Track Day

12/19/2020

King and I went up to Brainerd International Raceway for a track day this September. I've always wanted to participate in one of these, and a Corvette ZR-1 seemed like the perfect choice to drive on the 2 mile 13-turn racetrack. Since I have gone through the car, mechanically, and everything seems to be working after sitting for 18 months, I thought a few hard laps might unearth some gremlins that street driving wouldn't. I was wrong.

I arrived in Brainerd, MN on a cool, overcast morning. The forecast was for rain, but I was hopeful it would miss the track. Being waved through the gates by a track employee with my "race car" in tow, I felt like Mario Andretti. Or how I imagined the excited anticipation a professional driver might feel entering a new track for the first time. I looked like the guy who took a wrong turn and was trying to figure out where he was. 

Locating the pit area, I decided I must be in the right place because of all the racy-looking cars selecting parking spaces. I circled Big Red around and nosed in beside a new Lincoln pulling an enclosed trailer. I casually climbed out of the truck, wide-eyed and smiling. It's difficult to pull off casual excitement. Drifting over to a nearby building with my 40oz. coffee, where other drivers were beginning to congregate, I listened in on the various groups of people in conversation, trying to pick up as much information as I could. The event organizer came out to welcome us and provide instruction as to what we could expect. Finally, the doors were opened and we lined up to get our wristbands. The instructions were simple. Identify yourself as an "Expert", "Intermediate", or "Novice" participant. You would then be directed to the appropriate table where you would receive a green, yellow, or red wristband, depending on your self-identified skill level. Each color represented one of three groups for the day who would spend track time together. There would be five 20-minute sessions for each group, beginning with the Expert group. The Novice group would sit through classroom instruction while the Expert and Intermediate groups had their first track sessions.

I self-identified as a Novice, since this was my first real track day. I had driven on the Nurburgring once, but once doesn't make an expert. I like to race the fast indoor karts, and am usually among the fastest in our group, but I wasn't sure that applied here. I have also played arcade and simulation style racing games almost exclusively since I was a wee lad, but decided to keep quiet on that fact in front of actual racing drivers. I wanted to glean as much from this experience as possible for my next time. If they had added a "Tiny Baby Novice" group, that might have been a better fit.

The class was led by a professional driver from Europe who was both funny and engaging. His accent was difficult to understand at times, but he knew it and used the confusion to help break the ice with humor. Driving technique and track etiquette was addressed, not much of which was new to me. At one point, he reminded us to relax and open ourselves to notice things while on track. It is normal for the first laps on a new track or a new experience to get tunnel vision as you work to get everything right. He reminded us to relax our grip and open our vision to see beyond our hood, and to really be present in the experience. I used that good advice all day as I attempted to better my lap times and technique. It made the day more enjoyable.

One of my pit neighbors was a plumber from Duluth who brought his RX-8. It was a car he bought when he was younger and had spent the last 6 years modifying it to it's current state. It had a built rotary engine with a huge turbo attached; a full cage and aero made it look the part in every way. This day was a shakedown run for the car after programming a new tune for the engine. It was great watching and listening to the car drive the track at full steam. Unfortunately, his day ended early with a leaking oil line. He worked on it for a while in the pits before calling it a day and heading over to the dragstrip on the grounds to watch with his family.

After the driver's meeting, which went over the meanings of all the race flags and safety protocols, I belted up in the car and followed the Novice row of cars out past the flagstand at the exit of the pits where I raised my red wristband for the track marshal to see before he would let me out on the track. When he determined the track was clear of oncoming cars, he waved me onto the track and I was gone. I rolled into the throttle, keeping the RPM's well below redline as I waited for the car to warm up and my heart to calm down. Seeing a clear racetrack in front of me with no speed limit or normal traffic laws was liberating! I swept into a fast corner and then eased on the brakes for a sharp right turn, the tires gripping hard as they rolled through the apex. By lap three I was reminding myself not to get tunnel vision. Relax and have fun, I repeated to myself over and over. I smiled while letting a C8 Corvette pass me, downshifted into third and tried in vain to keep up. Wow. 

Before I knew it, the first 20 minutes were through and I was entering the pit area once more. By lunchtime I had been out twice more, been passed by almost everybody, and was beginning to understand why race car drivers are athletes! How they can drive several hours of almost crashing is incredible. It makes sense why some racing is done in shorter heats, allowing rest for drivers and equipment. 

A lap around BIR for me goes something like this: 

Coming into turn 12 past the pits is preceded by a fast sweeper, left and right into the straight in front of the pits. I'm in third gear, so I lift off the gas looking for the brake pedal as the exhaust pops and snaps behind me. Turn 12 is like a left turn on a city street, so I downshift into second while paying attention to keeping the tires on the tarmac. The dirt is worn into a hole at the inside of the turn, so it's important to keep the tires out of the grass and on the track. Squeezing the throttle hard at the exit of turn 12, I keep it in second gear passing under a bridge into turn 13, a blind right-hander. You have to lift off the throttle for a moment to set the car for the apex, but then get back hard on it because the corner opens up wide into a straight. I shift from second to third, the engine's growling alto climbing to 7,000 RPM's as I hold the car down to the right curb before opening into the fast turns of 1 and 2. Fourth gear comes sooner than it takes me to write and the widening tarmac is sweeping to the right in a tightening arc. At over 85mph I feel the car drift to the outside as I set up for the quickest apex of turn 2. It feels like I'm going too fast, the turn 2 corner exit hidden until the very last moment, but I trust the line and the apex cone, exiting at full steam before straightening the car and keeping left , downshifting into second gear for a hard and slow right hand into turn 3. I shift to third gear approaching turn 4. 4,5, and 6 come at me fast, a left a right and a left which exit onto a short straight followed by the turn 7 dogleg to the left where you have to get slowed down to roll a long looping turn 8. Pit entrance follows, but this time I stay on track, hard on the throttle out of turn 9, setting up for turn 10. This is a fast left, the exit of which is hidden by a retaining wall. You have to keep left toward the wall and stay in the gas almost to fourth gear to set yourself up for another fast right, turn 11 which dumps you on the straight adjoining the pits. Get it wrong, and you can drop a left side wheel off the pavement coming onto the straight and spin into the wall. I'll tell you how I know later.

I hope the drivers waiting in the pits for their turn enjoy King's singing as much as I do. Rowing gears in this 400+ horsepower legend was amazing. I was careful to not stress the tires or brakes excessively, since I wasn't interested in replacing them, but we drove hard enough to explore why they called the ZR-1 "King of the Hill" in the early '90's. The growl and feel of torque as the needle climbs toward redline is beautiful. Hearing the exhaust pop and snap at liftoff coming into a corner is intoxicating. The chassis inspires confidence, even to a tiny baby novice. 

I loaded him on the trailer at days end with a tired, happy smile on my face, glad the rain had stayed away. I replayed the day in my mind on the two-hour drive home, determined to improve my driving on the next track day - whenever that might be. It was sobering to remember not everyone went home happy that day. I was in the grandstand between sessions, watching the other cars, when the driver of a BMW lost control on the front stretch and hit the wall. We were all relieved when he exited the wreck unhurt, but it was a reminder of how quickly things can go wrong. It also reminded me that if I keep doing track days, that a wreck will probably happen to me at some point. There are race car drivers, and then there are drivers who haven't crashed yet. I know which one I am.

The day was a wonderful experience, and King failed to fail. He just took what I threw at him and then politely told me that he was a better car than I was a driver. I agreed, and both the expert and novice went home happy.