See... in my opinion, you need an instructor more than anyone! You've got enough experience that you think you know what you're doing, and you probably do know more than a lot of novices out there... at least in terms of car control and recovery. But there are lots of things that go on at a DE or lapping day that you'd never see or experience at an autocross or hillclimb, most having to do with the other cars on track. Just look at your own videos... in the 1st or 2nd video, you pass a Legacy wagon (on the wrong side IMO) and immediately get all loosey-goosey going into the corner and started tank-slapping. Right now you think you can save everything, so as you get faster, you'll start trying to save the wrong things, and sooner rather than later, it'll come back to bite you, hard. There are lots of little things I see that eventually will add up to one unfortunate incident (these things aren't just related to your videos, but also in what I'm reading on the group's website.)

That's unfortunate, it sounds like you had a pretty shitty instructor then. (Or perhaps you simply WERE cocky and closed minded, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here.) Problem is, the groups with the best instructors are also usually the most safety conscious groups, so I doubt many would let you on track in the Roadster. Then again, things are different out west than they are here on the east coast.

I know it sounds like I'm giving YOU a hard time, but in reality, I'm more incensed by what I'm seeing from the group you ran with.

 

Actually, I'm surprised they let you on the track at all. It's mandatory you take a car control clinic to even do any HPDE lapping days in Seattle area. I think that even runs true for Portland.

 

How far are you from Race City Motorsport Park in SE Calgary? BMW CA puts on a nice car control clinic and HPDE lapping days.

 

Well the instructor was a cool guy but honestly I don't think he was doing his job well. He didn't really say anything to me except racing lines. There were a ton of other things to be pointed out that weren't including the corner workers and such.

I'm not a cocky or over-confident person by any means, but I do have a little experience. The initial loss of control you saw in the videos were due to my brakes being overheated. I should of been braking a lot earlier because of it. I ended up going into these corners with too much speed and the rear let go. It would of been very easy for me to completely lose it and end up sideways in the middle of the track, stalled, with a car coming straight at me at 70 mph. Bad things can and do happen on tracks, because with excess speed comes increased risk. I had some people come up to me and tell me I was a "really good driver" and that I shouldn't be running in novice group. I just smiled and shrugged them off because I know I need the learning experience tracking my car with other cars. I still have a ton to learn when it comes to running with other cars.

As for passing on the wrong side, that was how our run group was told to do it for some reason. If you look closely you should be able to see the driver of the Subaru wagon waving me by. This was standard passing procedure for our group and everyone understood it.

The track day event was very well organized and things went smoothly, but I did feel a rather large lack of safety oriented stuff. At the beginning we did go over all the different flags and motions and what they meant, along with how to effectively communicate with hand signals to other drivers... but that was it for the most part. It wasn't until later on they touched on the corner workers and recommended we keep an eye out for them.

Anyway I had a ton of fun, as did everyone else, and no one got hurt. That is the good thing and that is what I will always remember. Granted there are safety concerns but that is something that should be brought up with the track officals and event organizers.

 

addicting isn't it?