THSCC Forums

Wow, I feel like a novice again! I don't know if it was the "new" car or I just didn't like this course, but it was tough going out there today. I'm used to Camaros and Mustangs, but I just switched to a 2nd gen RX7 for financial reasons and found out I have a lot to learn! It was sobering to see Brad turning 53s and I was stuck in 58 land. Wow... OK I was on street tires but we're talking centuries here. I went way faster than this in my Camaro and it had a lower PAX. Possibly I had been using horsepower to make up for a lot of bad habits? I was just really suprised how my relative times compared to other drivers went south in the new car and to top it off, its a faster class (CSP vs BS)!

I had two great instructors ride with me today, Jim P. and then Shawn W. and they both made helpful suggestions, although I think I made it easier on Jim because I made some very obvious mistakes that I didn't make when Shawn was in the car (see Jim I'm doing better already!).

It appears at this point my biggest challenges are consistancy (trying to be fast in all areas of the course in the same run ) and overall smoothness. Anyone got any tips on being smoother? Should I put in a Sade CD?

And oh yeah, damn it was slippery out there!

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Alan C.

Tips on being smoother:

RELAX!

Learn the car. If the car is new to you, it might take a while to get used to doing what it wants you to do.

Make sure you have a plan MEMORIZED after you walk the course - if you drive cone to cone, you'll be choppy. Plan the part of the course you're in right now so that it sets you up for the next part; do this for the whole course. If you know where you need to be and what you need to be doing, all you have to focus on is getting the car there and keeping it under control.

If you're making sudden, jerky steering inputs & gas/brake applications, STOP IT!

Don't focus so much on speed at first, just try to work on the flow; once you get the course to flow, you can add speed later. If you're worried about losing today because you feel like you're going too slow, just think about how much you're improving your driving skills, and how well you'll do in the future if you just stick with the plan.

Good luck!