THSCC Forums

honestly Graham, its not the missing of the cones so much as being able to find them that i'm dealing with. with only six cones on the course i might end up in Fayettville before i realized i was off course.

Steve,

That was just a little tongue-in-cheek to talk you into bringing out the Z.

In all seriousness. You can bring the Z06, BMW, grocery getter, whatever. It does help if it is a car you drive regularly since you know some of the nuances. So sticking with the same car for events will help since now you are making it do things you wouldn't/shouldn't normally do on the street.

Since you're talking about having difficulty reading and following the course. Get as many walks as you can in the morning. Try and get an experienced person to walk with you and give you their perspective. Then go walk it alone and see if you can see that. Don't try and memorize all the cones. Most are noise. Maybe a dozen are key cones that you *must* see and work with. Get that experienced person to point them out. If you only got 1 course walk and it was during the Novice meeting then you need to get up earlier. You should have had an hour in the morning to walk the course and think about it.

Course maps are fine for starters but they are only meant to be an overview of the idea of the course. The rest is all done walking and visualizing as you walk. What am I looking for here? What is my car doing? What am I doing? What is my next move? Where is my braking zone? When do I turn in? When will I be back on the gas?

Before you get on course for your first real run you should have ran it in your mind already many times. Now on your first run you can gauge those questions about when to brake/turn/gas in real time. Now you can make your adjustments. The folks that have done this a lot and know their cars have already done this in their mind before they set out. They are only making small adjustments to what they already know from their walks.

Stop looking over the hood of the car, you know who you are... Look ahead, way ahead. Start with a couple of elements ahead and then move your vision further. Your brain will adapt better than you think. And the next element won't be a big surprise...

Also here is a cheap plug for the Mentor Program. We are trying this as a test. Much like the year long Novice points. The intent is to help you progress sooner and have more fun. You can learn on your own if you wish. But why not take advantage of this? We're not charging you extra for it. We have experienced drivers that have offered their time to help you (Novices). Don't be bashful. There is nothing wrong with asking for help.

This is only my 3rd year. I was fortunate enough to have a number of people put a lot of energy into helping me succeed and speed up the learning process. And it was well worth it. The Mentor Program is an attempt to formalize what people have been doing in the club for years. Having the program just takes the guess work out of it for the new Novice who doesn't know everyone.

Anyway, this is not just directed at Steve. If any of the Novices have questions, problems, want a mentor please see Rob or myself. Not just at the meeting in the morning. Anytime during the day. We'll see what we can do to help you out.

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http://www.greywinds.com

Steve,

Take a ride with someone before your first run. It helps to see the course at speed as a passenger. I won't be running at L'burg but feel free to hook up with me if the stock classes run first at the event following L'burg. I'll be flailing around in a silver Subaru...AS9.

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Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

seat time, seat time , seat time. thanks for the help Graham. the Mentor program is an awesome asset to the club i feel, and i personally would like to see it continue on. newbies that don't need the slow merge approach will move to open class as they always have and the more deliberate individuals now have an out to stay under the radar and learn at a pace which is comfortable for them. good thing there isn't a lot of machismo in motorsports as that would lead to primal chest thumping and general rabid competition. huh? oh yeah, sorry. novice class as long as you can, because in the immortal words of Rodney Dangerfield "stay in school, it's a jungle out there" 15th or better this weekend, my goal. rock on.

hey, just move up when you want to. I started in novice this year and planned to stay in novice for the season, but after a couple of events I just felt like moving into open class. I'm sure it had nothing to do with getting killed on PAX in novice since I'm in SM .

Before I built the Reliant, I drove a Lebaron. It was rear-ended thrice, hit two deer and had two convertible tops ruined by trees falling on it before the water pump finally grenaded. I've been rebuilding it, and I had the old engine out and a new one ready to go in, but I came home today to find a 30' (that's right, 30') geyser coming out of my front yard and no water pressure, so no getting greasy until that gets fixed.

Irony's got nothing to do with it. God has it in for me. It just took him a while to find out I was driving a different car.

Tommy: Where are we gonna take the deer?
Richard Hayden: I dunno, the vet?
Tommy: You take dead animals to the vet?
Richard Hayden: Why not? I'd take you to the vet.
Tommy: Yeah I'll take you to the... Um...
Richard Hayden: Got that?
Tommy: Shut up.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

My mom used to have one of those.... you like pain don't you.

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2001 Honda S2000 - SOLD
2012 Boss 302
2003 BMW 330i