I went out to Sebring for my first PCA DE yesterday. I was pretty fired up about the taking the car on the track for the first time.

Even though my day didn't go well, this whole DE thing shed light on some very dangerous problems with my car. I had already recruited Bob from Vortex Motorsports to be my instructor and had the car tech'd at his shop. I thought my back tires were fine. I had poked my head under there prior to taking it to the shop and it looked like there was plenty of tread. What I didn't notice was that the innermost 1/2 inch of tire was down to the cords. Note to self, rotate these back tires every 2000 miles. I only got around 8K miles out of this set of rears. I am now on my 3rd set of rears and my fronts still look brand new. The camber settings really do a number on that innermost edge.

Anyway, everything else on the car was fine. I got down to Sebring right on time. Had my tech'd there too. Adjusted my tire pressure and took a walk around taking some pics while everyone was setting up.

My novice group wasn't going out for a couple more hours, so Bob offered to take me out in the instructor group in my car to show me the track. What I quickly realized was that you can't come anywhere near track conditions on the street without being incredibly reckless. Bob didn't waste much time bringing my car right up to pace. I had no idea my car could do what it was doing, especially being a pig of a cab with 19" wheels and a pile of stereo equipment.

We were having a great time lapping Sebring. Bob was showing me the lines, turn in points, etc.... Lots of big grins on my part until around lap 4. Ater whipping through one of the corners, Bob mentioned that we may have a slight problem with the brakes. I looked over and was watching him trying to pump up the brakes. However, all I saw was my brake pedal going straight to the floor. Ruh roh Shaggy. Yep, no brakes whatsoever. Bob limped it back to the hot pit and finally halted it with the e brake. We popped the front hood. Brake fluid was all over the reservoir. And around it. And underneath it. It was everywhere. Needless to say, I hauled *** to the men's room and grabbed around three hundred hand washing's worth of paper towels.

We're still not sure what went wrong. Pumping the brakes caused a hissing sound to emit in the area of the master cylinder. Very scary to say the least. Brake fade is one thing. Complete loss of braking is another. I always assumed there was some sort of fail safe that would at least give you some braking. Apparently there is a scenario where that doesn't happen and I was lucky enough to discover it. Always looking at the bright side, I'm grateful that: a) I wasn't driving when this happened, b) we didn't rear end anyone or careen into a wall, c) that this didn't happen on the street at a red light.

The day turned out to be a blast anyway. Tom Kerr was there with his beast of a TT. He took me out for two sessions in his car. Tom's car is ridiculous (rwd/650hp). And even more ridiculous was his driving ability. There's lot of posers with tons of go-fast stuff on their cars that never drive them on the track or anywhere near the limits of the car. I am definitely a card carrying member of that club. However, Tom is the real deal. His driving skills are unreal. I was scared poopless the first two laps. However after realizing we weren't going to die I quickly settled in, relaxed, and enjoyed the ride. Tom's driving is very smooth and consistent. We spent both sessions reeling cars in and passing them. Needless to say he never needed to let anyone get by.

Now if riding with Tom wasn't cool enough, Bob took me out in one of his customer's GT3 cup cars. Bear in mind, I had never been on the track before, let alone in a full on race car. The only way I can describe it is a carnival ride on steroids. Bob was turning 2:20 ish's according to the lap timer. We did about 8 laps or so. I was exhausted just from riding in the car. It was insane. The levels of adhesion were almost indescribable. I was thankful for the full race harness as I would been squirming all over the seat in a regular belt system. Bob has some serious driving skills. We were on the track with some well prepped vehicles and experienced drivers. We were passing the cars so quickly you would have thought everyone else was just warming up. That experience alone was worth the 2.5 hour drive over to Sebring.

Bob was nice enough to hook me up with a AAA tow back to his shop. It only ended up costing me $40 for a 110 mile tow and then another $50 for the cab ride home. I got off way cheap considering....

Alright, this is turning into the longest post ever. Here's some pics for your viewing pleasure.



Tom and his TT




This car doesn't suck. I'm generally not superstitious but his selection of race numbers wouldn't give me the warm fuzzies doing 130 plus.












I thought this was pretty funny.




It was really odd seeing this out on the track.



And off she goes.... Not exactly the way I thought I would be getting home that day. The tow truck driver was pretty cool. He had some great Sebring tow stories.

 

One of my favorites. This was at Bob's shop. I'm not sure if I took any pics of it at the track.





Another car that was there being prepped at Bob's shop.



Looks like I did have a pic of it there...



Lots of 944's out there.

 

This scooby was prepped to do battle.

 

Another car being prepped at Vortex for the event. Unfortunately this guy totaled his car at the track Friday night.













Tower to Tom Kerr. You are cleared for landing

 

Glad you are okay. Could have been really bad, you are lucky!!!

 

sorry to hear about the brake issues but hey...at least you didnt end up into a wall....Did you even get to drive anyway yes I'm a card holder as well ...I have to bring something out there experience and have some fun....with training wheels of course Had no idea Bobs shop was that size....wow....

 

Sorry to hear about your issues. Get her fixed and get back out there. It's definitely a humbling experience compared to driving hard on the street. You got to ride in some great cars near their limits so at least the weekend was not a total loss.

There is another DE coming up at Roebling 10/25/08 - 10/26/08.

 

And that's just the front half of the shop.

 

I hope to hear from Bob tomorrow and find out what the diagnosis is. I'm thinking I may just have him re-do the brakes altogether. New pads, lines, fluid, master cylinder, caliper seals, etc.... This whole thing brake thing was a little disconcerting to say the least.

 

LOL,

666 is me. It started as a joke that the Goldcoast guys played on me when I signed up and did not pick a #, and now after years, it does not matter what # I pick, when I arrive at the track, my # has always been chosen for me. Obviously I'm not supersticious.

 

Glad you are ok. Get back out there soon!

 

Sorry to hear it, but as you mentioned getting the rides that you did almost make up for it all. I am sure that you'll get your chance once Bob finishes your brakes (chance to upgrade!). Bob's shop is very impressive, they do first-rate work, he is always very gracious and willing to help everyone out both at the shop and at the track. What did you think of the track itself? A lot of opportunities to get on there with PCA, Chin, NASA, etc. just to name a few.

 

Damn good thing you found out about the brakes this way with no damage. Driving on the track is certainly a way to expose a cars weaknesses, especially brakes. Sounds like a great experience with the pros.

 

Glad to hear you're ok. At least you have an intructor in the car with you, imagined if you're by yourself!!

I'd recommend getting as many ride alongs as you can to learn the line. After some rides with different drivers, you'll learn the lines quicker.

 

That's good advice. I've actually been watching some video of the track as well to get ready for my next try at this in November. I have Forza2 on xbox, but oddly enough the track doesn't seem the same whereas Laguna Seca appears spot on.

I got the car back yesterday. It now stops which is a good thing. I have a new master cylinder and performance brake fluid. I'm doing an autocross Sunday morning. I figure that's a nice safe place to make sure everything is working the way it's supposed to.

Here's a shot of that race car Bob was taking me around the track in. It was at the shop yesterday.