Part II. The track!
The trip to the track was surprisingly drama free, and I was very excited to drive the car for the first time. FARA started me out in Novice Solo, which turned out to be just fine for me. I was alone pretty much the whole session, and was really able to concentrate on learning how to drive the 944. I was impressed with the car- it feels tight and with the manual steering rack, Koni’s and turbo sway bars, has a great feel. It feels like what I always imagined a race car would feel like. It’s also got a great sound (cat delete and Magnaflow muffler) which combined for a very visceral experience. I noticed pretty early while braking hard, the steering wheel had better be straight ahead or the rear is going to come around. Any trail braking to speak of and it wants to swap ends….so instead I focused on turning in with the maximum corner speed that the front tires would allow, and getting back on the gas ASAP for maximum exit drive, which I thought would be the best strategy to get the most out of a “momentum” car. I even had a few slides (oversteer) which brought some laughs and big smiles.
The second session was more of the same, but ended with a bang- I was coming through high speed turn 10 when I heard a loud bang, some popping and grinding noises, and some other extremely loud and disconcerting sounds. Convinced I had suffered some type of mechanical failure, I pulled off the side of the track and waited in the car like I had been instructed. I was really heartbroken here, since I’d only done two sessions and broken the car, in what seemed like a bad way. So there I was, once again, ensconced in my beautiful cockpit and sweating in utter dejection at my fate. At this moment I looked up in my rear view to see a Mustang sliding sideways towards me at about 80 MPH. Holy Crap! If this thing will start and move, I don’t care if it’s on fire, I’m getting the hell out of this impact zone. The car did start, and very loudly moved, so I made it back carefully to pit in. The grid marshal told me some parts were hanging down, which turned out to be a broken exhaust…..much better than the complete destruction that I had envisioned. Turns out the collector broke just below the header. Surprisingly, the exhaust was not supported anywhere underneath the car except for the rubber hanger behind the muffler.
With not many repair options available at the track, and two days pre-paid for, I consulted with a few mechanics and came to the conclusion that running the car without the exhaust *probably* wouldn’t hurt anything, so off it came. For my last session of the day, the instructor came along and despite the insane amount of noise and vibration, I had a good session.
On Sunday, the instructor took the wheel and for a few laps, really got my blood pressure up! It was great to see what the car would do, which was 2 full seconds faster than my best time from the day before. After this session, the instructor commented that I have a brake bias issue- as the rears heat up they are giving progressively more braking than the fronts which is why the car wants to swap ends when trailing it in. Not sure but I think the reason is pads- not sure what they are, previous owner can’t remember, but they are definitely different. Anyway the car is spec legal so there is no brake bias adjustment.
Also based on my instructors advice, I started driving the corner entries much differently. Making a much quicker turn in while the weight is still on the front wheels (i.e. before letting off the brakes completely) and allowing the car to rotate before picking up the gas. This, combined with the later turn in point that all of the normal car drivers use (i.e.NOT the motorcycle line) allowed me to move my brake markers in quite a bit. Before, I was finishing the braking and turning in as quickly as possible without scrubbing the front tires. Now, I would pitch it in more quickly while the front was still loaded somewhat, and catch the rotation by picking up the throttle. This was fun and I got down to within a second of the instructor’s time, so it was nice to know I was in the ball park, even if I did sound like a squadron of low flying WWII bombers
![](http://944-spec.org/944SPEC/components/com_kunena/template/default/images/emoticons/w00t.png)
My last session was a bust, at some point the car threw the alternator belt so there was no juice to keep the car running. Thank god people were available to push the car onto the trailer!
All in all, it was a great experience. Car control is a real art, making the car do what you want and finding the fastest way around the track requires some different actions than what I’m used to racing bikes. The dynamics of the car are very interesting and although I’ve read about the different techniques, putting them into use was a real challenge. Needless to say I’ll be back, as soon as I find some brake pads, belts, a floor jack, and some exhaust parts……