Finally, back on track

[Karl Lazlo]

Not a lot of activity in this sub-forum for quite some time; I'll bump it...

My background: I started racing way too long ago, starting in formula cars with Skip Barber 20+ years ago, then transitioned to rally cars, cuz' road racing didn't scare me enough or take enough budget. Did reasonably well in a competitive class, with an underfunded "team." Couple years after 9-11, I made a transition to teach driving for high risk environments and was certified to teach EVOC via a few states' POST Councils. Coupled with having a very young daughter, my racing suit got hung up. Short of a few karting sessions, I haven't driven in anger in a long time...

Now, The Beast (my daughter) is older, my free time opened up, and possess a few reasonable track-ready cars, so it's time to re-learn how to drive.

Saturday the 15th, did a day with my bone stock (save some BBS wheels) E46 M3 at Thompson, and the 17th, did a day with my no-longer-stock 996 Turbo at Lime Rock.

Besides banging the rust off my skills, my goals were simple: Beat the shit out of the M3 to find stuff to break and upgrade (nothing broke), and get used to driving a rear engined, fast car that I have little (by comparison) seat time in, compared to BMWs.

With tracks reopening amid COVID precautions, schools and clubs had to adjust how they keep us rookies/novices within our limits without having an instructor in car with us. SCDA (scda1.com) did a great job, by having instructors in their own cars teamed with 1 or 2 Novice drivers, doing lead:follow sessions. I had three different instructors over the two days, with some Novice attrition. All were solid instructors. To that end, my last of 4 sessions for the day at Lime Rock, I had the pleasure of having a 1:1 instructor:novice ratio, with the instructor in a track-prepped Lotus. Since I demonstrated safety and some semblance of competence, we were set loose on the track, first out of the pits. We had a great out lap and immediately caught the last group as they started their out lap, getting around them as they were one the other side of the blend line. LOL. Spent the next 23 minutes chasing the Lotus and lapping novice traffic. :-)

All in all, I had a great weekend, so happy to bang the rust of my skills, and get reacquainted with Lime Rock. The cars did great and I am looking forward to more track time in the Porsche, as I slowly sort out the M3 for The Beast's use in a few years.

And, the requisite photo:

[johnrando]

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[t.er]

Sweet! I never really had opportunities to race, but am very lucky to have been one of the drivers for my Uni's FSAE team for all 5 years. My skills there translated to autox pretty well but it's certainly a different experience to track, which I just started this summer and am still a novice at.

Also, wow lucky daughter, getting to use an E46 M3... all I had were my parent's Toyota Camry and Corolla haha

[Karl Lazlo]

Also, wow lucky daughter, getting to use an E46 M3... all I had were my parent's Toyota Camry and Corolla haha

Yeah, she's spoiled. She has claimed the M3 as her own. But, I have ulterior motives... I put my parents though hell when I first got my DL, balling up two vehicles and ending up in the ER 6 days after being licensed. No judgment, no skill, etc. resulted in an epic crash. I don't want to do through the same hell. My now-12 yr old daughter has been karting for a few years and will be ready for a proper school when she gets older. If that means she gets to do track days in a prepared M3, so be it. :-)

[Will]

Great thread bump!