Newbie - 2 or 3 Days?

[Phokaioglaukos]

Ben951 wrote:

Starting off at the Glen? Interesting... =)

With the two vs. three day question well answered, let's talk about the Glen. I believe that Watkins Glen International is the most popular track on our current DE schedule because it has a great, long history of professional racing and is in a pretty family-friendly area with a scenic Gorge, wine tours, good food and the Corning glass museum all near by. As a historic track, though, it is not built to modern standards of run off. There are Armco guard rails near the racing surface at many points and some gravel traps. At a modern track such as the Lightning Circuit at NJMP it is pretty hard to contact a wall and with the DE point-by system car-to-car contact is extremely rare. At the Glen it's easier to bend metal.

For first time DE student my view is that the Glen is a fantastic track. It's long with lots of places to give (and take) point-bys so trains can be avoided, each turn is reasonably discrete so that one error does not play much into the rest of the lap and the line is reasonably easy to pick up. As long as you drive within your ability and listen to your instructor two days at the Glen will be a fantastic experience. Then you'll watch the professional races at the Glen with a completely different perspective--you were there and you know what it feels like.