So I just took my first hit off the track pipe this past weekend at Brainerd International Raceway with Nord Stern PCA. We did the long course all weekend. Friday consisted of my Driver Training (slalom exercises, braking exercises, low speed drive through of the course with an instructor, 3 laps of instructor driving your car at speed, and then 4-5 sessions of you in the driver seat at speed!), and then the regular DE event Saturday and Sunday.
I ran with the novice group, of course. Although on Sunday afternoon they combined the novice and intermediate groups together. Not really my cup of tea, I guess, the intermediate guys seemed to be a bunch of cowboys. One guy passing me at the VERY end of the main straight without me indicating him to pass (a big no-no, according to the organizers, apparently), and second, a guy in an RX-7 who indicated me to pass him, but then didn't lift off the throttle to allow me to. Nice.
Anyway, all in all, it was a COMPLETE blast. I will definitely do it again. Even if I run with the novice group for the rest of the time I own a Porsche (or Porsches in the future), I'm pretty sure I'd be happy, and wouldn't have to deal with the cowboys.
Here's some video I shot during my 6th session of the weekend.
Part 1:
PCA Last fling 2012 Session 6 part 1 HD - YouTube
Part 2:
PCA Last fling 2012 Session 6 part 2 - YouTube
And no… the car doesn’t shake nearly as much as it appears to in the video on the straights… I think that’s due to some vibration correction in my video camera, or it might be due to just how freakin' tall the GoPro rollbar mount is. The video should be available in HD.
Cheers,
Jason