I had signed up for Summit Point Raceway's Friday at the Track for Dec. 6 and 13, but then we got eight inches of snow on Dec. 4, and they cancelled the 6th. That made my decision (whether to try to get out there on partially cleared roads) easier, but it was disappointing to miss my first track day with the Z.

By the following week the roads were clear, of course, except for runoff from all the melting snow. It looked like Friday the 13th would be cloudy but dry, but by Thursday they were calling for rain starting at noon Friday.

So early Friday morning I was lying in bed trying to decide whether I'd rather go to the track for, at best, one partly dry session or just go back to sleep for a few hours.

In a rare moment of early morning clarity, I realized that even one session would be better than having to wait another three full months before I could open the car up on the track. So I got out of bed and made the 90-minute drive from Columbia, MD, to Summit Point, WV.

For my first session the track had been partially dried by two earlier groups, but most of it was still damp, and there were a few trickles of snowmelt running across here and there. The temperature was in the high 30s, but there wasn't much wind.

I found that taking the usual line through Turn 1 led to quite a bit of sliding, so on later laps I drove about six feet past my normal turn-in point and took an apex about a car width away from the curbing, where the grip was a lot better.

There were a few other places one had to avoid (mud on the outside of the approach to Turn 10), but otherwise I drove the normal line in the first session.

Not so for the next two. The rain arrived almost exactly on time, so we ran sessions two and three in a moderate rain. Not buckets, but solid rain. Big puddles started to form in some corners and fair sized rivers were running across the track at Turn 2, between 8 and 9, and elsewhere. My “rain line” was essential at Turn 1, and looking back at it, I should have tried to find more grip off the line in a couple other places as well.

At the end of the third session it started to sleet, and a few minutes later real snow was falling, so I high-tailed it home, skipping the fourth session. The ground was warm enough to prevent any accumulation, but I just thought it best to get going.

So how did the Z perform? In a word, great! I started out cautiously, of course, but it seemed like everyone else was being a lot more cautious, and the car made me confident enough to go by them. In the first session I passed a Corvette Z06 on the first lap (a first for me!) and I lapped him again by the end of the session! Okay, he wasn’t running flat out, but I’m still taking it as a personal victory. I passed a lot of other cars, too, which was really fun, and something I rarely got to do in my Miata, or even my 944 Turbo.

The Z was stable and predictable, despite the less-than-perfect conditions. I intentionally tried out the ABS once before Turn 1, just to see what it felt like, and it kicked in on its own a couple of other times. But mostly I braked very conservatively, rather than risk running off the course (which at least one person did in every session).

I turned off the VDC for sessions one and two. With it off, I had a little tank-slapper on Turn 3, a combination of getting on the power a little early and being on the polished racing line at the apex. But I kept it under control, and it was a nice little show for the guy in the red Focus SVT behind me.

For session three I left the VDC on, and took an instructor who had been curious about the car and asked if he could come along. By this time I was already comfortable enough with the car and the conditions that we could chat about the Z’s specs and stuff while I ran the course.

After a few laps I asked how he thought I was driving, and he said I was doing perfectly. The word “perfectly” was still hanging in the air when I did another tank-slapper coming out of Turn 8, practically identical to the earlier one in Turn 3. I laughed and said, “Well, so much for being perfect.” He said, “But you did a good job of recovering it.” It’s interesting that this happened with VDC on, because as far as I can tell, it didn’t do anything.

Obviously I didn’t push the car to its limits, so I can’t comment on the understeer that people have been talking about or the reputedly crappy stock tires. But once I got out of the corners and put on the power, I pulled away cleanly and quickly, passing almost everyone I came up behind, except a turbocharged Eclipse (which was a surprise).

My top speed at the end of the front straight in the semi-dry session was over 120. My best lap time in the same session was 1:41.5, which is a couple tenths under my best time in the Miata on a hot dry track. Okay, that’s not saying an awful lot, but I think with better tires and track conditions I’ll be able to take at least ten seconds off that, which would beat my best time in the 944T by five seconds.

In short, the Z is a great track car, which is the main reason I bought it. It feels a lot more powerful and grippy than my Porsche ever did, it’s easier to handle, and its brakes are much better. I definitely bought the right car. The only problem is that now I have to wait for three months until my next track day. Eighty-one days and counting…

 

commasense,

Nice photo for your avitar, whos your photographer??



Glad you made it out to the track. I was talkin' to someone who said they have motorcycle track days too. I'm gonna look into it come springtime.

No Z yet, I'm gonna have to be patient and not get sacked w/payments beyond my means. In the mean time I'll just live vicariously through posts like yours!!!

 

It's been many years ago, but I'm familiar with Summit Point and ran several EMRA events there. I'm curious how your Z handled down the 'chute', as I recall this was a flat-in-third downhill right-handed bend that is plain fun!

While my redline track model had defining understeer (in the dry at a Colorado track), I'd imagine that quality would be an advantage in the wet. Your post indicates that the car was "stable and predictable" in slippery conditions and dialing in some understeer should help keep some people out of the weeds over time. As for the VDC, my experience is that if your corner entry speed is too high or your line is too abrupt, the VDC can do little to alter the laws of physics.

Congratulations on getting out of bed to get some much needed track time and leaving before the roads got tricky! One last question: what's the track fee at Summit these days?

 

You're thinking of Turn 4, which I consider the most challenging part of the course, because I find it hard to make myself go through it as fast as everyone says you should.

For those not familiar with it, you come up over a crest and head down an inclined straight for about fifty yards before the dog leg to the right. After the turn you have to brake hard before making the slowest turn on the track, a lefthander leading into the carousel.

The instructors and people who know the track say you have to treat this turn like a straight and take it more or less flat out. For me, heading over the hill towards a turn without braking -- to say nothing of hitting the gas, which is what you're supposed to do -- is incredibly counter-intuitive. I've done it, but I'm fighting my instincts every time. Maybe it's something to do with being 47 years old.

So to answer your question, I was more than usually cautious through the chute. In better conditions I'll try to get more adventurous.

As to your other question, this year the Friday at the Track and Seat Time sessions have been $175 in advance, $185 if you sign up less than two weeks before the class. In FATT you have four 20-minute track sessions and a session on the skid pad (in one of their cars). Group 1 (novices) have two classroom periods and must have an instructor with them when they go out on the track. Group 2 are solo approved, but can take instructors with them if they want.

At Seat Time you have five or six 20-minute sessions, and that's all. No instruction, no skid pad. There may be some instructors around who will ride with you if you ask, but it's not guaranteed. You have to be in Group 2 (or have an SCCA license) to run in Seat Time. No novices.

Prices may go up next year, we haven't heard. They haven't posted the full schedule, although they told me on the phone that there will be FATTs on March 7, April 11, and May 9.

The good news is that they are building a third track which should be open by summer. It should expand the spaces available for FATT, which have been filling up very early for the past year or two.

 

It was some guy who came out on a big honking motorcycle to check out the color of my car. Best picture I have of my car, since the weather hasn't cooperated since then to let me take my own pix.

Do I owe you some royalties or something?

 

Great summary of your run. I enjoyed reading it, and have been curious to see when a 350z would make it out to Summit Point. I was hoping to see one when I ran on Nov. 8, but no such luck. Please post when your end up going back... I would really enjoy seeing the car at the track (surprisingly, I have seen none on the streets in Silver Spring/Bethesda... where are they?).

Also liked your insight on the rain line - I'm still quite new at it, and have only run in the dry so far. My worst spot felt like setting for 4 in turn 3... hard to tell exactly how much speed to bleed off and get the turn-in point right to clip that apex. BTW, any idea how fast you end up taking the chute on a dry day (perhaps in your miata or 944)? It is surprisingly fast... I've had my lowly Celica GT-S close to 90 before braking for that hard left. Thanks for the post!

 

Those runs sounded like a lot of fun. We will have to get a group of Z owners together again and do a Friday at the Track session in the spring. I've auto-xed my Z once, and I can't wait to get it on a road course!

 

T4 is my favorite turn on the track, but most people think it's the most intimidating... yes, I flat foot it through the turn in 4th, and as soon as you complete the turn, there's very little braking room before you head into T5 (the slowest corner on the course)... I did catch a glimpse on one lap right as I got on the brakes, and I was around 107.... gotta love those Brembos...

As for the carousel, I still need to refine my line and throttle, as I was quite inconsistent and lost a lot of time in T5 & T6 especially...