Hi guys and girls. Me and my wife had a BLAST at Thunderhills yesterday for the DDP from Hook on Driving! It was the first day of this type of event for them and it went very well!

Others should check it out, it was a great way to learn what the car could ( and could not ) do in a controlled environment... Got the cayman ( and the cayenne ) sideways, found that slamming on the breaks in the cayman could put you through the window, and that the cayenne has to much HP and is very scary to drive on the track!

Cayman Club was represent'in with 4 of us at the event.. So I know others here have pics and video, so Please post um...

( and in the pics below, I did not hit that cone! AX'ers look out! )

Attached Thumbnails

           

__________________
Add Electricity and I Drive at night!

Good for you David.. Good for you! It's addicting eh?

__________________
Alex "Sharky" Ross
Shark Werks:
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Phone: 510-651-0300
Email:
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Northern California's Porsche Performance, & authorized Evolution Motorsports dealer and installation center
Tech Art, HRE, Cargraphic, Brembo, Bilstein and more.

Ze Cars...

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
(Video!)

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

1979 911 Turbo (SOLD)
2007 Audi A3 DSG S-Line
2007 FJ Cruiser
2004 EVO VIII
2001 Jaguar XJR (wicked burnout machine)

Chasecam video from my brother's car...watch me "pass" him...

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

2007 Speed Yellow Cayman GT 2.7 (retired)
2008 Guards Red Cayman GT 3.4
"Carpe Cayman"

If you didn't hit that cone, you came as close as possible! But you know what they say in A/X? If you don't hit a cone, you are not trying hard enough!

So are you saying the Cayenne is scary good or scary bad?

Tell us more about what you did in the Cayman and what you learned!

__________________
Kevin

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Hey Dave your brother sent me that today. Frickin' awesome.. except when he overtook the sharkwerks cayman S at the end!

He basically hit 140 on the straight And it's here for some more power...

__________________
Alex "Sharky" Ross
Shark Werks:
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Phone: 510-651-0300
Email:
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Northern California's Porsche Performance, & authorized Evolution Motorsports dealer and installation center
Tech Art, HRE, Cargraphic, Brembo, Bilstein and more.

Ze Cars...

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
(Video!)

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

1979 911 Turbo (SOLD)
2007 Audi A3 DSG S-Line
2007 FJ Cruiser
2004 EVO VIII
2001 Jaguar XJR (wicked burnout machine)

Well Here is the break down of the day :-)

We started off the day by doing a group dot exercise. This is like the dots on the road, so the goal was to run over the dots, and try to hit each one. This was in the back paddock and was like a mini AX course. so slow pace, and learn where the cars tire and edge really is.

next we went off to turn 7 and had a triangle shape track set up, where we went around the corners our goal was to drive off the track, put both wheels in the grass and then gradually come back on the track. My cayman was to low , so I did it in our cayenne with my wife. really get to feel what it is like to drive off and come back in a controlled way , at a speed that makes you comfortable. A few spins during this practice for a few people..

Next was the slaloms at turn one, ( from the pics above ) with a lane change/ direction pointer at the end , so had to go right or left based on his flag.. So got to try both cars, was fun! I am getting better at this, so learning where the edge of the car is really helps!

Next was back to the triangle at turn 7, this time it was to stay on the track and drive at fast as you can. So the cayman did wonderful! Actually got it to understeer in the tight corner and slide sideways. the cayenne scared me here, the turbo would kick in, then instantly had to put on the breaks to hit the corner. so at one point after 3 laps of this, the breaks did not work... was getting understeer and was headed straight at the edge of the track. but remembered what they said, and let up on the gas pedal and weight transferred to the front, and got some bight on the font wheels and just missed going off.. wife said there was smoke coming from the front wheels. was pushing it a little to hard I think :-)

then we changed sides of the track and went to turn 9 to do a fly over the over the hill turn. So starting at turn 8, accelerated up the hill and into turn 9 over the hilltop, then down to turn 10, this was taken at any pace you felt comfortable. So after 3 runs and getting used to where the road goes, on the downhill straight near the end, I was hitting 90mph, before I had to stop. Very intimidating the first few times you try that corner/hill, and this is really why they wanted us to do it on this turn..

next was threshold breaking on the back straight. Accelerate to a high speed, go between the cones then when you feel ready put on breaks and try to sop at the last cone. Kind of like not seeing a stop sign till the last second and hitting the breaks trying to stop.. So first try I was way short, so they told me other caymans where stopping at about the last cone before the end ( 15 feet I think ) So was about 65-70mph on the second one and hit breaks at the last cone. ABS kicked on, car weight all flew forward, could feel the whole car shaking, but stopped on the line.. Only thing was they said next time push in the clutch too! ( stalled it! ) so them after another run, wife tried it and she did it perfect! last cone, tires chirping and stopped on the line! The cayenne was a little over double the stopping distance....

Next was lunch and a dissuasion about weight transfer, and wife went to meeting about care care...

Then was back to the fun, went to a figure eight. half the eight was wet the other half dry. Really pushed to make it slide, but it really did not slide that much.. there was crazy understeer on the wet part of it , but not on the dry part. Had all four tires breaking free on the dry part. the Cayenne was just insane, to much power, almost went of the paddock.... so really got to feel what is was like pushing them over the edge on wet and dry pavement.. I really think this is important to know what the edge is.. So you can learn to drive near it.

Next we went to full track driving behind a pace car. ( an Auidi TT for us ) It was a GREAT way to learn about the correct lines and speeds into them, again at our own pace.

We then went to corner 5 ( up one side of the hill and the run is at the top down the other side, sort of like a 7 shape ) and did a corner walk with the instructors. That was nice to see the corner up close and learn how to drive it! You can see turn 9 and 5 in the video above ( thanks Dave !) it made it Much easier to drive and less intimidating for us newbies.

Next was another track drive ( pace car again ) this time I was in the cayenne. That turbo is scary, but was starting to get used to it.. This time we got up to about 90 in till we caught up with everyone. Ok so then we where at 40! Why you may ask> we where stuck behind a Prius, yes a Prius, with Racing tripes! in the meeting after, I made sure they know it made me feel like I was back in San Fran, and just as fast ( ha )....

Last one was another short stint behind the pace car and back in the cayman with my wife as passenger. WOW this car can handle well.. At this point the instructor said we where up to 6/10's driving on this track, and that in the future we can step it up a little more, but baby steps at a time. The cayman did not feel on the edge at any time during this run.. We could hear the auidi sqweeling tires, but not the cayman.


The day was great, drove about 90 miles on all the parts of the day. It was great to have our own learning experience at our own pace with out feeling pressured to just go fast. Now I know the limits of the car I can start to drive faster and my wife can feel comfortable knowing that she can handle the car in different situations while staying cool headed!

I would recommend this course to everyone that has a new car and wants to learn what it can and cannot do , in a safe, at your own pace, well organized environment.

__________________
Add Electricity and I Drive at night!

FrankinDave-

I would highly recommend HOD's standard track day they do at Thunderhill, especially after doing yesterday's program. You are never pressured to go faster than you are comfortable. You have a an instructor in the car at all times and you go through great debriefing sessions. I did my first ever event with them about 18 months ago. My concern was that I was going to be pushed from the learning/fun zone into the fear zone . I am not an adreniline junkie. I want to have fun. Being afraid of wrecking my car/ hurting myself is not my idea of fun. The HOD program immediately put me at ease.

From my "intermediate" perspective, I comfortably knocked 2 seconds off my previous best thanks to the focused instruction yesterday, and I got the chance for the first time to "break the car loose" in a controlled way to practice smoothly recovering from a potential spin.

I loved hearing your Remus tunes and oh how sweet your Cayenne's exhaust...best Turbo I have heard. Hopefully Blueblast will have some video for us from his rolling soundstage soon.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

2007 Speed Yellow Cayman GT 2.7 (retired)
2008 Guards Red Cayman GT 3.4
"Carpe Cayman"

dave, it was nice to see you are your brother again as well...

We will be attending most AX's this year in GGR, To learn more. Plan to do one more track day ( or two ) this year, most likly with HOD since it was such a nice experince. Then next year we will be on the track more and more. I think me and my wife have to learn alot more before I ( we ) get turned loose is a roudy DE day....

I hope he came up with some video, he has like 20 cams and 57 mics on that car!

LOVE the Remus.. over 4000 RPM's and it sounds like a Crotch Rocket ( race bike ) and the TT just roars down the track..

Good job nocking off more time!!!! Every little bit helps..

__________________
Add Electricity and I Drive at night!

You can learn a lot at the right DE and some are decidedly unrowdy. The GGR PCA runs great DE at great venues at good prices with solid instruction, and you don't have to go on a weekday and take time off work.

__________________
2000 Audi S4 (daily driver)
2005 Volvo V70R (family hauler)
2007 Cayman S (psychotherapy)

I love my new cayman S when I cant stand it around the house I just get in the car and drive highway 20 is just out my back door.the cayman is everything I hoped it wood be i will do more as i can.

Sorry for your loss. I've heard 20 is an awesome drive. Welcome to the club!

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Turn 6: Laguna Seca