I spent the day at Spokane Raceway today. It was put on by Scott Adare Motorsports. I have racing experience but it was in the distant past so they considered me an "intermediate" and assigned me an instructor for two sessions. After that I was turned loose on my own.
The event was well run and it was made clear that any yahoos would be sent home. There were about 40 drivers and traffic was minimal.
One thing that would greatly improve the GT on the track would be a harness and a better seat. It is difficult to brake hard and shift when you are not well strapped in. For the next event I will have at least a harness and perhaps a racing type seat.
I have the double adjustable Penske shocks from T&A and have their recommended alignment settings. I was impressed, the car was fairly neutral and only understeered in the slowest corners. I also replace the brake fluid with new Motorcraft fluid and was running Cobrars titanium brake shims. I had no brake issues.
There has been a lot of discussion about various "super tires" whether Hoosiers, Sport Cups or the soft compound Pirellis. I was happy to be on the Goodyears for one vary important reason: it made me about the same speed as most others. If I had a tire that made me 4 seconds a lap faster, I would have been in traffic a lot more, would have learned less and I would now be poorer too!
The track in Spokane is fairly interesting and it is possible to get in quite a bit of trouble. The front straight is long and you can get into quite a bit of trouble if you keep on the throttle all the way. It is pretty easy to get going over 170mph and then the kink at the end gets TOO interesting and the entry to turn two can get pretty exciting. I spent most of the day getting to about 120-140mph on the straight and then just maintaining that until the end. This kept me about even with most of the other drivers and I was able to focus on improving my driving instead of passing or letting others by.
The whole program is a bargain, an entire day with well over an hour of instruction for $325. I managed about 200 miles on the track and could easily have done much more. Highly recommended for anyone in the PNW. The next event is in early August. I can hardly wait!
The event was well run and it was made clear that any yahoos would be sent home. There were about 40 drivers and traffic was minimal.
One thing that would greatly improve the GT on the track would be a harness and a better seat. It is difficult to brake hard and shift when you are not well strapped in. For the next event I will have at least a harness and perhaps a racing type seat.
I have the double adjustable Penske shocks from T&A and have their recommended alignment settings. I was impressed, the car was fairly neutral and only understeered in the slowest corners. I also replace the brake fluid with new Motorcraft fluid and was running Cobrars titanium brake shims. I had no brake issues.
There has been a lot of discussion about various "super tires" whether Hoosiers, Sport Cups or the soft compound Pirellis. I was happy to be on the Goodyears for one vary important reason: it made me about the same speed as most others. If I had a tire that made me 4 seconds a lap faster, I would have been in traffic a lot more, would have learned less and I would now be poorer too!
The track in Spokane is fairly interesting and it is possible to get in quite a bit of trouble. The front straight is long and you can get into quite a bit of trouble if you keep on the throttle all the way. It is pretty easy to get going over 170mph and then the kink at the end gets TOO interesting and the entry to turn two can get pretty exciting. I spent most of the day getting to about 120-140mph on the straight and then just maintaining that until the end. This kept me about even with most of the other drivers and I was able to focus on improving my driving instead of passing or letting others by.
The whole program is a bargain, an entire day with well over an hour of instruction for $325. I managed about 200 miles on the track and could easily have done much more. Highly recommended for anyone in the PNW. The next event is in early August. I can hardly wait!
