I spent the better part of Sunday morning chasing some friends around the new 1.3 mile road course at Motorsport Ranch (unfortunately, there’s no map of the new course available online yet). Plenty of elevation changes and very little in the way of straights made for an entertaining day. While I struggled to keep up with a friend, an experienced track junkie coming from a Boxster S, I did manage to stay in an STi’s mirrors well enough to get waved by - even though he seemed to be thrashing the Scooby around in anger. The track is new enough that even the experienced guys are still playing with their lines and I’d caught up and parked behind the Scooby to examine how he was connecting the bends. I think he felt we were ganging up on him out there as I overheard him say something along the lines of, ‘Man, those guys are all over me out there!’
Definitely impressed with the car’s capabilities running at full tilt, and equally as unimpressed with mine. I didn’t embarras myself though, as no one managed to get a lap on me (or they were at least too afraid to attempt a pass!).
No too many shots, but here’s one from when we had a break and sought out some shade.
![http://wheresthesplatkey.com/DSC00927s.JPG[/image]](http://wheresthesplatkey.com/DSC00927s.JPG%5B/image%5D){kind=link}
Nice work sir.
Good to know that people are enjoying their cars on the other side of the Atlantic.
The Scooby driver will probably have gone home completely demoralized, thinking that he turned up with a quick car!
Practise, experience and a spot of driver training will bring you on in leaps and bounds in laptimes. Are you allowed to time your laps? Track day rules here prevent it for insurance reasons.
… Track day rules here prevent it for insurance reasons.
Oh, that�s interesting�
Kind of makes the sports chrono thing from Porsche slightly obsolete, I thought the whole idea behind it was to time your laps so you can gloat to all your mates, except those with Exiges of course .
That Motorsport ranch looks like a great idea though , sounds like you had a great time .
David
To be seen actively using data loggers on most track days is a no-no. If you have a logger which you can download the data from when you get home then thats okay more often than not (alledgedly).
The reason is that the orgainisers insurance is not intended to cover a competitive event.
The reason is that the orgainisers insurance is not intended to cover a competitive event.
and I think it encourages the wrong type of driver and driving on the day; its not meant for racers or those aspiring to racing; too often you see people tailgating because they can’t get past a queue of traffic rather than drop back a bit and find the space behind them.
The Scooby driver actually left a bit early, so I hope we didn’t make him feel too bad!
Some training is definitely in order, before I develop too many bad habits to overcome - I’m looking forward to that, and perhaps the chance to ride along with an instructor as well. Right around the time I’d ordered my car, a friend with an Elise had me come out to ride along for a few laps with an instructor driving his car (believe the instructor normally drives an NSX). I screamed like a little girl through the first lap but by the second I was asking him questions about what he was doing and why.
Some of the guys here run dataloggers and even real-time timing equipment. The organizers don’t seem to mind but insurance is another story. We have hardly any options for track day coverage, so we have to rely on road coverage from a company that doesn’t exclude track use - timing can put you squarely in the “competitive use” exclusions with some companies while being on a “closed course” can with others. Others consider it “driver training!”
Everyone certainly reads their policies carefully and compares notes.
I’ve tracked bikes in the distant past so it’s nice getting reacquainted with the satisfaction that comes from really nailing a corner!