The LazyAssGeek’s

Our 3rd and last day started the way the others had, too early!  But the 5:30 alarm gave us time to have some coffee, my continental-influenced (damn Germans!) breakfast of ham & Swiss on toasted sourdough, and check our e-mail during that limited window of opportunity when the office was open and we were accessible.  Then it was back in the car and down Hwy 160 again.

Random Road Shot from Highway 160

Wednesday’s second instructor was Justin, also known as JJ and according to the back of his helmet, J.Man.  When asked what he actually went by he didn’t seem to have a preference. As Jordan had called him JJ to us the previous day that’s what we stuck with.

The day began as the day prior had, with heel-toe shifting practice.  With 3 of us and 2 instructors it gave those of us still not comfortable with it, in other words everyone except Joe, some one-on-one time.  Actually after a few runs I found myself falling into a rhythm and noticed I wasn’t picking my heel up off the floor as I had been.  Not going to argue with it, so I stayed with it and it seemed to work better for me.  As we had the instructors available I asked JJ to hop in and offer some advice.  Overall he thought I was getting the hang of it and would improve with continued practice. I felt much better about the heel-toe shifting by the end of that session and Clown-foot continued merrily along as well.

The next thing was an exercise & self-test to see how our visual scanning technique was coming along.  Jordan had mentioned the previous day that they would put us on a track we’d never seen before. We assumed that he meant the other piece of the track they have there, the 1.5 mile layout.  Well we know how assumptions go, so of course it was something completely different – the same track we’d been running… but in reverse.  They wanted us to keep the speed to 45 mph and just concentrate on spotting apexes and turn-in points.  WOW does the track in reverse look completely different! The turn-in and most of the apex cones they had spotted around the track were useless so we were on our own. With each lap you got a bit more confident, but turns 2 & 4 (numbered running the track the normal way) were the tough ones as the approaches left you a lot of options for turn-in.  I don’t know that I turned in and apexed those corners at the same point any two laps, but I think I was sneaking up on it.  It was a very educational and fun exercise.

We did a debrief on the reverse track discussing some of the cornering techniques and then it was time to brief us on open lapping sessions.  The first new thing was that we’d have to wear helmets.  All the previous sessions had been speed limited because we were following the instructors so helmets weren’t necessary, but since in the open lap sessions we weren’t limited we had to wear helmets.  This would become an issue as the day moved along, but I’ll whine about that later. We were instructed about where passing was allowed and how to go about it.  They would call for the passes on the radio if necessary, but they preferred we keep an eye on our mirrors and move over on the backstretch (preferably) or frontstretch to let the faster car by. If you were the faster car they asked that you be patient if you caught up to the other car before those areas, maintain a 5-6 car length gap and then pass when permitted.  Also sometime during the first session an instructor had to ride with you for a few laps to sign you off to be able to run in the afternoon hot lapping sessions.

So off we went to the cars with helmets on.  I got the Z06 as Joe was content with his Atomic Orange Pfadt suspension C6 and the Jetstream Blue C6 Renee had been driving had a pedal extension strapped to it to make heel-toe easier for her to do. I will admit to some serious butterflies before this session, but once you get strapped in you automatically start into the process you’d been building up over the previous days and a lot of that went away. A loop through the paddock and we got in line for Jordan to release us onto the track.  I was first out, then Joe, then Renee.  Started out at pretty much the same pace we’d been doing in the Lead/Follow sessions, but ramped it up bit by bit.  Since everyone seems to want to know “how fast did you go” on that session by the end I had ramped it up to about 100mph on the back stretch.  The 5/8 mile long back stretch, that I was entering somewhere around 50mph, then has a long, large radius turn at the end of it. The trick is to keep yourself to a speed where you’re confident and comfortable that you’ll still make the corner.  After a few laps they called me into the pits and JJ got in the car with me for my checkout ride.  While all race drivers have to have a certain amount of courage, getting into the car with a n00b behind the wheel takes a rather large set of attachments (credit David Hobbs).  I did a few laps with him along for the ride and he gave me a few tips, particularly that I could carry more speed through that turn at the end of the back straight, turn 8.  He approved me to go, I dropped him off in the pits and finished out the session. Here’s a picture I dug up today from Spring Mountain’s online photo galleries.  The overhead shot of the track is a great view.  The back straight so frequently mentioned in this paragraph is that long straight stretch all the way at the right edge of the pic.  Click on the pic to get a bigger view.

Spring Mountain from the Air

The other thing that everybody asks: Who was faster, Joe or me?  I’m relieved to report it was me! I know this because during this session Joe moved over and let me pass him on the back straight. We got out of the cars and freshened up before lunch – wearing helmets is sweaty business, thank goodness they have everyone wear head socks! Lunch this last day they pulled out the stops, chicken breasts in a mushroom cream sauce.  However based on the previous day’s burger, I knew that a filling lunch wasn’t exactly a great idea when you’re throwing cars around, so seconds were out of the question!

After letting lunch settle and then doing another debrief to review what we’d done we headed back out to the cars.  Joe took the Z06 this time and I was in the Orange C6.  I went out first again and after a lap or so to warm up the car I began to find out what makes the Z06 so special.  The standard C6 is a great car, this orange coupe being no exception.  You can throw them around and they just take it.  But after just having driven the Z, well its amazing lateral grip and incredible brakes were truly appreciated by their absence!  As you move through the chicane just after turn 3 there is curbing on the left side that dips down and is your braking point that sets you up to come back right for the very tight turn 4. The Z handles this no problem, maybe a hint of ABS or active handling (since ABS is part of AH it’s hard to say which is kicking in at any given moment, you sure don’t have time to look at the display to find out!).  The standard Vette, EVERY time I hit the brakes at that point the ABS kicked in, and again and I crested the right hander at the exit of the chicane. That’s not intended as criticism of the standard Vette, those electronic aids are great for keeping your butt out of trouble, just a head shaker about how much better the Z06 is. This was again pointed out with remarkable clarity as I got on the brakes in turn 8 about half way through the session.  I went in as fast as I had in the Z06 and got on the brakes, got into understeer and felt like I darn near put the car in the gravel, though I probably had 10-15 feet of track left.  It was an eye opener, and in the debrief I talked to Jordan about it and he said two things that helped keep it from happening again.  The first was that when you first apply your brakes that should be the hardest on them you’re going to be for that turn, everything after that is easing up.  The second was “GET YOUR HEAD UP AND LOOK AT THE EXIT!!” He said he’d guarantee I was staring at that desert off the turn and my hands were taking me there, and I sure as heck wouldn’t have bet against him! With Joe in the Z06 this session I didn’t pass him, though I could see him by the last lap of the session.  Here’s a couple of pics of our rides for the session.

Atomic Orange Coupe

Z06

After another debrief, where Jordan helped me figure out how badly I messed up 8, it was time to head to the track again. Joe was kind, or so I thought, and allowed me to run the Z06 again.  This Z was silver this time as the yellow Z’s rear tires were nearly finished and a tech decided to swap them at the end of the previous session. As mentioned previously, the helmets became an issue, with the Z06 especially. The seats are nice & comfy in the Vette but if you’re at all tall and you strap a helmet on the combo of those seats and the low roofline (the Z06 seats are actually a tick higher and the roof a tick lower inside) means that great seating position they taught us where you don’t get tired goes out the window so your head doesn’t clank off the roof! At 6’1″ with a 31″ inseam, this became a real problem for me.  By the time this second session was over I was absolutely wiped out from having to reach so far for the wheel and from having hold myself in place in the seat, both because of the compromised seating position.  I still absolutely loved driving it, but I’d have to agree with both Jordan & JJ’s answer to the question “what’s the first upgrade I should get on my new Z06?”  A new seat!  A Recaro race style seat would take care of the problem nicely.  In this session I continued to ramp up the speed and with the confidence gained by putting to use the good advice in turn 8 and the forgiveness of the Z06 I was consistently topping 120 on the back stretch.  I probably still was getting on the brakes harder than I needed to as I consistently felt like I could have carried more speed through 8, but I was comfortable with what I was doing and was hitting the entry into 9 and then off through 10 pretty well so I didn’t push it. I think what was consistently the most fun section for me was turn 5A/5B and through the kink down into 6. 5A goes uphill with a very tight turn-in and the has a very short chute where you let the car unwind out to the left before coming back hard right across the apex of 5B, where then you can get back to the throttle all the way down to the braking zone for 6.  Did I mention that’s a blast!!??!!!  Cause it is. Oh yeah, I passed Joe on this session too!

As I mentioned, I was tired & sore at the end of that 3rd open lapping session and as much as I loved driving it, decided that it would be better if I skipped driving the Z06 for the final session.  After the break & debrief we headed back out to the cars one last time and I chose the Callaway instead.  The Callaway Vette is based on the standard C6 so you get that extra bit of roof height back, but it also has a Recaro seat which is much lower than the stock seats.  While with its high lateral supports it’s something of a challenge for ingress and egress(especially wearing a helmet!), but you can get a very good driving position and you sure as heck aren’t going anywhere side-to-side-in that seat!

Callaway Corvette Interior

For this last session they wanted us to take it easier, concentrate on the skills we’d be learning, hit our marks, “make it perfect.”  They told us to do laps at approximately 70% to help with that.  So while I didn’t get to really unwind and push the Callaway I still was pushing it up to 90 on the back straight and had a chance to wind out that supercharger a bit.  It’s an impressive vehicle and there’s no doubt that supercharger power is addictive, but I still would rather have the Z06 for its handling and bottom end grunt.  As always seems to happen with great trips like this, it seemed like we blinked and it was over, with the checkered flag flying on the front stretch telling us to back it down, do a cool down lap and head into the paddock.

We gathered back at the classroom so the sales people could have one last shot at us (membership, Level 2, etc) and present our completion certificates and a very nice 8×10 class photo.. that I still need to scan so I can post! After that it was saying our thanks and goodbyes and then back across 160 to Vegas.

We were pretty damn tired after the open lapping sessions but decided that we weren’t going to just sit in the room for our last night in Vegas, so we grabbed the shuttle from the timeshare down to Stratosphere. We had dinner at their Top of the World restaurant, which is about 800′ above the street. The food was pretty good, but of course you were paying for the view more than the price.  Still it was a nice relaxing dinner and we had excellent service. Then we went up to the observation decks and took in the views and shook our heads at the people who think that hanging 900′ in the air off a mechanical ride is fun! After the big dinner and just being plain wiped out we decided to call it a night after that, had a beer at a bar downstairs to kill a few minutes waiting for the shuttle and headed back to Tahiti.

The Strip at Night

Did you think these posts were ever going to end?  I was starting to wonder about it myself, but here we are, at the end.  The flights home (connect via Phoenix) were unremarkable, which I guess is remarkable in and of itself, especially since we arrived 15 minutes early in Philly and our bags were out in decent time. To end it up I’m going to do the thank yous again.  Thanks to all the staff at Spring Mountain for an absolutely awesome 3 days – Jordan, Victor, Barry (go Tony!), Justin, Melinda, Amy and the folks who’s names I’ve forgotten or never had a chance to get.  You guys do a great job and I will talk you up at every opportunity. Also thanks to my sister-in-law Natalie for not immediately dismissing this trip as a ridiculous idea when I suggested it as a 40th birthday gift for Joe. Perhaps it was a more than a little bit self-serving suggestion but I know that Joe enjoyed the trip every bit as much as I did.  And now he won’t drive my car like a wuss any more!