stripethree

A few laps from Sunday afternoon.

Three and a half days and about fourteen hundred and fifty miles: that was my weekend and it was fantastic.

Friday I left at the break of dawn on a 600 mile trek to Buttonwillow, California, a small town slightly more than 100 miles north of Los Angeles to attend a driver education and safety school put on by Audi Club North America’s Southern California Chapter. I’d been looking forward to this for months: hotel reservations at the Super 8 a.k.a. official event hotel, chatting it up with other club members on the forums, and getting new tires and brake pads in order to prepare the car for the weekend. I made it from Tucson to Buttonwillow in about eight and a half hours, arriving just as the tech inspections were ready to start. I swapped to my track rims with the brand new tires and got the car passed through tech. Checked in then milled around and chatted with some of the other club members there for the weekend. Grabbed some dinner with a couple of the Northern California guys that drove down for the event and then headed to the drivers meeting. I got to meet both of my instructors that would be riding with me for the weekend, hung out for a bit then called it a night. Sleep? Yeah, sort of, I still get nervous at these things, partially out of excitement and partially out of pure anxiety, but if I wasn’t a little antsy then I’d think something was wrong.

Saturday morning bright and early since the track opens at 7 and we start rolling at 8. Mandatory drivers meeting, some class time, and it was time to get going. My instructor drove my car on the track for a few laps so I could see it and he could show me the line, then we swapped and it was time to go. I was now in the Novice group but since the track was new to me, I wasn’t exactly taking the line all that well just yet. Both of my morning sessions were a little sloppy but my instructor was patient since I was comfortable and in control despite not exactly knowing all of where I was going. My afternoon sessions were much better, and I was with another instructor, just because that’s how they worked the schedule. This instructor was new to instructing and new to the track, but things still worked well. I had the track down by the afternoon and was working on improving my lines and increasing speeds through some sections. I was already catching faster cars in my group and passing them. The evening was fun with the buffet style banquet dinner outside right at the track some sponsor and auction time. A nice way to unwind after a good first day.

Sunday was awesome. I remembered everything about the track and got faster and faster. The only car that was passing me was StopTech’s Toyota Tacoma XRunner that was both highly prepared and expertly driven. No shame in that, since he had to pass others to get to me and was certainly passing everyone else he came upon once I let him by. It was nuts to see a truck moving that quickly around a track. I talked to the driver about StopTech’s brake kits and about the truck and learned a bunch; nice guy, extremely knowledgeable, and a excellent driver. I think the only other car that passed me was a B5 twin-turbo S4 with both the instructors riding with me on Sunday telling me they thought I belonged in the next group up. All that on a track I’d only been at for a day. I was very pleased and having a lot of fun. My friend Tim, who was also a new instructor rode along with me on a couple of my Sunday sessions. At one point he had been quiet for over a full lap and I asked why. He responded with, ‘You’re doing everything right.’ I chuckled and said, ‘Don’t tell me that’ and proceeded to mess up the very next corner and go way off line. Nothing dangerous or awful, just a lapse in concentration at a perfectly appropriate time. I still make mistakes, be it loss of concentration of not, but both my instructors commented on my ability to not only realize when I made a mistake and try to fix it on the next lap, but to recover when I messed up, like going into a corner too hot or focusing too much on a car in front of me rather than the line I should be taking. Since I was getting faster and faster I had to constantly lengthen braking zones, adjust corner entries, all that stuff. It’s a fun challenge, albeit one that really tests you and tires you. The weekend all and all was great, and after the sessions were over I swapped back to my street tires (which I’d lent out but held up well) and after chatting with some of the stragglers headed back to other parts of Cali, started the drive back.

I ended up stopping in Phoenix, I know, so close to home, but I was tired and it wasn’t worth the risk. I took a short nap at a (well populated) rest stop but that wasn’t enough, so I grabbed a room at a Super 8; thank you discount from newly acquired AAA membership. Monday morning I got up and drove the remainder of the route home and relaxed and recovered for the day. Grand total, as I mentioned: ~1450 miles, and worth every one.

Here’s a few pics from CaliPhotography, who was on site at the event and who I managed to get a CD from before the end of the event with my pics from Sunday morning. Yes, that’s the aforementioned Tacoma chasing me down.

An excellent event. Now I patiently wait for Laguna Seca in February.