First Time

First Track Day

Flashback Friday to the first time you ever took your car out on a track day.  How did it feel?  Let me share with you my experience.

I had just acquired my TT RS in August of 2017.  I joined the San Diego Audi Club after the first weekend.  I got to know some of the Audi crew at the first Big SoCal Euro and then a few more at an Octoberfest event.  

Related: Taking it back

Now it was time for my first track experience.  I signed up with Speed Ventures, the group that puts on various track days mostly in the Southern California area.  I signed up for the classroom instruction which was all day and included some lead follow with an instructor for the first couple of sessions then progressed into solo driving.  Between each session of 15 minutes of driving we went back to the classroom for more instruction.

"Roval" map at Auto Club Speedway

Driving on track was so much fun.  The first couple of sessions were, as I mentioned, lead follow and didn't allow us to open up the cars.  We were working on how to point by someone who was faster than you, where the flaggers were, and where the lines of the corners were.  It was helpful to see how to take corners as the instructor was on the radio the entire time telling us what we were doing and where the corner apex was.  You can see a map of the track above.

The next two sessions gave us a chance to open the cars up.  Since we went up as a club, maybe 8-10 of us, it gave us two things.  One it gave us some more experienced people in the group who could help us with tips and more instruction as well as people who had other tools and expertise.  In addition it was a lot of camaraderie, having fun together with other friends and people who you enjoyed doing things with.

Kevin, one of the club members who came, rode with me in two of the sessions and gave me some fantastic instruction.  You can see him and hear his voice in the video below. I appreciate so much that time spent as an instructor riding along with you can tell you all the things you're doing good and bad in real time while being able to see what is going on.  It's extremely helpful and Kevin was great, calm and encouraging as well as correcting what I could do better next corner.

One of the things that surprised me greatly was how fast the tank drained.  I was getting maybe 6 miles to the gallon throughout the day.  We went out for the fourth session and I thought I would have enough fuel but ran out halfway through the session.  I learned that for the next time which I'll go into more detail at a future date.  All in all track driving was loads of fun.  Be prepared to have a car which will be completely filthy and needs some maintenance soon after.  I recommend to anyone to try it out and enjoy yourself.

Thanks for visiting and remember to always "Strive to Arrive"!