If you’re reading this you most likely already know how much of a procrastinator I am. I signed up for a Ferrari driver’s education event way back in febuary/april. The event was originally supposed to happen in late April/march. However due to a low turn out expected for that weekend it got bumped to july 12. Not bad considering I didn’t find out about the new date until two weeks before when I got a bounced check notice from my bank because the FCA finally cashed my entry fee (yeah I was trying to float a couple other payments).
When I originally registered I was going to be in my supra. However my trip to Houston in march changed all that. So with the supra in the garage I decided to turn my daily driving 1990 Honda Civic Si into a race car. I put tokico shock’s and struts on her (her name is gretchin), I dumped the show off chrome 3 spoke for some lightweight Koenig’s wrapped in Faulken Azenais. I had an axle back from when I purchased the car but I couldn’t install it due to the piping being 2.25 and the stock piping was 1 inch. So I had to purchase a mid-pipe and while I was at it, I got a high flow cat. The missing ingredient was the header. I had one from a friend, but as it turns out it was for the wrong engine. So with one week before the event I had to scramble. Two places came up big for me. Yeah two, when in doubt just buy two is my motto. The FCA also requires a fire extinguisher. So I had one of them ordered. The fire extinguisher came in on Thursday, and my header came in on Friday. I had to tech the car Friday afternoon. So I jumped out of work early and had the car tech’d. It passed. I then proceeded to go home and begin installation of my exhaust.
I Got the old manifold and
exhaust off relatively easily. But when I started looking at the parts I had to
go back up I noticed I was missing a couple things. First off, I needed a
doughnut gasket to go from the header to catalytic converter. I also need a
couple bolts to hold the mid pipe to the axle back. So I jumped in my wife’s
car and drove to my friendly AutoZone. I brought in the header so we could
find the correct size gasket. And while I was at it I was going to replace my
o2 sensor. When I originally bought the car I had to do some major work to it.
And I was kind of proud that I used nothing but AutoZone parts. However this
time is different. As I told the guy behind the counter my dilemma, he flat out
said, “we have too many gaskets to even know were to begin”. It was still 45
minutes until this place closed down. I could understand if it was busy or if
he had something major to do. However he point blank said I will not help you.
So I requested the isle that had the gasket maker stuff. Then I went to the
nut/bolt section and found the right size bolts for the mid section. And I
bought the o2 sensor. And I spent the last 64 dollars that I will ever spend in
AutoZone. (Thanks guys!) I got back home and finished up my exhaust around
2:30. I started her up and let her idle with no exhaust leaks.
6:00 Saturday morning came awfully quick. With minor dilemma’s I
got the fire extinguisher installed and got to gateway around 8:00, the drivers
meeting started at 7:45. Yes I am always late. I got registered in and found
out I was in the white group, cool, I’ll be in my buddy Steve’s group. The
meeting went like most others; they went over the flags, turns, etc. Like the
Porsche events we were required to have an instructor with us. My instructor
told me he was a formula Atlantic driver who had the track record.
We get in my car for the first session and he begins telling me what he’s going to be looking for and the hand gestures he’s going to be giving me. He also mentions that if I am way off on a turn he will grab the wheel. I looked at him and said, “If you grab the wheel then I am letting go, because we don’t need two people trying to steer the car”. He said no don’t do that, he’s only trying to get my attention. Somehow I think there are better ways of doing that. So we get the green flag and our group starts going out. I am last in the group and make my way through the pit lane. The first full lap was under yellow. So I kept a decent pace right behind the car in front of me. Then as the yellow went to green, it was on. The only two turns I started having issues with was turn 2 and turn 7. This was my first time here in a front wheel drive car so the line was a little different. My instructor helped me out through those turns very nicely, He also quickly picked up on the fact that I have suspension work done. He said the car was handling very well. Half way through the session I was tearing the infield up and slowly passing people. I managed to catch up to a z06 and was on his tail. We would come around turn 7 and hit the oval and he’d floor it trying to get away from me. He would get about 10 car lengths in front of me and by turn 2 I would be right on his tail again. This persisted for awhile. My instructor started having a good time with this. Giving me rants of “come on lets get him”, and “give this thing full throttle we need power”. He was telling me to be dead on his ass on turn 7 in hopes that I’d have enough power to get around him after the turn, but every time we came around he’d floor it trying to escape. As the session went on, we could tell we were getting to that z06. He started giving it too much gas in the track out of turn 7 getting his car rather squirrelly. My instructor had a great time with that. The corvette never did let me pass. When we got the checkered flag for our cool down lap, I was going through turns 3 and 4 when I saw a big puff of smoke behind me. I instantly went white. I had flash backs of when my supra blew its Turbo’s at gingerman. I had no idea what was wrong, the car still had power, the gauges looked normal. So I pulled into the pits and parked and went over everything. Steve told me that he saw some smoke coming from my exhaust when I was WOT but didn’t look abnormal. All the fluid’s checked out, I had no leaks. And no idea what the smoke was. My instructor said it was up to me if I wanted to continue. I decided that if I blew a 300 motor. Oh well. So I stayed.
We had to have ‘classroom’ sessions between the driving sessions to discuss our techniques. And as we gathered in for it the lead instructor said “Nice session guys, No incidents, the only issue we have is the higher Horsepower cars are not letting the faster lower Horsepower cars by” He then followed that statement with “if you see the red Honda in your mirror’s, let him by”. I was floored and rather taken back.
The second session I was feeling rather good. My instructor was talking less and less and egging me on more and more. I got behind that z06 again, however after 3-4 laps of him trying to outrun me, he finally gave in and let me pass. I made it a point to not go full throttle past him, so make it seem slower that I was ;) Then within two laps he was no where near behind me. This session I found a lot more open space and really set the car to its pace. I was just really having a great time. I’d catch a car and pass em. No big thing, I am use to it in the supra. I wasn’t thinking about it at all. Then after the sessions, I started hearing people talking about the guy in the Honda. I was becoming known as the fast Honda guy.
After lunch, I found my instructor and started talking to him. He told me that I don’t need him in my car anymore and I was doing a wonderful job. My only comment was “Cool, I could use the weight reduction” but inside I was going ecstatic. Not having someone in the car and doing what I wanted is the most exhilarating rush one could experience. Well there are others but I won’t mention those…
The third session, I was by myself. I started out in the middle of the pack and eventually made my way, passing and maneuvering around the course. I hit an open part of the track and I was off. I was going around the track as fast as I possibly could. Overall I think it was about 8 laps that I had with no one in front of me. That session right there was the most magnificent thing I have ever witnessed and it was worth the entry fee. I was hauling around that track at an incredible rate. The adrenaline was COOKING.
Things that I noticed, I was taking more time to read my gauges. I was actually thinking about the corners before they were happening, and I was looking out further than I ever have. I noticed that coming down the main straight right before I hit the brakes for turn 1 I was going 105 mph (redline of 4th gear). I noticed that between turn 1 and turn 2 I was going 90 mph. I was exiting turn 2 at 60 (4k on the tach) as I went through session three I noticed I was at red line more and more. I was going faster and faster. Coming into turn 3 I began not braking but merely lifting to set the car up for 3 and 4. This meant that coming into turn 4 the car transition going from fully loaded on the left to fully loaded on the right the car just squatted and accepted my punishment. All of this lead up to me coming into turn 5 so much faster, I was approaching turn 5 doing 90 mph. That blew me away, 90 mph on the infield.
The fourth session was just as fun. But I kept getting caught behind traffic. And I started getting a little more pretentious. I got behind the z06 and he was making me wait to pass. He finally got around a Mercedes in front of him. And the Mercedes wouldn’t let me pass. i was on his tail and closer to him than I was the corvette. He wasn’t even pulling away from me as bad as the corvette in the straight. After about 4 laps we were approaching turn 7 and I was trying to point to the car for the corner worker to pull a passing flag. But I guess the guy thought I was giving him hand gestures. He gave me the point before we even hit the apex of 7. Although now that I think about it, it might be cause I was almost on top of him through the turn and had the nascar look in my eye, which I KNOW he could see my eyes in the rear view mirror. So finally passed him and I had a little opening of about 2 laps before I caught the vette again. He made me wait for about 4 laps before he let me pass him again. This session was a little slower than the last one due to the traffic but it was becoming obvious who the fast cars were. My friend Steve and I have yet to see each other on the track and we both lapped everyone out there except each other.
The fifth and final session, Steve and I arranged me being first to grid and he was right behind me. Our plan was for him to follow me for a couple laps then I’d let him pass and I’d follow him to see who was faster. He just purchased a new bell helmet and it turned out it was too small for him, so he was sharing a helmet with a guy in the group ahead of us. When I got the green light to go he was still trying to put his helmet on him. So I got about ½ lap on him and figured he’d eventually catch up to me. Sure enough I caught the end of the pack and started making my way through the field. And I could see Steve doing the same. Roughly in the middle of the session he finally got behind me. Followed me for one lap then flashed to pass, I did so kindly lift to let him by. Then I tried to follow him. And he was taking turn 2 a little different than I was and I got suckered into following his line going pretty fast. And realized how far I was. I nailed the brakes and locked the tires for a second. Remembering what I did at Blackhawk (flat spotted tires) in the supra I immediately gave the brakes a pump and hit the gas. And the car came around and I made the turn. Not pretty but I made it so I shook that off and tried to catch Steve. I believe through the infield we were a good match up however he had the power to pull away (really fast I might add) in the straights so there was no catching him. Then when I came back around on turn 2 (making a perfect line) I saw my freshly added skid marks from the previous lap. Sweet someone is going to use my marks as a reference point now ;)
After that session ended I pulled the car into the paddock to let it cool a bit. And I had the chance to talk to the organizers that were standing relatively close to Steve’s car. I went up to them and thanked them for a wonderful day. They asked what car I was in and pointed over to the Honda. They all looked back at me and commented on how I was tearing up the track. And the Lead organizer called me a ‘Ferrari eater’, I couldn’t help myself, but I knew I had a smile wrapped around my face.
Till the next time I am going to have dreams of diving in turn 8 and passing 308’s, 355’s, 911’s, Boxster’s, z06’s, c320’s.