Audi Club NW event at The Ridge 8/20/16
Summary
Date(s): 8/20/16
Location:
The Ridge Motorsports Park, Shelton, WA
Group:
Audi Club Northwest
Conditions: Very, very hot.
High temps: Morning: Mid 70s to start, to low 90s by noon. Afternoon: Mid to upper 90s.
Fast lap time: Slow; stopped data-logging after second session.
This day was expected to be very hot. It did not disappoint. I quit after the first session in the afternoon; completed three sessions total. This was probably my least satisfying lapping day since 2006. I did take a break from 2011 to 2015, but still, this was not a very enjoyable day for me. It was really too hot and the program was not to my style. I?ll explain in more detail.
Details
The Audi Club NW has built out its educational effort considerably since I last tracked with them in 2005. Without going into specifics, their HPDE program was the most comprehensive instructional initiative that I?ve ever seen delivered by a marque-based car club. It?s really perfect for new HPDE participants. It involved debriefs for all groups after every lapping session.
I?m not going to claim to be an expert driver and, like most non-experts, I can always use coaching (and welcome it). However, after nearly 60 track days, I?m not a beginner. However, since I had not been out with Audi is many years, they treated me like one. What I thought was going to be a single-session checkout ride-along turned out to be a constant tutorial throughout three lapping sessions. It did not help that I was a little loose about hitting apexes, but frankly after a while the constant talking (blue tooth ear bud) did not help.
My recorded ?best? lap times were 20 seconds slower than my typical times from my prior visit (three weeks prior to this visit). It got to the point that the incessant coaching in my ear really affected my concentration. It?s why I stopped early. It was incredibly distracting and made me wonder why I?d spent $265 to be there. I was happy to pack up and head home. It made me remember why I had stopped driving with Audi club in the first place ten years ago.
While the event?s cost structure was very fair, the number of sessions (one 15 minute session and one 20 minute session in the morning) was way off my prior two visits. With Cantrell, I got 90 minutes of track time in the morning alone -- and completed the better part of six 30 minute sessions that day. I went through 1-1/2 tanks of gas at the Cantrell day. I did not even use half a tank of gas at the Audi event. My tires didn?t even come up to pressure in the first session with Audi.
I like getting coached, but what I really prefer is to get some coaching, then go out and practice on my own in quiet. It allows me to concentrate. I?ll never be a perfect driver and will always dial back a little from all out, but I usually have fun. I did not have one minute of fun at the Audi event. The "checkout" instructor would not get out of the car and would not stop talking. Gack. He was a fine guy and knowledgeable. It just did not work for me.
There were some other peculiarities at this event. There was no conventional "point by" process. Instead drivers used turn signals. Left to indicate passing and right to indicate moving over for passing. They also did not have a formal cool-down lap. VERY odd for 97 deg F temps. And despite trying to compress the sessions, they had the fewest number of a.m. sessions of any event I've ever attended.
What lead to the compressed time for each session? A lot of drivers and a separate run group for instructors. In all, 89 drivers on Saturday. I was in the largest group (intermediate). Because I spent the entire event with an instructor (and driving slower than normal), I spent a lot of time checking mirrors and letting folks by. That was just another distraction. Coupled with the oddball signaling procedure (really only had to worry about doing a right signal though) and the constant stream of directions, well, I drove like terribly. Bleh.
Photos from club photographer Peter Vu:
My car cooling off after the second session:
My lesson from this event: Remember why I like certain groups and don?t like others. Stick with the ones I like.
![[idea]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_idea.gif "Idea! [idea]"){kind=icon}
![[dunno]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_dunno.gif "Dunno [dunno]"){kind=icon}
