Riding Around in My Automobile

Rob, this is a test. Maybe someday, further up the road, I’ll tell you how you did.

*****

On another thread in the Texas section, Speedy Sam toasted Drivers Source for a recent track day at Texas World Speedway. I’d like to second Sameer’s toast: Jeff and Chet, my hat’s off to ya. You weren’t trying to sell cars or anything else. It was just a bunch of guys (with a few gals) having fun. No one had anything to prove. Every one had everything thing to lose. A great time was held by all.

{Are you listening Ferrari of Houston? No, I didn’t think so.}

Even better, you gave me a chance to take the Shark back to TWS. Yep, it has been a while. I still remember a FOH track day at TWS where Russell told me that the hood on a Maranello cost $11 grand. $11 thousand dollars for a freaking hood. After realizing that I could buy a Spec Miata for $11,000, it didn’t take long to get the joke. Ever since, I have done at least one or two laps around TWS in a SM.

Anyhow, I thought that maybe some of you might be interested in hearing my thoughts on driving the Shark versus a SM. Even if you’re not interested, too bad. This train is gonna roll with or without you.

First and foremost, I promised myself that I was gonna do little more than parade laps. I had just gotten the car out of the beauty parlor, and it was really running great. (A tip of the hat to Ferda @ Vintage Motorsports.) I have owned the Shark for almost 5 years (which is a record for me), and we have had some history. Most of it good; but some of it, not so good. I keep thinking that I should sell and move on. But then a day comes up like last Friday. It was one of those days where you don’t really have the time to waste driving a car around the track. At the same time, though, you cannot afford not to waste the time.

Somewhere below is a TWS track map. It is an old NASCAR oval that has been converted into a road course. TWS is like an old Jimmy Buffet song, “She’s a railroad lady, just a little bit shady.” Its best days are over the shoulder and the future doesn’t look good.

But it is still one of my favorite tracks. It is also SM heaven. I have seen hot shoes in a SM embarrass the hell out of Ferrari 360 Challenge cars. Yes, it does have one long straight where horse power talks and bs walks. But once you dive off the embankment onto the road course, the world becomes a different place.

Okay, let’s take a lap (sort of). In a SM, you have plenty of time to do your nails and ponder the fate of the human race as you buzz down the main straight in fourth. Then at about the 3/4 mark, you now have built up enough revs to shift into fifth. From there, the “Ara Line” (Dem’s dat know, ain’t talking. Dem’s talking, don’t know.) is to float up high and dive bomb T1 by making a very late turn in, while still at full throttle (sic) and in fifth.

You then bottom out and catch fourth. Once you pass the inside apex of T1, you brake for all that you are worth. You then head for the outside corner of T1/T2, while trail braking to rotate the car for T2, which is a blind, decreasing radius left hander that, if you do everything right, will sling shot you down a small straight toward T3.

Done correctly, you can maintain incredible cornering speeds in a SM. But, there is little doubt that you are working for a living. Your world becomes busier and busier as you brake later and lighter through T1 to skate through T2.

Okay, so here I am in the Shark be bopping down the front straight in fourth. ( Remember, I had promised myself to do no more than “Parade Laps,” which means no more than 6/10s. See Peter’s definitions at http://www.peterkrause.net/Krause_%26_Associates_LLC/Track_Wisdom.html for what this means. I am convinced that most people don’t have a clue what 10/10s really means.)

I’m one car width off the wall, and everything is feeling groovy. I hold off turning in until I can completely straighten out T1. I then rotate while fully on the gas at maybe 125 or so and dive bomb out the embankment onto the road course.

Once I bottom out (TWS is kinda bumpy), I make an amazing discovery. The grip in the Maranello is nothing short of phenomenal. There is absolutely no drama, Mama. This car is a train bound for glory. Once I pass the inside corner of T1, I give the brakes a love tap to give some bite to the front tires, but I don’t even need to do this. At a spot where most SM drivers are braking with everything they have, I was rolling on the throttle and my tires were not even humming. I have never carried this much corner speed around T2 in a SM; and trust me on this one, I have tried.

In the Shark, I felt like I could pick any line I wanted. For a couple of laps, I was following a Porsche Cup car. Granted, we were all just goofing around so none of this means anything. So while I was probably delusional, I felt like I could have done an inside pass if I had been willing to wick it up a notch.

Keep in mind that I’m going no more than 7/10s (okay maybe 8/10s when I was following the Cup car). I don’t know beans about engineering, but there must be something about the design of a Maranello that a fast and flat sweeper is about as close as a sinner like me is ever going to get to Heaven. Man, that was fun.

Unfortunately, payback is a female dog. T3 is a ninety degree right hander that I believe is the most dangerous turn at TWS. Not only does T3 get narrower on the track out, but the run out looks like a scene from a Mad Max movie – concrete, rumble, tire walls, concrete barriers, real nasty stuff. Late at night, around the camp fire, they tell stories about the GT3 driver who lost it at T3.

In a SM, T3 is a typical SM corner, fast in and fast out. After all, a SM is like tissue paper. If you blow a corner, you just wad it up and throw what’s left in the trash.

My net worth will not let me have such a caviler attitude about the Maranello. Sure the car has depreciated about $40k since I have owned it, but this doesn’t mean that I can afford to risk driving it like a SM.

In a SM, you move as far at you can to the left, brake like your kid is lying on the track, turn in as late as you can, hit a mid-apex and track out. If you spin, you spin. Who cares?

In the Shark, the world is a different place. The speed you pick up as you doesy doe around T2 starts becoming a liability as you approach T3. This is the dark side of a Maranello. When you can feel the ABS doing the rumba, but it doesn’t feel like you are slowing down, you start realizing that a 550 is one heavy car.

Then as you track out (and in a Maranello you will always track out), you realize that the track out line is taking you just to the left of the course as it narrows to your right.

This is the point where you understand the wisdom of only going 7/10s.

The rest of TWS is SM heaven. It almost seems as if a SM thrives on punishment. The harder you trash the car, the faster you go. Don’t misunderstand. Smoothness is important. But the key is late braking, early release and full throttle just as soon as your front tires stop pushing.

But I gotta say, driving the Maranello was so easy. I just stayed in fourth through the whole course. Why bother down shifting when you have close to 500 pounds of torque? Even in the tight corners, I could choose my lines at will. Except for T3, there was no need for heavy braking. In fact, for most corners, a slight lift was all that was needed.

I also could practice what they taught us at Mt. Tremblant, namely that you should pull on the steering wheel rather than pushing it. Most guys end up over controlling a car when they “push” with their outside hand instead of a gently pulling with their inside hand. When you combine this with power steering via your right foot, the result is more like a waltz instead of a rave. The car truly starts driving itself.

The result was the sheer joy of driving a great car. I didn’t care about lap times. I didn’t care about passing anyone or staying in front of anyone. I had nothing to win and everything to lose. There is a certain amount of sadness because I know that one of these days I’m gonna have to sell the car. But, at that place and at that time, it was like a Chuck Berry song:

Riding along in my calaboose

****

Crusin' and playing the radio

with no particular place to go

*****

Hail, hail, rock 'n roll



Dale
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Enjoy in good health. Just remember to keep it under 8/10s. Sure you can go faster, but the consequences can be much larger!

Dale

 

Very cool. I don't know anything about this track. But when you run a track that lets you unwind a bit (and 140 sounds likes unwinding), a 550 is very, very cool. Some of my fondest memories are from running the car on the track. Thanks for reminding me of the good times.

Dale
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