archsteve
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- steve
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2024
- Threads
- 8
- Messages
- 50
- Reaction score
- 70
- Location
- new orleans
- Car(s)
- 2025 Supra AT 3.0 Premium, Acura TL
- Thread starter
- #1
Day after reaction of my first track day. I'll try to give a detailed, honest (no ego) accounting for all future drivers interested in taking advantage of the Toyota free-day offer.
Apologies in advance for potentially too much detail/long read. This post is the conclusion of the post from last week where I asked for any advice/tips and I got numerous replies with tons of great advice.
Giant thank you to the volunteers at NOLA Motorsports & NASA for putting on the 3-day event. Every person putting on the event was great and helpful and excited to give pointers and explain things. And extra thank you's to the instructors who gave of their time both inside the cars and between sessions.
I went on the Friday session, which had a mix of Novice, Intermediate and Advanced classes, leading into the Saturday HDPE/Time Trials/etc event. This was part of a 3-day, multi-region NASA event, held at a track 15 minutes from home, with cars from Texas all the way to Florida. My day consisted of an expanded drivers/safety meeting to start the day, followed by 2 follow the leader sessions, each with an after-session discussion to explain and help educate us. Then there were 3 Novice sessions, with point-by passing allowed on the straightaways.
For background: first true sports car (bought 5 months ago), my first track day. I did a decent amount of research and watched vids by other drivers on this track but I'd never been on it before, not even one of those Extreme Driving experiences (afterwards I wish I had tried that first for track knowledge).
I went into the session naively thinking it would just be me and the other 4 new Toyota drivers (3 GR 86's and a GR Corolla) but that was just my misconception. My other big misconception was thinking we would have an instructor in the car for each session - that misconception had kept my pre-race anxiety down somewhat, being a complete noob. Apparently signing up for one of the HDPE sessions on a Saturday/Sunday program gives you an instructor all day. There were no instructors in the lead/follow sessions. They did tell us that we could ask some of the volunteer instructors nearby if they would help us during the three open sessions.
The first session had about 20 of us in 2 groups, doing lead/follow. The mix of Novice cars ranged from Miata's to Mustang GTs, the Toyotas, a few BMW and VWs and 3 Corvettes including a brand new C8. Four of the cars appeared to be serious track cars with mods/permanent letters, etc. and the rest daily drivers like mine. It appeared around half the drivers were first time noobs like me, the others being a mixture of Novice class guys looking to move up to the Intermediate level who had anywhere from a few to several days of track driving experience. The first session driving was relatively low pace, faster than street driving but not super aggressive, to learn the track and simple procedures. Great start to build confidence. The follow-up driver meeting focused on turning skills, how to pass appropriately, etc.
The second session had about 18 of us in 2 groups, doing lead/follow. Surprised that a few cars didn't participate. Much more aggressive driving, faster times and definitely the first stressful driving of the day. Saw my first fellow driver go 2 wheels off and towards the end I realized I was committing a mistake following the same line as the person in front of me, falling into that trap assuming they know better lines - I put this down to human nature where we learn by mimicking others. I caught myself doing that a few more times later on but becoming aware of it early helped. The follow-up driver meeting focused on getting ready for the open driving, track etiquette, how to signal for passes and keeping your line appropriately to keep everyone safe, etc.
I had an instructor for the third session - this was the key to me enjoying it and getting the most out of it, plain and simple. I cannot recommend that enough as my turning was inconsistent and I was only hitting about a third of the curves at the right spot. His explanations and direction about turning and braking consistency were very helpful. His other invaluable help was getting me to trust in the car's capabilities (and to push the car to perform), something that goes against all of our normalized, safety-based driving experiences when we were teenagers. This session had about 15 cars. Apparently 3 more drivers decided they were not ready for open driving. This session was the only one that was shortened, because we were black-flagged after 20 minutes (not the normal 30) due to a car going off track. We focused on apex turning and braking skills, letting others pass us typically on the long straight so I could focus on getting more consistent turning and not braking too early.
The fourth session I went alone, on purpose to see if I could handle it. This session had about 12 cars, with a few more drivers dropping out. Both a success and failure at times. I was able to apply the instructor's coaching most of the time, but still screwed up many instances of turning too soon/too late, not braking consistently etc. The interesting thing for me was in the straightaway, when I wanted to, none of the other cars could keep up with the Supra except for the C8 Corvette. After a few laps I realized I was one of the few noobs left and almost everyone was a better driver than me so I started letting them pass me at the beginning of the long straightaway to avoid holding them back on the rest of the course, then I could focus on my driving. I got to see a Miata go into turn one way too hot and go four off for a hundred yards through the grass in front of me, but for the most part it seemed the driving was safe and courteous. I heard later that one driver got a stern talk later on about trying to pass multiple cars in a tricky spot which we had been told was not allowed.
Last item of note for this session was the one lap that I turned onto the straightaway with a perfect turn and entry and with no one in front of me or behind me I opened her up completely to see what she would do - up to that point my fastest straightaway speed had been 121 - this time I got up to 133 before I chickened out LOL - I eased up well before the normal braking point (way too early).
Fifth and last session, had the same instructor and we had about 10 cars in the session this time. The session went smoother as the coaching was having a noticeable improvement (in most places). I still wasn't consistent, but I managed to string together some really good partial laps at times (for me) and passed a few people and more importantly managed to stay ahead of drivers that were easily overtaking me the previous session.
Big takeaways - the day was great, and I'm glad I did it. I don't think I damaged the car (my biggest worry), although the tire condition with the crazy amount of built-up rubber on them has me worried as it felt horrible on the drive home. I have a case of tinnitus in my right ear from the very loud feedback coming from the coach's earpiece where he was giving me instruction (hope that goes away soon LOL) but no other injuries or problems - very impressed on how secure the car made me feel.
The Supra got lots of compliments, many guys wanted to know what it was like for road driving, and loved the color (most had never seen a blue one). Several wanted to know where I had bought the vinyl removable door numbers seen in the photo. I had planned on using tape but my wife made those numbers seen in the photo with a few dollars worth of Dollar General removable film on her Cricut machine - I recommend that to anyone as they were super easy to put on and throw away at the end of the day.
Will I do it again?? Honestly, not sure. I greatly enjoyed it, and I know I would love a future 2-day instruction course but the worry about what I was doing to my daily driver stayed in the back of my mind the whole day (single income family, I don't have the funds to have a side/fun car just for the track unfortunately). So only time will tell if I do it again, but I had a exciting/stressful/memorable blast.
And a giant THANK YOU to everyone on the original thread where I asked for first-time advice and hints - it was all appreciated and helpful!
Apologies in advance for potentially too much detail/long read. This post is the conclusion of the post from last week where I asked for any advice/tips and I got numerous replies with tons of great advice.
Giant thank you to the volunteers at NOLA Motorsports & NASA for putting on the 3-day event. Every person putting on the event was great and helpful and excited to give pointers and explain things. And extra thank you's to the instructors who gave of their time both inside the cars and between sessions.
I went on the Friday session, which had a mix of Novice, Intermediate and Advanced classes, leading into the Saturday HDPE/Time Trials/etc event. This was part of a 3-day, multi-region NASA event, held at a track 15 minutes from home, with cars from Texas all the way to Florida. My day consisted of an expanded drivers/safety meeting to start the day, followed by 2 follow the leader sessions, each with an after-session discussion to explain and help educate us. Then there were 3 Novice sessions, with point-by passing allowed on the straightaways.
For background: first true sports car (bought 5 months ago), my first track day. I did a decent amount of research and watched vids by other drivers on this track but I'd never been on it before, not even one of those Extreme Driving experiences (afterwards I wish I had tried that first for track knowledge).
I went into the session naively thinking it would just be me and the other 4 new Toyota drivers (3 GR 86's and a GR Corolla) but that was just my misconception. My other big misconception was thinking we would have an instructor in the car for each session - that misconception had kept my pre-race anxiety down somewhat, being a complete noob. Apparently signing up for one of the HDPE sessions on a Saturday/Sunday program gives you an instructor all day. There were no instructors in the lead/follow sessions. They did tell us that we could ask some of the volunteer instructors nearby if they would help us during the three open sessions.
The first session had about 20 of us in 2 groups, doing lead/follow. The mix of Novice cars ranged from Miata's to Mustang GTs, the Toyotas, a few BMW and VWs and 3 Corvettes including a brand new C8. Four of the cars appeared to be serious track cars with mods/permanent letters, etc. and the rest daily drivers like mine. It appeared around half the drivers were first time noobs like me, the others being a mixture of Novice class guys looking to move up to the Intermediate level who had anywhere from a few to several days of track driving experience. The first session driving was relatively low pace, faster than street driving but not super aggressive, to learn the track and simple procedures. Great start to build confidence. The follow-up driver meeting focused on turning skills, how to pass appropriately, etc.
The second session had about 18 of us in 2 groups, doing lead/follow. Surprised that a few cars didn't participate. Much more aggressive driving, faster times and definitely the first stressful driving of the day. Saw my first fellow driver go 2 wheels off and towards the end I realized I was committing a mistake following the same line as the person in front of me, falling into that trap assuming they know better lines - I put this down to human nature where we learn by mimicking others. I caught myself doing that a few more times later on but becoming aware of it early helped. The follow-up driver meeting focused on getting ready for the open driving, track etiquette, how to signal for passes and keeping your line appropriately to keep everyone safe, etc.
I had an instructor for the third session - this was the key to me enjoying it and getting the most out of it, plain and simple. I cannot recommend that enough as my turning was inconsistent and I was only hitting about a third of the curves at the right spot. His explanations and direction about turning and braking consistency were very helpful. His other invaluable help was getting me to trust in the car's capabilities (and to push the car to perform), something that goes against all of our normalized, safety-based driving experiences when we were teenagers. This session had about 15 cars. Apparently 3 more drivers decided they were not ready for open driving. This session was the only one that was shortened, because we were black-flagged after 20 minutes (not the normal 30) due to a car going off track. We focused on apex turning and braking skills, letting others pass us typically on the long straight so I could focus on getting more consistent turning and not braking too early.
The fourth session I went alone, on purpose to see if I could handle it. This session had about 12 cars, with a few more drivers dropping out. Both a success and failure at times. I was able to apply the instructor's coaching most of the time, but still screwed up many instances of turning too soon/too late, not braking consistently etc. The interesting thing for me was in the straightaway, when I wanted to, none of the other cars could keep up with the Supra except for the C8 Corvette. After a few laps I realized I was one of the few noobs left and almost everyone was a better driver than me so I started letting them pass me at the beginning of the long straightaway to avoid holding them back on the rest of the course, then I could focus on my driving. I got to see a Miata go into turn one way too hot and go four off for a hundred yards through the grass in front of me, but for the most part it seemed the driving was safe and courteous. I heard later that one driver got a stern talk later on about trying to pass multiple cars in a tricky spot which we had been told was not allowed.
Last item of note for this session was the one lap that I turned onto the straightaway with a perfect turn and entry and with no one in front of me or behind me I opened her up completely to see what she would do - up to that point my fastest straightaway speed had been 121 - this time I got up to 133 before I chickened out LOL - I eased up well before the normal braking point (way too early).
Fifth and last session, had the same instructor and we had about 10 cars in the session this time. The session went smoother as the coaching was having a noticeable improvement (in most places). I still wasn't consistent, but I managed to string together some really good partial laps at times (for me) and passed a few people and more importantly managed to stay ahead of drivers that were easily overtaking me the previous session.
Big takeaways - the day was great, and I'm glad I did it. I don't think I damaged the car (my biggest worry), although the tire condition with the crazy amount of built-up rubber on them has me worried as it felt horrible on the drive home. I have a case of tinnitus in my right ear from the very loud feedback coming from the coach's earpiece where he was giving me instruction (hope that goes away soon LOL) but no other injuries or problems - very impressed on how secure the car made me feel.
The Supra got lots of compliments, many guys wanted to know what it was like for road driving, and loved the color (most had never seen a blue one). Several wanted to know where I had bought the vinyl removable door numbers seen in the photo. I had planned on using tape but my wife made those numbers seen in the photo with a few dollars worth of Dollar General removable film on her Cricut machine - I recommend that to anyone as they were super easy to put on and throw away at the end of the day.
Will I do it again?? Honestly, not sure. I greatly enjoyed it, and I know I would love a future 2-day instruction course but the worry about what I was doing to my daily driver stayed in the back of my mind the whole day (single income family, I don't have the funds to have a side/fun car just for the track unfortunately). So only time will tell if I do it again, but I had a exciting/stressful/memorable blast.
And a giant THANK YOU to everyone on the original thread where I asked for first-time advice and hints - it was all appreciated and helpful!
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