great and the organization of the event made it pretty stress-free. If I can find a reliable way to fund this (habit? hobby? sickness?), I'll definitely be seeing the track more often. I lived, it was safe, and it was a great learning experience. I can't wait to do it again.