Yeah, she means AutoX :tup: You're doing fine at 200, Cindy. I hit 220 just driving to work on a regular basis :ugh2: I hit 290 when I was at the track recently :eek: I guess it's time for that oil cooler I already knew I needed :icon17:

I meant to post here last week, but just been too busy. I got to drive Circuit of the Americas track here in Austin at the Nismo Performance Academy two weekends ago. I got lots of rest the night before, stayed hydrated throughout the day, and had an absolute blast. Got to drive a Nismo 370Z and a GT-R Track Edition as well as my own Z on the track. Very fun and very interesting to see racing principles in action on the track. Everything felt very natural, even though I wasn't familiar with every specific element discussed in the classroom portion. In the morning session, we even stopped at one of the turns and got out to look around and discuss the physics and different lines of thought regarding the approach to the turn. Truly a great day :driving:

:tup: yepp- autocross. The day turned out really hot though so I wanted to keep an eye on temps in the car.

I am finally starting to recover. I thought about you guys numerous times during the day-usually just as I was about to go on course. Breathing and flexing my arms-trying to relax. Nerves still got the better of me for the most part. :ugh2:

:tup: I was soooo excited for you guys! THanks for sharing your pics and experiences...I need to get out of my head a bit and just enjoy. I am still amazed (everyday STILL, even after more than a year of ownership) that I HAVE this car-let alone drivning on a track etc...it really is a dream come true for me. sigh.

Only thing that gets you to that point is seat time. Lots of seat time, and patience.

200 is fine, as has already been said. Operating temp for the car is right around 220 degrees, so it's even better.

I like walking a track. Nice to see just how much room you have, and just see things from a different perspective with tons of time to talk about it. Also, great for finding reference points.

:iagree: but I am still glad they already had reference points set up at every turn with a single cone at the entry, apex, and exits :tup:

^^^ THAT had to be AMAZINGLY fun!!

And this most recent autoX I didn't have an experienced driver riding with me at all, on ANY of the runs!! I walked the course 3x to memorize it and I did great (mostly) as far as knowing where to go...just couldn't get there fast enough to suit me...like I said. nerves.

Yeah but that is cheating, really. A common thing I find at track days at the classroom sessions, are people who are like, "yeah, I see that blue tent and that's my reference point!" - except, that tent wont be there next time.

Next time you go, the cones won't be, either. Dont get used to 'em.

:tup: some people naturally know where the apex entry and exit points are after running the track a few times...some of us need more "help" in understanding what those terms even mean. LOL! finding YOUR sweet spot is the key...and having the guts to push it a bit. :eek:

I haven't been on a proper track in about 15 years, so I was perfectly happy cheating :icon17: It was the Nismo Performance Academy, and a lot of the participants had never been on the track before. We spent the entire morning getting prepared to go full speed on the track in the afternoon.

I am not expecting to have the opportunity to drive COTA on any regular basis, so I was grateful for the reference points. However, if I get to drive my Z out there again, I plan to have it much more track ready (i.e. oil cooler), and hopefully get more than just a few laps. Although lots of track time is not necessarily in my future, with more seat time I would hope to get more comfortable in determining my own entry/apex/exits rather than relying on cones or an instructor. Until then I'm happy for the help :tup:

I allow myself to get totally intimidated by "being on the TRACK"...never EVER dreamed I would be driving on a track-never. I need to get over that or I will never be any good.

Half of the learning process is making mistakes and learning from them. That said, with an instructor with you, cones are not needed - you make mistakes, and he teaches you why they were bad, and how to improve on it.

I've been out with cones one time, but it was for driving exercises (jamming the brakes on a hard corner while cresting a hill, inducing oversteer, stuff like that) - not while actually driving the track.

Being comfortable makes a massive difference in your learning ability.

Heh, re: cone "reference" points: sometimes those cones are just flat-out in the wrong place for everyone, or they're in the right place for someone's line, but that line is appropriate for you and your car. Also, often times halfway through the day (or your session) another driver will knock the cones over, and on a road-course it's unlikely anyone will go out there and reset them anytime soon.

Driver's Edge has been known to put them up Saturday morning and then take them down later in the weekend, too, just because you shouldn't be using them as permanent references. Sometimes I think they intentionally move them around just to screw with us :)

This is exactly what the instructors talked about when we got out of the vehicles to study one particular turn. There are some basic physics to the whole thing of course, but each car and especially each driver are going to have different lines that are ideal for them.

Would you be implying that a Caterham may not follow the line of a GT500?! Rubbish!