Watkins Glen w/ Riesentoter
 

My trip to Watkins Glen last June with Potomac was the start of my driving addiction. I had attended my 1st PCA DE a few weeks earlier at Shenandoah. D Seltzer was my instructor and he urged me to come to the Glen later that month. I had a great time at Shenandoah and prior had driven a couple of FATT events. I enjoyed driving but was far from addicted. 3 days at the Glen changed everything. TurboPooch was my instructor and at some point that weekend, probably when I got the nerve to climb the esses at a reasonable speed, I realized that I enjoyed driving on track A LOT. Since then I have driven at least one event every month except for Dec/Jan.

I've got it bad!

Ironically with all the driving I done over the past year I had not been back to Watkins. The news of the Potomac cancellation was painful. It wasn't the best decision for both my work and home schedules but I decided to make the trek this past weekend to attend a 3 day RTR event. I wasn't disappointed. I literally had chills pulling into the main gate. The facility is just awe inspiring with the huge bleachers and signage. The weather was fantastic and the event was really well run. The track was in great shape with only some reasonable bumps in the downhill T1 and T8. Interestingly they were filming a pilot for a new reality TV series about three people learning to drive on track. So there were cameras rolling during the drivers meetings, classroom session and out on track. Luckily not in the white run group!

I know it's old hat for a lot of you but for anyone that hasn't been, get your priorities straight and go!!!

I didn't see any Dorki's running in white, so I really don't have any video that would be of interest except.......I was black flagged! Two wheels off....you be the judge.

Nice Brian. I didn't see any black flag. How did the tires hold up? Did you soften the front bar? How about the damper settings?

Going to Watkins Glen is cool. I tell non car people its like playing a game on the field at Yankee Stadium or something. Going up this weekend to spectate...I'm curious to see the mayhem. Club event are so laid back.

Oh and just what we need is another "reality" show. Swell.

If you look close on the last lap the bus stop flagger is holding a board but no number on it. When I pass the red boxster look at the flagger on the left. You'll see the flagger holding a board with my number and the black flag.

Changed my compression every session the 1st day (1 click at a time) and it made a huge difference. Car felt solid and no odd tire wear, too bad the tires I had weren't great before I even arrived. However, I did try Pagid blacks in the rear and almost crashed!!! The car felt like it was going to flip end over end. Luckily I brought my used set of yellows that still have 50% pad.

Perfect analogy. Similar feeling for Fenway and Wrigley.....

Have a great time. The area is so beautiful. The drive there alone is enjoyable with the rolling hills and rivers.

Brian, did you bed in the blacks before tracking? When I change to new pads, for the first session, I have found that 2 or 3 hot laps and then coming in and cooling off until the next session beds them in right. How did you do it?

I have a set of Pagid yellow rear pads, #2405, that I took off my car when I changed to blacks. They don't have much wear on them and I won't be using them again. What number do you use on the Cayman rears?

Yes, I bedded them prior to leaving for the Glen. I could tell the difference but it's wasn't until I was braking at 140mph that I knew how different it was :shock:

How about a trade? My rears are 996 Turbo compatible and the pads have two sessions on them. I will bring them next weekend if you want to trade up.

Are the numbers the same? I would gladly trade.

PM Sent

What kind of suspension do you have on that thing?

For noobs, I compare the whole track-day thing to golf. It's a sport where perfection is the unreachable goal. You can hack around your home course (Summit Shenandoah being the equivalent of Haines Point Golf), and when possible you get to try another course. Tracks like Watkins Glen are like St. Andrews Golf Course. Each turn is like a hole on a golf course.

I'm not sure that this helps people to understand it, but it's the best I can do. The response is usually, "Oh, like NASCAR?"