Das sind nicht meine Leute
Reflections on my first track day.
The drive to Marulan was lovely and uneventful. For the first time since our return from England I elected to start using cruise control again, rightly thinking to conserve physical and mental energy. Driving that Peugeot in England really scared me in the amount of control it took away from the driver, a driver could become very lazy relying on that tech, and it could be fatal if you carried the habits it taught you into a lower tech car. But I decided against being macho and set cruise control, knowing that I'd paid my dues and wasn't likely to over-rely on it.
I'm trying to compile the dashcam footage of the trip, but this little laptop is really not up to rendering videos of that length. I won't get it uploaded to YouTube by the end of the shift even if I finish rendering it and editing it.
I arrived just after 7, and the first briefing wasn't until 9, so after signing in and grabbing a helmet I mingled and started trying to make friends. I think I did okay, I didn't let myself retreat to my car to wait out the period.
The briefings were okay, nothing spectacular really, for all that I was a first-timer I wasn't unknowledgable, goodness knows I seem to have over-researched everything. They gave me a free club hat, which was nice. But there were a few gaps in my knowledge, despite Mazda saying the tires should be inflated to 29 psi, the instructor assured us we shouldn't run under 35psi for a track day, and could we please insert our front and rear tow hooks in case our vehicles needed to be "recovered". I was in group 3, so I had time to go back to Minx and adjust things, which I did. First time the air pump in the car's flat tire kit has ever been used, but I was horrified to learn there were no screwdrivers of any sort in the on board toolkit. I'll have to see about fixing that. But I watched others, and I was amazed at how many people ignored the request to have their towhooks prepped. I have a thing about following authority until I'm confident I know how a situation works, my car was prepped to the letter of every suggestion. I suspect most people weren't like that.
I mean the tow hook doesn't look nice, but neither is it the end of the world.
In that time the Club photographer came and talked to me about my car. From another source, this photographer called Rob was an absolute MX-5 obsessed nutjob, and he certainly lived up to that in being the only person to comment of the appearance alterations I'd made to my car, particularly the grille, of which I was the only the third he'd ever seen. That said, he was well aware of the difficulties faced with installing it.
Later on in the day I would go on to inspect every other ND and read what I could about the drivers from the cars. I noticed a few trends that I'm pretty sure were too strong to be co-incidence. 1: Every soft top (6+) was Soul Crystal Red. 2: Every RF (5+) was Machine Grey. 3: There were next to no modifications from factory.
Red soft-top. Grey RF. Hmm.
There were two exceptions to those observations, mine, and a purple (wrapped rather than painted) soft top that somebody had borrowed from their wife to get to the event but didn't take it on track. That purple car had many of the same subtle exterior modifications as mine.
This was when I realised that though there is some overlap, these were not my people.
That stark colour division between the two styles of car I really didn't expect, especially since I do see the occasional Snowflake white soft top and Soul Crystal Red RF in the wild. I know Mazda make it but I've never yet seen a Deep Crystal Blue, which is what I'd most likely buy if it were entirely up to me. I'd estimate the demographics of the 48 participants to be 3 female, 75% caucasian, 25% Asian, 1 Indian. All were manual.
Anyway. The first track run. Peter asked if he could drive for 3 laps to better show than tell. Then I drove probably 5 laps before our time was up, and I didn't enjoy it. Peter was an enthusiastic racer, but a useless tutor for a complete novice. First he astounded me with what the car could do, but I didn't know enough to know what I should be watching and paying attention to. And then when he was passenger he yelled things I didn't have the context to understand. I was focused primarily on hanging on and staying away from the concrete walls. I simply did not care about perfect driving lines and faster lap times. I screwed up a few gear changes under the pressure and am just glad I didn't destroy my gearbox.
After that run I was speaking with the resident petrolhead, Rod,(took me ages to figure why he was singling me out, eventually it twigged that the purple car was his wife's, and he'd spotted all the mods on my car and figured I was probably more like him than the others) and he told me about the phone app that let me record my lap times. Lap times were not officially reported to us on account of this being a training day, but Track Addict is a powerful little app that I can totally see being invaluable to someone serious about racing, and is how I know how I performed with great detail. He spoke above where I was at, and with the assumption that I cared about lap times more than I do.
The second run was better, I lucked out with Kim who was a more reasonable tutor. She stressed she didn't care about speed, she was going to focus on when and where to brake and turn. Suited me fine and I got a lot more out of that session. But I wasn't feeling "fun", I was looking at the rest of the day as a chore to complete, I did weigh up just going home as that part of the day was really dragging on, but decided to see it through.
Run 3 the first timers were sent out on their own if they felt up to it, while the tutors all had their lunch. And that was where I found the fun. Without a shouty passenger (however necessary at first) I could focus on the feel of driving. I'll be the first to admit I wasn't anywhere near the fastest, and my lines weren't the best, but it was just way more fun.
After that run I was way more interested in watching the others on track as they took their turns (six groups of roughly eight cars, cycled with extreme efficiency every ten minutes). For my fourth run my Tutor never turned up, but that was fine, I would have told him to jog on anyway.
Definitely the joy was sparked. Again I stood apart from the others in that my measure of success was not in speed or smoothness, but in what percentage of the lap I could have all four of my tires howling in agony at the very edge of what they could do. The real racers, the good ones, didn't squeal the tires much, if at all. But that sound makes me happy. After that last run, in which I spent the last 3-4 laps mauling a grey RF trying to get past, a wonderfully good-natured and friendly driver informed me he loved having me in pursuit as the sounds were intimidating and motivating. Despite my less-than-perfect lines and howling tires, I believe I was one of the fastest in the first-timer category.
That said, from YouTube videos I know that a good driver in my car can do a lap in eleven seconds less. And the world record on the track for any car is only 13 seconds less than my current best.
Salient driving points. Think about this, the average speed around the track on my best run was 71 kmph, and I was pretty consistent, most of my laps were within a second or so of that. Couple that with the knowledge that I did almost the entire track in 2nd gear, with the main exception being the main straight. 70kmph in second gear is a completely different driving style to what you'd do on the road, I was often red-lining the engine, and bumped up against the rev limiter quite a few times (suddenly I can see why people celebrate the ND2 being able to rev higher). For racing, I don't have to hang to the left side of the road, so as intimidating as the aerial shot of the track initially was, it was twice as wide as I was used to interpreting it, and there was only ever one sweep between turn 3 and 4 where I felt there was a real risk of hitting a concrete wall. And racing lines are all about braking too late and then just throwing the car into the corner way later than you've any right to expect it will be salvageable. But that is the strength of the MX-5's, and on courses like this, they can hunt down any Porche.
Most of the other groups got 6 runs, but the first-timers got one less than everyone else due to additional safety briefings. Groups 3,4,5 & 6 also missed their last scheduled runs due to timetable blowout. If I were to go to the same event next year I believe I'd get 6 full runs.
The runs were physically demanding in a way I could never have anticipated, as perhaps attested to by the fact that I now have blisters across the palms of both my hands. In runs 3 & 4 I found myself occasionally just "coasting" the last half of a lap just for the mental break. The video of my hot lap looks positively leisurely as I watch it back, but as a driver by god was it thick and fast.
After my last run I ran my hands over the still warm tires as we were instructed to do, and noted that the rubber was pitted, as if some-one had taken a mould of some rough sandpaper. I'm not sure if they're 'meant' to be like that after the track, or if it was because of my driving style, or because the tires are end of life (hope to replace within a month)
- Consumption 14.5
Unfortunately also I have searing sunburn across the back of neck, a consequence of being roofless as necessitated by a helmet. Lessons learned.
I'm not ruling out motorsport as a hobby, but at this point I know I'm not interested in strict racing. Motorkhana (car obstacle course)may be the next option to investigate.
- Abbot Rd RF “ENVY”
I stand corrected, I was just able to squeeze in the YouTube upload:
[Edit: 15/2/23]
Each of the four runs, the first two include Advisor commentary if needed for future review.
The drive to Marulan was lovely and uneventful. For the first time since our return from England I elected to start using cruise control again, rightly thinking to conserve physical and mental energy. Driving that Peugeot in England really scared me in the amount of control it took away from the driver, a driver could become very lazy relying on that tech, and it could be fatal if you carried the habits it taught you into a lower tech car. But I decided against being macho and set cruise control, knowing that I'd paid my dues and wasn't likely to over-rely on it.
I'm trying to compile the dashcam footage of the trip, but this little laptop is really not up to rendering videos of that length. I won't get it uploaded to YouTube by the end of the shift even if I finish rendering it and editing it.
I arrived just after 7, and the first briefing wasn't until 9, so after signing in and grabbing a helmet I mingled and started trying to make friends. I think I did okay, I didn't let myself retreat to my car to wait out the period.
The briefings were okay, nothing spectacular really, for all that I was a first-timer I wasn't unknowledgable, goodness knows I seem to have over-researched everything. They gave me a free club hat, which was nice. But there were a few gaps in my knowledge, despite Mazda saying the tires should be inflated to 29 psi, the instructor assured us we shouldn't run under 35psi for a track day, and could we please insert our front and rear tow hooks in case our vehicles needed to be "recovered". I was in group 3, so I had time to go back to Minx and adjust things, which I did. First time the air pump in the car's flat tire kit has ever been used, but I was horrified to learn there were no screwdrivers of any sort in the on board toolkit. I'll have to see about fixing that. But I watched others, and I was amazed at how many people ignored the request to have their towhooks prepped. I have a thing about following authority until I'm confident I know how a situation works, my car was prepped to the letter of every suggestion. I suspect most people weren't like that.
I mean the tow hook doesn't look nice, but neither is it the end of the world.
In that time the Club photographer came and talked to me about my car. From another source, this photographer called Rob was an absolute MX-5 obsessed nutjob, and he certainly lived up to that in being the only person to comment of the appearance alterations I'd made to my car, particularly the grille, of which I was the only the third he'd ever seen. That said, he was well aware of the difficulties faced with installing it.
Later on in the day I would go on to inspect every other ND and read what I could about the drivers from the cars. I noticed a few trends that I'm pretty sure were too strong to be co-incidence. 1: Every soft top (6+) was Soul Crystal Red. 2: Every RF (5+) was Machine Grey. 3: There were next to no modifications from factory.
Red soft-top. Grey RF. Hmm.
There were two exceptions to those observations, mine, and a purple (wrapped rather than painted) soft top that somebody had borrowed from their wife to get to the event but didn't take it on track. That purple car had many of the same subtle exterior modifications as mine.
This was when I realised that though there is some overlap, these were not my people.
That stark colour division between the two styles of car I really didn't expect, especially since I do see the occasional Snowflake white soft top and Soul Crystal Red RF in the wild. I know Mazda make it but I've never yet seen a Deep Crystal Blue, which is what I'd most likely buy if it were entirely up to me. I'd estimate the demographics of the 48 participants to be 3 female, 75% caucasian, 25% Asian, 1 Indian. All were manual.
Anyway. The first track run. Peter asked if he could drive for 3 laps to better show than tell. Then I drove probably 5 laps before our time was up, and I didn't enjoy it. Peter was an enthusiastic racer, but a useless tutor for a complete novice. First he astounded me with what the car could do, but I didn't know enough to know what I should be watching and paying attention to. And then when he was passenger he yelled things I didn't have the context to understand. I was focused primarily on hanging on and staying away from the concrete walls. I simply did not care about perfect driving lines and faster lap times. I screwed up a few gear changes under the pressure and am just glad I didn't destroy my gearbox.
After that run I was speaking with the resident petrolhead, Rod,(took me ages to figure why he was singling me out, eventually it twigged that the purple car was his wife's, and he'd spotted all the mods on my car and figured I was probably more like him than the others) and he told me about the phone app that let me record my lap times. Lap times were not officially reported to us on account of this being a training day, but Track Addict is a powerful little app that I can totally see being invaluable to someone serious about racing, and is how I know how I performed with great detail. He spoke above where I was at, and with the assumption that I cared about lap times more than I do.
The second run was better, I lucked out with Kim who was a more reasonable tutor. She stressed she didn't care about speed, she was going to focus on when and where to brake and turn. Suited me fine and I got a lot more out of that session. But I wasn't feeling "fun", I was looking at the rest of the day as a chore to complete, I did weigh up just going home as that part of the day was really dragging on, but decided to see it through.
Run 3 the first timers were sent out on their own if they felt up to it, while the tutors all had their lunch. And that was where I found the fun. Without a shouty passenger (however necessary at first) I could focus on the feel of driving. I'll be the first to admit I wasn't anywhere near the fastest, and my lines weren't the best, but it was just way more fun.
After that run I was way more interested in watching the others on track as they took their turns (six groups of roughly eight cars, cycled with extreme efficiency every ten minutes). For my fourth run my Tutor never turned up, but that was fine, I would have told him to jog on anyway.
Definitely the joy was sparked. Again I stood apart from the others in that my measure of success was not in speed or smoothness, but in what percentage of the lap I could have all four of my tires howling in agony at the very edge of what they could do. The real racers, the good ones, didn't squeal the tires much, if at all. But that sound makes me happy. After that last run, in which I spent the last 3-4 laps mauling a grey RF trying to get past, a wonderfully good-natured and friendly driver informed me he loved having me in pursuit as the sounds were intimidating and motivating. Despite my less-than-perfect lines and howling tires, I believe I was one of the fastest in the first-timer category.
That said, from YouTube videos I know that a good driver in my car can do a lap in eleven seconds less. And the world record on the track for any car is only 13 seconds less than my current best.
Salient driving points. Think about this, the average speed around the track on my best run was 71 kmph, and I was pretty consistent, most of my laps were within a second or so of that. Couple that with the knowledge that I did almost the entire track in 2nd gear, with the main exception being the main straight. 70kmph in second gear is a completely different driving style to what you'd do on the road, I was often red-lining the engine, and bumped up against the rev limiter quite a few times (suddenly I can see why people celebrate the ND2 being able to rev higher). For racing, I don't have to hang to the left side of the road, so as intimidating as the aerial shot of the track initially was, it was twice as wide as I was used to interpreting it, and there was only ever one sweep between turn 3 and 4 where I felt there was a real risk of hitting a concrete wall. And racing lines are all about braking too late and then just throwing the car into the corner way later than you've any right to expect it will be salvageable. But that is the strength of the MX-5's, and on courses like this, they can hunt down any Porche.
Most of the other groups got 6 runs, but the first-timers got one less than everyone else due to additional safety briefings. Groups 3,4,5 & 6 also missed their last scheduled runs due to timetable blowout. If I were to go to the same event next year I believe I'd get 6 full runs.
The runs were physically demanding in a way I could never have anticipated, as perhaps attested to by the fact that I now have blisters across the palms of both my hands. In runs 3 & 4 I found myself occasionally just "coasting" the last half of a lap just for the mental break. The video of my hot lap looks positively leisurely as I watch it back, but as a driver by god was it thick and fast.
After my last run I ran my hands over the still warm tires as we were instructed to do, and noted that the rubber was pitted, as if some-one had taken a mould of some rough sandpaper. I'm not sure if they're 'meant' to be like that after the track, or if it was because of my driving style, or because the tires are end of life (hope to replace within a month)
- Consumption 14.5
Unfortunately also I have searing sunburn across the back of neck, a consequence of being roofless as necessitated by a helmet. Lessons learned.
I'm not ruling out motorsport as a hobby, but at this point I know I'm not interested in strict racing. Motorkhana (car obstacle course)may be the next option to investigate.
- Abbot Rd RF “ENVY”
I stand corrected, I was just able to squeeze in the YouTube upload:
Click to view[Edit: 15/2/23]
Each of the four runs, the first two include Advisor commentary if needed for future review.