Re: Digest subjects--car mods (great story)

[Compucepts@xxxxxxx]

>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?

Chris,

WOW, I feel it brother! You made me REALLY want to go to the track... I am
already thinking of how to use the Winter months to prepare for my first
Spring at the track.

Oh yeah.... AMEN!

Thanks for the story,

David Koretz
'93 325i just begging to be taken to school
BMW CCA# 161655

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