So I headed down to Road Atlanta on Friday night. I met this guy there, Todd, and we hung out for most of the weekend. He had an E46 M3 with suspension/rollbar/seats/harnesses. We also hung out with an instructor, Scott, who had a 944 race car. He ended up instructing me.

Sparing some of the details, the weather on Saturday was gorgeous. First off, we were taking familiarization laps in sedans and SUVs to see the track for the first time. Todd and I hopped in a new E60 M5, with Seth Thomas driving and his father (owner of the car) riding shotgun. Seth is a pro driver for the Bimmerworld team, who was testing there this past weekend. We took a few laps and he pushed it a little bit. On the back straight, he floored it in the normal 400hp mode (freakin' fast), and then pushed the button to engage the full 500 hp and it instantly pulled even harder! That car MOVES, and the SMG was completely smooth with perfect downshifts.

So this DE was with Audi club and, imo, most of those cars are not very well suited to a race track. Todd and I were both in the advanced group, but we were constantly slowed by the Audis. The last session of the day comprised of 15 minutes of following in a train and passing when we could, until we finally got some open track in front of us, but that only lasted for 5 minutes before the checkered flag flew.
The course was quite fun, with good rhythm in the esses. The back straight was soooo long. It was almost boring. Overall, there was a ton of elevation change and some blind turns. The big one was in the last section, coming out of a tight right-hander, steep up-hill, under a bridge. That's all you see. If one had never been there before and pointed the car where they thought the course would go, they'd go straight into a wall or, if they were lucky, into the pits. So, the set-up was critical here and the next turn, onto the front straight, was fast and dangerous, as there was maybe 8-ft of grass to the wall outside the turn.

Saturday night, we had a nice banquet at a restaurant (included in the cost of the DE) with great food and they gave a way a lot of raffle items, including a $400 certificate towards Ronal wheels, which Todd won, a software download for Audis, big pictures of your car from the on-site photographers, and other goodies.

Sunday, it rained. I knew all week that it was going to. Although I knew it would be a good experience and I could learn from it, I still didn't want to face it. It was coming down pretty good, too. We got out there for the first session and I had Scott ride with me again. There were some streams running across the track, especially in the esses, and puddles in other critical places, like at the apex of the turn that leads onto the front straight, which I mentioned was so dangerous. I kept my speed on the back straight in the 80s, versus 125-130 in the dry. I have about 50% tread left at the DEEPEST part of my R-compound tires. Yes, there was a good bit of hydroplaning going on. Those Audis that had been slowing me down in the dry actually passed me! THAT was aggrivating!

You know what? I had fun! The first 2 sessions were in the rain and I did enjoy them, but found that I was quite tense, since the car would break away almost instantly in the wet, or if it hit a puddle, and I had to be prepared to counter it. It simulates driving a high-horsepower car in the dry. For once, I could powerslide the car and had to be judicious with the throttle! After that, the rain slowed for a bit, and we ran with it just wet, but most of the streams were gone. I really enjoyed this. I was actually black-flagged at the end of this session for driving too aggressively (they thought I was pushing a little too hard, since I had the car sliding) and passing without a point-by, which I did NOT do. The session was over, though, so I just went in.

By our second-to-last session, the track was completely dry. I was pushing harder than any other point in the weekend, and having fun. However, right at the end, I got off-line a bit in the turns after the back straight (tight left, then right, going uphill to the blind turn under the bridge) and went in early to the right hander, pushing out wide and over the rumble strips. I pulled the car furthur to the left, putting my right tires on the rumble strips , so they wouldn't damage my underside. I came back on the track a bit sideways, right in between the pits and the track. I had to decide instantly which way to go and I corrected the slide and chose the pits, since I knew I'd be black-flagged anyway. I drove straight to my spot, though, before any worker could even announce a black flag. The session was over on the next lap, anyway. Unfortunately, I broke something in my left front suspension when I went off. We were looking at it for a while and listening. We pulled that wheel off and on 4 times, but couldn't find anything. We've reduced it to a ball joint or the internals of the shock. I'll have the dealer figure it out. I rode with Scott, in the 944 race car, on the last session.

All-in-all, I had a great weekend at Road Atlanta. I got to learn the track, drive it dry, and then have my first wet-track experience, which I was pleasantly surprised by enjoying, and then got to drive it again dry, just for my satisfaction. In addition, my new sway bars did, in fact, reduce outer tread wear on the tires, which was my main purpose for getting them.

 

Nice write up. RA is a great venue. It certainly is exciting cresting the hill from 10b and going under the bridge. The final turn onto the front straight is awesome. Just mat it and hang on. You should join the Georgia RX8 Club in some of our outings. We'll be back at RA in August with NASA-SE. Some of us are also heading to Savannah in 10 days for a weekend at Roebling.

 

Thanks, Addict. Unfortunately, I'll be moving (once again...) at the end of June. I've got Barber planned for June 16/17 with AL-PCA (advanced DE only, no instructors). That's the last event I'll be doing before I move. Oh and we're going to the Dragon on the 18th and 19th, making a DVD production of it. We've registered a website, too. We're working on exactly what this is going to be, but I'll provide more details later on. We could use a little help (might consume a couple hours of the day on the 19th), the rest of the time we'll just be running the Dragon and hanging out. If you want to get some people together and join us, feel free!