Almost forgot to post these. While I was at Hyperfest I got to check out the 370Z drift car that was going to be driven by Chris Forsberg. I think I actually saw Chris Forsberg working on the car, but didn't know what he looked like so I didn't recognize him :icon17:

Didn't get to see the car in action since I left right after my hyperdrive session.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG1378.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG1377.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG1376.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG1379.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG1375.jpg

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMAG1374.jpg

I almost forgot, did you see/hear about what happened at the Hyperfest the same time you were there?

Damn that is messed up...The question is did he get to eat the f-ing deer?

Yeah I did, but not till the day after. That sh1t was crazy!

So I just finished my first full HPDE this weekend at Summit Point Main Circut. It was freaking awesome and I loved it, like a whole new world of driving. Did 5 25 minute sessions on the track, but I skipped the last one today to get home earlier and not have to sit for 4.5 extra hours in the rain.

Session 1
This was my first time on a large and higher speed track so it was just learning the line and getting used to the track layout. Hit ~130 mph at the end of the main straight, which was about the highest I did all weekend. Finally got a chance to pass a couple people unlike my hyperdrive from last year, which was fun. Really had to work to improve everything after this session. Instructor said I had a good pace, but need to be more smooth and better at looking ahead.

In all my first time track excitement, I forgot to turn on the GoPro for this session. After my session was over, we noticed a lot of smoke coming from my front brakes. I have the Carbotech XP8 pads with Motul RBF600 fluid. Brakes felt completely fine even at the very end of the session. Instructor said it was probably the brake pad grease burning off. This did not happen after any of my other sessions so I think this was the case. I did manage to completely toast the paint on my calipers though :p




Instructor Ride Along
My instructor drove my car and had me ride along with him in one of the more advanced level sessions. He was going to take me in his car, but it didn't have any passenger seat. He wanted to show me the proper line around the track; how to be smooth with my steering/throttle/brake inputs; how/where to look ahead for the apex of each turn. This actually helped me a lot with everything. I tried to just follow what my instructor did for all of my remaining sessions on the track.

Was going to turn on the GoPro once we got to the grid, but the instructor just went straight on to the track :(

Session 2
In this session I focused on trying to do everything my instructor showed me in the ride along session. I stopped trying to go fast and just tried to get the line right and my inputs smooth. Just stayed in 4th gear for most of the lap. I did a lot better in this session, but still needed to work on looking ahead at the apexes. My steering/brake/throttle inputs were much smoother this time.

Finally a GoPro video! :p






Session 3
This was the last session for Saturday and probably my best one of the weekend. I kept my inputs smooth just like my last session and did better with looking ahead at all of the apexes.

I was still having some trouble getting used to braking hard on the street vs braking hard on the track. Before the higher speed turns (1 and 10) I would brake "hard" like I would on the street and then my instructor would tell me I wasn't braking enough. At that point I would push down on the brake pedal as hard as I could to slow down enough for the turn.

Another thing I needed to work on after this session was timing when to go on the throttle when turning. I had a tendency to go on the throttle too early on some turns. My instructor told me to slow down in the braking zone, maintain speed to the apex, and then hit the throttle right at the apex or right before the apex.

Starting in the middle of this session, I felt my tires (Michelin PSS) getting hot. Car was sliding around more and I had to adjust to that a little bit. Tires were all sticky and melty after the session. Not good with all the gravel/little rocks in the parking lot. :shakes head:

My best lap time for the weekend was 1:38.65 on my 11th lap. Skip to around 19:20 in the video for that lap.





Session 4
First session on Sunday, so I this was just spent getting used to the track again. Left the GoPro at home so no videox for Sunday's sessions :(

Had an issue with my brake light flashing for half a second and then later on my VDC off and slip light came on. Braking felt fine, but I didn't want to take a risk and I went into the pit. Topped off the brake fluid reservoir and got back onto the track. Everything was fine at that point and I just spent the rest of the session getting used to the track again.



Session 5
It started raining lightly by this time so I got to to a session on a wet track. Spent the first couple laps taking it very slowly and just getting used to driving on the wet track. Last thing I wanted to do was spin out or go off track. Saw a guy in a Corvette spin out twice on the same turn a couple laps apart. One of the 3 series also went off the track at turn 8, but luckily he just went sliding into an open field.

Now for this session I do have a story about an azzhole in a Miata. So in the first couple laps when I was going very slow in the rain, this guy was right behind me and going faster so I signaled him to pass me. Once I got more confident driving on the wet track I got to the point where I was driving faster than him. I was right on his azz every turn a and he still would not let me pass him.

At first my instructor said that they probably just weren't looking in their mirrors. I got a bit closer and perfectly in line with there mirrors, but still wouldn't let me pass. I was driving fast enough relative to him that I could have passed him at every single turn and every straight on the track for about 60% of the session. On some turns I had to actually brake extra so I didn't break the rules by accidentally passing him without a point-by.

I kept driving aggressively behind him hoping he would eventually give me a point-by so I can pass him, but no luck. He went 1 wheel off the track like 3 times just trying to keep ahead of me instead of letting me pass. My instructor wanted to have a conversation with the instructor in the Miata to see what was going on. Here's word for word how that conversation went:

My inst.: Hey, did you see that gray 370 that was right behind you?
Other inst.: Yes we sure did.
My inst.: Why didn't you give us a point-by so we could pass?
Other inst.: We were following the rain line and were considerably faster than you.
My inst.: *walks away and talking to me now* There's no point in arguing with an idiot like that.

Definitely an interesting experience, but I had fun making that Miata look like a b1tch in the turns :icon17:



Overall I had a great time and learned a lot about driving and pushing my car. This is definitely what the Z was made to do and I finally got to experience that first hand. Can't wait till I can do it again. :driving:

Cool deal man glad you enjoyed it. It's way more fun then the quarter right.

THAT SOUNDS FAMILIAR. :| :| :|

But srsly, nice job dude. Do you feel like you learned more, by participating in a FULL weekend?

Awesome :)

+1

I don't know how it goes with the group you're running with, but if I were you I'd take a ride in the passenger seat with instructors or other advanced level drivers any time you can squeeze it in. I've ridden shotgun with instructors several times (in their rungroup, running pretty flat-out) over the time I've been doing HPDE's, and it helps me out a ton every time. Each time I get something new out of the ride (well aside from riding with many different drivers), because I'm in a different place with my own skills, and so I notice things about their driving that I didn't/couldn't notice before, etc.

Updated my last post with info for all of my sessions and some videos.

Exactly why I'm never going to run my Z at the drag strip again ;)

Oh this is a whole new level of burnt. I'll post a pic tomorrow.

Definitely learned a lot more with the full weekend. You were so right about that. I think even one full day is a good learning experience, but one session is definitely not enough to really learn much.

Yeah I think you can go for ride alongs if the instructor is ok with it. I was going to go for one in a race prepped RX8 today, but they did not want to run the car in the rain. I will definitely try to get one the next time I do an HPDE.

My first trip to mid-Ohio I had the re50a/stock tires on and picked up so much clag exiting the track on my last session that I had a vibration from them being out of balance until my next track day. ;)

:icon17:

I picked off the bigger pieces by hand after the session. Didn't want to risk puncturing one of my tires. They were really stuck on there!

I just read the story about the Miata, btw. What a douche.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

Shahid, great write up! I knew you'd enjoy your HPDE. :driving:

I had so much fun! I can't wait to do another one, but that probably won't be till the fall.

Your reservoir became low as your pads wore down. Be careful of overfilling when you swap the OEM pads back on.

Just ignore the miatas. Thy are great cars, but their popularity have turned them into cockroaches. It really gets annoying when they don't get out of the way. This is what you will hear from every Miata owner. "Yo, I can outbrake all these fancy cars, look at how great our Miatas are. Everyone is braking at the 300 foot marker while we can all do it at the 100 foot marker."

Blade, you going to Zdayz??

I DD with the XP8's so no worries there. Luckily, I had seen this happen before in my Z and knew that the brake fluid needed to be topped off.

Nah I can't make it this year. I have to save my PTO from work for my cousin's bachelor party trip in June.

Its been a while maybe youve been to the track more after the date you created the thread. I just to chime in.
1- not all summer tires are the same, there is a great variety, make sure you get something decent.
2- get an oil cooler asap if youll be doing this often
3- replace your brake pads, brake fluid as well with something like motul 5.1 or motul rpf 600.
4- take your time to learn, by the time you knwo youll be lapping much faster without even noticing.

Yeah I've got all that taken care of. 34 row Z1 oil cooler + Carbotech XP8 + Motul RBF600 + Michelin PSS :tup:

urs is a base with Touring model, how's your experience on the track without VLSD and SRM?

He doesnt have SRM - it's an auto.

The auto does rev match though. Track experience was good. Didn't really have any issues with the laxk of LSD. Experience was really the limiting factor for me.

What paddle-shifted auto DOESN'T rev-match? lol

Once you get more experience, the LSD will become a limiting factor.

Yeah but by then I might have a car with an LSD :p

fix'd

Why not both? :roflpuke2: