Simon
06-20-2004, 08:32 PM
Hey,
Ok time for an update, it is a big one this time this is what will be going on my website soon, look for pictures on it soon. Thanks!
The NASA visited Road Atlanta this weekend and brought along their HPDE (High Performance Driving Event) series. For those of you that are not familiar with this, it is a open track day for anyone with a safe car and saftey gear such as a helmet. There are four different groups, I was in HPDE 1 which you take a class and have an instructor, you can only pass at locations mentioned in the class. The good thing is this is not a race, they dont even record lap times. You can go at your own pace, let people by when you want and just learn and have fun!
I signed up for this event months in advanced and had a Showroom Stock C Dodge Neon ligned up, but Friday night before the event I got a call from the owner saying that the car broke and is not going to be able to make it. This of course made me almost sick, I left and went to buy everything I could think of to run my Civic. The reason I was not going to use it was because of the oil smoke it puts out as it burns a little oil. I got it as ready as I could and had to just wait.
When we arrived at the track everything was smooth, we setup our space and got my car ready. I went out for orientation laps which was fun, only going about 50m.p.h max was good for me, if they would not let me back out I at least drove on Road Atlanta.
I missed my school session so my first track session did not happen. I went to class, and went back out. My session came and was great, my first lap a Mustang spun out right in front of me, which was good to wake me up and show this is not karting. After two laps the black flag came out and I had to pit because of oil smoke.
I took the car to tech for them to have a look. I knew the car had no leaks only smoke, so they looked at it and told me to go have some fun!
My third and last session came, I was first on grid, and then the rain came! It rained very hard for a few minutes so we started behind the pace car. I was in front, kind of scary. When the green flag dropped, I took off but let everyone pass on the back straight so I could be alone to be safe and learn more. I did manage to catch a Miata and even pass a few cars. I was quicker and quicker and learned about my brakes, gears, and more.
When the session ended I was very happy. I was out the whole half hour, and at speed! I now cannot wait to get out in a race! I learned that this was very similar to karting, but there were walls around me, and it was a lot more fun. I learned looking far ahead is very important as well as using every inch of track.
Simon
www.simontibbett.evaluand.com (http://www.simontibbett.evaluand.com)
Ok time for an update, it is a big one this time this is what will be going on my website soon, look for pictures on it soon. Thanks!
The NASA visited Road Atlanta this weekend and brought along their HPDE (High Performance Driving Event) series. For those of you that are not familiar with this, it is a open track day for anyone with a safe car and saftey gear such as a helmet. There are four different groups, I was in HPDE 1 which you take a class and have an instructor, you can only pass at locations mentioned in the class. The good thing is this is not a race, they dont even record lap times. You can go at your own pace, let people by when you want and just learn and have fun!
I signed up for this event months in advanced and had a Showroom Stock C Dodge Neon ligned up, but Friday night before the event I got a call from the owner saying that the car broke and is not going to be able to make it. This of course made me almost sick, I left and went to buy everything I could think of to run my Civic. The reason I was not going to use it was because of the oil smoke it puts out as it burns a little oil. I got it as ready as I could and had to just wait.
When we arrived at the track everything was smooth, we setup our space and got my car ready. I went out for orientation laps which was fun, only going about 50m.p.h max was good for me, if they would not let me back out I at least drove on Road Atlanta.
I missed my school session so my first track session did not happen. I went to class, and went back out. My session came and was great, my first lap a Mustang spun out right in front of me, which was good to wake me up and show this is not karting. After two laps the black flag came out and I had to pit because of oil smoke.
I took the car to tech for them to have a look. I knew the car had no leaks only smoke, so they looked at it and told me to go have some fun!
My third and last session came, I was first on grid, and then the rain came! It rained very hard for a few minutes so we started behind the pace car. I was in front, kind of scary. When the green flag dropped, I took off but let everyone pass on the back straight so I could be alone to be safe and learn more. I did manage to catch a Miata and even pass a few cars. I was quicker and quicker and learned about my brakes, gears, and more.
When the session ended I was very happy. I was out the whole half hour, and at speed! I now cannot wait to get out in a race! I learned that this was very similar to karting, but there were walls around me, and it was a lot more fun. I learned looking far ahead is very important as well as using every inch of track.
Simon
www.simontibbett.evaluand.com (http://www.simontibbett.evaluand.com)