Drifting is totally superfluous and completely inefficient, but who cares, because look.
Tires screaming, covering everyone in smoke as I pass, I love that going sideways is the point.
I’ve accidentally drifted plenty, because ice or other circumstances… one time I drifted my favourite on-ramp in Toronto, which is how I figured out my tires were bald. But to do this with finesse and precision ahhh, I’m into it.
(nice new blog headers eh. Blog tag = header)
All the tech, man hours, engine, and training go out the window if 1 of these 5 little bolts falls off during the race.
There’s a life-metaphor in here somewhere…
This was a surprise stop along the 2014 Mazda Adventure Rally.
I’m driving a 2014 Mazda MX-5 on the gokart track, at the Atlanta Motorsports Park.
This kart track has more changes in elevation than any other track in the world, including one that’s 43 ft.
More photos of the track here.
Here’s the whole rally blogged: #MazdaRally, and there’s links there to my newspaper stuff there.
Until this trip, I thought the Miata was a princess-y car, nope. It loves off-roading?! Huh.
Pfaff Automotive invited me to Mosport for a track day… in one of their day-lease Porsches. Yes please!
It was my 2nd track time ever, bit spoiled huh, because here I go around in a Porsche Cayman.
Learned how executing a proper corner feels…. effortless?! Huh.
And did you know you can steer the car using only the throttle? I did that once… accidentally.
That’s Brad Meise of Apex Driver Training you hear coaching me; thanks Brad! Liked your style: precise and non-stop.
My mistakes: I brake way too late, and enter the corners with too much aggression :|
That’s the thing though: so what I can fly around with a Brad in the passenger seat.
How about when it’s just me, and there’s no cones around the track to guide me, now add the pressure of competing in a race…
Day-lease a Porsche or Audi from Pfaff and spend the day driving the above track, with coaching if you’d like it.
All information found here: Pfaff Track Days
A Porsche 911 is $1,699 +HST for the day rental at the track, and the other vehicles available are the Porsche Cayman, the Audi TTS and Audi S5.
That’s $449.00+HST for the DDT Track this 2014 season with the use of your own vehicle. Because the goal is not to learn how to go faster, but to better understand the physics behind driving.
And that’s what I wrote about for that week’s ‘Keri on Driving’ column.
Read it online at Autonet.
It’s best to explore the limits of your car in a contained environment instead of a real life situation. This way, when your car gets away from you and starts to drift down an icy on-ramp, for instance, it’s not the first time you’re experiencing how that feels.
Back to ‘Keri on Driving’ – Index
First ever!
I’ve driven a gokart on a car track, a car on a gokart track, and plenty of autocross courses in parking lots. But this was my first proper time, in a car around a car track.
It was done in a 2014 Honda Civic Si at Mosport.
It’s a 2.4L outputting 205 hp and 174 ft-lbs.
Starting at $26,710
Manual, obviously. It’s a good, short throw.
I documented the occasion.
My two biggest mistakes are: I brake way too late, and into the corners I’m, wait for it, too aggressive.
Who you hear coaching me is this guy, Honda IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe.
Liked your coaching style, thanks James! Best of luck this season.
I interviewed him for a ‘Keri on Driving‘ column about concentration, here. Because really, without concentration, everything else, all the tech, tires and money, are for not.
And it’s rather appropriate, because Honda was one of the first manufacturers to bet on my blog. Here’s our history.
