Car control clinic

My DH loves racing and in fact he’s into cars in general. I on the other hand see them as a means of getting from point A to point B. Several times he has tried to get me enthused about the idea of riding with him when he races. I was a passenger once on the track with him at the Pocono raceway and it was fast and scary. First of all you need a helmet that’s where my brain elevates the danger level.
Anyway one of my girlfriends finally took the plunge and has her Porsche and so I figured it might be a nice way to spend her birthday afternoon at hubby’s Porsche club NNJR car control clinic at the Englishtown Raceway Park. So I signed her up and my DH convinced me to try it out as well.
Well beautiful sunny day day, top down in my mini and everything was great until I got there and then, PANIC.
What am I doing here!!!!!
I am in over my head I drive like a crazy woman anyway and now I am supposed to do that on purpose!!
A complicated setup of cones to maneuver around, a sea of fast driving, gear shifting Porsche’s and little me in my little automatic mini that barely can make it uphill in the U turn by my street.
I wanted to run or more appropriately drive like hell out of there LOL.
Once more another dose of boosting and calming by DH and I decided to stick around and give it go, considering I drove 70 miles from home to be there it was not that tough a choice.

On the menu today was

A) Skid pad
B) Panic braking
C) Slalom

Appetizer was the skid pad :

Picture 50 cones in giant circle and the object is to drive around the outside of the circle as fast as you possibly can until the car almost spins out on control so you can learn how to regain control. Can anyone say Dizzy! Every instructor who hopped into my car (Oh did I mention at each lap a different instructor jumped into the passenger seat to guide you, DH being one of them) kept repeating step on the gas, step on the gas, but brain would not allow it. Lord knows I have a lead foot and yet for some reason my brain did not allow me to go past 30 mph in the spin cycle. So never really skid out of control and never need to regain it so I guess from an instructional point of view it was a bust from a sanity point of view score one for me.

Next the main course the Panic Breaking :

This was a blast. Picture a large U shaped set up with cones where you drove until the last second and the slammed the brakes just inches shy of the wall of cones at the end. Think Bambi and how if she darts into the road you don’t want to be the reason her mom did not make it home that night. If the ABS does not kick in you are not doing it right. It was a great way to learn about how to react when the ABS do kick-in in real life.

Now onto Desert Slalom :

If you are like me this is the first time I had even heard the word. Here is the definition from Wikipedia for Slalom in case you need to know more.
A long straight line of alternating yellow and orange cones designed to give a feel for real life scenario of having to change and maneuver around obstacles in the road.
Here comes the roller coaster, left then right, then left then right all the while with your foot on the gas. It was a success in that I did not knock down any cones. Yeah! Am I winning a prize?

Happy birthday to my girlfriend B and from the smiles on her face she will probably be back for seconds.

As for me, I survived the twists and turns without throwing up (that part came later and is a story for another day. It was fun and educational but not really something I feel the urge to do more than one sunny Sunday in summer. I enjoy that my Hubby is passionate about cars and that brings him happiness. You won’t be seeing me behind the wheel on the track in the Pocono’s any time soon but you will see me in the stands cheering on as my DH does a few fast laps and smiles.

P.S. Best tip of the day from one of my instructors Howard: Hold hands at the wheel at 9 and 3 at all times, so you always know where the wheels are pointing and it keeps your arms out of the way of the airbag.

Tags by Technorati: NNJR-PCA,Car Control Clinic,Englishtown Raceway Park,Pocono Raceway,Porsche

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