My New Playground
 

Hi gang

It has been a difficult past few months. I've been reading the stories of how you guys are all out at the track, working on shaving tenths, learning about TTO, better lines through The Chute and the short straight from T5 yo T6. Meanwhile, I haven't been doing any track time at all as July and August is a bad time to be running really hard here in the hea(r)t of Texas.

This week it finally got over 100. It was about 102 this afternoon when I finally got a little time to acquaint myself with the track just south of Austin called Harris Hill Road. It's a very fun course. Today was my second time out there, but running the reverse direction. Today only about 15 minutes on track, but I've spent a total of about 30 minutes running the course, so I don't have it down as much as I'd like just yet.

The down side is, I couldn't take the Boxsera out there. The road leading up to H2R is being repaved, and there's no way I'd be able to make it over the gravel mountain. I had asked the owner of the track if he thought I could make it on Hoosiers in the P-car. He just laughed. I took the Jetta TDI Cup.

Here's video of a decent lap. It's a very fun course, although not very fast. If anyone has a Spec Boxster they'd like to bring down here, the owner wants to see how well it will perform against a Spec MX-5 (not Spec Miata).

That does look like fun!

Very nice! No traffic, looks as flat as NJ's!

I was the only one on track during that video. =-)

It's far from flat. The course has a 40-50 foot climb at about 1:04, then a corresponding although more gradual drop just after that. It's a bit more than SPR in change, but more dramatic. It's also steeper than The Chute.

I was an interesting start to the student sessions today. Pretty much everyone had a novice and beginner. The novice I had was out for his first time ever in a 2010 Camaro with headers, 100 cell cat, and barely a muffler. No other mods...not even brake fluid. The beginner was out for his second time ever, first time at this course, a paraplegic using hand controls, with a 2010 Corvette Gran Sport. No mods, but hey, it's a 'vette.

I ended up having a fantastic day. Both students were stellar. My Corvette guy really needs a 5 or 6 point harness. Most of the time, people say no harness unless you have a roll cage and seat. In this case, I think an exception is very much in order. He was exhausted after his third session, so he decided to bag his last session. The Camaro guy started off slow, and worked his way up through being the fastest guy in his session, shaving nearly 35 seconds off his first session lap times.

Now, I'm tired. I'm going to shower and take a nap. Doing this stuff in 100 degree temperatures is brutal.

-Michael