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Another notch in the belt

My car has earned another track sticker, as a reward for not destroying itself or getting me killed at the Thunderhill Raceway Driving School last weekend.

Unfortunately, I now can't go to Willow Springs, because I'm completely out of space on my bumper. Oh well, I hear it's not that great a track anyway.

Brakes: The brakes worked beautifully, so much so that my instructor at one point commented "It looks like you're gaining confidence in your brakes". On the face of it this might sound like a compliment. But if you know HPDE instructors, you know that this is code for "You're not very smooth on the brakes and if you keep this up you're going to blow a corner and get us killed." So after that I stopped trying to late-brake Turn 5, and actually went a lot faster because I made fewer errors. Sometimes the instructors really do know what they're talking about.

Other Toys: Amusingly, the most fun new toy at the track was not my $2000 brakes, but my $75 alignment. I had Jack put 3 degrees of camber on the front wheels, and it made a huge difference. Even in 100F degree heat my tires stayed grippy all day, not a trace of greasiness even in the afternoon. The turn-in was fantastic, and (after I stiffened the front shocks a little) the car was even stable in the fast corners, which was its big problem at Sears Point in March.

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