Boogity! Boogity! Boogity!!!  Let's go racin' boys!  OK, so it wasn't NASCAR and it really wasn't racing, but man was it a great time!  I'm talking about the High Performance Driving school at Southwest Motorsports Park.  I had wanted to become better acquainted with the upper perfomance reaches of my GXP in a safe environment for some time and this was it.  I brought along my son-in-law who is a racing fanatic and the chauffeur of my new grandson to share the experience in his 89 Mustang GT.  We arrived at the track just before 7:00 a.m. and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the sunrise over the Sandia Mountains.  After we signed a couple of waivers and payed the $150 one day fee for each of us, we took time to meet the gathering students and look at their machines.  The class was made up of 5 men and 2 women driving a Porsche Boxster, a Cobra replicar, a Miata, a Porsche 911 SC, a Cooper Mini, a Chrysler Conquest, a Mustang GT and my GXP.

After passing tech inspection and attending the driver's meeting the students gathered on the grid to be taken around the track on a reconnaissance tour by our instructors.  My instructor, Doug Riley, was a member of the Porsche Club and a veteran Porsche racer.  He, as well as the other instructors, emphasised the goal for the day, safely have fun learning how to control our vehicles in high performance cornering situations.  As we toured the track intensely trying to learn and remember the 14 turns Doug explained the key to being in control was to be smooth, "you have to go slow to go fast" he said.  If you are in a hurry in the car then you will be slow on the track because the inputs you are making are upsetting the balance of the car.  As the tour continued he started to push the car a little harder and, I think, much to his surprise the GXP responded beautifully.  He was impressed with the smoothness of the power from the engine and the even response of the turbo.  He didn't overlook the balance and stability of the handling either.  He was quite impressed with the overall package stating to a fellow Porsche driver "I could have two of those for the price of my car and still have a great time on the track".

 We gathered in the classroom with our instructors and Russ Kelso who was teaching the class.  Russ reiterated the goal for the day - Safe Fun Learning.  He went over the rules of the track, procedures for entering, exiting , passing, the meaning of the various flags that would be used, physics of cornering a vehicle, "turn in" points and apex of each of each of the corners.  He explained the different types of corners, increasing radius, decreasing radius and constant radius.  In layman's terms corners that get tighter toward the end, corners that open toward the end and corner that are even throughout.  He explained that all control input such as braking, and downshifting should be performed in a straight line before entering the turn to ensure maximum stability in the turn.  With that section complete we were released to the charge of our in-car instructors and prepared to make our first venture into the track.

The course is 1.65 miles long and is made up of 14 turns.  The front and back stretch of the racing oval make up the long straightaways.  My instructor went over the safety procedures again as we waited in the grid to be ushered onto the track.  A slow yellow flag lap let us get a feel for the distances between turns and allowed our instructors to point out the "Line".  That would be the points along the track to start turning into the corners and the points where you start to straighten out exiting the corner to setup for the next one as well as the flag stations in the selected corners.  The next lap was a green flag lap and we began to bring our pace up to about 4/5's of top speed.  Most of the turns were fairly simple to gain a bit of confidence in,  The combination of turns 3 and 4 were much harder to really gain an understanding of.  The entry into 3 really determines your success coming our of 4 and I didn't quite catch that during this session.  It was amazing how focused you become on trying to "hit your marks" in and out of each corner.  I don't remember looking at my gauges or seeing the flag stands the rest of the 20 minute session.  It took a gentle reminder from my instructor that we had completed our allotted time and it was time to take a cool down lap.   20 minutes sure went by quick.  Throughout the session my instructor gave feedback to my every move, commenting on brake points, turn in points, hitting the apex and acceleration.  He did a great job of really being positive about what I was doing right and explaining why I might want to change something I had done not so right.

Back in the class room Russ went over our first experiences drawing out where we were having troubles, questions about procedures that weren't quite clear and how much fun we had.  There was a bit of good natured ribbing over a student who had decided to tour the oval by mistake and one who spun slightly.  We discussed in detail the how and why of the line for each of the corners on the circuit and the problems each of us had with that particular corner.  We then watched a video made by a professional driver who explained the line for each corner.  Demonstrating it from a diagram, in the car and from outside the car.  With that we broke for lunch and awaited our next shot at the track.

The after lunch session found each of us working on a particular turn or series of turns that we had been challenged with in the a.m. session.  Mine was turn 3 and 4.  I understood the how and the why but it took a few laps of really concentrating on managing the inputs to get the result I wanted.  Doug really was instrumental in getting me to read my tach as I exited the corner to determine f I had carried more speed out of the corner.  I hadn't mastered it but I had greatly improved on my first attempts.  As my confidence built so did the speed.  I began to catch and pass cars when they signalled me by on the straightaways, which were the only approved passing areas.  The driver in front will maintain his line and speed and signal you to pass so as to not surprise anyone.  The end of the session found me on the back bumper of a Porsche Boxster being driven by an experienced auto-crosser.  John would not let me by as it was the white flag, or last hot lap of the session.  Our instructors exchanged friendly barbs about how well their students had performed during the session.

More class time to discuss the last driving session was held and we eagerly took flight polishing our technique and working on the next progression of challenges.  I began to notice more of the track than the previous sessions, things like the corner flag stations and other landmarks.  One of the instructors had described how he used landmarks to pull him through corners rather than staring down the track.  I found this to be very useful in corners 13 and 14 where I had fixated on the ominous white concrete wall all day.  As I began to use the landmarks he pointed out I began to feel less uncomfortable about my entry and exit of those corners.  My instructor commented that my driving was markedly improved in smoothness since the first ride and continued to coach me with balanced feedback.

The last class period was a festival of people proudly proclaiming they had tamed a particular corner or got over a fixation or fear they had.  It was then the instructor let us know that our last track session would be solo if we chose.  That brought a whole new set of challenges.  Can I remember the line?  Where do I brake going into 3?  My instructor told me he felt I would do fine as long as I focused on each corner as it came and forgot about the corner I just finished, good or bad.  Some of the class did not solo, choosing to seek more help from their instructor.  I had a great time until I noticed I had badly missed the line through the last three corners.  The adrenaline I had been running on all day was gone taking my mental focus with it.  The instructors had pounded home all day, "if you aren't in the game you are endangering yourself and others".  As I motioned for the Boxster to pass I slowed to exit the track for the last time that day.  In all a great experience that I shared with not only my son-in-law, but with an entire group of people who are passionate about driving and racing.  As Russ Kelso's emails end, "Life isn't around the next corner, it is the next corner".  I hope this gives you an insight into the fun to be had learning to drive your car to your limits.

 Seeya on the track!