In this thread, people compliment me.

[sperry]

But seriously, I got paid the best compliment ever... a super nice Japanese guy (Ken, some of you may have met him at KSpeed or at the last autocross) told me in his heavy accent "you have super technique" after instructing him at the RFR PDX. It was the most Initial-D-esque awesome moment of my life. I swear, when he said it, I heard like some sort of level-up noise.

But then he blew my mind when he offered to let me drive his GTR for a few laps in the 1st afternoon session. I have no words... just in-car video:

YouTube

YouTube

For ego-check purposes, here's me throwing the Miata off the track on the same day:

YouTube

YouTube

And, here's Ken driving (much, much faster than I dared to) after me:

YouTube

YouTube

[MattR]

Wow! Awesome, that GTR is a beast, that must have been an incredible experience.

Nice off, did you get too much curb? or outbreak yourself? Good stuff.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by MattR

Wow! Awesome, that GTR is a beast, that must have been an incredible experience.

Nice off, did you get too much curb? or outbreak yourself? Good stuff.

All the times I took too much curb, I was able to save it. That time, I was just too fast into the corner and had to brake too hard while turning over the crest. No bueno.

[cody]

I can't watch these until later, but I want to hear all about the GTR and what you thought of it.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by sperry

But seriously, I got paid the best compliment ever... a super nice Japanese guy (Ken, some of you may have met him at KSpeed or at the last autocross) told me in his heavy accent "you have super technique" after instructing him at the RFR PDX. It was the most Initial-D-esque awesome moment of my life. I swear, when he said it, I heard like some sort of level-up noise.

When I imagine that statement in my head it sounds epic.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

When I imagine that statement in my head it sounds epic.

I can guarantee that it sounded exactly like you think it did.

"You have-a... SUPA-DO TECH-A-NIQUE!!"

Ken is a very Japanese guy. Very polite, good natured, friendly, and easy to instruct. He told me he had done only 2 track days in Japan at Fuji Speedway before coming to the US. But I bet he's been "delivering tofu" for years because he could drive. It took just a few laps before he knew the line. All we did was work on a few of the most difficult corners all day... he got the rest down immediately. He probably should have gone right to the intermediate group... but we had so few people in the PDX sessions (like 8 total people for two groups) that it didn't matter what group people were in. There was zero traffic.

[A1337STI]

i thought at first you were wearing a hans... but then i realized it was just a dclip release teather line ... "thingy" with the hutchins those are on the hans device itself.

Wow ... Lucky !! i got to drive a wrx with a blow off valve (nice fun car) but not comparable in the slightest.

and i'm glad to see the line i was teaching was basically the same line you were driving. I wasn't having my student track out as far for on the turn leading into the toilet bowl

[sperry]

Originally Posted by A1337STI

i thought at first you were wearing a hans... but then i realized it was just a dclip release teather line ... "thingy" with the hutchins those are on the hans device itself.

Wow ... Lucky !! i got to drive a wrx with a blow off valve (nice fun car) but not comparable in the slightest.

and i'm glad to see the line i was teaching was basically the same line you were driving. I wasn't having my student track out as far for on the turn leading into the toilet bowl

Well, tracking out there if you don't need to isn't helpful since you just have to come back to the right to turn into the horseshoe.

But if you can find a good line through the transition (well, fast line... there's no really "good" line, IMO), then you can apex the right hander a little earlier and use that track out and carry a little more speed to the horseshoe.

I think, in terms of lap times, it makes very little difference. But it's nice to always practice using all of the track when possible, unless there's a specific reason not to.

[A1337STI]

good to know. if the line (in that transition) makes very little difference to the lap times, do you think that tracking out would be the easiest on the tires? less wear and heat. or would that just get offset by having to cut back to the right for the horse shoe?

[sperry]

You don't really need to get too far right for the horseshoe. Just need to get to about mid track. Then brake in a straight line and let the braking run you up the hill to about 2/3 high. The uphill braking means you can brake harder with the little extra traction from going up hill. Then let the car run down the hill to the late apex and track out. Lots of people don't track out enough out of the horseshoe.

An alternate line is to stay low all the way around the horseshoe. If you've got a car with power, i think that could work. That way you track out all the way on the corner before, then just stay left all the way around the banking. Still do the whole brake up hill thing, so you're not hugging the curb all the way around, but make no effort to get right beforehand.

I don't do that in the miata because the extra rpm I get running down hill out of the horseshoe is so important on a car without power. But I bet an sti can make the low line work. I'm going to give it a shot if I ever get back out there in the wrx. I've got a GPS that shows instantaneous lap time offset so I should be able to directly see what's fastest.

[A1337STI]

that makes sense.

and that sounds like a very nice tool to have. (instant lap time in car)