Spring Mountain Impressions

[bwblue]

Is anyone there this week?

 

[565565]

Is anyone there this week?

Yeah just did it this week.

Thankfully I didn't wreck it.

It was my first track day or any HPDE experience so I'm definitely a novice.

I got put in the middle group of 6 cars for the first day but ended up being faster than the rest of my group.

On the 2nd day I got put into the faster group of 6 cars but the slower 3 of the lead follow groups for the morning.

Somehow ended up being faster than the rest of the group.

So for the afternoon I got moved again, this time to the fastest subgroup. First afternoon track session a 5BW auto left me for dead in the group. 2nd afternoon track session I found some extra time in the later slower corners and got a 1:17.9 on the East Bowl. I think it was the fastest lap of this class because the instructor said we were the fastest group and that was the fastest time in the group, but maybe others in the group went faster.

My only regret is that I didn't really have many full hot laps behind the instructor because we were either catching the other subgroup or we had to gather up. But as a complete novice whos never been on a track before, I felt pretty proud of myself.

I also found out I'm terrible at autocross.

 

[BigDon]

I was also there thrashing Blackwings this week and was also in 565565's group (although we did not talk about this forum). Our group was indeed pretty damn fast, led by 565565's most excellent last track session. My track sessions were cut short because I was experiencing nausea if I ran more than five fast laps. It likely didn't have much bearing on how fast I ran and I very much appreciated the instructors for putting me out first the entire last day.

The entire operation is top-notch, led of course by the cars and the instructors. Lots of seat time in the cars and lap times often improve by 10-20 seconds from day one to two. Everyone was friendly and willing to help you be a better driver. My favorite time was on the skidpad playground on both days. Talk about exploring the everyday dynamics of the car. I also found out that I call all out beat on my 5-manual with no real chance of harming the transmission.

 

[OldGoat]

I'm heading there May 30-31 So far as I know @Deneed4spd and myself are scheduled. Really looking forward to the experience. Enjoy reading about everyone else's experience

 

[TalsBW]

My track sessions were cut short because I was experiencing nausea if I ran more than five fast laps.

Man - i was worried that was going to happen to me. I for sure started to feel slightly dizzy at some point - especially with the helmet on. But i got some water in me and was all set. That sucks though...

 

[FLYARMY]

Chewing gum is great for track days. Can you imagine what it was like when I was flying helicopters at low level (called Nap of the Earth) or multi-ship formations. Lots of concentration involved. I would go through a bunch of Bubble Yum to relieve the tension of what we were doing.

 

[OldGoat]

Chewing gum is great for track days. Can you imagine what it was like when I was flying helicopters at low level (called Nap of the Earth) or multi-ship formations. Lots of concentration involved. I would go through a bunch of Bubble Yum to relieve the tension of what we were doing.

 

[bwblue]

@BigDon and @565565 — nice meeting you! Not sure who 12345 is but Don, you and your wife were great. It would have been nice to get to know everyone a bit, but I appreciate what a tight ship these folks run. Not a minute was wasted, which was impressive.

Echoing what everyone else has already said; it's a good time and was better than I expected. Autocross was a blast, and these cars are insanely capable. No matter what you read or how many reviews you watch, it all pales in comparison to getting to thrash on these cars in a controlled environment.

Instructors were all super nice and helpful (no idea how they manage to drive, and drive well, while critiquing the car behind them! Haha) and both days had an action-packed agenda.

Throughout the two days, we did multiple track and classroom sessions, launch control, wet figure 8's / ABS testing, instructor ride-along, and autocross; the autocross was done as a competition with a winner amongst each of the three groups.

Re: insurance / buying down the deductible (since I had commented here asking others about it prior to going) — I really don't think it's necessary, even for a novice (I've been on-track once before, and it was years ago). The track is wide, terrain outside of it is mostly groomed, and the group lead/follow format doesn't leave much room for things to go horribly wrong.

If you own a 4 and have the opportunity to get in a 5 while at SM, do it. The 4 is already a marvel of engineering, but the 5....holy @*(^%#. Wow. Beating a dead horse here, but damn is all the praise for these cars spot-on and well-deserved.

Learned a lot and had fun doing it. Getting into my rental for the drive back to LAS was comical; it felt like I was driving a school bus.

 

[Finally-a-V]

@bwblue ....really great photos

 

[quikag]

Yes, awesome photos!

 

[M2Cto4BW]

RE the AutoX track, does this look like the same one you folks ran?
Someone mentioned using the 'upper' or 'lower' tarmac depending on the weather and/or if there are Vette schools on the go at the same time.

This is from when I was there last week.

 

[bwblue]

RE the AutoX track, does this look like the same one you folks ran?
Someone mentioned using the 'upper' or 'lower' tarmac depending on the weather and/or if there are Vette schools on the go at the same time.

This is from when I was there last week.

Different course.

 

[565565]

I was also there thrashing Blackwings this week and was also in 565565's group (although we did not talk about this forum). Our group was indeed pretty damn fast, led by 565565's most excellent last track session. My track sessions were cut short because I was experiencing nausea if I ran more than five fast laps. It likely didn't have much bearing on how fast I ran and I very much appreciated the instructors for putting me out first the entire last day.

The entire operation is top-notch, led of course by the cars and the instructors. Lots of seat time in the cars and lap times often improve by 10-20 seconds from day one to two. Everyone was friendly and willing to help you be a better driver. My favorite time was on the skidpad playground on both days. Talk about exploring the everyday dynamics of the car. I also found out that I call all out beat on my 5-manual with no real chance of harming the transmission.

It was great meeting you BigDon!

I wanted to be incognito about being on this forum while I was there in case I wrecked it while being simultaneously the slowest person there.

I did start off the class great by immediately knocking over my chair and then knocking over my table, then stalling it on the braking exercise, and getting lost on track during the practice looking exercise.

 

[bwblue]

It was great meeting you BigDon!

I wanted to be incognito about being on this forum while I was there in case I wrecked it while being simultaneously the slowest person there.

I did start off the class great by immediately knocking over my chair and then knocking over my table, then stalling it on the braking exercise, and getting lost on track during the practice looking exercise.

Hahaha if it makes you feel any better, when that happened, I told the person next to me that that's normally me; bull in a china shop.

Jokes aside, all good and I completely understand the incognito bit. It's great to be a hero, less great to be the car that decided to do some landscaping. Luckily, none of us did.

 

[KatyTxCT5V]

My apologies if this has been provided already and I missed it, but do you need to bring your own SD card for the PDR, they provide or can purchase one there? Thks!

 

[M2Cto4BW]

My apologies if this has been provided already and I missed it, but do you need to bring your own SD card for the PDR, they provide or can purchase one there? Thks!

Included. Don't lose it ;-)
When I got home, after taking another 4 days to go to some National Parks & Vegas, I was getting worried I'd lost mine but of course it was in the last place I could check.

 

[KatyTxCT5V]

Thank you very much! I still have a USB (only cause it had a lanyard) when I was on the Las Vegas speedway.

 

[Jameson's Viggen]

I'm still bummed my PDR recordings were missing audio

 

[MatthewAMEL]

I'm still bummed my PDR recordings were missing audio

Do you have a Mac?

 

[Jameson's Viggen]

Do you have a Mac?

No.

I downloaded CosWorth and have all data points but no audio. It's something they had to setup at Spring Mountain.