Spring Mountain Impressions

[FLYARMY]

I'm just gonna play my SD card and set it for 1.5x speed !!

 

[Finally-a-V]

The advanced course, which they call "2 Day, Level 1: Intro to Open-Lapping", is now listed on their website. Cost is $4045 for 4BW or $5245 for 5BW.

 

[ren]

Let's see some video!

Oops, I thought I uploaded the video, but it failed. Trying again in lower resolution.
Here is one full lap on the east track, nothing special, I just liked this one.

 

[FLYARMY]

Driving in a 5BW, I was able to get up to 125-130mph in the long straightaway. My instructor told me not to apply brakes until I passed the #4 sign. The brakes were phenomenal on the 5's and you could wait until the last minute.

 

[ngoni]

The instructors now show you the video of the Corvette driver who was actually downshifting past the 300 foot spot, applied emergency braking far too late, and ended up plowing into the barrier. Apparently the student was focused on catching the guy in front and not watching the impending turn.

Now there's a gigantic orange cone at the 300 and you darn well better be braking by then or they might pull you from the track.

 

[ren]

Driving in a 5BW, I was able to get up to 125-130mph in the long straightaway. My instructor told me not to apply brakes until I passed the #4 sign. The brakes were phenomenal on the 5's and you could wait until the last minute.

I think my highest speed on that straight was like 115mph with the 4BW, when I made turn 10 properly. The 5BW is a completely different beast for sure.
But the braking got trickier and longer as the heat built up. It's hard to get my tires to the "hot" level on the streets, lol

 

[ren]

The instructors now show you the video of the Corvette driver who was actually downshifting past the 300 foot spot, applied emergency braking far too late, and ended up plowing into the barrier. Apparently the student was focused on catching the guy in front and not watching the impending turn.

Now there's a gigantic orange cone at the 300 and you darn well better be braking by then or they might pull you from the track.

I didn't hear about that incident, but I can totally see it happening specially in early sessions.
Were they ok?

 

[FLYARMY]

Worst issue we had was a guy taking out an orange cone. The cones still do damage to the front splitter.

 

[ren]

Worst issue we had was a guy taking out an orange cone. The cones still do damage to the front splitter.

Was it during autocross? If so, then it's part of the magic.
Was it during a track event? Then I propose they shift to using holograms instead!

Bringing it to real life: I didn't select any carbon fiber package for my car because I knew I would eventually scrape it.
Have I scrapped it? Kinda, a tiny bit, maybe, yeah. Will I do it again? Most likely given that the parking sensors don't work well with my current front plate setup (will replace) and Cadillac decided the 4BWs weren't worthy of cameras.

 

[FLYARMY]

The cones were hit at every lesson. It was bad when one would get wedged under the front end or undercarriage. Not much space under there. I use my front bumper camera very time I pull into a front parking spot. I can see my plate bracket that is off to the right and it gives me a good idea of when to stop. I have carbon fiber wrap on my front chin spoiler and its easier and cheaper to replace than the real stuff. I had my wrap guy put the carbon fiber on my rocker panels, trunk spoiler. front spoiler . I installed and painted a real carbon fiber hood from Anderson Composites (came out great). I'm not a fan of spending all that extra money on "real" carbon fiber.