Tues/Wed May 20/21: The Mid-Ohio School
Thus May 22: Work
Fri May 23: Private Coaching
Sat/Sun May 24/25: BMWCCA Club Races
Mon/Tues May 26/27: Chin Motorsports Driving School
Chapter 1: Tues/Wed May 20/21: The Mid-Ohio School
As Technical Leader for the Toyota 24 Hours of LeMons team, one of my responsibilities is to ensure adequate driver training for those of us who are crazy enough to drive these $500 heaps of metal. Upon considering all available options, I determined that The Mid-Ohio School would be the best option for us due to the fact that they provide the vehicles (which are also all equal to each other and most are front-wheel drive, like the cars we’ll be racing), the track is nearby, they offer a wide range of skill-building, and offer professional instructors.
10 of our 13 drivers were able to attend this date for the school and we headed up Monday night so that we’d be rested for the following day. Upon arriving at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, we headed up to the 2nd floor of the tower for sign-in and orientation. There we met our instructors. Chief Instructor was Brian Till, who is currently a race commentator on SPEED channel and formerly raced IndyCar, CART, and Formula Atlantics. Tommy Byrne has reached Formula1 level for testing previously in his career. Orlam Sonora is currently racing sports cars, Jim Bishop has a lot of racing experience, and Dave Roush (Program Manager) has extensive SCCA racing experience.
After a very brief orientation, we headed right out to the autocross track (in a parking lot) to stretch our legs. The cars we were using were Acura TSX’s with the A-Spec suspension package, summer tires, aggressive brake pads, and roll bars with harnesses. The cars that we used for this run had automatic transmissions that only required 1st gear to negotiate the course. Everyone got 1 timed run in the autocross course with no forewarning as to what to expect or how to approach it. Being all in equal cars, the brief pep talk I gave our drivers previously about this not being a competition event and to take it easy went right out the window as soon as the times started being written on the white-board, just as I expected ; ) Our 10 drivers from Toyota quickly showed dominance and posted the top 10 times among the 23 drivers present. Well, except for my own disqualification! I didn’t stop within the stop box and so my otherwise-good time was thrown out. D’oh! I hoped to redeem myself later.
Lining up, getting ready to go.
Taking the last turn to the finish!
Back in the classroom, Brian Till gave us a thorough explanation of the principals of high-performance driving, offering some good focus on how important some of them would be in our 24 Hours of LeMons race. After this, we headed out to the parking-lot areas and split into 3 groups.
Brian Till; classroom instruction
LeMons Drivers, Listen up!
8 of our drivers went as one group while I pulled Chase off with me to go into another group. Our first event was the Slalom exercise. We now had our own TSX’s, this time with 6-speed manuals. I think the Slalom was the least-favorite exercise among the group, but it basically incorporated accelerating and then smoothly transitioning back and forth through the cones, first steadily, and then using lift-throttle to aid in turning the car. In reality, the distance between the cones was decreasing, so we were slowing throughout the series of cones, not having the room to get back ON the throttle in order to use the lift-off for rotation. Halfway through the exercise, it was changed to a Brake-and-Turn exercise. This time, we accelerated down a straight-away that had a 90 degree right hand bend at the end. There were braking markers on the left side and apex and exit cones, as well. The target was to gradually brake later and later until we could just barely make the turn, carrying as much speed as possible. Hitting the apex and track-out cones was highly encouraged. This was a beneficial way to learn how to find the limits through a turn without hugely overstepping them and having an incident.
Chase wonders, “Why do we need brakes?... They just slow you down!”
Next up for my group was the autocross. The course was marked out by white lines as guides, but cones indicated turn-in, apex, and track-out points. One of the things that no one may have realized during the initial autocross run in the morning was that the cones actually indicated the fastest line through the course, rather than just merely boundary markers. In this exercise, we had a few cars on the course at once, so we had to leave space between the cars so as to not catch each other. We ran for about 5 minutes continuously, which was very taxing on the arms, as we were making a turn about every 2 seconds! I picked up a few suggestions from Brian Till and found some additional speed through the course. After cycling through a few times, we switched to the rear-wheel-drive Honda S2000 Roadsters. Normally, these would be much more fun cars to drive, but due to a near-miss in the recent past (a car almost through the fence), they would not allow us to turn off the VSC (stability control system). This sucked down the cars when they’d slide around, which is great for inexperienced drivers in the snow, but really aggravating in a performance driving environment. It forced us to drive as smoothly as possible in an attempt to keep the stability from intervening.
Chase; all smiles in the S2000!
Autocross in the S2000
After lunch, we headed to our last exercise, which was the Skid Car. One of the benefits of a professional school like this was that they have the money for some nice equipment. The Honda Civic Skid Car was probably the highlight, as it had a frame mounted under it with outriggers at the corners that could push down wheels on casters, relieving pressure from the car’s tires. By selecting a rearward pressure, they were able to make the car drive remarkably like a rear-wheel-drive car on ice. It took a very delicate balance to control it, which was eye-opening for someone who considers himself to have good car-control skills! Chase was in the back seat during my run and was highly amused at the number of laps it took me before I could pull off them off with nice consistent drifts… and only the occasional spin! I didn’t really care to be in the back seat of the car during Chase’s run, so I got out and took some pictures. I was laughing my head off during his first few laps, as he spun several times per lap (just like me)! It’s not as easy as it looks, eh?! It was a great opportunity to learn in a controlled low-speed environment just the right amount of throttle to use to control a slide (not jumping full-on or full-off the throttle).
It ain’t so easy!
Brian Till; imparting knowledge on the LeMons drivers
The last exercise that we did brought everyone back together for a repeat of the morning’s autocross. Everyone, save for a couple, improved their times. This time we were actually competing, as there was a prize on the line. Again, the Toyota guys fully comprised the top 10 times. I pulled off the top time, with a .44 second gap to Tom in second. Dave Spinnet took the third spot and the three of us had a runoff in the S2000’s. I got run preference and I chose to go last. Dave went first and hit a cone on his run (2 second penalty), which otherwise would have been a quick run. Tom went next and posted a decent time, without hitting any cones. The pressure was now on and I headed out for my run. The stability control sucked me down really badly in a critical spot, delaying the power application severely. Well, that wasn’t the worst of my problems. My time was better than Tom’s, but that cone that I thought I had only rolled over the edge of, was lying down when I looked back across the course. I couldn’t be too upset, because at least one of us took home the prize. Congratulations to Tom, who won a third day at the Mid-Ohio School!
Dave Spinnett; hit a cone
Anthony Magagnoli; hit a cone
Tom Duesing; autocross hero!
The last segment of the day comprised of a lead-follow exercise on the full race track. With instructors in the lead cars, they had a string of cars behind; following their line like tracks in the snow (that was the theory, anyway). We did this for about an hour, but vast discrepancies between the levels of drivers made things somewhat difficult. Considering that there had been no prior instruction of the track and only a few of us had experience there, we did what we could. It was more for recreation and just getting a taste of the track than real learning.
On the second day of the Mid-Ohio School, Duct Tape Motorsports friends Dave and Ian Sacarny were in attendance, with the intent to stay through Friday. On this day, we spent the entire time with the full 2.4 mile, 15-turn race track. The track was broken down into 3 segments so that we could repeat a smaller series of turns and better work on our lines without forgetting what we did the last time by the time we get back around to the turn. This was very helpful to really fine-tune the line and our steering, throttle, and brake inputs. We each got to ride with an instructor and have the instructors ride with us. Whenever we weren’t doing this, we were in line following the car the instructor was in, so there was virtually never any downtime. I picked up several small details that I was able to apply to help me in my racing and instructing. Most of the instructors were reluctant to get into the students’ cars when we combined the full course and started the open lapping session, but Brian Till was generous (or adventurous?) enough to get in with me for a few laps. While he told me he was very impressed, he also gave me some really good feedback. There were a few things that I was able to apply that weekend in my race.
In the first part of the open lapping session, everyone got pretty over-excited and there was a lot of overdriving going on. A lot of sliding, a couple spins… I was coming out of the pits after dropping Brian off and had a car slide through turn one, over the inside curbing, headed towards me. Fortunately, he recovered and I was able to back off to give him room, so nothing bad happened. As for the non-Toyota drivers, they were kind of all over the place. I caught one guy in a Lotus Exige going into Turn 1. Entering the back straight, rather than let me by, he kept his foot down and pulled away. At the end of the back straight, I was all over him, watching him drive way offline. I decided to back off since I didn’t want to pressure him into making a mistake. I pulled back 10 car-lengths, or so, and cruised behind. Going into Turn 12 (fast left before the carousel), I watched him turn in 2 car-lengths too late and said to myself, “Uh-oh.” His line at that point took him through the grass on the outside of the turn (in my first race ever, I was forced by traffic to do the same thing and fortunately recovered). I hung back to make sure he didn’t hook and come across the track into me, and then went buy him. I later found out that Stan was coming flying through 12 just behind us, only to find the Exige practically stopped in the track. He was forced to lift and had a BIG slide all the way through the turn!
Shortly after these shenanigans, the entire course was black-flagged and everyone was brought into the pits. The instructors gave everyone a firm talking-to, which was badly needed. I’m glad they did it when they did, before there was a real incident. After that, everyone got their heads screwed on and drove much more smoothly and - dare I say? - FASTER. In the LeMons race, vehicle preservation is going to be key and everyone took the opportunity to put the principals that the instructors had given us to practice in the last part of the session. Ultimately, the instructors’ feedback was very positive for all of the Toyota drivers, stating that we were much more responsive to instruction and feedback than students they’ve had from “other” automotive companies (cough-Honda-cough). I think we all picked up several things that will help us in our race.
Chapter 2: Fri May 23: Private Coaching at BMWCCA Test Day
I had driven my truck up to the track with my race car in tow when I went to the Mid-Ohio School with the intent of leaving it for the weekend. I drove back with my co-worker teammates and then got a ride back up early Friday morning with my friend Vivek, who is also a club racer. Vivek wanted to attend the practice day for racers on Friday, which was also an advanced student / instructor day for that weekend’s driving school. I didn’t want to spend the money for the test day, as I had just spent 2 days at the track and had run my car for a little bit at the end. Knowing that Dave and Ian Sacarny were still going to be there and there wouldn’t be any instructors readily available, I thought I’d offer to be their private coach for the day.
A fellow racer had brought in Guy Cosmo, driver of The Spirit of Daytona Daytona Prototype car, as his private coach, to the tune of $1500 for the day. Well, my fee was slightly less (lunch at Buck’s) and only because it was offered! I joked with Dave that I may have to up it to dinner next time, considering what Guy is charging!
Dave was co-driving his son Ian’s new-to-him E36 M3, which I had coincidentally helped him buy just a few months prior in Cincinnati. This was Dave’s first time back on track since having an incident with his GT3 at Watkins Glen, and he had several reasons to be nervous. Mid-Ohio was a new track for him, there were lots of really fast cars on a crowded track, he was in his son’s new car, and Ian’s seating position was terrible for him (fixed seat). Despite this, we were able to work on several details of the line through the course and have a good time. Ian was more aggressive, as he was more comfortable in his own car and didn’t have the instinct of self-preservation (or instructor-preservation) that his father had just recently been instilled with! All joking aside, he did very well and was able to respond to my feedback, one factor at a time and was moving pretty well by the afternoon. He allowed me a couple laps in his car to show him everything I was talking about and I suddenly realized just how bad the seating position was for Dave! I was looking straight at the top of the steering wheel! So, vision was one thing, but then the wheel, itself, was high and slightly off to one side relative to the seat. Ian’s height must be all in his upper body! In any case, the car handled well and it was a joy to drive. Both Dave and Ian were very gracious, with follow-up phone calls and emails thanking me for the help. Guys, it was honestly my pleasure!
By the afternoon, some DTM’ers started rolling in for the weekend BMW Club driver’s school. We had dinner at Buck’s before the Sacarny’s headed out, then headed to KC’s for some drinks. I met up there with my friend Chris, whose company supports Jason Lane, the club racer that hired Guy Cosmo. Chatting with them, I got to talk with Guy for a while and get some perspective on how he got where he is and, really no matter where one is in motorsports, there’s always the desire to go higher. Even though his career is as a professional racer, he’s still looking to take that next step. Of course, to get where he is, he was fortunate enough to have parents who were able to get him into racing at a young age. It was nice to hear that he really didn’t take that for granted and was very appreciative, as he really loves what he’s doing. I was telling him how I had gotten all our LeMons drivers to attend the Mid-Ohio School earlier that week and how awesome it was to be paid to be at the racetrack. I joked with him, telling him, “No, you have NO idea how awesome it is to be paid to be driving at the track! I don’t think you can even fathom it!”
Chapter 3: Sat May 24: BMWCCA Club Race (30 Min Sprint)
Saturday was to contain one practice session, practice starts, which would lead into the qualifying session, and then a 30 minute sprint race. I started out on my Toyo RA-1 practice tires, which were close to the end of their life. I had a decent practice session, mainly using it to apply the points that I had picked up from the Mid-Ohio School. I was finding that I was able to brake much deeper into the carousel than I had before, which leaves little room for error, but I’m getting much more precise and consistent, building my confidence everywhere on the track.
I swapped to my race tires before qualifying and we did a few practice starts before continuing the open qualifying session. Only a couple laps into it, I was coming through the carousel with a D-Mod E30 a few car-lenghts behind me. As I was going through the turn, I saw him sail past, never making the turn-in, and fly straight into the tire wall. He hit it at essentially full speed, bouncing the front of the car 4 feet in the air before landing again. He hurt the front of the car pretty bad, but later inspection showed that there was probably no frame damage. He had done one main thing wrong… He was off-line to the outside (which is sometimes taught in driving schools) and this put him in the “marbles”, reducing his grip just before cresting the hill, but shortened his braking zone, besides. He didn’t stand a chance. The incident brought out a full-course black flag, with very few people having gotten an open lap to put down a decent qualifying number. The organizers took whatever our best time was between practice and qualifying to use as our qualifying position for the race. This put me second in class, starting just behind my arch nemesis, John Negus. This is the guy that I was racing down the back straight in the rain last year when I locked up and went off. I didn’t know that he had borrowed someone’s Hoosier Wet tires and could stop so late!! John is a really nice guy and I enjoy racing with him. He had even helped me corner-balance my car on his scales on Friday evening.
Toyota friends Bryce and Dale Mercer had shown up to watch and help out on Saturday. I didn’t have whole lot for them to do, so we mostly hung out. Since there was also a driving school going on, I thought I’d try to get them rides in instructor cars to get some time on the track. I found Bryce a good one… A brand new Aston Martin V8 Vantage. This guy was pretty anal about the interior of the car (despite the fact that he’s running it on a racetrack). He wouldn’t let Bryce in with jeans on, so I had to loan him my race suit, which was not exactly the right size for him. He had a good time in the car, though. His father, Dale, was jealous.
License Plate reads: FSTASTN
Dale and Bryce
Come race time, I was ready to go, with some help from DTM, and honorary-DTM members. I was a couple positions back from John, but as we lined up side-by-side on the track, I ended up just behind him. When the green flag dropped, I had no idea the battle I was in for. We were both working around some traffic and I was looking for a hole to get around him if he was slowed up by another car. It never came and we continued on with him in front of me and Lucas’ C-Mod E30 M3 and Lochner’s JP E36 325i with us. Lucas had some silly power down the straights, but we were faster through the corners. Lochner was the same, but to a smaller extent. Lucas eventually got by us and was able to use his power to pull away, but I had a fight on my hands.
Traffic through Turn 1
Every lap, I would be able to get side-by-side with John coming down the front straight and down the back straight, but could never complete the pass. Down the front straight, he would defend to the inside. Starting from the outside, I needed to turn-in a car-length earlier than him, but with him there, I was slowed on my entry and couldn’t make my way by before turn 2. I changed my line to back off before the turn-in to turn 1, concentrating on my exit speed. Lap after lap, I would cross his line to be inside of him coming out of the turn and I’d have enough of a run to get side-by-side, often times a 1/2 car-length ahead. But, his outside exit from turn 1 would place him on the inside of turn 2, which is normally a flat-out corner with heavy braking just before transitioning back left. From the inside, John would turn-in sooner than me, automatically pulling his car ahead of mine. I was very tempted to force my position and try to stick next to him through turn 2, which was within my right, but I had no confidence that he would give me the room to be there and it would’ve resulted in a bad wreck for both of us. Considering that we are both on probation, I thought that would be a bad idea, even if it would technically be his fault. So, every time, he’d regain his position there.
Coming out of the keyhole, I’d consistently get the run on him, coming within an inch of his back bumper before pulling out of his draft to try to execute the pass. We are about identical on power, so when I lost the draft, my difference in corner exit speed wasn’t enough to get completely past him to get the line through the right hander at the end of the straight. With him sticking with me through the turn, he’d have the inside through Madness. At one point, I had the inside going into madness and he was a ½ car-length ahead, but we were side-by-side. He turned right into me and I had to brake in order to not have contact. My suspicions were confirmed that if he couldn’t see my front bumper next to him, he was going to go ahead and assume I wasn’t there.
Inches off of John’s bumper… Lap after lap!
This went on lap after lap after lap. There were mod cars that were lapping us and hanging back to watch the show. I was very conscious of this when Watts (race leader at the time, I think) caught us in Madness. I started to plan a spot to let him by without slowing him too much, but he backed off a few car-lengths to allow us to race. When we hit the next straight, he rocketed by. Especially as the race went on, it was obvious that John was trying very hard to keep me behind him. Through the Chicane (turns 2-4), he was often getting sideways as he carried too much speed coming in. The problem for me was that I still couldn’t get by a car that was only half in control. I’ve been trying to drive smarter and stay within the limits of my car, regardless of the situation (they don’t magically get higher just because I need to go faster?!). I started conceiving a strategy. And not a moment too soon, as the 3rd place KP car had been creeping up on us while John and I were slowing each other down the entire race.
I knew that I was faster almost everywhere, but the only places that I was going to make a pass was either going into turn 1 or 7, at the ends of the straights. Considering how much John was overdriving his car, I knew it would only be a matter of time before he made a mistake, or he was going to continually slow himself down. My chance finally came only 3 laps from the end of the race. I had been patient, conserving my car, and now it was time to make a pass stick. Coming onto the front straight, John defended to the inside, as he had done every time. I had a run, just as before, but instead of backing off before entering turn 1, I saw the opportunity to stick on the outside of John going through turn 1. I was about a ½ car-length ahead of him going in and I used a later turn-in and we were side-by-side through the turn, with him squirming around, trying to keep his car pointed where he wanted it to go, and not allow his line to put him into my door on track-out, which was my fear of making this move on him. When I came out of the turn on the outside, which was the inside for turn 2, I knew I had it. I dove into turn 2 ahead of him, just as he had on me for the past 10 laps. By the end of the back straight, I had 5 car-lengths on him, and kept pulling.
The pass on the outside, for the lead!
We got the 1-lap-to-go signal and I had a healthy lead. I just kept driving the same way, with the exception of braking early at the end of the back straight (previously my Achilles heel of the track). This allowed John to get within a few car-lengths and, as we went over Madness, I took my normal line and looked back at John. I said to myself, “there’s no way he’s going to try to….” Yup, he made a last-ditch effort to dive-bomb me going into turn 9, but had no chance from that far back. I cruised on to take 1st place in K-Prepared!! I was very satisfied to have driven a smart race and have come away with a hard-fought win! It was interesting to note that the battle with John slowed us both down so much that 3 other KP cars had fastest laps faster than mine!
Chapter 4: Sun May 25: BMWCCA Club Race (90 Min Enduro)
Sunday’s race was to be a 90 minute enduro, which was the longest race that I will have driven to date. I’ve survived every 60 minute race without issue, so I didn’t foresee any issue with running 90 minutes without a co-driver (although I had considered having my friend Chris co-drive). I had DTM folks and a new track friend, Jamie, helping me out in the pits. We teamed up with the UUC Motorwerks team for the pit stops. Tim Smith was lined up to have Doug Thoms co-drive his SpecE36, but Tim’s experience with the car and the track kept him in the car to improve his chances. The other car was Arjun Soundararajan (of UUC) and Goutam Pathak (of Corsa Exhausts) in Arjun’s J-Prepared E36 325is.
I qualified first in class, with a 1.9 second gap in lap time to the next KP car. This only put me 3 spots in front of him on the start, but I was hoping that the qualifying times would be indicative of how the race would go, but with mandated pit stops, you NEVER know…
I had Scott on the radio to tell me when the green flag dropped, which helped on the start. Early in the race, things went as expected. I pulled away from the other KP cars and was having fun racing with cars in J-Prepared and Spec E36. At one point I had a 40 second lead in class, but an incident brought out a yellow flag. At first, it was only a local yellow and I was within my pit window. When the pace car came out ahead of the lead car, it left a lot of room for us slow guys to make up. We tend to still drive at 95% (except at the location of the incident), just trying to catch up, and I was following Vivek in his SpecE36 at that time. We came up on a much slower SpecE36 and Vivek went by him. I was thinking of about my pit stop and I went by the SpecE36 a moment later. When I looked up, I saw the double-yellow flags and realized I had just made an illegal pass. On the back straight, I slowed up and pointed the SpecE36 by. It seems that between the time that Vivek went by and I went by, the course had gone from a local yellow to a full-course yellow. Scott was telling me, “Pit now! Pit now!”, but he hadn’t yet seen the full-course yellow.
We caught up to the pack and came down to a crawl for a couple more laps as the incident was cleaned up. On the restart, I took the green flag and went around the course before coming into the pits. On my way into the pits, I was being pointed into the “penalty box”. I hadn’t seen a black flag, so I ignored it and went to my pit stall. I fueled the car and while the guys were taking care of the other stuff, I asked Arjun, who was on the radio with race control, to explain to them that I had allowed the car that I had passed to RE-pass under yellow. Their response was “Don’t worry about it.”, so, we proceeded. I came out of the pits and I was headed into the Carousel side-by-side with another car when I saw a black flag. I couldn’t be certain that it was for me, so I took no chances and stayed out. The other poor guy went in, thinking it was for him. On my next time by, though, I saw the flag and it was definitely for me. I went in and was told that I was serving a stop-and-go penalty for passing under yellow. It made no sense to argue it then, so I headed back out.
The Duct Tape Motorsports / UUC Motorwerks Pit Stall
Brian; helping me get buckled in
As I came out of the pits, I saw the new KP leader on the back straight, which was a good 20+ seconds ahead of me. I didn’t think that I had enough time to make up the difference. Besides that, I had 2 other KP cars between me and the leader. I pressed on, caught the 2nd and 3rd place guys within a couple laps, and made my way by without too much trouble. I still had a significant gap between myself and the KP leader. I went lap after lap, watching the gap close while I was approaching the Chicane and the leader was on the back straight. Then... he wasn’t there anymore. I didn’t know what had happened, but assumed he had just made a late pit stop. If that was the case, I had no idea where I’d end up, so I kept pressing on. I took the checkered flag, not knowing whether I was in 1st or 2nd.
In the processions following the race, I was trying to get a final call on where I ended up. As it turned out, the car I was chasing had been involved in an incident with another car and ended up pulling out of the race, leaving me with the WIN! I was glad I didn’t have to argue out the fact that I had allowed the car back by that I had passed under yellow, which would have likely been to no avail. So, celebrations ensued, as Tim had taken SpecE36 and Arjun/Goutam had won J-Prepared, as well! THANK YOU to Scott, Brian, other Brian, and Jamie for your help with the smooth pit stops!
Gotham, myself, Arjun, Scott, and Brian
Sunday night, the remainder of the Duct Tape Motorsports members had arrived. We had 15 of us, in total! Chase even made it up around midnight, driving from Atlanta. I helped Phil tune his brand-new coil-over suspension in his M Roadster in one of the parking lots, adjusting the shocks so he’d have a decent baseline to start from. From there, we all went out to dinner and partook in some shenanigans that I won’t detail here. We had a good time, though.
Chapter 5: Mon/Tues, May 26-27: Instructing with Chin Motorsports Driving School
I received my student assignment on Monday and met up with him. He was driving an E36 328i and had come from Minnesota (!) for this event. Overall, he was good to ride with. He drove within the car’s limits and was responsive to feedback. I took him out for a couple laps in his car to show him the line and he adapted relatively quickly. At the end of the 1st day, I noticed him starting to lose focus, as he missed a few points in succession. He admitted to it, and so, rather than take him off the track, I asked him to back down his speed and run the last few laps at an easy pace. He did so and he was hitting every mark easily. I was sure that, given the night to collect himself and rethink the course in his head, he’d come back the following morning and be able to drive with confidence.
Since Chase had been at The Mid-Ohio School a few days before, I vouched for him to be capable of running solo at the Chin school on Monday. I knew that I’d be able to ride with him, anyway. I’m typically very busy when I’m instructing and it’s always compounded when I’m with the DTM crew. I’ve generally been the go-to instructor for them, which offsets what a car-whore I am, but a few members are now instructors, themselves. We’re always bringing in new members to keep us occupied, though. So, I took Phil out for a session in his M Roadster to show him the line. After that, I took Chase out in his G35 Coupe to show him some of the details of the faster line around the track. I also managed to get so much heat in his brakes that the red “Brembo” decals on his calipers were a dark brown by the end of my 20 minute session!
Taking Phil for a ride in his M Roadster
Taking Chase for a ride in his G35 Coupe
I had an instructor ask me to show him the line around the track, as he had never been to Mid-Ohio before. I suggested we take his car because mine would be far too loud to hear each other and, well, I’m a car-whore, as I mentioned! He had an E36 M3 with some standard suspension and power modifications, running on race tires. So, I took him out and took a lap to get things warmed up. As I went around, I pointed out all the braking, turn-in, apex, and exit points, as well as visual references and details to the line. I was drove it at about 9/10ths for about 3 laps and then asked if he had seen enough. He asked me to keep going because he was learning a lot. Then he commented, “This is only my 3rd event with the car… I had no idea it could do this!” I was thinking to myself, “Dood, this is my 3rd LAP with the car and I’m doing this!” There’s a reason I always wanted instructors who had actual race experience…
The day went on and I hopped in and out of cars, taking my instructor and others for rides in my car, and trying to get out there to dice it up with the other DTM’ers. I got to ride with Chase for a session, too. I’ve been mentoring him since we were autocrossing together a couple years ago and I tend to be very critical of him because I see that he has a lot of potential. I’ve been very pleased with how quickly he’s progressed and I often forget that he only has a few driving schools under his belt!
In what was probably the highlight of the day, Tom finally caved in and let me take his Cayman S out for a few laps. The belts were all wrong for me and practically choking me, but I wasn’t going to let a little asphyxiation keep me off the track! I got warmed up on the out-lap and then ran about 5 laps. I was surprised by how much the car moved around, as well as how easy it was to drive, in general. It was fun, though, and I appreciate Tom trusting me in it, albeit not enough to let me run without stability control! No bother, though. The only place it intervened was when cresting Madness. Thanks, Tom!
We all went out to dinner again that night and I’m astounded at how large our group had become. There were a few new folks at this point, so we decided to go around and each tell the stories of how we became involved in Duct Tape Motorsports. It was corny, for sure. But it was nice to hear from each person.
Tuesday was a misty day when I got in with my student again. He had certainly improved overnight (this is typical). Things were going well and I was getting ready to sign him off to get a check ride to run solo. I wanted to work on a couple more things before doing that, so I addressed them in that session. He had been braking very early at the end of the back straight, so I gave him a reference point, which was still early, but about 1 ½ car-lengths later than where had been braking. It was a jut in the wall, which I told him to consider as the “5 marker”, after which there were cones indicating 4, 3, 2, and 1. The next lap around, he braked precisely at the 5 marker and had plenty of room to slow. I was pleased with that. However, on the next lap, I did not say anything more, but as we approached the braking zone at 120 mph, he passed his original braking point, then passed the “5 marker”, at which point my eyes went wide, and I was yelling “BRAKES!!!” as he was passing the “4 marker”. The 4 marker is pretty much the absolute limit for a car of his speed. He buried both feet into the brake pedal and got the car slowed down by the outside of the turn. I looked at him and asked what had happened. Since he had been able to slow in time on the previous lap, he had taken it upon himself to push his braking zone back by the same amount again. We took a slow lap or two while I explained the exponential nature of pushing the limits. At first you can make large gains, but then you must push the limits in smaller and smaller increments so that you can still correct yourself when you just step over them. I reminded him to not try anything new like that without first telling his instructor and definitely not during his check-ride. Consistency is key and keeping their instructor calm should be a primary goal of a student. I did sign him off to run solo and his check-ride instructor approved, as well. He completed the day without issue and had a car in one piece to drive back to Minnesota with.
I continued running whenever I could, as I had several people requesting rides. I took a 15 year old kid out who was riding in just about anything he could, as well as DTM’s own member, Dan, who had attended solely to get ride-alongs and was also riding in anything he could! I took another DTM’er, Jen, out for a session and she reported back that there were several times when she closed her eyes. She always knew we’d make it, but couldn’t bear to watch sometimes, just in case we didn’t.
At other points during the day, I did a couple check-rides for students to run solo. I had a gentleman, whose instructor was the one with the M3 that I had taken out the previous day, who had a virtually identical car. I talked with him a bit about how things had gone thus far before heading out on track. As we headed out, I sat completely silently for 3 laps. I had no question that this guy was capable of running solo, but could also see that he was driving somewhat reserved in his line. I told him he was fine to be soloed and asked him if he minded a little bit of feedback. He gladly accepted and we continued on. I modified his line in a few key areas and immediately applied each one. Just before this, there was an E30 325i that had gone by him. Just afterwards, he passed the E30 with authority! He was really running fast when I got done with him and thanked me for the feedback, so I asked to be dropped off so he could finish up on his own.
I did essentially the exact same thing for another gentleman, who had an SCCA-prepared E30 M3, in the next session. Then, towards the end of the day, Jen’s instructor had to head out early, so she asked me to ride with her in her M Coupe (which I had gotten airborne when I test drove it for her 3 years ago, which is a running joke, but that’s a whole other story). Jen is typically very timid in comparison to some others on the track, but I’ve found my style as an instructor and really focused her on hitting every mark, every time. If she could do this, she could methodically increase her speeds, knowing that nothing else has changed from lap-to-lap. So I made some modifications to her line and did the best I could to have her use the entire road on track-out, even if it meant steering the car out there. I coaxed her into feeding more throttle in where prudent and got closer to going flat-out in a couple of sections where it is intimidating to do so. I could see her becoming acclimated to the new lines and I’m sure that she realized a 2-3 second drop in her lap times out of all this. She told me she liked my instructing much better than her previous instructor’s, so I feel like I must be doing something right.
Drawing a smiley face in Jen’s brake dust
Big discrepancy between a Spec Miata and an ALMS Ford GT-R!
The 2-day event was not without carnage. Fortunately, I did not see any student or instructor cars banged up, which is commendable, considering the high-performance nature of the cars that Chin Motorsports attracts, as well as the complexity of Mid-Ohio. But, there were 2 Ford GT-R’s from Robertson Racing who were there for testing. Unfortunately, one of them locked up under braking on the back straight and hit a wall rather hard. Then, later in the day, the other car spun into a sand-trap, but that looked to be relatively unharmed.
Robertson Racing’s American LeMans Ford GT-R
Robertson Racing’s American LeMans Ford GT-R
All-in-all, I couldn’t have asked for much more out of these 7-days. Great instruction from the Mid-Ohio School, 2 race wins, and getting to hang out with some of my best friends. What could be better? Oh, a win at the 24 Hours of LeMons? …well, we’ll see about that at the end of July!
