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Paul
05-07-2005, 05:05 PM
I had a great day out, my first ever track day of any description, met a fellow NSXer - nice to meet you Mo, glad the rattle was nothing serious.

Having taken a few learning laps behind the marshalls vehicle that led us out, I took to the pits to get the mandatory helmet, put the stickers on the car and took a few laps out to see how things went.

The car felt remarkably friendly and my confidence grew. I was soon allowing myself to accelerate all teh way to my braking points. When I discovered that I'd either used the brakes too much (maybe), not let the tyres warm up enough (unlikely), or simply left braking too late (very probably). At around 130mph I broke for the left right chicane along the back straight to suddenly realise that I needed more brakes as the corner got closer very quickly, fortunately I made it and even kept to the track and the right side of the clipping marker. This experience was probably a good thing as I took things a bit more carefully as I began exploring the ability of the car.

An outing with an instructor in the passenger seat followed later in the morning and lots of pointers were soon entering my memory, very useful they were too. We soon ended up behind a Mitibushi EvoIV which while getting through the bends slightly better than I, was not quite so quick down the straights. The Lotus Elise gaining on me would also want past too. We both made it past him down the pit straight, but having had the satisfaction of getting a good exit from the last bend I suddenly found I'd gone past my breaking point :shock: hitting the stop pedal for all I was worth it rapidly became apparent I would get round the corner in and great shape, so between the cones I went and took the corner the wrong side of them and rejoined in pursuit of the yellow evo! Who once caught was past and then left behind ... makes me wonder why he didn't let me past earlier when it was I was all catching him along every straight and having to give way to him into the corners.

Anyway, the instructor was pleased with my first session under his tuition, especially my not trying to make the hairpin having outbraked myself getting past the evo for the first time.

The one thing that was become apparent under the instructors guidance was that with the traction control on, the car often struggled out tight corners, especially hairpins. I had felt this earlier in the day, but getting into and through the corners that bit quicker with his help, it was really obvious as the green TCS light flashed and the throttle application had little affect.

So, with the TCS turned off on my next set of laps before lunch, I put the instructors pointers to use. My cornering was becoming better and the car felt better into and through the corners, especially some of the more tricky corners. Plus, without interuption from the TCS I was able to accelerate out of the tighter corners and hairpins much better. I even even had the back twitch a little here and there, not wanted for fast laps ... but often nice to feel, especially when you keep the throttle down and control it as you accelerate away from the corner.

After lunch another set of laps followed, including the odd drift out of the odd hairpin corner. It also included a 180, but fortunately I managed to get the car off the racing line as I was going backwards, unfortunately I stalled as forgot to put my foot on the clutch as I stopped with cars coming round the bend infront of me ... Doh! Still, no damage done. Although the car didn't want to start for a while nothing felt wrong as I rejoined the track and completed another couple of laps.

The second session under guidance from the instructor was good, no outbraking into the corners, but a couple more controled drifts out of the corners when acceleration was a little too much too soon. He said that I was doing very well as I was going through the chicane on the back straight about 30mph quicker by the end of his second stint of guidance.

After a chat to the organisers and a coffee I took to the track for the last 20 minutes of the day. I felt like there was no one else out there as I didn't overtake anyone, or get overtaken myself. The car was feeling very good after getting a refil of petrol and I was trying to push a little more in some of the more flowing corners and trying to neaten up my lines through the slower ones. Confidence was growing and one more lap beckoned so I could stay out till the chequered flag. An excellent line through the first chicane neading into the sweeping bends before the slow right/left at the start of the back straight, all the corners went well and I flew through the chicane on the back straight, the car using every bit of the tarmac and then all the concrete as well, just getting back onto the tarmac inside the cones taking you down to the long hairpin, through that with a hint of drift and roung the next bends well to the slwoest corner on the track. Everthing was going well and as I headed into the penultimate corner I turned in as well as I had done all day, I nailed the acceleration through the clipping point and exited just inside the corner marker for the last ... boy was I gonna make this a lovely lap, oh yes, I'm quick into the last bend here comes the clippnig point, lets squeeze the throttle a bit more and accelerate a bit earlier ... then

Ah, here comes a bit of drift, left lock and steer into it ... nice,
Oh no, here come more drift, hard right lock and steer into it ... got it,
Ah, no I haven't time to get back to left lock ... ah I've surely got it this time,
Nope ... right lock needed again ...
Ah that's where I was a moment ago ... bump - this will be grass then!
Where am I going, ah, there's end of the pit armco,
Bump, ah that's the pit exit,
Bump ah that's more grass the other side of the pit exit,
Mmmm, there's the first coner ahead and to my left!
At least the engine is still running!

If Mo had stayed a little while longer and been looking out from the pits just before 5pm he would have seen the above in glorious technicolour!

The only visible damage was a small, less than the size of a 5p, chunk of rubber about 4mm deep get lifted from the edge of the tread pattern on the rear offside tyre. Not bad seeing as I took the final bend at something close to or maybe over 90, was probably still doing around 40-50 as I left the tarmac and I expect I crossed the pit exit at about at 15-25.

All in all it was a fantastic day. I know I will be going back out on track again, even though I spun off at the end of the day.


I'll post some snaps in the next few days.

ctrlaltdelboy
05-07-2005, 07:42 PM
nice write up Paul

I too find the chicane on the back straight is all too easy to go into carrying too much speed just as you describe.

sounds like you learned the valuable lesson that many of us subscribe to - don't go out for the last session of the day!

david_f
06-07-2005, 09:32 AM
Great to hear about other NSXers getting out on track. In my experience, the best improvement that can be made to the performance of the car is... the driver. Think about it. Compare how much you've spent on your car and then think how much you've spent on your driving skills since you passed your test... interesting, eh. For those who really want to explore the true potential of their NSX, I suggest the pro driver that trained me www.roberto-giordanelli.com. I take my National 'B' competition licence in August, all thanks to Roberto! It's the best investment you'll make. Cheers, David.

Paul
22-08-2005, 01:13 PM
Here's a snap of me getting a little instruction and words of wisdom ...
http://www.redlineimages.co.uk/Bedford%20Web/images/Bedford_0151.jpg
Will post a few more when I can reduce the file size on my pics ...

david_f
22-08-2005, 01:23 PM
Nice picture Paul, I'm sure you'll be 'drifting' next! Just got my National Group 'B' race licence so hope to be entering the mid engined race series next season (www.midenginedsportscars.com)... here we go! Cheers, David.

Paul
22-08-2005, 01:47 PM
Nice picture Paul, I'm sure you'll be 'drifting' next! Just got my National Group 'B' race licence so hope to be entering the mid engined race series next season (www.midenginedsportscars.com)... here we go! Cheers, David. I set the TCS button to the 'off' position after a couple of sessions and whilst I managed to get the power on nice and early a couple of times and control the slide I got coming out of a few corners, I also managed to do a 180 from the exit of one corner, neatly managing to reverse off the racing line to the side of the track on one occasion, and then lose it completely (as detailed in my write up on my initial track day experience) at the end of the day.

However, I don't think I'll be joining in with the new art of drifting, although I do intend on attending some mroe track days and improving my driver skills at speed, which ultimately will hopefully see me eliminate the excess drift I encountered on my initial track day and keep it to a minimum, or at least control it better when it surfaces ... which most of the time I managed, although even driven agressively (and without the TCS turned on) the NSX is a very forgiving car as long as you are a half competent driver, which I'd like to think I am.

Good luck in your journey into the relms of racing, lets hope you won't need any new panels during the season!

david_f
22-08-2005, 02:00 PM
Thanks Paul. Like you, I just want to have fun! Cheers, David.

Paul
02-09-2005, 02:51 PM
Finally I've managed to get round to cutting up some pictures taken on my first outting on to the track ...

Paul
02-09-2005, 02:53 PM
and a few more ...