BIR Driving School (long post)

[Larry C Leung]

Congrats to yet another of the converted, i.e. the ones whom clip apexes.
Glad you had a fun experience. And you are absolutely correct. An awful
lot of speed can be had by driving right. Glad you had the chance to
learn that safely and by having fun!

LL - NY

On Thu, 03 May 2001 16:10:00 -0500 Jenny Curtis <jenny at physics.umn.edu>
writes:
>Hey Q-list:
>
>Just settling back into normal life after the BIR Driving School.
>What a fun couple of days.   I was really amazed at how fast and
>sure-footed my car performed.  The Princess kicked ass when driven by
>seasoned drivers and did pretty well with me behind the wheel.  She
>may not have a lot of top-end speed but the low-end torque really is
>useful on a curvy track where you have to slow down a lot.  The only
>tense moment was at the end of the lane-toss exercise when I went to
>start my car and it wouldn't turn over.  Chris from Anderson fixed it
>by giving it a good whack with his hand in the vicinity of the fuel
>pump.  I guess a Qclub driving school is a good place to have a
>break-down.
>
>Not only did I learn alot about my car's abilities, but I also 
>learned
>alot about myself.  I really felt alot more confident and steady
>driving home then I ever have before.  I've always been a really
>nervous freeway driver, especially when it gets crowded with lots of
>idiots dashing between lanes and cutting your following distance.  
>But
>after two days of tobserving the track rules (don't tailgate--it's 
>not
>a race and only pass in the appropriate zones) I just transferred
>those to the world at large.  It was so much easier to let the yahoos
>go and pass only the people I was creeping up on when I kept a steady
>speed.  I also found out that all these years I've been cornering all
>wrong.  At higher speeds I would brake and turn the wheel at the same
>time, which made things feel really scary.  By using the things I
>learned about cornering on the track, I went the Hennepin Ave. tunnel
>on 94 for the first time without white knuckles.
>
>Not only did I learn alot, but I have to say, driving on a race track
>is just really, really fun!  It was a bit scary at first, but the
>instructors were great and it didn't take long before I felt
>comfortable going through the first turn at 110.  My favorite bits
>were going out of turn 1 into turn 2 (whoosh you fly to the top of
>track, a very cool sensation) the pendulum effect between turns 7 and
>8, which my car seemed to totally love and turn 9 which my 
>instructors
>said I nailed everytime.
>
>I also have a totally different opinion of car mods now.  Mods are
>nothing.  Driving ability is everything.  When my little 4kQ can keep
>up with cars that are way more powerful, or tricked out, it tells you
>something.  At least in the case of BIR, where most of the track is
>turns and there is one real straight away, I really felt appreciative
>of the Quattro system.   My car confidently powered out of almost
>every corner on the track at full throttle.  I'm sure when you get to
>a level of driving ability where everyone is nearly the same, mods
>might make a difference and they might make you feel like you have an
>edge.  OK, I admit it, I'm already pricing suspension mods.  But I
>might just hang onto my money for a while and buy a helmet instead.
>
>See you in St. Cloud!
>
>Jenny
>'86 4kcsQ: Eurotrash Princess
>