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