Where Can I Find Track Maps ??

[George3]

Thanks for the very helpful info.
I understand.   T5 is where I did the throttle lift oversteer in fast traffic with cars lighter than mine. 

No, the Boxster is sold (sadly, my garage isn't big enough).  I'm driving the GT3 now.

[Darren]

Ok, even more so then   The Boxster is very forgiving and you can upset it a little more and still be relatively safe.  The GT3 will be more challenging to drive safely.

I rode with Brent in his last year and whoaaaa! What a car!  It's also way more forgiving than the older cars but it's so stinking fast that you have to be careful.

Because of this, its easy to learn things in a Boxster that you can't do in a GT3.  So focus on the basics....

[George3]

Yes, I saw Brent in Florida last week.  We both (unknowingly) attended the 5-day Bertil Roos Road Racing School in West Palm Beach.  Increadible school driving Formula cars.  Now that was fun !!

[fasthonda]

hi darren!

i've been instructing george a bit this year, and i will agree that a box stock 997 GT3 is most competent track car, 'out of the box', that i have ever been in!

george is beginning to learn 'balancing the car with the throttle';  for instance, if we enter T4 just a tiny bit too fast, and the driver can see/feel/intuit that the car is going to be wide of the apex, then george is very very slightly learning to feather the throttle, allowing the nose to bite and tightening the line up so that he can clip the apex (and back on the throttle almost immediately) and continue on to track out properly. 

i drove his GT3 briefly, and it really responds quickly (and beautifully!) to the driver's inputs.  a tiny feathering of the throttle is all it takes to make an adjustment, and then a gentle squeeze back on the throttle and the line is corrected and the driver is looking down-track to the next turn.

george is learning these kinds of 'intermediate-advanced' skills, gradually, in small steps.  as you said before, this is a FAST car;  a serious machine, and requires respect.  repetition, and practice is definitely the name of the game for learning to drive this car! 

as an instructor, i find it very easy to determine when my student is driving a bit 'digital', or jerky.  in his GT3, i can so easily feel/hear when his smoothness isnt there.  when his inputs are done correctly, the car feels very RIGHT.  when the driver's timing is off, or abrupt inputs are being made, the car lets us know!  i totally agree that as rear engined Porsches go, this one is very 'friendly'.  but, it wants to be driven correctly, and when it is not, it feels more 'nervous', and lets us KNOW!

darren, will you be coming to shenandoah?  bringing the integra, or the 996?

todd

[Darren]

Agreed! Though it's fast its a great car to instruct in -- you can feel everything from the right seat.

Todd and I have spent a lot of time driving lower HP cars and they are so much easier to drive because the throttle becomes an on/off switch.  A high HP car is difficult because you are always modulating the throttle -- one more thing to worry about.  You always have to think how much to put in, where in a low HP the only question is do I go full throttle here, or 5 feet past?  Actually it becomes an obsession -- Can I really take South Bend at VIR flat (140 hp Integra)?  I think I can but I haven't had the guts to do it....yet.

Todd -- I'm looking forward to driving both the Acura and 996 at Shenandoah.  The Acura is running very nicely and I'm planning to have the second seat in.