derBayerische September October 2022 - 37

N C C ' S S P R I N G H P D E A T S U M M I T P O I N T ' S J E F F E R S O N C I R C U I T
most important skills we can develop
as drivers is awareness and the
immediate translation of the corner
workers' communications via these
flags. Every instructor focuses on
this, but perhaps none better than
NCC instructor John Driscoll:
" know the flags stone cold! " After
the meeting I spent precious time
with my instructor, Scott, who
would become my best friend and
confidant for the weekend, going
back over my goals and weaknesses
and doubling down on Joe's safety
message.
My first seat time of the day
was on the skidpad, an exercise I
totally love and wish we had more
of. Once I got through the push of
understeer, I cranked up the throttle
blip and tossed the end completely
around: fail! But it's not a fail; learning
the feel of the back-end coming
around is one of the most important
things we'll learn because on track
we quickly recognize when it happens
at speed with other cars
around us. I've spun a few times
over the years and I'm convinced it
didn't go bad because of my skid
pad experience. Controlling the car
(drifting, sliding) on the skid pad is
difficult; keeping one's eyes up,
looking around the turn, is a must.
The first two sessions of the day
were on Jefferson's original short
track, taking a quick 60 seconds to
complete the 1.1 mile lap. After
■ Thank you HPDE sponsor, Craftsman Auto Care.
staying safely off-line on the rightside
of the track when leaving pitout,
the first turn is an uphill right
followed by quick S's before a
sweeping left and into the first short
straight. This leads into the most
fun turn; after brushing the brakes,
it's a fast left-hander that sets up the
longest straight on the track. The
last turn before the front straight is
an uphill decreasing radius left that
can be entered on two different
lines, each having its own benefits
and satisfaction. My E36 takes the
entire track in either third or fourth
gear, with only two points where a
downshift is needed, with two hard
braking zones. When I learned that
the first two sessions of each day
would be the short course I was
disappointed but quickly it's a lot of
fun, and the shorter lap times allow
the driver to master the turns since
you see them more frequently than
when driving the long course.
The full course was open for
our afternoon sessions, adding
many technical turns and elevation
changes to the 1.7 mile track.
Known as Snoopy's nose, turn 7
provided Scott with his biggest
weekend instructor challenge.
Scott coached, pointed, referenced
other cars and yelled at me but I
just couldn't figure out that damn
nose turn! Finally I took a ride with
Scott, who made it appear so easy,
before I understood the line.
Any chance a student has to
ride with their instructor should be
taken; it's fun and eye opening. I've
taken many instructor rides and
each one has amazed me. Gordon
is silky smooth in his M8
Competition; he doesn't seem like
he's even trying but his speed and
lap times show otherwise. John
Driscoll and his E46 M3 at VIR was
a " holy crap! " ride, he's so aggressive
that I felt for sure we'd miss
apexes but he hit each one with
amazing speed. These rides show
me how talented BMW CCA's
instructors are and how much I have
to learn.
After the track went cold it was
cold beer time, provided by fellow
student Sten Sellier, who runs
Beltway Brewing in Sterling, VA.
What a perk, having a student/
sponsor own a brewery! BMW CCA
did a great job with their Saturday
after-track-time by catering a delicious
BBQ dinner from local restaurant
Railside Market. After dinner
the fun and laughs continued when
Gordon MC'd the door prizes with
enough goodies that nearly everyone
took home something.
I was back at the track early
Sunday morning for the drivers'
meeting and another cold track day.
The two morning sessions gave us
another run on the short track and
the chance to clean up Saturday's
mistakes and tune our skills. Using
Harry's LapTimer to record my
sessions, I was happy with the
■ (From the Left) Thank you HPDE sponsor, Bimmer Werks (Amr Alkhateeb, in '95' jacket). Chatting in the paddock.
September I October
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derBayerische September October 2022

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