rickb@tekig1.UUCP (Rick Bensene) (03/12/85)
I thought that some people out there might be interested in
what my wife and I did this weekend... It kind-of goes along
with many of the discussions that have been going on lately in
net.auto regarding driver training, turbo four-cylinder cars,
and pony/musclecars.
Here in Portland, Oregon, there is a local sports car club
called the Cascade Sports Car Club. Each year they put on what
they call the Miller-Kersting Memorial Driver Training Course.
It is a competition road racing course, mainly intended as a
training course for people who intend to get into the sport of
road racing, however, it is open to the public - for those
who simply wish to learn more about the way their automobile
handles, and how to get the most out of what it has to offer.
The class involved a 3-hour classroom session Friday night,
which taught all of the basics of on-track driving, from
learning what the flags mean, plotting your "line" through
the curves, safety and vahicle preparation, and the layout
of the race course. In itself, the classroom session was
very informative, but was pale in comparison to what was learned
Saturday. Saturday morning, at 8:00AM, the entire group (63
drivers, and a seperate group of people who were taking a class
to learn the 'art' of being a turn-worker, showed up at Portland
International Raceway for a full day of on-track driver training.
The driver training involved having a licensed competition
driver as co-pilot, and running the PIR road race course
(the same course that the Indy-CART drivers run during the
Rose Cup Races) at speed. I drove my 1984 Dodge Daytona
Turbo (2.2L turbocharged 4 banger, 141 HP, 5-speed manual, Goodyear Eagle
GT 185R14 tires on Carrol Shelby wheels), and my wife drove
her 1969 Camaro Z/28 (Stock 302CID, 290(factory rated) HP, Muncie 4 speed,
3.73 gears, F70-15 Dunlop GT Qualifiers on Chevy 15" Rally Wheels). The
drivers were grouped into 4 classes, from the fastest to slowest cars
based generally on engine size/horsepower and amount of modification.
The cars that showed up ranged from a fully race-prepared
Shelby GT-350 Mustang, to race-prepped Volkswagen Rabbits and
Mazdas, to a stock 1984 Z-28 HO, a couple of Mitsubishi Starion
Turbos, a few 280Z's, including a Turbo Z-car, an brand-new 4-door
Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais, and an a late '60s or early 70's Chrysler
300 "Land-Barge" with a 440 powering it (which did SURPRIZINGLY well).
Since Patty (my wife) and I had the same instructor, Patty ran
in group I (fastest), and I ran in group II. Before heading out
onto the track, we piled into vans and pickups and went for a
"walk-through" of the racecourse, stopping at all the curves,
getting out, and taking a close look at what was going to assault
our nerves, and our cars. After spending about an hour wandering
around the track, absorbing all we could from the instructors, it
was time to take on the track with our cars. Patty got to go first.
The first few laps were just an orientation, at speeds of 50-60 down
the straight, and early braking into the corners, to get comfortable
with the layout of the track and the 'feel' of the corners. The
first track session was 15 minutes long, and by the end of it,
most of the Group-I cars were nearing 100 MPH in the straight, and
braking a LOT later into the curves, with some people beginning
to 'drift' into the corners. Patty's Z/28 is virtually brand new,
recently undergoing a ground-up restoration, so she was babying
it a bit. After the first track session, the instructor "graded"
the student on about 30 different points of their "beginning" driving
style. Then came my turn. I took the first lap 'easy' (very easy,
as it turned out), and as I came out of the last turn onto the
straightaway, I noticed a turnworker with a yellow flag. I looked
up the straight a ways, and there was a little triumph TR-3 MASHED
into the outside wall. The car was quite damaged, but the driver
was fine. He was a competition driver, who was running the
course solo, so there was no instructor in the car with him. Had
there been, it might have been a serious accident. Anyway, that
little incident humbled me a bit, and I took the next few laps
pretty easy. After the first few trips around, the effects
of seeing the accident wore off, and I began to get comfortable with
the track, and began to press the limits a little harder with each lap.
Just as I really started to get comfortable, the checkered flag came out,
and it was time for the next group to run. My starting grade? 73 points
out of a possible 100. Not bad, I thought, but little did I realize
how conservative I was being. After the session was over, we went to
the press room to observe videotapes of our group running the course.
It looked like we were going SOOOOO slow. The next track session
was again 15 minutes long, and more and more people were getting a
little more daring. You began to see a little smoke off the tires
through the corners, and hear the characteristic SCREECH of tires
under heavy cornering loads. Patty was having trouble heel-toeing
in the Z/28, whose pedals weren't really designed for it, which
made downshifting at high speeds a bit difficult, but as time went
on, she caught on. My main problem was trying to hug corners too
tight, scrubbing off speed, resulting in a lot of wasted time.
The next videotapes showed a marked increase in speed. During the
track time, there was NO PASSING in the corners - it would have
been too dangerous with novice drivers, however, passing was
allowed in the striaght. The turnworkers would "blue-flag" the slower
cars, which would move to the right side of the straight, allowing
the faster cars to pass. It sure was a lot of fun blowing by
race-prepared (full cage, modified engines, lowered, suspensioned-out
Rabbit GTI's, Mazdas, and such) in my bone stock Daytona. I was even surprized
to catch up with them through the corners! I just wish I could have
passed them! Both our cars were running great, showing no signs of
fatigue, other than uncharacteristic wear marks on the tires, and
an unusual rate of fuel consumption. After lunch, there were two
30 minute track-times scheduled. By the end of the third session,
we were both totally exhausted - it's a LOT of work both physically
and mentally to throw a car around that track. We weren't alone,
either. Many people ended up kicked back in the press room, or in
their reclining seats, taking short snoozes between track sessions.
About mid-way through the third session, the instructor told me to
head for the pits. I wondered what was wrong. I signalled my intent
to go into the pits, and pulled to a stop. The instructor hopped out,
and said... "You're on your own". Yikes! I pulled back out onto
the track, and wailed down the striaght, approaching about 110 MPH
before hitting the corners. Earlier, the instructor had told me that
I was too "chicken", braking WAY too early before the corners, so I
was concentrating on hammering the pedal to the floor in 4th until
I was just on top of the corner, downshifting to 3rd, using the engine
to slow me a little, then again pedal to the metal to power through
the corner. I really learned how to make that front wheel-drive car
get through a corner. Contrary to what I believed, applying power
HARD in the corners really makes the car follow the wheel much
better. Brakes are a decided NO-NO in the corners, which I learned
about on the 2nd lap following my instructor putting me on my own.
A little race-prepped Rabbit spun out in front of me in turn #3.
Oh dear... I was going about 70 MPH, and he was spinning out of control
in front of me. Out of instinct, I hit the brakes. My car began to
slide, right for him, so I punched the accelerator, and aimed the car
straight for the grass. As it all ended up, I had deftly avoided
the Rabbit, darted through the grass, back out onto the track, and
picked off right where I left off, all at around 60 MPH. Afterwards,
I couldn't believe I did what I had done, but it sure made me feel
a little more secure knowing that I could handle such a situation. I was
getting quite good at maintaining full-power drifts through the
corners, and speeds of 60 and 70 miles an hour (when I got stuck
behind slower cars) seemed almost BORING. Patty, meanwhile, was
getting very confident with the Z/28, which was putting on a VERY
impressive handling performance. She had mastered downshifting
using heel-toe, and was coaxing every last drop of cornering power
out of the car. She was reaching speeds of over 120MPH in the
straight, and doing beautifully smooth drifts through the
corners. The '84 HO Z/28 could not pull away from her in the
corners with all of it's high-tech suspension, and it didn't
have a chance in the straight. He got blue-flagged for Patty
to pass more than a few times! The fourth track session was
coming up, and we were both so tired we could hardly move, but
as the time neared, adrenalin quickly 'woke' us up. This time,
we were going to be graded by our instructor for the first three
laps, then the rest was solo, while our instructor would observe and
get lap times on us. As it turned out, Patty and I were both running
about the same times through the course, around 1:40 (M:SS).
Patty would have to run in the low 1:30's to qualify to race,
and I'd have to run in the mid-1:30's to qualify my car, so
we weren't doing too bad at all. We finished up the day at around
5:00 PM, and everyone met at a close-by pizza parlour to exchange
stories, and receive our 'diplomas'. We also found out the results
of our final grading. I received a 90, and much to my chagrin, Patty
got a 92! We both learned an incredible amount about general techniques
for handling our cars, and a lot about ourselves, too, in terms of
just how much 'guts' we have. From observing Patty's "musclecar" Z/28
going around the track, and comparing it to today's hi-po cars, I
really begin to wonder if we've really come all that far. The HO
Z/28 cornered a little 'flatter' than the '69 Z/28 did, and didn't
seem to be have to be driven as hard to pull through the corners,
but it's lack of horsepower did affect it's cornering ability.
The early Z/28, with it's abundance of power, seemed to be much
easier to power through the corners, at higher speeds. Many of
the licensed race drivers there were VERY impressed with the
handling of the '69 Z/28, and our instructor was truly amazed
at it's handling ability. Our Z/28 has all original or original
replacement parts in the suspension...no modifications at all have
been made to it. The chassis has a little over 80,000 miles
on it, and it's tight as can be. So, those of you who say that
the ponycars of the sixites handle like boats going around
the corners (they probably really don't know anyway, because they've
probably never driven one hard) better look out when you see Patty
come roaring up on your tail in her Z! You're likely to end up
eating dust - even through the corners!
The Daytona performed admirably, also. In the 30 minute sessions,
I was frequently lapping cars two or three times per session. The
only car that I couldn't get by was a fully race-prepared Volkswagen
Scirocco, driven by a licensed competition driver. I had more than
enough horsepower to gain quickly on him in the straights, but when
the corners came, his driving experience showed, and he pulled enough
of a lead that I couldn't make it up in the straights. At the
end of the straight, I'd be right on his tail, and by the beginning
of the straight, he'd be a full 5 to 6 car lengths ahead of me.
All through this, with straightaway speeds of around 110 MPH, and
hard cornering, braking, downshifting, and high-RPM's (shifting
at redline (6000 RPM), the little 4 banger never skipped a beat.
The temp gauge did not waver more than 1 needle width higher than
it does during normal driving conditions, and the oil pressure only
dropped slightly as the oil heated up and thinned out a little.
The Eagle GT tires did take a bit of a beating, though. The GT
qualifiers on Patty's car still looked brand new after the day was
over, showing that I was pushing my car a LOT harder through the
corners than she was. All in all, the whole experience was a heck
of a lot of fun, very educational, exceptionally well organized,
safe, and inexpensive. The fee for the course was $40 per driver,
and we spent maybe another $25 or so in gas, and octane booster (for the
Z/28). All in all, probably one of the most fun ways I've yet seen
to part with $100, and it was worth every penny. If you live in
the Portland area, and are interested in seeing what you and your car
can do, you'll have to wait until this time next year to find out,
but believe me, the wait is worth it!
Rick Bensene
..tektronix!tekig1!rickb
Telephone: (weekdays) (503) 627-3559
(BBS) (503) 254-0458 300/1200 24 hours
USMail: P.O. Box 500, MS 39-170, Beaverton, Oregon 97077