Summit Point TrackDaze October 3-4, 2009

[Gator]

I really have to give it to the guys at TrackDaze. They really know how to put on a HPDE here on the East coast. You show up at 7 am on Saturday to get your car teched and they’re ready to go. A few minutes and you’re through and on to registration which is also smooth, short and painless. They make clear announcements leading up to the next event (classroom or track time) and kept everyone on schedule. Each group gets 30 minutes of track time four times during the day. Rungroups were beginner, intermediate, advanced and instructor with a 1 hour break for lunch. During lunch they also allowed parade laps with family members or whomever you may have brought along. Seatbelts only, no helmets needed.

The in car instructor I had was his first time instructing but he was very good and patient. He helped me a lot. I had some motion sickness issues and he tried to get me to concentrate on looking up and to the next corner to get over it. Dramamine helped quite a bit, also his suggestion. I also had a problem in one particular corner trying something the classroom instructor told us to try in that corner. Start a turn a split second earlier on the uphill side to get the weight of the car on the front tires to add more grip and take the corner on the other side of the hill pretty tight. Both times I tried it, the car got tail happy so the instructor suggested reducing the air in the rear tires. In fact, we checked the hot pressures and ended up letting 3 lbs out of all the tires which cured the tail happy problem in the corner and made the car handle better in my inexperienced hands. This instructor was much better than either of the SCCA PDX instructors I had experienced before.

The in class instructor was also great. I think he was born at the track. Kid looked maybe late 20s but you could tell he knew his way around the Shenandoah circuit. This is the most technical track on the East coast, according to him. (May have had something to do with my motion sickness). He went through the usual safety briefing and what the flags mean. He spent a lot of time on asking us what corners or places we found the most troublesome. The first class he went over the danger spots on the track to be aware of. In the last session of class, he went through specific areas and told us about landmarks we could use to get lined up correctly. He also went over tire pressures and tuning our balance of the car much like my in car instructor did but not in great detail. The best part was, this guy should be a comedian. He was hilarious but did not promote grab ass or tolerate any sort of BS that might get someone hurt. For example, he took attendance and if you were supposed to be in class but weren’t, you did not go back out on track. No cutting class here, ladies and gents. The class was not so structured as an educational class would be, but it was very application oriented and practical to getting folks introduced to high speed driving on that track.

All in all, I highly recommend the Trackdaze experience. This is my 3rd such event with the other 2 being SCCA sponsored. I will definitely be back at Trackdaze again. My goal is to have fun and use the modifications I have made to my car. This will help me enjoy watching motorsports more and understand what the drivers are doing. I am glad the guys on the TAF recommended these guys and have to say, they were 100% correct.