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Below is a recounting of various car events I've attended along the years, from car club meets, autocrosses, track events, and enthusiast drives.

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2014/04/17 Simraceway/Sears Point Formula 3
π 2014-04-17 01:01 in Cars, Ncars
After learning from Nico at Sears in an R8 some time back, and he more recently got me down to a 2:00 at TH (full course), it was time for me to come back to Sears and this time learn to drive their Formula 3 Cars.

It was a 2 day school, which started with getting us used to the cars, including shifting up and down without the clutch for me. My feet were too wide and I just could not put one foot on the clutch and another one on the brakes, they didn't fit. As a result, I got to learn to downshift without the clutch by "simply" braking and revmatching with the same foot.
We had some class time:






Nico gave us an intro to the car
Nico gave us an intro to the car

Et voila, c'est facile! :)
Et voila, c'est facile! :)

Each car had full datalogging that the MX crew could download for us
Each car had full datalogging that the MX crew could download for us

The cars had a 4 cyclinder turbo engine that could be tuned up to 300hp. Lots of power for a car that weighs nothing. It can corner at 3G, more than your body tells you should be able to make a turn :)



We did some paddocks exercises to learn oversteer and understeer control as well as downshifting under braking:


We were a small group, just 5 of us:


On the 2nd day, we got to drive the track untethered:

  • First session taken from GoPro:
  • Second session taken from Google Glass (better view):

  • After our last session, we got to see the data:


    What I learned was I definitely needed to hit the brakes harder, which was challenging since I also had to revmatch at the same time for downshifting. Also, I wasn't full throttle in some corners where the tires could stick but my brain wasn't used to the idea of 2G cornering yet. In the end, I was 0.25s slower than the fastest person, doh...

    To study for next time, here's a walkthrough of most corners:

    Good time was had by all, this was a great learning experience in "different" cars. Looking forward to Level 2 :)

    See more images for Simraceway/Sears Point Formula 3

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