James Dunne (Audiguy)
Member
Username: Audiguy
Post Number: 275
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2003 - 10:48 am: | |
I just spent 2 1/2 days at Texas Motor Speedway driving all the Audis and a good number of Audi competitiors. I spoke with several of the driving instructors about the teenage driving event and they all said that the teens always came away better drivers with less of an attitude.
We had the opportunity to take the A4 3.0 Quattro with a 6 speed manual on the roadcourse that includes the main front straight with a chicane at the end, both high-banks and into the infield course. We were going about 135 mph at the end of the main straight just before the chicane. A real blast. These cars handle much better than I had thought they would. 17 years with BMW and the last three years with Ferrari had my opinion slightly jaded. Boy was I surprised.
I drove the Z4 with the 3.0 six against the Audi TT 1.8t on the autocross track. Even though the TT had a good amount of turbo lag, I was able to do almost a full second better with the TT than I could do with the Z4. I had the 4th best time out of 35 and missed the best by .713 seconds. I had the second best time in the afternoon in an A4 1.8T and was .003 second slower than the 1st place driver. Now get this, I got the award for driver with the "most finesse" on the track. I guess those three Skip Barber schools I went to that I forgot to tell the instructors about helped a little. The guy who beat me races SCCA in the Pacific Northwest. I forgot his name but he has finished first in his class in his region for the last three years in a row (he says). I only had a few minutes to talk to him and he told me what class he normally drives but the old-timers disease is starting to kick in and I forgot what he told me.
If you get a chance to go to one of the Audi Driving Experience things, it is great. It is not a competition driving school so you will not get race instruction but you will get to have a lot of fun in someone else's cars. |