CAR CONTROL CLINIC at Auto Club Speedway - Oct 4, 2008

[PCH VIPER]

Welcome to the party Brandon !!!!
Lance

[Kala]

ABC 7 says Lt rain...

[EXHLR8N]

Be careful with the fatter, older comments ..... too close to home!

See you Saturday.

[Kala]

Wind advisory in effect for Fontana...  >m

Wind Advisory, Saturday, 04 October 2008 10:49

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
349 AM PDT SAT OCT 4 2008
CAZ055-056-058-060>062-041900-
/O.CON.KSGX.WI.Y.0076.081004T1800Z-081005T1200Z/
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-RIVERSIDE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
SAN DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-APPLE AND LUCERNE VALLEYS-
COACHELLA VALLEY-SAN DIEGO COUNTY DESERTS-
349 AM PDT SAT OCT 4 2008
...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO
5 AM PDT SUNDAY...
A WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 5 AM
PDT SUNDAY.
STRONG WESTERLY WINDS WILL IMPACT THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS OF
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LATE THIS MORNING THROUGH EARLY SUNDAY
MORNING. SUSTAINED WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH ARE LIKELY WITH GUSTS IN
EXCESS OF 50 MPH AT TIMES...ESPECIALLY TONIGHT ALONG THE MOUNTAIN
CRESTS AND OVER THE DESERT SLOPES. MOTORISTS TRAVELING THROUGH THE
MOUNTAIN PASSES AND INTO THE DESERTS MAY ENCOUNTER REDUCED
VISIBILITY IN BLOWING SAND AND DUST.
A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT WINDS OF 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED. WINDS
THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT...ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH
PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA CAUTION.
$$
MACKECHNIE

[redtanrt10]

Dan/Cathy,

great event today, thanks for setting this up.  Thanks also to Dave, Rev, Lance, Ray and anyone else I missed for all your hard work too.  Hope we can all do this again soon, it was great to see so many of the club members and all the great looking/performing vipers.  Mike

[PCH VIPER]

On October 4, the SoCal Viper Club put on a Car Control Clinic for it's VCA members out at California Speedway.
There were 4 driving stations set up, each one designed to give the driver firsthand experience of the
Viper's handling characteristics in a safe and controlled environment.

Station 1:    Zero to Sixty and Threshold Braking. 
We were coached on how to properly stage and launch our Vipers by DC Performance's Lyle Larson,
who is/was a 6 second pro drag racer .   Once up to speed, we forced the cars into full ABS mode
to see how good our cars really are at stopping.



Station 2:        Skid Pad
With an instructor in the passenger seat, we were coached around the skid pad.  With the steering wheel held in essentially one position, creating a perfect circle around the cones, we were able to experience a few key handling characteristics.
By giving the car more throttle, the car would "push" through the turn thus creating a larger circle around the cones.
Lifting off the throttle slightly would settle the balance of the car and the circle around the cones would again tighten up.
If you lift off the throttle abruptly, the weight transfer would move forward and the rear of the car would want to rotate out and around the car.
By easing into the throttle as the back end starts to step out, the weight transfer moves back and the rear wheels gain traction and gain control of the car.


Station 3:  Figure 8
The figure 8 took what we learned on the skid pad one step forward.  The instructor had us set the steering wheel around the top of the 8 and control the arc around it with throttle input. As we approached the turn in point to cross over,  lifting slightly from the throttle would cause the car to rotate into the corner more.  Once the car was pointed in the right direction, we could accelerate through the center of the 8 and once again slightly lift and turn in the opposite direction to create the arc around the bottom of the 8.


Station 4:  Timed Slalom Course
Armed with the skills learned from the first 3 stations, the timed slalom was set up to put us to the test.
In order to get a good time, you had to launch at the right rpm and put the power to the ground without spinning the tires and losing time. Winding your way around the sharp turns, loop and sweeper without getting too wide or sliding was the key to a quick time.  Carry too much speed at the end and fail to threshold brake correctly and you would miss the pit box.

[PCH VIPER]

As usual I took a ton of pictures and they are posted on my site  www.kouchicentral.com

Here are a few of them....
Welcome to the New Members and first timers !

William

Rylee and Roger

Hooman

The Hu brothers

Joseph and Art

Kristine

[PCH VIPER]

Some of the action going on.







[imghttp://www.kouchicentral.com/images/08%20Car%20Control%20Clinic/DSC_5707.JPG]http://[/img]

[ViperX]

Great pics Lance.

OK, so now that we've done CCC #1, I've had requests for CCC #2 and an advanced Car Control Clinic.

We can set up CCC #2 for next year, perhaps in the spring if there is enough interest.  Cost should be similar.

If we can put together an advanced Car Control Clinic at Willow Springs or Buttonwillow with Bob Blizzard and his instructors (in conjunction with NASA, Grand Prix West or Speed Ventures), how many would be interested in attending? 

We would plan to have an instructor for every two attendees, in car communication, do some lead follow and basic on track driving instruction.  Attendees could run in beginner, intermediate or advanced sessions based upon their track experience.  We could make it a one day or weekend event. 

Please let me know how many of you would be interested and we'll start planning this event if we have enough interest.

Dan  <2

[1HOTACR]

Thanks to everyone that was involved with Saturdays event.  The whole day was fantastic.  Steph and I had a blast.  Hey! we will be interested in something next spring considering after I got off the skid pad  on Saturday and looked at my PS2s on the Venom coupe I realized I now own a set of Track Tires. Steph has already started her christmas list. {Motons,  18" all around , swing oil pan and a racing suit from Nordstroms) I think this is going to be an expensive winter.

Thanks again!
Glenn

[PCH VIPER]

A suggestion for CCC2......Get TireRack as an on site sponsor so a certain few won't have to drive home on CORDS !!!! >l

[ViperX]

OK,

Lance, or Kobi or Rev can contact Luke at Tire Rack (he's the Viper tire specialist) or Jon B at Parts Rack 

Perhaps we can get a tire sponsor for out next CCC?

Let me know how it goes.

Dan

PS  Kobi made it home OK.  Between Kobi and Rev's driving, I'm surprised they didn't bring a spare set of tires!

[Brandon@DC Performance]

On behalf of everyone at DC Performance, I'd like to thank everybody (especially those involved in its organization) for making this event a great success!

On behalf of myself, I'd like to congratulate the Viper community as a whole for being a truly classy, enjoyable, and friendly group of people. This was my first (hopefully of many to come) Viper club events and it was a pleasure to see everyone out there getting a better feel and appreciation for the incredible machines they own. I might have been a little out of place in the Truck, but I suppose there's not much graceful about seeing one of those things going around a Figure 8  <t

Thanks again,

Brandon @ DC Performance

[Kadeuces]

Yes, I did barely make it home going about 55-60mph all the way home in the slow lane on wires..very scary.

Im defintiely going to bring a set of spare back tires for the next event.  I'll see what Luke has to offer us.

That was the one of the funnest track events I have been to (because Im new) !!  Im really looking forward to ccc#2 and Id be up for a ccc at the track.  Special thanks to Dan and Cathy for putting on another successful event.  You guys are the best!

[Super Villain]

Took me forever to post on here!  Been pretty slammed with work! 

But yes, this was an incredible event!  Awesome fun and a great learning experience.  A great deal of THANKS to everyone who made this day possible!  Especially Dan and Cathy...we are very fortunate to have them!

I will be sure to attend any future car control clinics...please have more of these.

Thanks!