I had the opportunity today to participate in the annual Car Control clinic put on by the NNJR
PCA chapter. This clinic gave you the chance to push your car HARD and learn (or exceed) the limits of traction in a safe environment. The only thing hurt during this event were cones and believe me, from the looks of them, they're used to being beaten.
Hopefully my writeup will encourage more of you to sign up for any AutoX or car control courses offered by your local
PCA region. Don't expect a Porsche Driving Experience type of school, but waddya expect for $55 vs. $1000 a day for PDE?
Parking Lot 18 of Giants Stadium was divided into four areas setup as follows:
- Clockwise skidpad
- Counter clockwise skidpad
- Braking test
- Slalom course
The day started early at 8AM with registration and the clearing your car of any loose objects. For the Cayman/Boxter owners, a 18 gallon Rubbermaid enclosed tote fits PERFECTLY in the front trunk. This makes it a snap to clear out your car and keep things dry (more on this later). As you can see, all us genius Porsche owners think alike:
The class is setup so that 1/2 the group drives in the morning and the other half works the course picking up cones, managing the start line and lining the cars up. Lazy folks need not apply here. I ended up with cone duty and it was a whole morning of doing wind sprints. Just cause I was the thinnest person there everyone though I was in shape to run. (Note to self, many fellow Porsche owners are not good candidates for Sports Seats) So much for keeping my new Piloti shoes pristine! They don't make good running shoes, the soles are too flat and I would end up skidding to a stop to get a cone.
I worked the braking exercise and it definitely kept me on my toes. We had a large assortment of cars from a '74 911, 996 C4S, Boxters, Caymans and several Cayannes! It was something to see that SUV make a 180 degree turn and power out. I could just picture the gas gauge dipping when they floored it out of the turn. One note, the Cayman S definitely had the most aggressive sounding stock exhaust. I thought the Boxster S would sound the same but it didn't. Oh well, maybe the Boxster guys (gals?) weren't floorin it. The 997 Carerra S was the best of this group. When he floored it after the turn, the car just MOVED. Not even the 996 C4S accelerated that quickly.
It took forever but finally the morning session was over and it was time for lunch. After choking down a sandwich while sitting on the asphalt (note to self, bring a damn chair next time), it was my turn.
First up, the brake exercise. As explained to me, the goal here is to learn how your car feels under MASSIVE braking and <insert Charlie Brown mumbling here>. Damn helmet made me feel like I'm looking out of a tin can and I couldn't hear a thing.
You ran straight down a course full throttle, brake and execute a U-turn while maintaining speed, then come all the way back and brake HARD to stop the car in front of a wall of cones. I was fortunate my instructor was the local hard core AutoX guru and driving like this was 2nd nature for him. So pop the clutch and floor it, shift to 2nd and go. I saw 5000 RPM for a sec before it was time to brake and swing the car hard left for the turn. Feather the throttle a bit until we past the apex then floor it.
The turn was the toughest part to get right without understeering (too much throttle in the turn) or braking too much and going way slow. I did get a touch of oversteer once and I was surprise that I responded quick enough to correct it. Probably pure luck. Anyhow, now we're flying down towards the cone barrier and I've got to setup for braking. Not sure how fast I was going, but I braked hard enough to lift my *** off the seat almost a few times. I defintely past 6000 RPM in 2nd before my brake zone came up. The first few times I did manage to tap the cones and knock my MowerAxel front plate holder askew. Oh well, took the plate off and toss that in the trunk (shhh, no loose objects in the car, remember?)
Just a side note, but the person next to me in a 996 C4s managed to somehow SMOKE their clutch during the first run of this exercise. I come back after my run and it STANK to hell. Next thing I know, I saw smoke coming out from somewhere! Come on, I'm wearing a 20 lb helmet, talking to a strange instructor, now I've got to jump out of my car w/o knocking myself out on the door pillar since my head is the size of SpongeBob now. Well thankfully it wasn't the my Cayman smoking, it was the 996. Those 911 guys are rich, they but new clutches without a 2nd thought. I had to smell that damn clutch for the rest of the afternoon since I lined up next to them. Made my stomach do cartwheels.
For a moment there I thought I had forgotten how to drive a stick. When I got my first car 10 years ago, I didn't know ANYONE with a stick, so I just went online to the InterWeb and learned the principles of driving a stick by reading about it. Then I picked up my brand new Audi A4 from the dealership and drove it home in Brooklyn/Staten Island traffic NEVER HAVING DRIVEN A STICK BEFORE. Come to think about it, that was my first car and all my driving experience prior to that was in 1988 when I passed my license test. (can you figure out how old I am now?) That was the last time I touched a car. Humm, driving for the first time in traffic, in a brand new car, and driving a stick. You guys sure you want me as a Zone 1 coordinator?
Anyway, let's just say that EZPass is my friend and to this day stopping at a toll booth makes me break out in a cold sweat.
Where was I? Oh yeah, next up, the skidpad! Just great, the clutch smell is making me nauseous already and now I have to go in a circle? I better not barf into my helmet, those damn things are $$$!
To be continued...