My Summit Point Friday At The Track HPDE recap

[MJanowich]

Warning: incoming wall of text.

The short version - it was pouring rain most of the day, but it was still awesome and we didn't have to yell "Ricky Bobby Baby Jesus".

Here are a few videos from my youtube page, taken with my Replay XD.

http://youtu.be/NRBUIbinrgw

http://youtu.be/tm_QOBSLnfg

The long version -

My wife and I are back from our track day at Summit Point Motorsports Park. We were pretty nervous about going and even more nervous when the rain wouldn't stop Thursday night. Well, it rained the whole way up there and was coming down hard off and on all day. Leaving from Herndon, VA we got there at 8am, so it only took an hour which is pretty good considering the track is just over the border in West Virginia.

I have a 2010 Camaro SS with no power or suspension mods and my wife has a 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth with no mods. We are both running the stock Pirelli P Zero tires. After getting all of our stuff out of the cars and covering it with a tarp, we went through Tech Inspection to make sure everything was ok mechanically with our cars. The inspectors were very brief and we were done in 5 minutes. We then went to the driver's meeting where we were taught the basics of high performance driving and after that the noobie group (us) got in our cars and headed out to pit lane (aka The Grid) to wait for our instructors.
When the instructor took my Camaro out, it was pouring down rain and since it was mandatory to have our windows down on the track, water got all over the place. He had to be extremely light on the throttle because the back end had very little grip in the wet, so we went around mainly to teach me the racing line and when to brake, turn in and accelerate out of the turn. We pulled back into pit lane after about 10 minutes and then I took the wheel.

I really wasn't all that nervous driving because we started out really slowly and worked up from there. The instructors all said (and I agree) that starting off driving in the rain is better than starting off driving in dry conditions because it teaches all the basics at a much slower pace with an emphasis on throttle and steering control. I only had the Camaro wiggle a little on corner exit because I gave it too much gas but I was able to correct quickly and keep going. I'm glad I upgraded my brake pads to Hawk HP + pads. I think it really helped to slow the car down. They have an interesting burnt smell when they get hot though. On that first track session there was a black Mustang GT that spun out and ended up crashing into a small hill about 30 feet from the track, just after turn 9. There were several cars that ended up having to be towed back after spinning out. A different Mustang managed to skid 90 degrees sideways in front of my wife before going into the grass.

My wife did very well. Her Abarth is made for racing in the rain apparently because as my instructor said, if he was driving her car, he'd be faster than everything else that was there, except maybe the AWD cars. Her instructor said she did really well and was very impressed. Her "homework" assigned by her instructor is to work on heel-toe shifting. She loved the whole experience. Since the Abarth is FWD and in non sport mode (she was told to keep it off just to be safe) has 140 HP, she could pull out of corners much faster than us RWD high horsepower guys. When she did slide, it was all four wheels going in one direction so it was very controllable and easy to correct.

After each session, we got graded by our instructors 1-5 on 3 different categories. I forget what they are, but after the 3rd session I got 4's in all categories and my wife got 3's but they should have been 4's because her instructor said he never gives 4's or 5's to drivers on their first day. Did I mention we're going back one day?

Now we just have to wait for all of our gear and clothes to dry out. We both got soaked and so did most of our stuff, even covered by a tarp.

Shake n' Bake,

Michael

[tmurph01]

Sounds like you had a good time. The folks that run and work Summit Point are a great group and top notch! Hopefully next time you make it out it won't be raining..

[LostPony]

As the manager of the Friday at the Track program at Summit Point, I'm glad to hear you and your wife had a great time. When I started doing FATT as a student in 1998, I could not wait to do one in the rain, and I found it very rewarding. I'm glad to hear you will be returning. Here's to better weather next time!

[MJanowich]

LostPony, what's your full name? You were probably the one my wife Tiffini and I handed our cards to before we left. We didn't stay for the 4th session because we were soaking wet, tired and had a long drive home in the rain.

Greg Haas gave excellent classroom sessions and our instructors were really good. I believe Tom Barber was the name of my morning instructor. Very nice guy and talked with us for a while during lunch. I can't remember the other instructors we had.

And yes, next time NO RAIN! It wasn't the driving in it that was so bad, it was getting all of our gear, clothes and car seats wet.

Hopefully one day I'll have enough track time that when I start making suspension mods I can justify the price by seeing how it really affects the car.

Thanks again to the FATT staff!

[LostPony]

Yup, that was me you handed your cards to. Chris White is my name, and I started at Summit as a student in 1998 in a '98 Mustang GT after my brother in law and I got tickets for goofing around in a college parking lot the night he got his '98 SS Camaro. We decided we needed to go some place where we could do it safely. 15 years later I run the program, and manage all motorsports events at Summit Point. It's been one heck of a ride!

[durbojones]

I just saw this. That looks like a blast. I was at Summit Point last November for the Bill Scott Racing program. I want to get my Camaro out there but it is a bit far for me to get to. The guys that work there are top notch.

[Lumino1LE]

Originally Posted by LostPony

Yup, that was me you handed your cards to. Chris White is my name, and I started at Summit as a student in 1998 in a '98 Mustang GT after my brother in law and I got tickets for goofing around in a college parking lot the night he got his '98 SS Camaro. We decided we needed to go some place where we could do it safely. 15 years later I run the program, and manage all motorsports events at Summit Point. It's been one heck of a ride!

Hi Chris - it was a pleasure to meet you last weekend at the SCCA PDX/TT.

I'm looking forward to having my 18yr old son go the FATT this summer.