Hello all,
This weekend had a lot of firsts for me, and I truly could not be more pleased with the results. First off, it was the exact one year anniversary of tracking my beloved E90. It was also my first track event that started me in the intermediate group, it was the first time I turned off DSC at the track (technically this is true, no need to bore you guys with the long back story on this one), it was the first time I timed my laps, and it was the first time I successfully crammed 4 wheels in my car (lol).
The purpose of this thread is to ask all of you advanced students, instructors, or race car drivers for advice… but first - please allow me to share the triumphs of my weekend with all of you. I think it's a pretty awesome story
As I mentioned, this was the first HPDE that I was placed in intermediate run group. When I started exactly one year ago at this same event, but in 2017, I set a goal to be an intermediate student by the end of one year. I achieved my goal. I had a two part goal for this track weekend - to turn off DSC, and after that, to start to focus on getting faster. After my first sort of warm up session on Sunday, I turned off DSC for good. This was with the blessing of my instructor, who I made sure was comfortable with my decision to do this. He was a little nervous at first, understandably, but was instantly relieved when I told him I had done a wet skid pad event. Most instructors I know think that is a very valuable car control experience for HPDE drivers. Now for the really cool part. After turning nannies off, I shaved 10 seconds off my lap, for a weekend best of 1:31. That’s not a horrible time! To put it in perspective, some A group students were running 1:29s and were happy with it. Some of the racers were running 1:25s and were happy with it. My instructor was very proud of me, as well as all of my ATL crew. I made sure to thank my friend who is the lead instructor for Peachtree BMWCCA, who was responsible for placing me in B group. He put me in this group after reading my instructor evals from last year, and without him, I wouldn’t have had the chance to excel like I did. I obviously thanked my instructor, probably 20+ times after my last run when I nailed that 1:31. This whole experience will keep me smiling all week long (at least) at work
Anyone who knows me at all knows I have a serious goal with all of this that I am doing. I want to be a race car driver. Not for a living or anything, just for the fun of it. So, constant improvement is necessary in my opinion. Hence the reason for this thread. Any of you who are more experienced than I am - can you please give me advice from your experience that relates to the transition from novice to intermediate, whether it is car related or driver related. Thank you in advance
Some pics from the weekend:
