My First HPDE: TRACK DAY!!! Having The Time Of My Life In My Porsche Cayman (987.2) at The FIRM!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 เม.ย. 2021
- After so much prep and anticipation, my first HPDE finally arrived. Filled with drama, problems, frustrations, and oh-so-much fun! A huge thank you to the Florida Thoroughbred Region for organizing it, you did a great job! Thank you also to 717 Media for providing photos of the day to cover some of my GoPro issues.
Links to stuff mentioned/used:
Veepeak BLE OBD2 Bluetooth Scanner - amzn.to/3t3Zp1G
TrackAddict Data Capture App - bit.ly/3dZrFhR
RaceRender Video Overlay Software - bit.ly/3tYaRxf
Florida Thoroughbred Region - www.floridapca.org/
717 Media - bit.ly/3eKgLMd
The FIRM - www.gorally.com
(open track, high performance driver education, high performance driving event, Florida International Rally and Motorsports Park, Porsche Club of America, PCA) - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Hi Cliff. Enjoyed your video, glad you had fun at your 1st DE. Chief Driving Instructor for Great Plains Region PCA here. Sundry thoughts:
1. As mentioned below, keep your hands at 9&3 and don't shuffle. You'll be able to do >90 deg turns with them in that position. If you shuffle steer, you have to look at the wheel to know when it's back to straight. With cars in front and behind you in a corner, you won't have time to look at your wheel. At 9&3, you know the wheel is straight when your hands return to straight across.
2. As you pointed out, lead-follow is not effective unless you're the first follower. Some schools have the novices leapfrog so everyone gets a lap as the 1st follower. But in-car instruction is the best. They would help remind you to be in the proper position for corner entry. You mentioned late in the vid that this was the region's 1st DE. I imagine they had a shortage of instructors and that's why there were so many novice run groups. You may want to find another PCA event somewhere where it's not their first rodeo and sign up for novice again with an in-car instructor. (Oops, I now see this was from 2 yrs ago.)
3. Lap 6 - nicely done! Your tires weren't screaming and your car was happy. Smooth is fast.
4. Lap 7 - get closer to the car you want to pass. Yes, trust is earned, but when you're 3-4 car lengths behind, they have an excuse as to whether you want to pass or not. Don't give them that excuse. Don't tailgate, but be close enough so there's no ques you want to pass. Then 'present yourself' to pass, meaning line the right side of your car up with the center of their's. That way they should see you from their inside or side mirror. If they still don't let you pass, don't get frustrated. Pull into the hot pit, mention to the grid worker that that car isn't giving you a point by, then go back out. They should be sufficient distance away from you now. The grid worker should relay the info to the corner workers and the safety chair. They'll keep a better eye on that car for future delays and give them the blue / yellow passing flag and if that continues, have a talk with them after the session.
5. T8 - that would scare me too and I've been doing DEs for 12 yrs. I drive my car to DEs and I always tell myself I have to drive my car home too. Can't do that if it's wadded up in the ARMCO barrier. The tenths of secs you lose by not going balls out thru there aren't going to affect your outcome. The pay check and kiss from the pretty girl are the same regardless. 😉
6. Watch ALL the corner workers on every lap, not just on the final lap. Work on seeing them with your periphery vision, so you pick them up immediately when they show a flag. They are communicating with you concerning everyone's safety. A good practice on the cool down lap is to wave to every corner worker. This let's them know you appreciate them keeping you safe AND is an excellent reminder to you as to where they are on the track. And don't blow thru the checker and do an extra lap. Do it once and you'll get a talking to. Do it twice and you'll be going home. Either time means you're not paying attn and that's dangerous to you and your fellow drivers.
7. Smart x 2. It's smart to video your sessions. That's the best / fastest way to learn. Seeing what you're actually doing can be quite different than what you think you''re doing. And it's smart to use your cruise on the way home as you can totally lose track of how fast you're driving on the highway. Don't need to spend a night in the gray bar hotel.
Thanks for entertaining my lengthy response.
You should have had an instructor with you for the first few sessions.... Very fun I agree!!
I would say pretty damn good first time out.
Thanks for the vid.
I think the RaceChrono app is better, based off the vids I've seen.
Great video :) with limited track experience I'd say a good habit is to avoid moving your hands about so much on the steering wheel. Of course you'll need to move them when you get a lot of rotation needed on the wheel, but until the point where you really need to move your hands, you should keep them in place on the sides of the wheel where the paddle shifters are (instead of changing your grip on the wheel though slightly tighter turns). It'll really help with your balance and coordination through the corners instead of shuffling about and losing a firm grip. Keep it up!
Yeah, I knew that. I was really surprised watching the video that I was shifting my hands that much, I really had no idea I was doing it.
@@CliffsGarage I totally get that! It's so instinctual. I was lucky on my first time that I had someone in the car constantly telling me about my hand placement 😅
Learning to get passed is as important as learning to pass so a mix of skills might be a good thing.
Loved the video! The FIRM is not far from me so I need to get myself out there soon.
It's OK for a first time. Having been to Sebring, I don't imagine I'll ever be going back.
Quite disappointing that you could not get an instructor in the car with you, especially considering it was your first time at the track. Always take the opportunity to get an instructor with you every chance you get & if possible, get a different instructor for the next session.
Irrespective of your level of experience, this is very important for all. As we are creatures of habits, we have a tendency to go back to our old habits unknowingly & need a refresher course.
Even spending a few days in a professional performance driving course where you learn so much more is the best bang for your buck investment in improving your lap times, not to mention the sheer enjoyment you will get from being quicker than more powerful & expensive cars.
The wet skid pad session is an excellent training tool to get you acquainted with the handling characteristics of your car & where you learn how to master the art of recovery from understeer & oversteer. An excellent survival driving skill that may save you & loved ones one day on the open road.
What a joke if an “HPDE”. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that a PCA region conducted this extremely dangerous farce of an event. I would highly recommend that you only go to events hosted by larger regions. In particular, get in touch with the Peachtree Region and run Road Atlanta with them. Not only do they have a sterling reputation conducting fun and safe DEs, Road Atlanta is vastly superior to Daytona, Sebring, and Roebling.
Nice footage. I think you were trying to set up a double standard here however. You clearly got passed by a faster novice, but got upset trying to pass a slower novice. Stop with the racer excuses LOL, its ok to not the be fastest novice
You've really completely misunderstood this and/or didn't watch the part about the rules concerning passing on the track. a) I was not passed by novices, as I said there were advanced drivers on the track and that's who passed me and b) I was not upset so much as irritated that the other novice was not following track rules. I saw faster cars behind me and let them pass on the very next passing zone. The guy in the Macan went through 6 passing zones with me on his bumper before he finally gave me a point-by. You are not supposed to block a faster driver, period. Same standard in both cases: If there's a faster driver behind you, you let them by.