Here's an email I sent to friends after the event. My boyfriend was against the idea of taking my baby on the track worrying I'd mess it up. It wasn't 5 miles from my house on my way home that someone hit me two sundays ago and last friday night a Limosene did a u-turn and took out my whole front Fender .
The track is MUCH safer. People there are at least TRYING to drive. But here's the email I hope you like the story.
Sarah.
In my relentless pursuit of adrenaline, I took my car out for PDA (Performance Driver's Association) Driving School along with two other Alfisti (definition : those who are Alfa obsessed) friends of mine. This was two days at Watkins Glen where an instructor took me out and I got to learn to drive New York's Thunder Road - possibly the fastest track in the United States. 3.2 miles of turns with two longish straight-aways. I thought track driving/racing was just like street driving but without worrying about other drivers on cell phones and state troopers laying in wait. But driving on the track is NOTHING like street driving. The comparison is like spending the last couple of years walking and running on the treadmill two or three times a week and then going out for race training with the Kenyan runner who runs the 3 0r 4 minute mile and has those five foot long legs.
On my first lap I realized, as I pulled onto the track with cars valued at five and six digits whizzing by, that everything I THOUGHT I knew about racing was wrong; for one, it's not about speed, it's about handling. I didn't even hit the 60 mph mark the first run. I felt quite badly for my instructor who I just knew was having big regrets having picked the broad for his student.
By the end of the day I was running a little better on the track but still having a lot of trouble picking my points (or apexes) on the turns. I was braking too early and 'horsing' the car - I REALLY needed work on 'flowing' as opposed to the forcing of the turns/car that I was doing. Being the cheapest car there or having the least horsepower were not the issue - she handles beautifully when handled correctly. When fast cars came up behind me I just let them pass on the straight-aways instead of holding them up and creating a 'train'. This was after all a school as opposed to an actual race.
The first day had been exceedingly cold - 26 degrees - when we got there and climbing to the high 40's and the second day was in the 40's and 50's but raining which included some hail. I stated right away to the instructor that morning that I was terrified of driving in the rain. I'd had all I could handle on a dry track and now I'm supposed to be Michael Shumachker (spelling?) in the rain? Hell I couldn't even be Willy Schuemacher driving drunk with one arm and a patch over one eye! So I said I'd go out and give it a whirl but if I felt I was outta control and going to wreck my car I was just going to call it a day and go find a place to quietly nurse my ego.
Oddly enough my first run I did better than all the previous day's runs. Perhaps the instruction had a chance to make sense inside my brain and started to click, who knows. By the end of the day I'd picked up more speed and better handling except for a minor incident where I became obsessed with the car coming up behind me and then forgot how to brake, shift, turn and accelerate all at the same time for a brief second which was long enough for me to be jerky with the clutch and not accelerate into the track's tightest turn. In doing so I started to slide and unable to correct it, realized I was in for a little detour. I put my feet to the floor on the clutch and break as the instructor said to and the car came to a nice halt facing the apex of the corner. The spin wasn't too bad only about 130 degrees and I never left the tarmac. I was pretty happy that I didn't hit a thing and it went from being my worst fear to not really all that bad or scary after all. The guy behind me went by and I finished the lap and did one more before the session ended.
All in all it was one hell of an experience. I loved it. Then again I'm pretty fond of most things that get my adrenaline so pumped I don't realize that it's really cold. Plus beating things that scare you (wrecking your car by driving fast in the rain) through learning how to handle the situation properly is always a plus in my book.
The season is coming to an end and I am already looking forward to the spring and doing some more events with the racing friends and even my mom said she'd like to come up and watch.
