Quote:
Originally Posted by jmciver
Lots of "interesting" advice in this thread for someone attending a first time HPDE event - especially the car/mechanical stuff. But I would have to agree with most of it. So I guess I will throw in my $.02.....
Keep an open mind, be very humble and check your ego at the track gate (or even better, before you leave your house on track day). Regardless of how big (or small) you think your ego is now regarding your driver skill level, force yourself to make your ego even smaller. As long as you respect the fact that your 450+ HP turbo car is more than you can handle if you try to use the car's full potential, you will have fun as you progress at a pace that is right for you. You need to be honest with yourself here....
Some will say that an F8X M3/M4 is not a good novice track car because it is a very powerful and capable car - too powerful for a novice. IMHO, I think that is only true if the novice driver has the wrong mindset when getting behind the wheel on the track for the first few times.
Lastly, as several others have mentioned, since this is your first event, just go out there and have fun. HPDE's are a very fun experience, regardless of skill level. Good luck.
|
Great advice. People all seem to have different purposes... some enjoy learning to play with limits and/or get fast. Some enjoy just driving the car (even after they have been doing it for a long time) and don't even care about lap times. Some are ego freaks. There are a quite of bit of competitions/egos indeed even at HPDE-as lots of people who used to be nice in my novice days don't even say hi to me anymore... LOL
But as far as learning how to drive better, it's like engineering- there is no room for ego.
It's still a lot better to start with a cheap lighter rotation happy car that you don't need to worry about crashing but at least getting camber plates with good alignment will make the car a lot better than stock to drive and learn.