Man, it was the 4th track day this yr that my victoracers stood stacked in the rain in the paddock. At least I had some Vancouver company: 4 pristine 911’s (black, blue, white, silver) of the 996 and up flavor. A/dvanced group went out first as usual. I chilled in my car but heard later that there were some spins. B group was next. First lap out and I see an e36 m3 against the hillside on the left of treacherous turn 5a. I think it did a 180 to the left and slammed its right side against the hill. No harm to driver luckily. Well, they did warn/remind us at the drivers meeting that most incidents happen on the first lap of a driver’s first session. Cold tires, cold brain, etc. After it got towed backed, we were back on track.
It was the first time I’d lapped at pr in the wet or rain. And the first time I passed 2 vettes! I incremented my speed but wasn’t going fast at all. Was in the middle of turn 2’s sweeper and starting to accelerate and turn in for the apex when the back end slowly got loose. A bit of countersteer and it got back in line whew.
Simple right hander 5b became a new challenge: no grip when wet. Even at slow speeds, my car would 4 wheel drift. Not confidence inspiring when there’s hillside nearby. I always gave a bit of gas to plant all tires but stayed timid thru this turn the whole day.
Once I came into turn 7 faster than I expected, but lifting or braking were bad options (spin) at that point. I kept all corners planted w/ a touch of gas and hoped that the momentum wouldn’t drift me past the right edge of the track. I made it *sigh of relief* and was able to brake on the short straight before 8.
There was déjà vu at turn 8. in the middle of that sweeper, I turned in for the apex and started giving gas when the tail began to come around. Luckily it happened nice and slow since car speed was fairly slow, and I was able to countersteer. Damn, that was the last close call I wanted to deal with. I took it down a notch out of new respect for the track.
Only a few cars passed me, incl sti and e46 m3. I thought wow, the m3 was probably the bravest of the 2wd then.
It felt like the first 20 min session should be about expired when I saw an svt cobra mustang down a slight embankment on the right betw 4 and 5a. didn’t look pretty, but I heard that luckily there was no real damage and it just needed a tow back up. Driver then promptly went home!
A couple of other drivers mentioned slickness leaving turn 6 I think. Maybe my awd prevented me from noticing there =).
There were no other incidents that day; good job to C group for best behavior. second session was rainy and some ppl left by lunchtime. it was dry after lunch but the threat of showers lingered for the 2 afternoon sessions. I think the silver e46 m3 actually lapped me in the dry! I wasn’t sure since there was also a silver m coupe in B, but I still met and told the m3 driver that I thought he lapped me just before the end of session 3. it was stock and ran stock tires. Driver had run the track 7 times. Seems like an A driver to me.
Usually there’d be 5 or 6 sessions but the 2 incidents ate up that time.
Turn 9 note: the new pavement really made the kumho 711 howl. The wall on the right has been pulled back to allow ~6’ more track at the apex but the race line is basically the same as before.
Warning summary: pr is way slicker than mission in the wet; I didn’t expect 5b and the sweepers (2,
to be so slippery
