Track day Report |
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The local BMW club organized a track day at PIR and I took our recently suspension-upgraded VG30DE 510. The most common car was easily the E36 (second generation) M3. There were a couple of brand new M5's, M coupes, a few "lesser" BMW's (328i's, etc), and a race 2002. Also a couple Acura NSX's, Porsche 911's, VW Corrado's, Subaru WRX's, 300ZX's TT's, a TVR, Honda S2000, a couple Corvettes and Mustangs, a Viper, and even a Louts Elise! The 510 looked pretty out of place in this environment. Probably the next oldest street car was 1986 or so. The 510's handling traits are covered in another article, I will cover the session happenings here. There were four run groups, in acending experience other, they were: Novice, intermediate, advanced, and hi-performance. Since we'd changed the 510 so very much since my last track and autocross days, and I had never been around PIR before, I ran in the novice group. Session 1 I had an instructor - Bob Larsen - with me in the car. We started out behind a slew of BMW E36 M3's. Also turned out the first session didn't allow any passing. PIR is a smooth track with plenty of runoff room. In this first session the group barely got up to speed, but I did get enough time to at least get the correct lines pointed out to me and the opportunity to take several of the corners at speed. Between sessions 1 and 2 I went fo a ride in Acura NSX owned and driven by Eddie Nakato, who runs in the advanced group. This was an intense ride, with the NSX working very well in all regards, and Eddie is a smooth, good, fast driver. They were allowed to pass on the front and back straights as well. It was a great ride, and the only incident we had was a type SH Prelude, which we had been reeling in, spun off the track right in front of us. It wasn't close enough to worry about us joining him, but close enough! Session 2 I had Eddie ride with me, and this session allowed passing on the front straight only. I started out behind a 300ZXTT, and another ZXTT was immediately behind. By the second lap it was obvious that the ZXTT in front of me was a real novice and was taking it easy as he learned the course. Unfortuntely for me I was still in "pass on the back straight too" mode from riding in Eddie's NSX, and as we came on to the back straight I zipped by the ZXTT...and got myself black flagged, of course. After coming in an explaning I'm a moron and I know what I did wrong, they let me back onto the track. Eddie gave me additional pointers of "turn here, brake here, and for this apex stay out...out...out, turn in NOW!". Pretty soon I was trying to concentrate on the correct line, braking points, being smooth...and not hanving as much success as I'd like. It seems I can "get" a few corners one lap, other corners on the next, but never all of them on the same lap. In this session I was concious of traffic only on where they were in realtion to me, and that generally I was coming to them, not the other way around. Session 3 I was solo. I started out behind a WRX, but this driver was also not as aggressive as me and I was around him by the second lap. Trying to hit all the lines was again my focus, and I was getting more confident in the car being forgiving and predictable. On some corners - namely exiting turn 4 (see map) - I found exiting with the tail out a *little* would line me up with the next corner very well. Possibly not THE fastest way around, but certainly very easy and fun! This session seemed to be almost all M-cars except for that one Subaru. Again I was one of the more aggressive in this group and went around probably 10 cars in this 20 minute session. I had an M-Roadster close on me slowly for several laps, and it was fun blasting out onto the front straight, using the 510's strong suit - power - and not having that M-Roadster gain on me. Probably most of his advantage was under braking, which is no surprise. Eventually I moved over, and I was back to laps with no one in my immediate area. For Session 4 I had Bob Larsen (instructor from session 1) with me again. Continuing to work on my technique, the laps seemed to be faster, and we continued to pass cars at a decent rate. It was in this session that a 330i caught and passed me easily, and within 3 laps of that he was no longer in sight! Don't know who was driving that car, but they were VERY good! Toward the end of this session, I had just passed car on the front straight, and coming toward turn 1 at 125mph, I missed my braking point and took a tour through the dirt off turn 1. No damage, no spins, and I was able to get on course with no problems, and Bob was happy I didn't try and make the turn, which would have made things a bit hariy I think! As I came around to the main flagger to explain my oops, the checkered flag came out signaling the end of the day! Watching the other sessions, the car I thought was the coolest was a Lotus Elise. It lapped faster than Eddie in his more powerful NSX, and was not too much slower than a Dodge Viper in lap times! There was a '90-ish Mustang that was doing amazingly well in the fast run group, and a full race Porsche 928 that was LOUD and very entertaining to watch. The only major incidnet of the day was an M-Roadster that somehow ended up completely on the tire wall - nose high, rear bumper on the ground. The driver was unhurt, and the car looked to be in amazingly good shape afterward. |
