HPDE/Track Day Review/Discussion

[stowaway]

Post up your review and experience at organized track days. Was it organized well? How much track time did you get? Instructors offer good feedback?

[FallenAngelHIM]

I went to Viper Days Performance Driving School at VIR about a year ago. That's what got me started on road racing. It is a 2 day event and is very well organized. What I liked about them is they had before and after classes. You'd get four 30-minute sessions each day and you'd have a class before and after each session. The classroom teacher would teach you something before that you would try with your instructor and then you'd review your performance with the classroom teacher after. It was very well organized, loads of fun, and they have tons of people on site to answer every automotive and motorsport question ever. You could also get your vehicle checked out and adjusted via Archer Racing.

Viper Days has since been sold to NAARA so I'm not sure how the events are ran now, but if Skip Thomas has a say in anything, you'll have fun. Well worth the amount of money spent, and it is relatively cheap contrasted to the amount of knowledge and information you receive in return.

[Shifter]

Just did SCCA's PDX program at Summit Point Raceway's Shenandoah Circuit. Paid $225, but it should be noted that if you contribute and work 3 PDX or Time Trial events, you can get 1 PDX for free as an SCCA member.

What you get for your money are 4 class sessions and 4 on-track sessions. I got somewhere around 1 hour 20 minutes of time on-track. When you have been upgraded out of the beginner group class is not neccessary. I kind of felt that the classroom sessions were a little basic, but of course I was probably coming in more versed in theory than many other students. For a truly 'green' student the class sessions were probably just as much information as they could handle anyway.

The green (now called 'white') group all had instructors riding, as well as a fair chunk of the intermediates (yellow). I can tell you I wound up with a great instructor named Ryan, who I suspect was cherry-picked just for me by the organisers because he had an SRT-4 of his own at one point. He quickly picked up on just how much talent I had brought and exactly what I would need to improve. For instance, thanks to him I no longer crank the steering wheel as if I'm driving a nascar stocker on an oval. I now shuffle-steer and my hands rarely venture too far from "10-2", which means I now truly have the entire steering rack available to me, as well as proper positioning to hold a smooth and decisive arc through a corner.

I was thus able to learn the line enough to go to work on perfecting it each lap. Point-by's were given in an increasingly timely fashion by all the students (except for one driver in a G37...). Pitting in to ask for a gap was appreciated and handled well, allowing a momentary slowdown to pay off; in one instance I was able to go two entire laps without coming upon a slower car, allowing me to point-by the only other gapper in a NISMO tuned Z on R-comps in the long passing zone.

The D.C. region SCCA's PDX program is in relative infancy, but appears to be very well run. The Shenandoah Circuit seems to be custom-made for a track day, and if you're considering driving to eastern West Virginia for any organization running a track day there I can tell you the track itself is definately worth it. 2 miles, draped over the countryside, and no two turns are the same. The track even features a replica of the Karussell from the Nurburgring, and it's something to experience!

Cliff notes: SCCA, PDX, Summit Point, Shenandoah Circuit, Worth Doing.

[RumbleBee914]

I went to the track in Angleton, Tx. (MSRH) It was a blast. I was starting out as HPDE 1 and now at 2. I have a 05 Neon with stage 2-3 set up. Me and my peepz say 2 1/2 R. The track was awsome. really nice. eveyone i talk to complement it too. whats really cool is while your in down time shifter karts are going balls to the wall on their own course. I'm in the NASA club and after a run they have a small class session. the main instructor was watching from the post to comment when you get in. we got four 20 min. sat. and sun. my instructor was Joe woodhead. family friend so i didn't have that awkward feeling. all in all i plan to go again soon.and actualy have a stop watch. lol

[McMoo]

Figure I'd give a mini-review from the weekend at the GVC BMW school at Watkins Glen. I have to say that this was by far my favorite school I've been to. This was mainly due to the techniques being taught, specifically allowing and promoting passing very late, almost into turns. It was done in a very controlled manner, introduced with 10 minute practice sessions at lower speeds in 3 sessions over 2 days. This carried over to higher speed passing under green. I was in the B group(advanced), but I believe they allowed this in C(intermediate) also, and don't know about D(novice). In general it taught how to take turns off line, awareness of what's around you, and overall allowed for a better experience, smoother laps, with hardly any slow downs. Obviously, this takes a great deal of responsibility among drivers, but everything went very smoothly. I'm not sure if other schools are going to start doing this, but I enjoyed it very much. All in all a great weekend, and I got recommended to be moved up into the A group! PCA event in two weeks, can't wait! Oh, and passing Porsche's, Evo's, and M3's to name a few is pretty fun! Though pesky z06's have too much power though.

Just an update, PCA also went with this method of passing late, basically allowing point by's almost into the braking zone. Hopefully other clubs continue to do this at the glen.