First, pictures:
Pictures from another club member:
It all started at 5:45 AM Sunday morning. Which, as you know is quite early for me. I had to drive to the track - I estimated it would take about 2 hours and I had to be there at 8 AM sharp for the vehicle inspection and I didn't really know where I was going. Shoulda printed a map! It was pretty easy getting there though (High Plains Raceway which is just east of Byers, CO) and I made it just in time for the inspection. I was all good except for my battery which was a little loose. After some quick work sandwiching my water bottle retainer between the mount and the battery I was good to go.
First part of the day was riding a giant SUV around the track. Well, not giant (Land Rover) but we went around 2 or 3 times with an instructor telling us about the various corners, breaking points, and apexes that we would immediately forget... LOL. Next the "group meeting" where they laid the ground rules and put us into groups. I was obviously in the "novice" group. Next, some classroom time and Q and A. Finally we could get out on the track and race!
Actually, no. No racing. For my group's first session it was "follow the leader". We all got in our cars and headed around the track. Slowly. In hindsight this was probably good practice. Although I've never been on a track, based on driving in video games I would say this is one of the trickier tracks to drive on. Lots of blind corners, lots of elevation changes, and lots of late apexes. We probably did 5 or 6 laps and then came in. Then we waited. There were 4 total groups, so each group had to wait their turn.
Next session was much better - they sent us out on our own and gave us permission to pass in the straights. I was fortunate enough to get a ride-along instructor that time and he gave me a ton of great advice. I felt much more confident after that session, and I even made a few passes during the session. Still a lot to remember and I would continually get one of the 2 right hand, uphill sweepers wrong. On the first one (turn 7) you want to set up on the right for a hairpin left. on the second one (turn 11) you need to apex on the left (turn 12). I always got them confused. Either I would nail one and totally botch the other, or I would just fail both of them. 8*D
In addition to those two turns, I really struggled with the two late apex turns on the course (turns 2 and 6). Those are so tricky. You basically have to wait about halfway around the turn before you actually start "turning in" and I was always jumping the gun.
After more waiting (and lots of picture taking) they sent us out on our 3rd and final session. I was alone and wanted to really bump up my speed and try to nail those late apex turns. Obviously this was the most fun session and I really pushed myself (the car, not so much). Unfortunately there was another driver that wasn't letting other people pass (we had STRICT instructions not to pass without "permission") and I wasn't going to get black-flagged, so I just slowed down a bit. Still lots of opportunities for learning even if you aren't going as fast as you would like.
Overall I would say it was a good day, but next time will be better. There's a program that someone has provided the track info for so you can run the track yourself (on the computer). I hear it's a pretty accurate simulation, so I'm going to try to "memorize" the track - that way I'll be able to REALLY push it next time.
Here's a "hot lap" by an experienced driver in a really fast car:
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