Digest subjects--car mods

[chrislb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

seem to be @ 85% of the "good" posts (excluding 4hp electric superchargers,
etc.)...but after 20 years of driving Blau Mit Weis autos, I have finally
seen the light.  We should be talking about driving, and how to drive.
Unfortunately that is a hard thing to do (for me ne way)...take the written
word and visualize what some one else was doing behind the wheel.

I went to my first "real" road course driver's school this weekend.  Better
late than never.  Road Atlanta can be alot of things: awesome, impressive,
dangerous, intimidating, and fun, are adjectives that come to mind.  I
learned more about driving in two days than I learned in the last 30 years
since I got my license (I was 2 1/2):).  And I learned all about my BAD
driving habits too.  One was a hard lesson.   I met some great people.  75
cars A, B, C, & D groups.  I prepared well;  fresh brake fluid, new PF 90
pads, new neck collar (I'll never go on a track again without one), fresh
oil & filter.  Street and R1's properly inflated, etc.  Saftey check by
Harold Audair, crack mechanic, and Q prepared 98 club racing champ.  AND, in
the week preceding the event, conversations with other club
racers/members....Here is as excerpt:  "....... I know my car's abilities
surpass my own at this point."   I prepared mentally as much as possible.  I
was comfortable in the "C" group starting Saturday morning.    34 degrees
Sat AM...hmmm....cold tires....hearing stories of the spins on
Friday....advanced and instructors fun day.  My instructor spun, the 911RS
race car spun, and the pretty Avus E36 M3 (just like mine!!!), well, he
wrecked and totaled the car slamming into the armco/tires in turn 12.  My
instructor was incredible.  As we wait on the grid to go out for the first
time, he says  "What is your objective for this school?"  "Learning how to
be smooth" I say, then "Or, er, I mean safety first, the smoothness and to
learn the track".  Suffice to say I accomplished my objectives.  But just
barely.  My instructor knew EXACTLY where I was supposed to be on the track,
how fast I should be going, and how much throttle and/or brake I needed AT
ALL TIMES.  My first two runs were very good.  I really did not know the
track, but I listened to my instructor, didn't get crazy, and had a blast,
and I was fast (for me and my group...3 passing zones, passing only on
signal from driver ahead).  The third run I rode with my instructor in his
car; a '90 supercharged vette, coil overs, R1's, 390 hp, 380ft. lbs. torque
at the WHEELS!!! (an E 36 M3 X 2).  What an awesome display. He never turned
wheel with the brakes on, never stomped the brakes or throttle to unsettle
the car, hit every turn in, apex, and tracked out smooth and fast.

On the last lap of the first session Saturday afternoon as I approached turn
11 (uphill, under a tunnel, blind, slight right bend accelerating from 70
mph to the 11 turn in--down hill ((like falling off a cliff!!! to the
apex))) I was off line, slightly.  MISTAKE #1.  This is the little mistake
the head instructor was talking about--the same one that can lead to bigger
mistakes.  The grass in the apron was right in front of me.  I jerked the
wheel @domain.elided. to the right.  MISTAKE #2.  Shoulda been .5 to .75in.
(possibly none at all...just ride it off the track, right?)  The rear end
gets loose to the left.   I steer into the slide, oversteer, and then lose
the back end going right and down the hill (but still on the track).   I
remember, in a spin, two feet in.  As I reach 90 degrees perpendicular to
the track,  I shoot straight backwards towards....something bad was all I
knew.   I jammed the pedals harder and came  to rest straddling the track
with my front wheels on the track and rear wheels in the grass.  No damage.
Not even to my ego (I've recovered and writing this is cathartic).  I start
the car, back off the track and on to the pit entrance and make my way to
the chief instructor.  Asks us if we're ok, offers us a change of
undergarments, and asks if we knew what happened. "I was off line..."  They
let me go back on the track!!!  My instructor and I walked up the hill and
tried to figure out what went wrong.

 My instructor relaxed because I was doing so well.  I did too.  But I
didn't know the track well enough.  I tried to get the feel for the track on
the last session Saturday but I was a little gun shy......most important, my
instructor didn't dump me and I vowed to get back on that horse Sunday (hair
o' the dog and all).

Sunday was a blessing.  45 degrees and raining.  Off with the R1's, and on
with the Yokes (rear tires nearing the wear bars, but still plenty of
tread).  What a great way to learn to be smooth--steering, brakes, and
throttle.  I'm alot smoother.  And I hit the apex at 11 5 or 6 times; and I
even nailed 12 a couple o' times.  1 through 10 I was prolly the best in my
group.  Not the fastest; that 400 hp Firebird was faster.  But I bet I was
smoother.  And I bet I learned what it means to slow down to go fast.....and
I've looked the demon at turn 11 at Road Atlanta straight in the eye.

Chris Brennan
BMW CCA #19577
68 1600 95 M3 no mod in the world coulda saved me:  no JC, no Holy Ghost, no
carrying the x-brace up the hill, no Friar B&B, no Saint R1, no holy church
of K. & N.  Track time is my salvation, and plenty more of it.  Can I get a
Amen brothers and sisters?

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End of bmw-digest V9 #460
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