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The Rules for Passing

Passing is an area where indecision can be annoying to other drivers and potentially dangerous. All passes should be made with faultless precision and substantial margin for error using proper procedure. Check your mirrors often and if faster traffic is approaching, SIGNAL, LIFT and LET THEM PASS! All passes should be initiated by giving a direct and emphatic point of the index finger up and over the roof of your car to the right side of your vehicle. Any other motion is NOT ACCEPTABLE!

As the passee, you are in control. Allow for smooth, rapid traffic flow if possible, but give the proper signal ONLY WHEN YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE. Your instructor will help you with traffic initially.

REMEMBER:

* Pass only in designated zones.

* Pass only when given a proper signal.

NO SIGNAL - NO PASS !!

* The overtaking car goes "off-line" to make the pass.

* If you are being passed, ease up on your throttle to facilitate the maneuver.

* NO LATE PASSING! If the pass cannot be completed within the designated zone...

DO NOT ATTEMPT IT!

DRIVERS THAT:

FOLLOW TOO CLOSE - FAIL TO GIVE A SIGNAL - PASS WITHOUT A SIGNAL...

WILL BE BLACK FLAGGED

REPEAT OFFENDERS WILL BE INVITED TO LEAVE !

Here's another thought on passing. When someone has just done you the courtesy of allowing you a safe and timely pass, give them a friendly wave. True; they are supposed to let you pass anyway. But we are all friends here, and a friendly wave is a reaffirmation of that. Courtesy and friendship on the track will take you a long way toward achieving the root goal of Driver's Education: TO HAVE A GREAT TIME !

A Guide to Being Prepared

When it's Time to Go

All the theory in the world will only take you so far. Sooner or later it will be time to strap 'em on and head for the track. Here are some practical points to think about when it's crunch time!

* SEEK YOUR MENTOR: Find your Instructor as soon as possible, get in the car and stage early so you can discuss your agenda. Make every minute count! Never mind hiding in the back of the line. Remember, you're not the only rookie and it looks kind of silly & snarls the pits when EVERYONE is trying to be at the end of the line!

* GET COMFORTABLE IN THE CAR: Make sure you can EASILY reach all controls. Remember, cornering forces may render your normal seat settings less than optimal. Legs and arms should be bent comfortably but not cramped. With your hands at 3 and 9 o'clock on the wheel, you should be able to cross your arms completely without pulling your shoulders away from the seat back. Perform a mental check list: Helmet and belts tight, mirrors adjusted, passenger ready, traffic clear, CONCENTRATE, deep breath, RELAX, ready to go!

* NO WHITE KNUCKLES: You should refrain from employing a death grip on the steering wheel. Even Porsches without power assisted steering are easily manageable at speed. You should be able to steer most of the course with just the palms of your hands. Relaxing your grip on the wheel will be the first step in relaxing the rest of yourself so that you can grip the proper item: The task at hand!

* WHEN YOU EXIT THE PIT LANE: Stay to the right as you merge onto the track and continue through the apex of turn two, checking your mirrors continuously for possible traffic coming upon you.

* FLAGGERS: As early as possible, familiarize yourself with where the flag stations are. These people are your life line if something goes wrong up ahead.

KNOW WHERE THEY ARE AND RESPECT THEM, THEY WILL SAVE YOUR BACON!

* LEAVE YOURSELF ROOM: Don't assume the other driver will make the correct move. Give them plenty of room, but never disappear into their blind spots or weave back and forth behind them! Don't run right on the edge of the track surface either, especially entering a corner. Allow at least an 18" margin of safety during braking in case there is a slippery spot or your car pulls sideways under heavy braking.

* DRIVE YOUR OWN LINE: It is common for even relatively experienced drivers to be distracted and subsequently lead astray by focusing too intently on the car ahead. If that driver goes off the track, you certainly wouldn't want to be looking to them for proper guidance!

* VISION: This will be difficult at first, but try training yourself from the start to look far ahead of your car. On the straights, scan your surroundings and mirrors constantly. Entering the turns, first spot the apex, then force yourself to look far ahead at the track out area and beyond, even if it means looking out the side window. If you are in a line of cars, don't fixate on the car ahead, but look further up the line. If there is going to be a problem, it will likely start 2 or 3 cars ahead and you will need to be ready to avoid traffic stacking up. By constantly scanning and training yourself to look ahead, you will improve your peripheral vision, your alertness, and you will find that your hands, and consequently your car, will follow your eyes! LOOK TO WHERE YOU WANT TO END UP!

* BRAKE AND SHIFT IN A STRAIGHT LINE: Do your braking and shifting WELL BEFORE you turn into a corner. If you wait too long, you'll be scrambling and you and the car will not be balanced.

* DO NOT EARLY APEX! At all costs, resist the natural temptation to turn in too early. Even if you have good balance, you will soon realize that you must steer back away from the apex to avoid literally hitting it. This may cause you to run out of room at the track-out point and possibly run off the track. (You never want to literally "HIT/CLIP" an apex, merely come close! (1'-2')).

* DO NOT LIFT IN A TURN: This is sometimes a hard reflex to unlearn, but try your hardest to do without this one. There are very few, if any, times when lifting in the middle of a turn should be done. This is a great way to provoke a spin out, particularly in a rear-engined car. If you experience some cornering discomfort, maintaining a steady throttle input will help steady the car and maintain that all important balance. Although it seems counter-intuitive, MORE throttle will get you out of trouble in most cases, particularly in a rear-engined car.

There are certainly many fine books written on the subject of high performance driving or racing technique that go into far greater detail than you will find here. It is not the intention of this document or this event to turn you into a "racer." This document is intended to set a proper mental table for Driver's Education success by touching on very basic concerns and highlighting underlying but essential truths; points which are sometimes obscured by the excitement of the moment. The purpose of Driver's Ed. is to

teach you the rudiments of performance driving in the safe, controlled, and non-competitive environment of a racing circuit so that you may use this knowledge to further enhance your driving pleasure and safety, both on the track, and in everyday street driving.

The ideas offered here are meant to be a conservative and consistent starting point to your "performance driving career." Make no mistake, this is serious business, and there is no room for anything less than a serious attitude on the track. At the same time, this is also serious fun, and should certainly lead to a lifetime of heightened driving enjoyment.

To paraphrase the old Real Estate axiom, after Respect and Safety come the three most important

components in Drivers Education: The Line, The Line and The Line! Many students start their training with the goal of attaining speed. This is backwards. Your initial thoughts should be of attaining proper technique! Unless you have mastered the tasks of corner dissection and proper car placement and control, speed will only serve to hinder your learning of these essential lessons. Many is the time that an Instructor has had to fight tooth and nail to get a student

to slow down and learn the basic dynamics of performance driving first instead of trying to start at the end with no solid foundation, wasting a lot of valuable track time in the process. Do yourself and your Instructor a favor; learn the fundamentals first. Start at the Beginning!

As mentioned earlier, the techniques espoused here represent a safe, sound starting point toward your learning of the rudiments of performance driving. After you have demonstrated first to your instructor, and then yourself, that you can perform the necessary tasks in a consistent and repeatable fashion, you may begin to experiment with different lines and techniques that may better compliment your personal and vehicular requirements. In short, you will have the fundamental understanding necessary to begin to

develope your own driving style, and you will be better prepared to meet any situation that arrises. Being Prepared is what driving is all about; be it on the track in Driver's Education, on the street, or in competition.

If you have never driven your car on a track before, you will shortly be discovering just what an incredible car a Porsche really is; something you could never do in everyday driving. Porsche Club of America Driver's Education is the best way to discover this.

Surely, you will be discovering something else; a whole new group of incredibly friendly and enthusiastic Porschephiles who share your interest in the marque. You may soon find that the people are what it's really all about.

Serious Fun with Good Friends and Great Cars!

That is the essence of the

PCA Driver's Education experience !

* DO NOT FORCE THE CAR. If cornering distress occurs, don't force the car to stay on the track surface. You may precipitate a spin, thereby giving up control to the laws of physics. Don't try to do anything fancy in the grass/dirt/gravel traps. Keep the car as straight as possible and try to tiptoe back to safety. If you realize early on that you don't have a chance of making the turn, try to slow as much as possible IN A STRAIGHT LINE BEFORE going off the track. When you leave the track surface, do your best to be gentle and maintain control. Do not try to turn sharply if you enter a gravel trap as this may cause a "dig & roll". In the unlikely event that you cannot avoid hitting the wall, it is far better to hit it straight on. You will make maximum use of your safety belts and the car's built-in crash protection. Also, remember this rule: If you spin, both feet in! In other words, if you spin, no matter where you are, depress the clutch and get on the brakes HARD until you come to a complete stop. A quick prayer wouldn't hurt either! ;-}

* RACING TECHNIQUES: If you've done any reading on racing technique, you're probably curious. Save those racing tricks for when you become a racer! They require lots of practice, are only selectively applicable, and may get you in trouble. There is one technique that you should learn if possible: Heel and Toe Downshifting. A misnomer, it is more like Ball of foot/Side of foot. When slowing for a corner, only the ball of your right foot is used to apply the brakes. When you wish to donwshift, roll the right side of your foot (which is still braking) onto the gas pedal, give it a "blip" after depressing the clutch, and make your shift. It is a method of braking and shifting all at once that significantly smoothes corner set up and reduces braking distances. Otherwise, you will have to brake (nose dives), let off the brake (nose rises), "blip" and shift, get back on the brake (nose dives again), let off the brake (nose rises again)... Or, you will brake with your right foot as normal and complete your shift by just slipping out the clutch. Obviously, neither of these is the ultimate ticket! NOTE: You may want to adjust your brake pedal height to more closely match the throttle height, particularly in a 911.

* SLOW IN, FAST OUT: If you charge into a turn, you will waste valuable time trying to regain the car's cornering composure. You have now "blown" the corner, giving up all the speed you had upon entering. You cannot get that momentum back, even with huge horsepower! If you go in more slowly, you will maintain better balance and be able to accelerate sooner. It is not necessarily how fast you go in, but how much momentum you can safely carry and how fast you come out that determines terminal velocity on the ensuing straightaway. If you've developed extra momentum coming out of a turn, it will carry with you all the way to the next corner.

* THAT PESKY CAR IN YOUR MIRRORS: Perhaps you see a car coming on from behind entering a corner. You pull far away on the long straight, only to see the same car looming in your mirrors again a few turns later. Even though the car behind you is not faster than yours, THE DRIVER IS! In this case, you are actually holding the other car up. LIFT AND LET THEM PASS! More than likely, they will pull away and disappear from view. Don't infringe on this driver's fun... Be courteous; lift and let them pass!

* THE RED MIST: Learn to realize early on when you are becoming frustrated by traffic, another drivers performance, or are simply getting tired. When you start to see the RED MIST in your eyes, it is probably a good time to remind yourself again why you are here and to give the benefit of the doubt. If you are stuck in a long train of cars, simply enter the pit lane slowly and cruise through at a reduced pace or even stop for a moment. The train will have moved on by this time and you should have open track to work with.

* THE CAR WILL TALK TO YOU... LISTEN! Develop the ability to sense what the car needs by what it is doing. If the front tires are screaming in a turn, they are pushing, and you're either going too fast or turning too hard. If the rear-end comes around, you've either over-braked, braked too late or while turning, turned in too abruptly, chopped the throttle shut, or not released the brakes soon enough to allow the front end to un-weight and rise again and return suspension balance. Ride with other people and pay attention to the car's attitude. Ask your Instructor to reinforce the principals they have been espousing by showing you how it's done. Pretty soon, you'll be letting the car drive you as much as you are driving it. Remember, you can only do what the car will allow. LISTEN and FEEL!

* IF YOU FEEL YOU'RE READY TO GO FASTER, BEWARE! If you were to seek to increase your speed by 10%, you better be prepared and able to increase your CONCENTRATION by at least 20%! Things really start happening in a hurry the faster you go... at an exponential rate! Increased speed will likely alter all of your previous reference points, and to avoid getting in over your head you must be ready for the changing dynamic of the situation. Again, start from the beginning and work up to it. Never drive over your head!

the exception of Turn 7 (which is rather washboard-ish), you should set your suspicions asside and hit the cement hard.

You might also be tempted to think that the cement is slippery when wet. I am happy to report that this is actually where the cement pays big dividends. Contrary to your best guess, it will provide surprising levels of grip in the rain, and you should seek to have at least both of your outside tires on it at all times in the wet.

Remember that sealer I mentioned? Well, it's still there on the perimeter of the cement areas. In the dry it is of no consequence, but in the wet you must be carefull in choosing your lines so as to transition smoothly from pavement to cement and back. The sealed areas will appear much shinier and darker in color, and should be avoided if possible. If you do have to cross these tricky transition areas, you should set up your line so that you are doing so with your front wheels as straight as possible!

As always, your instructor will help you with this most important aspect of driving well.

The IRL has decided it needs to go road racing, so the track has seen some changes. These changes are almost exclusively to the runoff areas, and have very little effect on the track itself.

Regarding the whole track, all of the styrofoam blocks are now gone. They have been replaced by Conveyor Belt Tire Barriers. These are normal tire walls with a full length strip of heavy black conveyor belt material bolted to the tire stacks. These represent a great improvement in energy absorption and also do not “catch & spin” cars that hit them.

There has been a lot of high-arching catch fencing installed in many places, similar to what showed up on the main straight last year. This is little more than a minor visual distraction at first, and “disappears” quite

quickly.

On a turn by turn basis;

Turn 1 - The gravel trap outside of Turn 1 has been paved ala FIA regulations to improve opportunities for deceleration and direction change for those who stray off track.

The Esses - The old paved curbs have been milled flat and paved with cement at the apexes of 2, 3, & 4. These represent arguably the biggest substantive change to the track. Unlike in days of old where you NEVER wanted to touch the curbing anywhere going up the hill, you may be tempted to

cut the corners sharper than before. DON’T BE FOOLED. The old paved curbs suddenly re-appear in rather abrupt fashion after the apex, and more than one wheel & tire have already been trashed from such cheating. Stay away like before!

Inner Loop - The rumble strip apexes have been replaced with what I can only term cement “washboard waves.” They are decidedly rougher than the old stuff, and rather puzzling. If you are really honking, they don’t represent much of a change, but they will indeed rattle your bones more than before. It’s best to avoid them for the most part.

Turn 6 - Sees the biggest visual change. The new high catch fence has also been moved back. The flagger is now directly in your site line as you come into The Chute, a decidedly good thing! At least half the trees have been removed from the woods behind him. All this has nothing to do with the track surface, and if you are looking where you want to go, you won’t really notice.

Turn 9 - Has had the area of grass between it and the NASCAR Short Chute paved for the same reason as Turn 1.

Turn 11 - Similarly, the runoff area outside the urn has been paved.

All of this is quite peripheral, and again, if you are concentrating on where you want to go, these changes will not really effect your driving at all.