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On the eve of the second weekend of NASA Norcal's NASA Se7ens Challenge, I'd like to share with you the impressions of a Se7en first timer from last month's event at Infineon. Other than making me look a lot better than I really am, it really gives the flavor of what we're trying to do here and give a sense of what you're missing if you never get your Se7en out on a track. Those on the fence with regard to Buttonwillow - take note!
Enjoy,
Woody
Hello gents.
Yesterday I experienced my first track day courtesy of NASA HPDE. It was
a fantastic experience that I'd like to relate as an encouragement to
those of you who have not taken their Stalker to a track. Sorry if I'm
a bit wordy.
The experience started a few days ago in a shaky manner. A friend
e-mails me, asking if I was ready for the event. I respond "sure, the
car's running strong, I've got my approved helmet and am ready". He asks
if I've had my inspection done. Inspection? I ask. Yeah, you don't
expect them to let you on the track in an unsafe car do you?
Well the long and short of it is that I had to install rear roll-bar
braces, add crankcase ventilation, roll-bar padding, rebuild my hatch
cover, Install the complete 5-point harness and a couple other things. I
finished at 2:30 AM Saturday morning - just inches from throwing in the
towel. Would the experience be worth it? Level 1's just a yawning
follow-the-leader, right?
After about an hour of sleep, I staggered out of bed, prepared and took
off for the track. The 43 degree air effectively erased any cobwebs I
might have had from the night before, and I arrived at Infineon (Sears
Point) at 6:30. The car easily passed tech and I jumped in for the
driver's meeting. Holly crap, it was a middle-aged white guy convention.
- a big one! There was a smattering of young guys and a couple women,
but I realized that I was smack dab in the middle of the demographic. I
chuckled, wondering how many of these guys would admit to having
"midlife crises".
The lead instructor was a great guy, with something like 40 years of
racing experience under his belt. He spent about an hour with us -
mainly talking rules and etiquette, but also going over lines, passing,
slick spots, flags, et cetera. We then broke into four subgroups, were
introduced to our personal instructors and turned loose. My personal
instructor was Woody Harris who runs Birkinsport and has raced
intermittently for thirty years, including some pro racing in Europe. He
turned out to be nothing short of fantastic. Knowledgeable, encouraging,
occasionally scolding. I took to calling him Yoda.
My first 20-minute session was fun. Sears Point is a great track with
multitude of turns and elevation changes, including a couple of blind
crests followed by turns. It was good fun. Not especially fast. I was
allowed one pass, but mainly focussed on learning the track - proper
lines, braking points, camber changes and what have you. Exhilarating
to be sure. A bit more fun than I'd expected. The seven contingent
(Mainly Birkin, with a Caterham thrown in for good measure) was very
fraternal and welcoming. There are 2:15 between each of the four
sessions, which gave me a chance to watch other students and race
classes with a newfound appreciation of what they were doing.
The second session started about the same, but after a few minutes I
realized that Woody was encouraging me to push it, pass where legal and
really come hard out of the turns. I did so and entered a new world. I
gotta say. Autocross is great, but there's something different about
coming out of a long descending sweeper with a broad runout at the
bottom, where you just lay into into the gas, redlining in third, and
reaching well into fourth with the rear end drifting slightly as you
feel the ragged edge of traction and your testicles kinda suck in; that
little guy on your shoulder reaches asks what you're made of? Are you
man enough to hang on long enough to pick off that M3, or are you gonna
back out? The end of the short straight arrives as you slam it down into
third, start your turn while ignoring the false apex at the start, then
clip the berm on the true apex while preparing for the chicane ahead.
This is strong, heady stuff. Somewhere Hemmingway is saying that there
are only three true sports - race car driving, rock climbing and
bullfighting. The rest are merely games.
At session's end I am babbling like a fool knowing that I am now well
and truly hooked on the go-fast crack pipe. Woody is saying nice things,
while simultaneously giving me things to work on and tips to take in.
It was clear that apart from one young hotshoe in a Misubishi Evo (280
HP, 4wd) I was the fastest guy out there. At the pre-run debrief, the
Evo driver is given a mild admonishment for over-agressiveness, but
otherwise the lead instructor is encouraging as well. Ironically the
slowest guy in the group was a fellow with a brand new Cobra replica
who was pretty overwhelmed by it all.
The third session is much like the second. Some friends show up and say
nice things. My instructor tells me to run the final session solo.
The final session is my sloppiest. the car is slightly faster without
the 200 lbs. of the instructor, but a little looser too. I forget some
of his lessons, and without his guiding hand signals find myself
making mistakes, almost spinning the car after one of those blind
crests, and repeatedly overcooking the turn where my friends were
located - no doubt earning myself some ribbing in weeks to come. It's
still great fun, but also a reminder of how much more I need to learn
before I can call myself a "racer". As Woody approaches in the pits my
first words are " sorry coach, I let you down". His response is a saying
jokingly that his friends were calling him a liar for having talked me
up. After a final briefing we retire to the post event b-b-q and a
couple cold ones. An hour later, having made new friends and being
inducted to a radically new experience, I wearily climb into the car and
head home.
The car was phenomenal. Woody seemed impressed that a car could perform
so well with almost no tuning and custom setup. It truly is a thinly
disguised race car that's also street legal. I'm amazed that something
that I built could work so well, and smoke cars costing four times as
much. Dennis has proven once again the quality of his design and
execution. My hat's off to him.
You guys have to try this at least once. To not do so is to not truly
know the car. - To have a thoroughbred that never exceeds a trot. The
cost is very reasonable - something like $180 for 80 minutes of track
time - most of it with a personal instructor, plus the classes, b-b-q
and access to a great facility. - Not to mention a very nice and
supportive group of compatriots. Please pardon the hyperbole, but that
was truly one of the top experiences of my life. Thanks for listening to
my ramblings.
Enjoy,
Woody
Hello gents.
Yesterday I experienced my first track day courtesy of NASA HPDE. It was
a fantastic experience that I'd like to relate as an encouragement to
those of you who have not taken their Stalker to a track. Sorry if I'm
a bit wordy.
The experience started a few days ago in a shaky manner. A friend
e-mails me, asking if I was ready for the event. I respond "sure, the
car's running strong, I've got my approved helmet and am ready". He asks
if I've had my inspection done. Inspection? I ask. Yeah, you don't
expect them to let you on the track in an unsafe car do you?
Well the long and short of it is that I had to install rear roll-bar
braces, add crankcase ventilation, roll-bar padding, rebuild my hatch
cover, Install the complete 5-point harness and a couple other things. I
finished at 2:30 AM Saturday morning - just inches from throwing in the
towel. Would the experience be worth it? Level 1's just a yawning
follow-the-leader, right?
After about an hour of sleep, I staggered out of bed, prepared and took
off for the track. The 43 degree air effectively erased any cobwebs I
might have had from the night before, and I arrived at Infineon (Sears
Point) at 6:30. The car easily passed tech and I jumped in for the
driver's meeting. Holly crap, it was a middle-aged white guy convention.
- a big one! There was a smattering of young guys and a couple women,
but I realized that I was smack dab in the middle of the demographic. I
chuckled, wondering how many of these guys would admit to having
"midlife crises".
The lead instructor was a great guy, with something like 40 years of
racing experience under his belt. He spent about an hour with us -
mainly talking rules and etiquette, but also going over lines, passing,
slick spots, flags, et cetera. We then broke into four subgroups, were
introduced to our personal instructors and turned loose. My personal
instructor was Woody Harris who runs Birkinsport and has raced
intermittently for thirty years, including some pro racing in Europe. He
turned out to be nothing short of fantastic. Knowledgeable, encouraging,
occasionally scolding. I took to calling him Yoda.
My first 20-minute session was fun. Sears Point is a great track with
multitude of turns and elevation changes, including a couple of blind
crests followed by turns. It was good fun. Not especially fast. I was
allowed one pass, but mainly focussed on learning the track - proper
lines, braking points, camber changes and what have you. Exhilarating
to be sure. A bit more fun than I'd expected. The seven contingent
(Mainly Birkin, with a Caterham thrown in for good measure) was very
fraternal and welcoming. There are 2:15 between each of the four
sessions, which gave me a chance to watch other students and race
classes with a newfound appreciation of what they were doing.
The second session started about the same, but after a few minutes I
realized that Woody was encouraging me to push it, pass where legal and
really come hard out of the turns. I did so and entered a new world. I
gotta say. Autocross is great, but there's something different about
coming out of a long descending sweeper with a broad runout at the
bottom, where you just lay into into the gas, redlining in third, and
reaching well into fourth with the rear end drifting slightly as you
feel the ragged edge of traction and your testicles kinda suck in; that
little guy on your shoulder reaches asks what you're made of? Are you
man enough to hang on long enough to pick off that M3, or are you gonna
back out? The end of the short straight arrives as you slam it down into
third, start your turn while ignoring the false apex at the start, then
clip the berm on the true apex while preparing for the chicane ahead.
This is strong, heady stuff. Somewhere Hemmingway is saying that there
are only three true sports - race car driving, rock climbing and
bullfighting. The rest are merely games.
At session's end I am babbling like a fool knowing that I am now well
and truly hooked on the go-fast crack pipe. Woody is saying nice things,
while simultaneously giving me things to work on and tips to take in.
It was clear that apart from one young hotshoe in a Misubishi Evo (280
HP, 4wd) I was the fastest guy out there. At the pre-run debrief, the
Evo driver is given a mild admonishment for over-agressiveness, but
otherwise the lead instructor is encouraging as well. Ironically the
slowest guy in the group was a fellow with a brand new Cobra replica
who was pretty overwhelmed by it all.
The third session is much like the second. Some friends show up and say
nice things. My instructor tells me to run the final session solo.
The final session is my sloppiest. the car is slightly faster without
the 200 lbs. of the instructor, but a little looser too. I forget some
of his lessons, and without his guiding hand signals find myself
making mistakes, almost spinning the car after one of those blind
crests, and repeatedly overcooking the turn where my friends were
located - no doubt earning myself some ribbing in weeks to come. It's
still great fun, but also a reminder of how much more I need to learn
before I can call myself a "racer". As Woody approaches in the pits my
first words are " sorry coach, I let you down". His response is a saying
jokingly that his friends were calling him a liar for having talked me
up. After a final briefing we retire to the post event b-b-q and a
couple cold ones. An hour later, having made new friends and being
inducted to a radically new experience, I wearily climb into the car and
head home.
The car was phenomenal. Woody seemed impressed that a car could perform
so well with almost no tuning and custom setup. It truly is a thinly
disguised race car that's also street legal. I'm amazed that something
that I built could work so well, and smoke cars costing four times as
much. Dennis has proven once again the quality of his design and
execution. My hat's off to him.
You guys have to try this at least once. To not do so is to not truly
know the car. - To have a thoroughbred that never exceeds a trot. The
cost is very reasonable - something like $180 for 80 minutes of track
time - most of it with a personal instructor, plus the classes, b-b-q
and access to a great facility. - Not to mention a very nice and
supportive group of compatriots. Please pardon the hyperbole, but that
was truly one of the top experiences of my life. Thanks for listening to
my ramblings.
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