My wife (Sherryl) and I did a drivers education class in our 911 this past weekend.

On Saturday, we did the normal excersises like the skidpad (to learn more about oversteer/understeer or really, how to steer with the throttle); chicane, oval, figure 8, double box, slolam and the triangle (long straights with 45° turns, very early apex)

Saturday night SUCKED....we where less than 20 minutes from home and a car a lane over from us ran over an object which hit the middle lower portion of our windshield in the 911 shattering it. Luckly it hit low, i really think that had it been about a foot higher, it might have come thru the windshield. Once we made it home I was going to call someone from the school since we still had the auto-x portion on Sunday. Sherryl thought it was not too bad and since we paid for two days, we might as well go and see if they'd let us run...and they did, a little bit of black racers tape to cover the point of impact worked well.


Sunday was fun, the first course was a combination of all the excersises and this is where I had the best time I've had in my 911..I learned and used throttle induced oversteer and throttle lift oversteer to get perfectly set up for corners....there is something about going around a corner or sweeper and partially lifting the throttle to get the @ss end of the car to perfectly slide over a foot or so to line one up with the corner.


My instructor for the AM course was a 914 owner/driver by the name of Litko (sp?), we went out in his track prepped 2.0 and that was a blast as well, it is interesting to see how much different the lines are for a 911 and a 914, Litko was taking corners that there is no way possible that I could do the same in the 911. I had a great time during that one ride. Sherryl also went for a ride in Litkos 914 and commented that she cannot wait to get back behind the wheel of our 914 !!!!

The PM auto-x course was a highspeed monster, HP rules one this course.
The first straight had a slight chichane and few elevation changes as well....2nd gear WOT (7000rpm) with no benifit to hit 3rd, at least in my car and for me.

...this is where I found out that when driving on the raged egde, the smallest wrong imput will set you up spinning...Yep, I lifted the throttle, just a tad bit and my 911 kicked me in the ass for being careless and wimpy...no mercy, you mess up, you will be punished...

When I did successfully make a run, I was knocking seconds off my time until I was able to start knocking off the time down in the tenths and hundredths increments.
A change in tire pressures would have started to help, but Sherryl was driving next and I wanted her to have the higher tire pressure.

Now to Sherryl....she is a very good driver, a few mistakes, but no more than my own, she too had the 911 kick her ass from not paying attention or getting off the gas...but she kept knocking down her times as well. I think we have a contender

Now to 914's....I finally meet Bill Pickering(sp?) and his wife...when I think I'm having a bad day, i just think of Bill and I feel better knowing someone else has had a crummier day than myself .......broken motormount on day 1, broken rotor (dizzy) day 2, but he must have found a replacement on day 2, cause I saw him tearing up the tech. auto-x later in the day...that car moves and he (or his wife) can get that car to hussle, it was fun to watch him go

Pat Warren was there in his nice orange 914 as well as a few others that I had never seen before.

All in all it was a great weekend, i meet some nice and talanted instructors and racers. i recommend that everyone does a course like this at least once
(one guy came in from NV for the weekend to participate)

Oh, there was a brand new GT2 out there, must have been the most photographed car...his times where down there and he did get the car around the different courses without much drama..that was a neat car to watch as well.

Cool! Your wife's getting into it. I'm going to have to do that also.



Was this a PCA DE? I've never had the opportunity to do these types of exercises.

Sounds great Mike.

Sorry to hear about your windshield, Mike. Hopefully that can get repaired without a huge hole in your wallet.

Otherwise, I'm envious of your weekend!

-Rusty

yeah ,where was this at? is it that redwood region pca autox or something?

I'm a little envious of you there mikey. I need to do some of these events with my wifey. Oh wait, I don't have a P-car, we'll have to fix that.

Sux about your windshield, hope there was no other damage (like to the new front end bodywork).

sounds like fun..
sorry about the windshield..
that car needs to quit attracting trouble on the highway....

brant

Hey Mike,

It was great meeting you at the auto-x school and it sure was a hello of a weekend. I really feel for you and your wife about that windshield, especially since the debris hit you at about the same place as your previous tire blowout accident.

I agree with Mike, it was a great event. I learned alot for the short time the car was running, but the courses were really fun...I really enjoyed the technical auto-x track in particular, lots of stuff in the design...decreasing radius turns....large runout sweepers to lull you into thinking the fast line was wide...all kinds of good stuff.

I broke a motor mount on Saturday after 2 runs...towed the car home and had my sponsor (T&D Performance) weld it up at 7pm Saturday night. It's a Patrick Motorsports bar, so I'm going to call Jim at PM and see what could be the problem....too much HP ?

On my first run on Sunday, my dizzy rotor broke apart...so I used the GPS In the tow vehicle, found Kragen's open at 10am on a sunday, and bought the last rotor he had made in Mexico and got her back up for the afternoon. I ended up holding TTOD on the technical course until one of the last runs of the day, when Rich Walton from Smart Racing Products caught me. Damn.....I hate those guys that can drive..... Actually, the run Rich put together was wonderful....and in a car that wasn't even his! Talent...I tell ya....

Mike showed me those roller bushings of his....they are a beautiful piece of work...and a front and rear set will end up in my car by the end of the season....I can't wait...of course he and I were talking price in front of my wife, so I'll have to end up paying double for those things.....if you get my drift.....

All in all....a great weekend!

Bill P.

Lose the bar Bill... they all break..

Buy the RJ mount and have T+D weld it in and forget about engine mount issues.


B

Yup, I seen to remember seeing a black 911 killing many cones out there. That was you driving then right? Was that you also on course one (tight) than missed the chicane can kept the cone shaggers busy?

I sucked on the long track (read 911 track). I even got beat by the guy in the silver 912. Must have been the car right?.

Bill's car ripped!. It was a treat watching him on the Oval doing big powerslides.

All said I had a great time. Burned plenty of rubber and got a cool redneck sunburn. If you havent had the chance to push you 914 like its made too. Attending a PCA Autocross School is the place to it. Cheep too. :clap

Mike, I'm glad you and your wife had such a great time! The AX was really great this year especially because the two tracks were very well designed. I wish I could have seen you drive in your group! I know you and your wife had a great time and I look forward to seeing you guys out at events.

Pat, you were great to drive with! Keep on the throttle! Its an honor to sit in the passenger seat of a 914 driver that makes the car sing.

Bill, your car is awesome. I want a ride.

After throwing my car around at redline, I think I need a valve adjustment!

I was really impressed at the quality of instructors and the various levels of race prepped cars out there. I hope to see this Zone 7 event occur again every year and I would love to see more 914s out there.

Perhaps the mystic B himself could join us.....

Hey Rob,

You can have a ride anytime you want! I need to point out that Mr. Ways held TTOD on the Technical Auto-X himself for an extended period of time....and after blitzing through a basically perfect run he tells me..."the scoring system must be screwed up" as if he wasn't going that fast....

sandbagger....

B,

Is the AJ mount you're talking about the firewall mount one? I talked to Jim Patrick about the broken bar and he had me measure the thickness of the one I have. It turns out it is an early model of his bar. He says he'll discount me a new one with the improved design or on his firewall mount.

What's the difference between Patrick's and AJ's?

Bill P.

RJ (Rich Johnson) has a very user friendly firewall mount system that ships with two 911 sport mounts and all the hardware you need to bolt them up. (I use solid Smart Camber mounts in the race cars) The Vellios/Patrick requires some funny business with the main harness that Ricj addresses in his setup. It looks similar to the Vellios..

This is a 2-3 year old pic. The differ slightly now.


B

Meuller,

sell the car, it's jinxed!!

get a -6!