|
well, no video. They had us so damned busy it was ridiculous. Showed up around 7am and got a covered paddock. then a short meeting and they had us doing braking and emergency lane change manuevers. The Roadster accelerates so quickly that you really have to have your reaction time and movements at a hightened level. At first i was having trouble getting up to speed but then finally started nailing the manuevers. We then broke for lunch (Subway never tasted so good) and then had three parade laps on the track. If you left enough room in front of you you could actually build up some speed and hit the turns hard, lots of fun. California Speedway is enormous and the banking on the oval part of the track is pretty steep.
After that we headed over to do some skidpad manuevers where you set the steering and throttle steer the car in basically an oval pattern. Lots of fun and MUCH harder than one would imagine.
Finally they set up a slalom course similar to an AUTOX course and that helped us put everything together. i had an instructor take me through the course in my car to see what they were really looking for, and that really helped me get up to speed. The instructors were awesome and helpful, although you have to find the one that sorta gets you and knows how to teach you. Otherwise its alot of different people telling you different things which can be overwhelming.
All in all here is what i learned outside of the actual control skills:
Traction Control off is the way to go if you have a safe environment to play in. Its an absolutely different machine with the fun sponge turned off
You might THINK you're a good driver, but you're not. Not until you've started to go to a number of these things. There is ALOT to learn.
Burning rubber and getting into a smooth rhythm through turns is right up there with the greatest experiences of life.
Overall it was A++. I will be doing more of this, including the Autocross in mid October at the same place.
|