Watkins Glen Report – Instructor Seat
In the afternoon of the first day, I rode along with my Instructor for some hot sessions around the track. I have to admit my largest fear was getting motion sickness when riding along. Luckily the familiarity of the Glen had sunk in allowing me to anticipate the motions of the car would make, and allowing my stomach to relax.
I knew Jim had put the passenger seat back in the car to be able to take me around the track. What he didn’t accommodate for was a very large passenger. After shoe-horning my way into his caged 911, with Sean laughing the whole time, we headed on track with the Instructors group.
This car is sticky. Having a trailered track car has it advantages as having race tires on there makes all of the difference. I am addicted to turbo acceleration, but this car didn’t loose anything in the turns, making for some very smooth and consistent passes. I could see the 20+ years of running the car come out, as he seemed to nail each turn with consistency, making my inconsistent passes seem ham-fisted at best. Sitting in the passenger seat I could see how hard it is to observe as an instructor does.
There are different lines on the track. When we came up to a few turns, I found that I was mentally moving my braking zone and taking a different line through many of the turns. At first I started thinking that I better correct my lines to match Jim’s the next time out, but after a few laps in the passenger seat I knew that was not the answer. Each car takes a different line around this track and each driver takes a different line around this track. Having a car with AWD and a turbo is different than a RWD normally aspirated motor and I found a certain amount of pride sitting there, realizing I would be on a different line and it was my line that made it right when I was in the drivers seat.
It was nice being on track with the Instructors group. While I don’t mind the white group, I often find myself setting up the passes, then lifting as the failed point by signal comes to late. I can see why they have transitioned to teaching late passing zones, and gave me hope that I would be able to evolve out of the white train of cars down the road.
