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Am just returned from TWS. It was a good event for the spouse and I, as she made her debut in the “blue” intermediate group and I managed to not run off track.

TWS is a nice track for many reasons, but one of them is the tunnel. To get into the track, you have to drive through a nine foot high tunnel under the old oval. The tunnel ends in the infield.

It’s a threshold between the outside world and the world of the track that is sharper and more well-defined than at any other track in Texas, save perhaps TMS. It’s easy to enter the tunnel and come out the other side subtly changed. You need not worry about very much in the track world, except apexes, mid-corner speed and safety rules. It’s a wonderful demarcation.

A friend carried my tires again. This part of the hobby is becoming more of a burden. I hate to impose on my mates to carry part of the car, but at the moment I have few alternatives. Within the next two years, we’ll most likely buy a tow vehicle and a trailer, but for now, I have the best friends in the world.

Met a couple more Austinites at the track, and we’ll sign them up for the mailing list of track folks we maintain. Always good to have more people to talk cars with.

It was a bad weekend for Corvettes. Three had catastrophic failures: Two timing chains and one head gasket. The timing chains were both on C6 Z-06 cars, leading me to wonder how good that bit of the engine is. Both cars were heavily modified, so perhaps the chain is good, unless you hop up the car. We also lost another one to some kind of oiling problem, but I don’t know the details. I’m reminded more and more why I chose to leave the engine stock on my car. It ran without complaint or problem in all eight sessions this weekend.

I spent much time playing with three cars: A modified Mustang, a Subaru STI and a crazy Porsche Turbo Carerra. The mustang and the Porsche ran away from me. I was puzzled by this a bit, since normally I can catch such cars. It turned out both were making over 500 HP, the Porsche by some margin. He claimed 640 at the wheels, with his mods. I felt a little vindicated knowing that I had been outpowered rather than outdriven. The Subaru was driven by a friend, and we are about the same speed and skill level. I’ve got a bit more HP, the STI has AWD. Makes for fun sessions where we pass one another only when one of us makes a mistake.

Spouse’s blue debut went well for the most part, though she had one spot of trouble in an early session. One change made all the difference: Not pulling off line to let other cars pass.

When I went to my first HPDE, the instructors explained how passing works: When you see someone in your mirrors that is clearly faster than you, you point to one side or the other (with your arm out the window of your car) and let them know they can pass you on that side. In the beginner classes, you do not alter your “line” or trajectory through the course, but rather just decrease speed and let the faster car get around you how they may. In the more advanced classes, you are supposed to pull off line and allow the faster car to take the fastest line. Some instructors start teaching this earlier than others, and for a relatively new student this can be misleading. Driving fast on a roadcourse is all about rythm, and when you have to interruput that every few minutes to allow a pass, you never get it, which means you slow down, and more folks want to pass, etc. Once she quit allowing that sort of pass, she did quite well and I’m very proud of her.

So I was sitting in the pit and talking about the threshold thing:
“So, it’s like when you come into the track here, because of the tunnel, it’s like coming into a different world. Different rules, seperate value system…” I say
“Yeah” says my friend, the one who hauled my tires “I was making breakfast in the RV this morning, and I suddenly realized, that’s not a poptart, that’s a pastry!”

Argh. So much for my cool metaphor. Having friends that bring you perspective is priceless, I think, in track-land or the real world.

Going HPDE this weekend! Woohoo! It’s been too long. Prep this time was oil changes for both cars (blue and yellow; mine and spouse), plus brake pads for her. Decided on Carbotech Bobcats this time around. Hope she likes them. This plus the usual fluids check, tires, belt check, brake line check, wheel bearing check, power steering fluid check, radiator check, etc. Kind of like I imagine pre-flight to be in an aircraft, but less formal.

The track is good old TWS, in the counter clockwise direction (which is the intended route, but a little slower than colckwise).

This time out is special because my father-in-law is attending, as a driver. He was a hot rodder in his younger days, and we bought him a session. He’ll be driving a Mercedes, I think, which will have plenty of power (if not cornering ability). Hope he has fun.

Tires are going to be a problem this time. My usual friendly tire transporter will not be attending, so I have to find other means of moving them to the track. This part of the hobby is getting to be a pain. I need to find a better way to take me and my tires to the track. I have thought of buying a trailer and borrowing a pickup to pull it on track weekends, but that seems silly. Might break down and put a trailer for tires on the vette, though that is a little weird (many do this, but my wife hates the idea).

I feel lucky to be solving this sort of problem, actually. A bad day at the track is still a day at the track.

The objective this time out is to run as smooth and clean as possible, and work on the chicane. The chicane at TWS leads onto the main straight (going this direction). If you hit it right, you get a great launch onto the banking and down the main straight. If you hit it wrong, your entry onto the straight is botched, and you end up slow. It’s a hard left turn followed by a right and an immediate left, then a quick right that leads into a gentle left onto the straight. The last left is not really a turn, as you can use the entire width of the straight to get lined up down track, and you’re pointed up the banking at that point, so there’s plenty of grip.

Like most sequences, it makes the most sense to work it backwards. If you want to be pointed downtrack coming on to the straight, where must you exit that last right turn? If you want to hit that right correctly, how must you enter the upstream left? And so on. The end of the sequence is how do you brake to enter the first left. I’ve found that I have to hug the left side of the track before I turn into the chicane. I’m literally wheels parallel to the left side of the track, a few inches from the edge before I turn back right. That requires a very late entry into the turn, and heavy braking, as you want no slip angle when you have to turn back right. I’m really looking forward to it.

Another section to work on is the entry into turn 1 and 2, coming off the main straight. This turn can be done going very fast, but requires good spotting and good timing. I want to try a lower line and see how that works as it’s a shorter distance around when you go that way.

HPDEs are very Zen activities. I’m not sure one can define Zen easily. I know what it feels like, but I thought I’d seek the wisdom of the Internet for a definition. I Wikied Zen and found a pretty good one: It’s a belief that enlightenment can be achieved via direct intuitive insight. It’s a Buddhist belief system, so ego is a barrier, desire is undesirable, etc.

When you drive, it’s a direct challenge to the ego. You see it driving to work in the morning, when folks either MUST pass that next car, or MUST get to the light first, etc.

On track, it’s much the same temptation, but more focussed. The mindset of the RACEtrack is that one must be in front. Thus, to get there, you press the right pedal down and make sure you’re passing folks. Or so it would seem. The reality of it is, that at my level of expertise, going faster doesn’t happen when you try to go faster. You have to let go of the idea that concentrating on the leading car will let you catch it. I do my best to ignore the leading car until I’m very close, because the next few turns are generally much more interesting. I pay a little attention to it, just enough to see it if there’s a skid or incident. The main focus is driving smoothly. When I do that, I can catch many, many cars.

It feels like magic. You just have to let go of the whole competition thing and drive the car. The better you feel the tires’ grip, and the engine RPM and the brakes, the better you will be able to drive the course, and the closer to the edge you can be.

Of course, where I drive, the car in front of you may not be willing to let you by. There’s no passing at HPDEs unless the leading car allows it. Thus, you have to stay behind the lead car until he sees that you’re faster. If you’re the lead car, you have to admit, to yourself, that the car in your rear view mirror is faster. If you have too much ego, that’ll be hard to do. That’s the letting go part of it, too. In a race, you’d just find a way around the slower car somehow.

I used to be quite bothered by this, but I found that if I’m behind a slower car that will not let me around now, I just keep on keeping on. It is, in fact, the same thing as catching anyone. You just let go of it, and drive the best line you can. I’ve had folks apologize to me for not allowing me to pass, after leading me around for two or more complete laps with me a foot off their bumper the whole way. Letting go of it is easier.

This is the hardest post I’ve written so far. I’m finding it hard to explain this without sounding like Captain Obvious, so I’ll stop now. I’ll close by saying that I think about the only thing that will let you make good decisions in the extreme chaos of a real race would be a core of calm that I believe zen teaches. Thus, I’m very interested in it.

I put my wife on the plane to her speaking engagement, and loaded up to head for Dallas and the TMS night event. It was a leisurely load, since I didn’t have to be there until late in the afternoon.

I drove up I-35, and made good time. It’s not as pretty a drive as the more westerly route through Hico, but when going to Dallas and not Ft. Worth, I-35 is often faster.

As I drove and relaxed, I managed to outrun the tensions of the week. This is how I know I’m doing the right sort of recreation. I’ve had hobbies that felt like work, so that after a weekend of them, you don’t feel relaxed or rested, but rather keyed up. Driving is not like that. By the time I got to Dallas, I was refreshed, relaxed and ready for a snack before changing tires and getting on-track.

At 1600 they let us in to the track. Saw many friends, talked new mods, new kids, relationships, politics, and food. The usual. I also started drinking water, as it was around 102F.

Around 1630, my tires arrived, but I waited to change them until after the driver’s meeting. The track was occupied by one of the high-end driving schools. They were turning laps in what looked and sounded like a NASCAR vehicle. Must have cost a great deal.

The Blue Goose Cantina catered the dinner. Very, very good fajitas! If you’re in Dallas, I’ll recommend them on the Fajits alone. As we ate, Rick explained the track and the rules of the event, and it was a scary talk. No passengers, because no instructor would ride in the outside seat next to the wall. Talk of going 150-160 into the banked turns, as the chicane was not really much of a slowdown. How the track didn’t give your brakes time to cool, since though the straight was long, the braking was very hard at the end. Then Steve Hill took over.

Rick was mild compared to Steve. He described, in some detail, how to fuck up on this track. You could come off the 26 degree banking onto the 14 degree, think it’s flat and spin the car. If you try to catch it, you’ll flip the back end around and smack the wall backwards. How to minimize impact, if you can, hitting the wall at less than 15 degrees, because more was very dangerous. How a brand new C6 had been destoyed at this track. Who had died at this track. And on.

It froze the room. I began to think about why I was here at all, if this was a hobby, or something else. I put that aside and threw away my plate and went to change tires when Steve was done scaring us. I think it’s sane to be cautious, but too much caution can also lead to accidents, so I thought to drive as I always do and see how it worked out.

When I was all set up, I noted clouds on the horizon, over the top of the stands. There was a magnificent rainbow too; I could see both ends. I watched until I was sure, then found a computer to check the weather. The coulds were coming up towards the track.

Three hours later, I was changing tires again, in the rain. I run on street tires for rainy conditions. No one had been on track, and it was dark already. The problem was the lightning. You can’t station corner workers out in the rain and the lightning. An hour later, we called the event because of weather, so I got to go get some sleep. I was very disappointed, but hopefully we can reschedule. No rain for 45 days, until this storm.

Well, the prep is done. Went to SoulSpeed in Austin for the work. Bill Kim runs a nice shop and at reasonable rates. I had:
Corner weighting check
Brake bleed
four race tires mounted
alignment
swap back to street tires
Tech inspection for the event
$322.

This’ll be my last one until October (giving September a rest, since I’m about out of money for the moment) so I wanted to make sure all systems were perfect.

The car is remarkably balanced, even with 250# in the front left seat. It’s within 2%. With me in it, it weigns 3400 on the nose.

Tires are balanced, though one of the rims is bent (I bought it that way; old autox rims) and takes around four ounces of weight to balance. Yeesh. Have to get some new wheels. Too bad it’s a rear rim, as I don’t want to replace the 11″ wide rears at this time.

Bill was cautionary about the track. He advised me to take it easy and not push too hard, as there’s no place to spin safely. It’s mostly an oval track, so if you spin, you likely smack the wall. I’m planning on driving home Sunday, so no walls for me!

The tires leave with my friend David this evening, and I’ll follow them up on Saturday. Looking forward to getting on track again. It’s been too long.

Went back to the gym recently. The only time I have to work out is in the early morning. That sucked at first, but now I’m getting used to it. The hardest part is going to bed early enough.

Driving subjects you to heat. My car is actually pretty well insulated against engine and transmission heat, but cockpit temps get into the 110-120F range. You don’t notice it, but it’s plenty hot. Race cars, with all the insulation pulled out, are 130-ish. Then there’s the elevated heart rate. Going fast is pretty intense, and your heart responds and speeds up. Then there’s the Gs. It’s not alot, but for those of us that are not pilots, we’re not used to 2G, over and over again. That causes muscle fatigue and makes you tired, which slows you down. That must not happen, so to the gym I went.

I’m doing aerobic exercise on an eliptical trainer. It’s low impact, and I can hold my heart rate (the wonderful device has a heart rate monitor built in) around 135-150 for 30 minutes. It also helps breath control and my legs (which mysteriously turned into rubbery odd-looking things when I wasn’t looking). I then do some core work (that’s what’s sore when I get off track, so I must need work there) and that’s what I have time for.

I need to find a good neck exercise. My head isn’t secured too well, and carries a helmet. You also have to maintain good flexibility in your neck so that you can maintain situational awareness and vision. And a stronger neck helps if you ever get in a pile up, or so I’m told. BestI can do so far is looping a towel around my head and pulling this way and that. It has the added bonus of looking REALLY stupid, so that’s a good thing.

Weight. I’ve struggled with it all my life. Well, now, every six pounds is about 1 HP at the wheels. That’s some powerful incentive. Dropping from 250 to 238 would be nice, make me more heat tolerant and faster. Sounds like a winner.

Driving fast is a sport. Have to train for track days with more respect.

The defining thing about this weekend was the heat. My car was telling me it was 107F outside when we left the track in the afternoon. Now, that’s a temp taken close to the asphalt, so is a bit high, so we’ll go with the weather reported 103F.

I drank five liters of water on Saturday, six on Sunday (I was feeling a little bad Saturday night). One of those was gatorade. I’ve had bad results using just gatorade, because of all the sugar. One liter of it was about right, and gave me a late afternoon boost that was nice to have for the last session.

The grass was so dry that when I ran off, the heat from the exhaust started the grass on fire. I was still in the car for around five seconds as I took stock and read gauges to see if I could still move. Luckily, no damage was done, and I got back on track (though a bit subdued).

Lap times suffered because of the heat. There just was not as much grip out there as there normally is.

We also had several heat related mechanical issues. Twice, oil got onto the track. Once from a Ferrari, which laid a James Bond style slick all the way through three turns, and once from a Mustang that blew out an oil temp sensor. I ran through the slick from the Ferrari, and that was a weird feeling. One minute, I was fine. The next, the car was eight feet to the left. Luckily, I managed to save it before I ran off, and noted the slick. I was then able to drive another line to get away from it.

I spent Saturday in the yellow run group. I was perplexed by this, but was not motivated to ask about it, so I didn’t. Yellow is a fun group. At the end of the day, I asked the Grid Marshall to arrange a check ride for red group for me. That’s when they place an instructor in the car with you and you do your session for a “grade” of sorts. It’s pass/fail. If you pass, they promote you to the next group. If you blow it, you stay where you are.
“Hey Dean! Can you set me up with a check ride for red?”
“Um, sure. Let me check my book… Didn’t you run red with us at TWS?”
“Yep.”
“Have you run this track in this direction before?”
“Yep.”
“I trust you. Here’s your sticker and wristband.”
“Thanks!”
Quite a thing. Turns out it was a clerical mistake! So I got to run Sunday in red, which was an education.

Despite the heat, red was fast. I got passed by everyone in my first session, and in my second. I was pretty down about that. Third session, I got some speed back and put some turns together right and got back in my game. Not as many passed me.

I had two offs for the weekend. One was a pretty cool looking slide sideways into the grass when I overcooked a turn, and the other was when I was trying a different line into the esses. I had too much speed to make the turn, so I bailed out and ran straight off. I never stopped, but rather did a fast off-road around the corner worker station (much to the crew’s amusement) and pitted to have the guys check the car for damage. No damage, and I went back out immediately.

In the last session, Dean asked me if I wanted to take a passenger. This is very rare, since normally only instructors take passengers. Turns out this girl is a club member (remember, MSR is a country club) and an event participant, driving her Mustang in the green group. She really wanted to ride in a Corvette. So I said ‘sure’.

I took it easy for the first part of the session, but on the last two laps, I really nailed it. It didn’t look as if my passenger was going to puke or anything, so I felt justified in showing her around 9/10ths. The track came together like a big puzzle. I must have knocked four or five seconds off my time. She left the car with a big grin, so I take it she had a good time.

When I took the car back to street trim, I found out the front tires had corded, so I’ll need new ones for August. The brakes performed flawlessly, and oil temps never got over 275F. I’m happy with the Carbotech XP10 pads, though I think now I’m braking too hard and that’s what’s slowing me down.

Before I go to the track again, there’s some work to do to the car. At 16 months in to the hobby, it’s holding up well. Before next track day, I need to:
Bleed the brakes: Doing this on a Corvette is tricky, becuase of the ABS system. You need a special tool to get the ABS to release, or a pressure bleeder. I am opting for the latter approach because it’s easier to do at the track. I wish there was some way to have high temp tolerant brakes that required less service, but there’s just not.

Replace rotors: Not sure they need it, but they are cracking, and I have new pads to try out, so the fronts will get done. Going to do rear pads too, but leave the rotors alone. They look fine.

Brake Pads: Have Carbotech XP10 and XP8 for the back.

Check Diff Fluid: Got a trans high temp warning last time out, and have not noticed anything wrong, but best to check for burnt fluid in the trans and diff.

Tires: Tires look good for at least one day, so we’ll leave them alone. There are all kinds of scrubs around Cresson, so I’ll be in good shape if I need some Sunday.

Short list this time! This is a good example of a typical between-runs maintenance cycle.

Cresson: The track will be the 1.7 mile short track, run clockwise. This is the way I learned the track, but I’m rusty on it. In either direction, MSR Cresson is a busy track. There’s no time to rest and stretch like there is at TWS. It’s hard on the gears and engine, since there’s lots of third gear work. The back section is especially fun this way around, since you come out of a two turn sequence into a short straight, then into a hard left. The track geometry forces you to be pointing in a weird direction, so it’s an ideal place to really nail the brakes and swing the back end of the car around. Another good place to work on shifting is going into the “serpentine” (a set of esses at the top of a hill). Common sense says to downshift on the straight going into the turn leading to the esses, but it’s faster to trail brake through that turn, then brake and downshift at the top of the hill. Not sure I can do that without spinning!

The more I get into the motorsports thing, the more this difference is brought home to me. So much so that it deserves its own entry.

What I’m into is HPDEs: High Performance Driving Events. They are educational, high speed, and very fun. They are billed as non-competitive, but that’s a big whopper. Most of the folks I know there are QUITE competitive, at least with themselves. What you learn at these events is how to drive a perfect line around a road course. It’s not a defensive line, it’s the fastest line. There is also absolutely no sanctioned timing at these things, so it’s not possible for anyone to “win”. The way you measure success is by how many cars pass you, and (at the higher levels) who is driving when you get passed.

The psychology of the group is pretty laid back, save for those few with a chip and something to prove. Most of the lower groups are too absorbed with learning the line and the new reflexes that they are too tired to pick fights or get confrontational. The upper level guys are aware that the weekend isn’t a race, and most of them are there to practice and compare notes. It’s “neutral ground”.

Racing is something else entirely. Wheel-to-wheel road racing is supposed to be one of the most fun things you can do on asphalt. Confrontation is a way of life in this venue. No one is giving anything away, though the bigger hearted players will offer help to anyone on the track, because beating a disadvantaged opponent is not as fun as going to the front of a fast field. It’s a sort of self-motivated altruism wrapped up in honor, or so it seems from the outside.

The mindset of the racers is very different. I can’t say for sure if I’ll like it until I give it a try, but I imagine it’ll be fine. I like confrontation and challenge. The side effect of this is that racing costs a GREAT deal more than HPDEs. In order to take your car on the track with a clear conscience, you’d need to be willing to go for around $3K over a weekend, assuming no big wrecks. You’d want to make sure you were covered by some sort of insurance so that you wouldn’t pull out the first time you rubbed paint with someone.

There are racing schools, primarily taught by the NASA and SCCA. I plan on attending one or more when I get the car paid off and set up as a track animal. It’ll be interesting to look back on this blog and see if I was right or wrong on the perspective.

We went back to the old familiar Texas World Speedway this last weekend. This time, we ran it clockwise. I had never run in this direction before. It was an old friend with a new face.

It’s faster. Much faster, in fact. I ran it fast enough to move up to the “red” run group, which is the top end. The only group above red is the instructors. The reason it’s faster is that you can start the front straight right after turn 3, when the track takes a sweeping right turn ending with you climbing up the bank and onto the straight. I was pulling so much lateral G that it was hard to upshift to 4th (I was pinned up against the door and the left side of my harness).

Driving in red is interesting. The cars are more likely to be race cars. Mostly, the drivers have years of experience. I think I’m the second-least experienced one of the bunch, with 18 months of this under my hat. There’s more horsepower here, and the drivers know how to use it.

I feel sure I can run with this crowd. They are dead predictable, highly competitive and very, very focussed. The group is also smaller. That means alot more track between drivers, which is safer and allows faster laps. I really like it.

I was passed by almost everyone, my first time out in red. I had David Scott in the car with me, to see if I was good enough. I decided to prove to him that I had enough situational awareness, rather than enough speed. That proved to be the right call. I was able to prove that I was comfortable in traffic and that I was in control of the car.

Once clear of the qualifying run, I was free to get faster. I was able to pass quite a few cars, and got passed by the better drivers, as it should be. I was able to run down a viper or two as well as my friend in his cammed and modded C6. He’s got 100 more HP than me, at least. I was able to catch him by being smoother. I caught sight of him near the carousel and determined that I was not going to pull ahead of him on the back straight. The HP difference was simply too great. I decided to drive as smooth as I could, and presto, by the time we got to the 3-2 straight, I got the point by. That left me with a problem, as the main straight was coming up. He’s WAY faster on the straight, and sure enough, as we blasted down the front, he was so close I wasn’t seeing his headlights. I felt sorry to slow him up, to tell the truth. Fortunatly, we were checkered flag after that last lap, so we cooled the cars off and were able to head pitward.

The vipers were more interesting. It does no good to catch them late in the back course because on the front straight, they’ll use those extra two cylinders to run by you again. You have to somehow get close to them in the early back course, and pass them on one of the back straights then open up enough distance on them so that by the time you hit the front straight they can’t catch up. This is a very fun game. If you see a viper getting loose on the corners, it’s a vulnerable viper, I’m finding. Well driven, it’s hard to touch them, but they are VERY unforgiving of even small mistakes.

My friends did well. My wife, running in green group, was cleaner and faster than she’s ever been. I am very proud of her. The one thing marring her weekend was that she did not move into the next group.

I’m not exactly sure why that was, but I think it was a bad instructor. Perhaps she will get a better one next time. She was very bummed.

One serious wreck, wherein a Miata hit a tire barrier. The instructor was hurt, but came back. The student was, it seems, unteachable. One very experienced driver went off when a suspension member failed in his front end. He was unhurt, and the car can be fixed. We also had a mustang catch fire (the rear seat) because the exhaust was hot enough to ignite it through the floorboard! No injuries from that either, save the rear seat of the mustang.

The lesson learned this weekend was about cadence. With fewer cars on the track, I was free to get into a rythm that just got faster and faster. It’s a great deal like when you’re dancing and the tempo of the music increases. As long as you get the steps, you can keep going faster and faster. Each turn is a step, and you just keep picking it up a little with each lap around the dance floor.

Mechanically, it was a great deal harder on the car. I got a high transmission temp warning for the first time. Oil temps were around 260 with the new cooler, which was acceptable. Coolant was around 250, which is hot. Need to flush that and replace with plain old water. The brake pads are about gone too, but I have spares. I have heard that to cool the transmission you need to cool the differential. One of my next purchases may be a diff cooler. My rotors are also starting to crack in the front, though the cracks have not reached the edge yet. Have to keep an eye on that and get some spares for next track weekend.

Next event is in July, which will be hotter.