I had my first track day (with MVP Tracktime) at Road Atlanta this past weekend. Unfortunately for me I had to work long days on Friday and Saturday and was only able to get 4.5 hours of sleep Saturday night. This meant I was pretty fatigued and running mainly on adrenaline for my track day on Sunday.

I was in the novice group and we had one warm up session and(5) 25 minute sessions lined up. There were also intermediate and advanced sessions as well.

Before going into the session I considered myself fairly competent behind the wheel, but this was short lived when I got to the track. Driving hard on the road and driving hard on the track and two completely different worlds and the whole day left me with a newfound respect for those who drive their cars fast. There is a LOT to think about and it certainly is not easy. It's a LOT more complicated, involving, and difficult than it looks like in car videos. Most of you will probably laugh about this,but many people who haven't been on a track just look at the videos and think "ehh... I could do that".

Overall, I found my performance driving technique lacked something to be desired and the whole experience was scarier than I thought it would be. Road Atlanta is a fast course and my self preservation instinct kicked in early and often. In particular, the last turn going over the hill and down the home straight is absolutely terrifying and I took it slower than just about everyone else on the track. I also found downshifting annoying when braking heavily and trying to go as fast as possible through a corner. This was about the only time I ever wanted a DCT in the S2000.

My car was set up fairly well, though not perfectly. The Michelin Pilot Super Sports did reasonably well, though they did start to get greasy as things warmed up. I was very conservative with the brakes(stock lines/rotors with stoptech street performance pads) and they held up well. The suspension was a mixed bag though. The car felt floaty at high speeds and I spun out *twice*. I’ll chalk the spin outs to lack of experience, though I have to wonder if my spring/damper/rollbar settings (all aftermarket) made the situation worse than it had to be. I also have this bad vibration coming out of slow corner that is probably due to pitted CV axles. That probably reduced available traction as well. One thing that really surprised me about the spins is that they came *quick*. There was no graceful 4 wheel drifts like you see in the car videos. I’m going around a corner one second and then spinning around backwards the next. There was almost no opportunity to recover. Then again, I’m a complete amateur and did a lot of things wrong.

So after 4 runs I decided to call it a day at 3:00 even though I technically I had two more runs left. I was getting very fatigued both mentally and physically and I just spunout for the second time that day (three spin-outs and they kick you out for the day). I figured I had pushed my luck enough and went home.

Overall a nice “get my feet wet” session, but also a serious ego check at the same time. I’ll probably tweak the car a little and go back out again next year but I want to let the dust settle for now.

Here are a few pictures from the day. There were really some amazing cars there.

Comments appreciated J

 

Beautiful car and excellent writeup! It's amazing how much seat time allows you to be okay with doing crazy Sh!t like this

 

Dude my first time on the track I had my friend and instructor at the time take me out with his s2000 before my first run. I was thinking the whole time "Am i supposed to do the same in my car ? im so dead".

 

I went out with an instructor mid-day. He had a V-6 camaro... automatic... with stock tires and absolutely killed it. I actually think the crappy tires worked to his advantage as he was getting these nice, clean slides through the corners whereas my car either gripped or it didn't. Either way, the car was much faster around the track than I expected it to be.

 

Dont be so hard on yourself. You will get better with more experience. You cant expect to be flawless your first time out. Part of having an instructor especially at the beginning to help construct great driving habits.

Regards,
Mase

 

Glad you had fun, scared yourself and drove the car home. We all started somewhere and have been humbled by our instructors and other drivers. My first weekend on that track I literally held my breath from the bridge all the way to start finish, every lap. That down hill is just a leap of faith!

The tires you have a fantastic and if they got greasy then the pressure may have been way off. I always kept my street tires between 36-39 psi. Go back when you can and just try to set the suspension to a neutral setting and adjust it from there. It only takes a very light lift on the throttle or a few degrees of extra turn on the wheel to induce a spin.... You may find it while watching your video.

 

A lot of people who don't performance or competition drive think they're good drivers. I know I did back before we started.

Did a track intro event and realized that I didn't know shit. Very humbling and motivating at the same time.

At this point in my driving, I have more skill on track and enjoy driving my cars more on the street. Even at street legal speeds.

 

Glad you had fun. Much like yourself, i too thought I was a decent driver before my first track day. After that, my perspective on everything changed. Keep with it, things only get easier.

 

I had several friends at that event (red FD, silver E46 m3, black turbo miata) and they said it was fantastic. Does MVP let you run with the top down with just factory roll protection?

 

The red FD was probably there on Saturday. Not sure about the silver M3 or Miata.

They had no problems with me going top down. I ran two of my four runs with the top down. The Boxter and S2000 are the only convertibles allowed to use factory roll protection. Everyone else needs a roll cage.