Tweet
I just attended a driver training program hosted by Victoria Motorsports Car Club (victoriamotorsports.org). I thought I'd submit a brief report as they are running the program again in May and some VCMC club members may wish to attend.
The course is designed for beginner drivers and, upon graduation, students are eligible to apply for an ICSCC novice competition licence. It consists of two evening classroom sessions followed by a track day at Western Speedway.
Now, since I have a 13 year old car, funny things often happen. As I started the car to drive off the ferry on Thursday afternoon, I noticed that my ABS-OFF light was on. The ABS on/off switch apparently gave up and the default seems to be the OFF position (although further diagnosis is still required to confirm this). Not too worried, I figured I'd learn more without ABS, as long as I didn't abuse my Potenzas with too much locking up.
So, off to the classroom sessions, held in the basement of one of the Victoria Motorsports instructors. Much of the first-evening discussions and lectures were about wheel-to-wheel circuit racing requirements, and not directly applicable to autocross, however, it was very informative and interesting. The second evening was mostly about lines through varous types of corners. Very applicable to autocross.
Saturday morning was gorgeous, sunny and warm. Using the inner oval, the outer oval, the infield and the hairpin, they set us 3 different courses. On the first course, and instructor drove the students cars for a few laps. Then, we switched places for about 10 laps. Same thing on the second course. The third course was the longest and fastest, and we got to drive alone.
They let 4 of us on the track at any one time. No passing was allowed, except on the long straight where slower cars were expected to move over and slow down to let the faster ones through. Everybody behaved rather courteously in this regard.
Western Speedway, with the hairpin on the West end, is a much faster course than I have experienced. The Audi managed to hit the top end of 3rd, at about 120 km/h on the longest straight. This, immediately before the 2nd gear hairpin (should it have been 1st gear? - I was too chicken to try). On some of the earlier laps, I was cursing my non-functioning ABS as I locked up the fronts before turning into the hairpin. Soon I got more used to the Audi 'sans' ABS and got better at being nice to my tires as the day went on.
Brake-wear was the biggest strain on the equipment. Fortunately they only let us run about 10 laps at a time before bringing us in to let the next group on the track. This allowed the distinct smell of burning asbestos and the wisps of blue smoke from my brakes to subside before we went out again. One early model Camaro acually had a brake fire and had to quit early. Too bad because he was doing a good job to keep up with a very fast M3 in his run-group.
Speaking of brakes, thanks to Alfred at Vancouver West Motors (shameless plug here for my mechanic) who set me up with brand new front rotors and pads just last week. I wonder how much of those pads are left?
(Sidebar: Alfred knows everything there is to know about Audis/VWs/Porsches, however, beware: if you ask him a simple question about yours, make sure you have at least 15 minutes to spare and a notepad to write down all the usefull information that he'll give you.)
We had 4 of these 'sets' on the longest course during the afternoon session. Each about 10 laps. Which was enough to get comfortable with the lines and try some new things. Like left-foot braking, which was a new one for me. But which I think I can apply in some autocross situations. Thanks to Neil who coached me through my first left-foot braking experiences.
By the way, if you're trying this for the first time, make sure you move your foot back to the clutch pedal before you try to change gears. Stomping on the brake pedal like it is a clutch pedal in the middle of a long sweeping corner at speed makes for some interesting car reactions. Just a suggestion.
(Another sidebar: kudos to the nice people (sorry, don't know your names) who ran times similar to mine in a stock 1984 Volvo with all season tires and over 500,000 km on the odo)
I enjoyed myself and I learned a lot at this course. It was only $75 and there was a lot of seat time. I'm told the May session is about 1/2 booked already, so if you want to attend, I would sign up immedately. Info is on their website.
I'm now looking forward to the VCMC Velocity program in April which I'm sure will be more specific to autocross.
In the meantime, tomorrow is a closed club event and I'm looking to can apply some of what I learned. And my ABS still doesn't work so I'll have to show some extra consideration at the finish light/stop box. Feel free to razz me if you see me lock 'em up or take out the stop box cones.
Final note: After driving off the ferry at Tsawassen, I thought I'd be really sneaky and drive over the the boundary bay site to get a sneak preview of tomorrow's course. However, somebody with forsight and intelligence decided to lock the gate. No such luck.
[ March 24, 2002: Message edited by: Audi200tq ]</p>
The course is designed for beginner drivers and, upon graduation, students are eligible to apply for an ICSCC novice competition licence. It consists of two evening classroom sessions followed by a track day at Western Speedway.
Now, since I have a 13 year old car, funny things often happen. As I started the car to drive off the ferry on Thursday afternoon, I noticed that my ABS-OFF light was on. The ABS on/off switch apparently gave up and the default seems to be the OFF position (although further diagnosis is still required to confirm this). Not too worried, I figured I'd learn more without ABS, as long as I didn't abuse my Potenzas with too much locking up.
So, off to the classroom sessions, held in the basement of one of the Victoria Motorsports instructors. Much of the first-evening discussions and lectures were about wheel-to-wheel circuit racing requirements, and not directly applicable to autocross, however, it was very informative and interesting. The second evening was mostly about lines through varous types of corners. Very applicable to autocross.
Saturday morning was gorgeous, sunny and warm. Using the inner oval, the outer oval, the infield and the hairpin, they set us 3 different courses. On the first course, and instructor drove the students cars for a few laps. Then, we switched places for about 10 laps. Same thing on the second course. The third course was the longest and fastest, and we got to drive alone.
They let 4 of us on the track at any one time. No passing was allowed, except on the long straight where slower cars were expected to move over and slow down to let the faster ones through. Everybody behaved rather courteously in this regard.
Western Speedway, with the hairpin on the West end, is a much faster course than I have experienced. The Audi managed to hit the top end of 3rd, at about 120 km/h on the longest straight. This, immediately before the 2nd gear hairpin (should it have been 1st gear? - I was too chicken to try). On some of the earlier laps, I was cursing my non-functioning ABS as I locked up the fronts before turning into the hairpin. Soon I got more used to the Audi 'sans' ABS and got better at being nice to my tires as the day went on.
Brake-wear was the biggest strain on the equipment. Fortunately they only let us run about 10 laps at a time before bringing us in to let the next group on the track. This allowed the distinct smell of burning asbestos and the wisps of blue smoke from my brakes to subside before we went out again. One early model Camaro acually had a brake fire and had to quit early. Too bad because he was doing a good job to keep up with a very fast M3 in his run-group.
Speaking of brakes, thanks to Alfred at Vancouver West Motors (shameless plug here for my mechanic) who set me up with brand new front rotors and pads just last week. I wonder how much of those pads are left?
(Sidebar: Alfred knows everything there is to know about Audis/VWs/Porsches, however, beware: if you ask him a simple question about yours, make sure you have at least 15 minutes to spare and a notepad to write down all the usefull information that he'll give you.)
We had 4 of these 'sets' on the longest course during the afternoon session. Each about 10 laps. Which was enough to get comfortable with the lines and try some new things. Like left-foot braking, which was a new one for me. But which I think I can apply in some autocross situations. Thanks to Neil who coached me through my first left-foot braking experiences.
By the way, if you're trying this for the first time, make sure you move your foot back to the clutch pedal before you try to change gears. Stomping on the brake pedal like it is a clutch pedal in the middle of a long sweeping corner at speed makes for some interesting car reactions. Just a suggestion.
(Another sidebar: kudos to the nice people (sorry, don't know your names) who ran times similar to mine in a stock 1984 Volvo with all season tires and over 500,000 km on the odo)
I enjoyed myself and I learned a lot at this course. It was only $75 and there was a lot of seat time. I'm told the May session is about 1/2 booked already, so if you want to attend, I would sign up immedately. Info is on their website.
I'm now looking forward to the VCMC Velocity program in April which I'm sure will be more specific to autocross.
In the meantime, tomorrow is a closed club event and I'm looking to can apply some of what I learned. And my ABS still doesn't work so I'll have to show some extra consideration at the finish light/stop box. Feel free to razz me if you see me lock 'em up or take out the stop box cones.
Final note: After driving off the ferry at Tsawassen, I thought I'd be really sneaky and drive over the the boundary bay site to get a sneak preview of tomorrow's course. However, somebody with forsight and intelligence decided to lock the gate. No such luck.
[ March 24, 2002: Message edited by: Audi200tq ]</p>
Comment