Quote:
Originally Posted by ProjectM96
In the first few laps, we had no instruction on what lines to follow, when to brake, or when to accelerate. They just told us about what the flags mean and how to enter the pits. The first car had to try to keep up with the Subaru STI pace car and every car behind had to just keep up.
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The first few laps WERE your instruction on what lines to follow. There was no passing and no lap times so you could concentrate on the lines and the track. I guess this wasn't adequately explained during your classroom session?
What you just paid $200 for sounds equivalent to the Taste of the Track or Intro to DE day that is offered by PCA RTR. I recently did this (also at NJMP, which is the name of the track, not a club that I'm aware of).
It started off two weeks before where we met up at a local Porsche-friendly shop for Tech Inspection. This was a great experience in itself - a lot of good knowledge being traded back and forth between some really great enthusiasts... and a very thorough inspection of your car, from top to bottom.
The track day started off with an hour long classroom session with Brian, the RTR co-lead instructor. He did an excellent job explaining everything to us, The track and what we will experience, and what we will learn from it. followed by about 10 laps at 'parade speeds.' This was done similar to your experience - everyone lined up behind the instructor learning the lines, when to brake, what markers to look for and so forth. This was a great foundation for learning the track.
We then met back up with the instructor, talked for a while, and then paired up with an instructor for another ten or fifteen laps at much higher speeds. Another great experience, and while I was not keeping lap times, I noticed myself picking up a lot of speed in the corners (we weren't too worried about the straights)
A little after that we did a third track session, this time in an instructor's car. AMAZING! My instructor had a GT3 that completely blew my socks off. He was so smooth and fast around that track, it really highlighted the difference between jamming your foot down and controlled, fast driving. I learned a lot from those laps, he was explaining his lines, braking, etc as we were passing everyone else on the track (at the appropriate sections only, of course)
From a dollars and cents viewpoint, it cost $50 for the day, and that included tech inspection. Having been through it and realizing how much I learned, I would gladly pay ten times that to do it again.
The next step for me will be signing up for a full DE weekend. That offers lots more classroom time, lots more track time (three days worth!). Anyone have a 944 with harnesses for sale???
