Track Day Report - 12/03/11 - Calspeed Karting

I have a plathora of hobbies.  I'm not always into all of them, but I take all of them seriously.  My two other big hobbies are martial arts and practical shooting competitions.  They all have something in common with driving.  I think you'll all know what I'm talking about.  I love the focus.  I love the never-ending search for perfection.  And I sure as hell know that before you reach this type of zen-feeling, you need to be proficient in the basics of the craft.  This past event, I felt that.  Not the actual, euphoric feeling of enlightenment, but the feeling that I'm beginning on my way to that feeling.

After some problems with my storage unit, I finally got in and hauled my kart out to the track.  Calspeed again.  I am growing to love that track.

Because I have no idea what I am doing, I did not get the damage from my last event fixed.  So the first hour or so, Stu fixed my kart.  Oh boy I'm glad here is there to help.  I probably would have given up on karting altogether by now if it were not for him.  Furthermore, knowing that I'll be out at the track again no matter what I do, except of course, completely destroy my kart, is priceless.

Boy was it windy.  And cold.  I did 4 sessions that day.  Tom, a cool guy that drives with us, took my kart out to see how it does.  He said it handled well; so no excuses for me!

For the first few sessions I was still spooked from the last crash.  I tried my best to not look at the walls.  Last thing I need is destroying my kart again.  Stu commented: you're still spinning?  Yes, I did spin a couple of times.  That prompted me to clean up my driving.  I did the same thing I did to improve my autocross times; slow down. 

"X" does not mark the target for you to aim at,
but to avoid and look out for unpredictable behavior!

One of the things that kept me from driving faster was dealing with other karts.  My friend Chris who has written on this blog tells me that is 80% of the fun.  Not for me, at least not yet.  When I hear a kart behind me or see it in my prehiperal vision, I lose concentration.  Worse, when a kart actually passes me, I tend to focus on it, remembering details like "oh thats a TAG."  "oh, that is a shifter."

One of the sessions, a shifter guy spun out on his warm-up lap.  I think I could have totally avoided it, but being the newbie I am, I spun behind him.  After I pulled my kart behind the tire wall and helped him pull his, he said "Sorry about that."  After a few seconds, he added "Can you give me a push?"  I did, and there I stood until I could be picked up by the track staff.

Anyways, I finally got to go on the novice session.  Less karts.  I caught up to a lot more people, even some guys in a TAG.  I was finally able to focus on my driving.  I worked on looking ahead, and tried to adjust braking, turn-in, and acelleration points on one or two corners at a time.  It felt great.  I started to get that feeling of being in the groove.  I did not start losing concentration at the straights, and when I did encounter other karts, I found myself able to focus much better.  In particular, I worked on the entry to turns 1-2, which are two minor left handers leading up to the 'Kornakuva' turn.  (who names these turns?)  I worked it up to the point where my foot is still on the gas until the entry to turn 3.  Stu and a bunch of friends I drive with said I looked much better.  Its good to end the track day on a good note.

The biggest lesson I got was to not fixate and look ahead, no matter what.