07SGT5687 Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 I've absolutely fallen in love all over again with my car. AND fallen for the first time for NASA road racing. Went out to High Plains Raceway, east of Denver, CO both Saturday and Sunday this weekend to take part in the HPDE class. Was told it did quite well and progressed to through HPDE2 after 5 sessions with no previous road track experience. For anyone that has not tried this, it's an absolute blast. If I never drag race again, I won't miss a thing. THIS is where it's at! Next event is 4/16-17 at PPIR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gt350lp Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 That's cool.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kahmann Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 The first day on the road course will end up being the most expensive day of your life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twitch43 Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Glad you had a great time. Sounds like it was a lot of fun. I wish Guam had something like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilmor Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 It is an awesome time to get out on a road course! I may do Lime Rock later this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craigo Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 So awesome! I want to to that so bad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shakes Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Very nice! Did you do a class or anything locally? I've seen a couple in the Springs, and wouldn't mind some basic instruction before getting into these! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
07SGT5687 Posted March 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Very nice! Did you do a class or anything locally? I've seen a couple in the Springs, and wouldn't mind some basic instruction before getting into these! :D Actually yes. It was the NASA HPDE Program. I think it stands for High Performance Driving Experience (or Education... or something like that). And it was included with the cost of the weekend. There are 4 levels and HPDE1 is fully instructed, then once they feel you're ready they sign you off to HPDE2 and you can go solo. You can still request an instructor, but you can go solo if you wish. The instruction was fantastic. I mean I basically got a full weekend of road course instruction for under $300. You might pay upwards of $1500-2000 for that elsewhere. And if ANYTHING having the instructor in the car for AT LEAST one run is extremely valuable for someone that hasn't been to that track before. He showed me the 'line' in one lap. That may have taken me the whole weekend to find on my own! After each driving session you go to a download classroom session and talk about what happened and how everything went. Had my pads not gone to crap after day one I might have been able to pull of HPDE2 all day Sunday. Figured out Sunday morning that my rear pads were GONE so I missed the first 2 sessions replacing those. Did one session of HPDE1 on Sunday to get my HDPE2 check off and then got to do one solo session before the weekend was over. SUCH a great time! I'm hooked! Pad change in the parking lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbowles22 Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Sweet, sounds like a blast. This is what these cars were meant for lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLUE 2010 SHELBY GT 500 Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 It is an awesome time to get out on a road course! I may do Lime Rock later this year. ilmor , i am from the new york area when is the lime rock open track day event, or do go with a group rental ? i would also love to do this instead of waxing and looking at it , thanks for any info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprint200 Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Actually yes. It was the NASA HPDE Program. I think it stands for High Performance Driving Experience (or Education... or something like that). And it was included with the cost of the weekend. There are 4 levels and HPDE1 is fully instructed, then once they feel you're ready they sign you off to HPDE2 and you can go solo. You can still request an instructor, but you can go solo if you wish. The instruction was fantastic. I mean I basically got a full weekend of road course instruction for under $300. You might pay upwards of $1500-2000 for that elsewhere. And if ANYTHING having the instructor in the car for AT LEAST one run is extremely valuable for someone that hasn't been to that track before. He showed me the 'line' in one lap. That may have taken me the whole weekend to find on my own! After each driving session you go to a download classroom session and talk about what happened and how everything went. Had my pads not gone to crap after day one I might have been able to pull of HPDE2 all day Sunday. Figured out Sunday morning that my rear pads were GONE so I missed the first 2 sessions replacing those. Did one session of HPDE1 on Sunday to get my HDPE2 check off and then got to do one solo session before the weekend was over. SUCH a great time! I'm hooked! Pad change in the parking lot! And we welcome yet another converted "track junky" to our fold............... Until people get out on a track and try this, they never understand the draw, the challenge, the obsession ...............the insane level of addiction............. :tequila: that is Open Track driving. Welcome to our sickness Did anyone explain to you WHY the rear pads toasted instead of the fronts? (which by the way should never happen under normal circumstances) When driving these cars on a road course, the first thing you need to do is to turn TCS OFF The way traction control works on these cars is by both modulating the throttle AND applying rear brakes at computer controlled levels in order to minimize differential wheel speeds. In other words, when you are on the edge of traction going through the corners, your car's computer is constantly applying the rear brakes for you............ During the first Vegas B-day Bash even the instructors were caught off guard by this. There were lots of fried rear rotors and pads that weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-o-500 Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 I'm ready to play next time Justin. Well....not the April dates though. I told Kevin and Rich both I will be out this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
07SGT5687 Posted March 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Did anyone explain to you WHY the rear pads toasted instead of the fronts? (which by the way should never happen under normal circumstances) When driving these cars on a road course, the first thing you need to do is to turn TCS OFF The way traction control works on these cars is by both modulating the throttle AND applying rear brakes at computer controlled levels in order to minimize differential wheel speeds. In other words, when you are on the edge of traction going through the corners, your car's computer is constantly applying the rear brakes for you............ During the first Vegas B-day Bash even the instructors were caught off guard by this. There were lots of fried rear rotors and pads that weekend! I do not know that that weekend, but I have since figured that out. But thank you for the explanation though. Previous to researching this more, i was under the false impression that our TCS was simply a fuel shut off. I must apologize for Ford for not giving them more credit. That said, my instructor DID ask me to keep the TCS on all weekend and that is most assuredly why i burned through 1.5 sets of rear pads in 2 days. Lesson learned. WELL worth it though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
07SGT5687 Posted March 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Question.... Those of you that have done a significant amount of SCCA or NASA racing... what are your thoughts on rear brake calipers upgrades? Is it really WORTH $3-4k for a rear brake system upgrade? I've been thinking of just doing the Baer Eradispeed +2 rotor upgrade, thinking that would be adequate. The $600-700 for that seems much more reasonable and I just can't imagine that I need another 6 piston setup out back. Thoughts? EDIT - PS another website we all are familiar with just dropped the +2 rear setup to $550... price should be changed momentarily on his... err... their website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
07SGT0547 Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 The first day on the road course will end up being the most expensive day of your life I "tracked" my car for the first time with approx 500 miles on the ODO and just under ONE Month of ownership Attended my first Mid-America Meet in Tulsa in 2007 and haven't looked back since Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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