My Performance Driving Course
 

I spent my first day at a track with my 2010 370 touring/sport with automatic. It was an amazing experience. Proformance driving school runs a great program at Pacific Raceways in Kent Washington. My car is unmodified except for stainless brake lines and AP Racing DOT 5.1 brake fluid. I have Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus tires.

This program divides the day between driving exercises in the morning and track time in the afternoon. The morning session included tight steering and braking. Most interesting to me was the understeer exercise. We were supposed to drive up to about 50mph, then at cones hit full brakes and turn right. The idea was to force understeer and let us learn how to recover. My Z refused to go into understeer until I got over 65 mph then it slipped for less than a second and I recovered. The VDC was on and remained on all day.

The time on the track was amazing. This is the first time I have ever been someplace I could drive as fast as I want. In the beginning I didn't want to go very fast at all. It took my full attention to learn the lines and when to brake. By the end of the day I was over 110mph on the straight and doing decently in the turns. I have to admit that I braked a bit early on some turns and coasted at times with my foot off the gas.

I have the automatic (no flames please) and my instructor was amazed how well it worked. He drove it for the first two laps to let me see the lines. He was very happy with the autoshifting. He didn't want to go to the paddles.

There is no question that I have a lot to learn. My oil temp behaved and I didn't get any brake fade, though they were really smelling hot when I drove back to the paddock after my last run. The next step is a track day in May when I spend my first hour with an instructor, then if I am confident enough, I am on my own.

AK you are right. This is a very addictive sport. Today my right thigh still hurts and my hands are sore where I had the wheel in a death grip. I have to learn to relax and breathe, at least in the straights.

Sounded like a really good and informative course. Glad you had a good time.

I'm surprised you didn't mind the automatic though. I found it to be a big pain in the ***, mainly with it not down shifting on acceleration. Many times when I'd step on the gas and it just crawled away, and I noticed it didn't downshift and I had to manually shift down. After my first two sessions I just kept it in manual, and will continue to do so. It worked pretty much flawlessly that way (although I did get the occasionally downshifting delay).

congrats! the faster you go, the more brakes and engine (oil temp) you will use

Sounds like you had fun! By your next track day you will surely be hitting some high oil temperatures if not limp mode. A 25 row cooler with thermostatic adapter plate isn't all that expensive, so I would consider it if you are going to continue with HPDE.

I love the instructor who volunteers to drive your car to 'show you the lines'.

I'm amazed they had you keep VDC on during the maneuvering portions. I don't think VDC will let you plow during understeer for more than a moment.

VDC is great on the street, but I'd turn it off to get the most learning possible. That way you can't get overconfident in your abilities. Learning to drive without it just enhances the experience of driving with it.

assuming the vdc doesnt burn up your pads

I may have a heavier foot. When I wanted to go I floored it. There was a lag of way less than a second and the car downshifted and stayed in the lower gear until redline. It never failed to downshift and was very responsive. It was a very pleasant surprise.

In this case, the school requires it. Two slow laps with the instructor driving, then two slow laps with me driving. Actually it was very helpful to be in the passenger seat for those first laps. Remember, I have never even visited a race track before. It did a lot to steady me to see before I drove.

We were told explicitly to leave VDC on. I think the lack of understeer proves your point. On the track, once I got more aggressive, the VDC did slow me down in a turn when I didn't need it (or didn't think so). I only sensed it working once. I guess I am not aggressive enough yet on the track.

Most of the time you won't notice it on track. The times I have, I usually look down at the gauges and see VDC flashing during the corner exit phase. But it's not intrusive at all unless you really botch a corner. Keeping VDC ON during a track day won't hurt your experience. I've also had the good fortune of doing hot laps in a 370Z with a pro driver. He was ripping the car around the track with Hoosier slicks and smoking every other car out there. When we pitted, I saw that VDC was still on. If you drive smoothly, VDC won't interrupt your track day.

all i know is i lapped vir 6+ sec slower with vdc on vs. off, the vdc would come on even after you come out of the turns

But how many fewer off track excursions did you have??? :)

do a search on youtube under 370z vir vdc , you will see how hard the vdc light flash despite driving like my wife.

pavement is only the suggested racing line, grass is useful from time to time :)

I didn't know that VDC corrects understeer. How does that work? I always just assumed it was limited to correcting power oversteer by selectively cutting power to the rear wheels.

How much did the course cost and what all do you need to do to sign up? I want to do it too.

It pulses the appropriate brakes to reduce the understeer. It did it to me once on an off ramp right after I had new tires mounted that still had the mold release on them.

It costs $555 and is run on Pacific Raceways in Kent Wash.

Based on me trying to force understeer, I can tell you that the VDC makes it very very hard to understeer. I was way too busin in the exercise to notice if the light went on. Coming from NY whew we had plenty of ice and snow, I am not sure whether the VDC or my foot controlled the understeer. Based on the fact that it corrected in a second or less, I am pretty sure it was the VDC and not me.

understeer is caused by the rear having more grip than front usually. you can easily do it by going too fast into the turn, too much steering angle, too much throttle. since the car cant control your steering, the vdc would either cut power or apply brakes to slow the car

Turn 3B (at PacRaceway) is the only turn I feel the VDC rob my track out acceleration.

I felt it there too. The instructor wondered why I slowed so much. I told him that I didn't do it. I felt I had a lot more traction than the VDC apparently did.

Nice! My 1st HPDE (this season) is tomorrow :driving: