Ryan Cheek Racing

UPS just delivered some new sweetness! My first pair of racing shoes, ever, so you know I had to try them on immediately. The size 5  Alpinestars Tech-1 T fit (my women's size 7 foot) perfectly with the Nomex base layer socks. Again, huge thanks to HMS Motorsports for all their help with sizing and getting these ordered to my house! 

I only lack a race suit now, but then I'll be outfitted for many race seasons to come!

Saturday, November 2nd, I attended Motoring 4the Masses Short Course Drivers Education Event #1. An inaugural event for Motoring 4the Masses, hosted by Rob Bolling. The morning started out very chilly with temps hovering around 35-40*F. After the mandatory driver's meeting, driver groups were given out and worker positions assigned. A total of 6 driving groups had been previously designated based on how much experience the driver listed when they signed up, and each of the 6 groups had roughly 3-5 drivers in them. 

In the space of a small autocross, Rob and the team had laid out a miniature road course, complete with pits and "passing zones".  The first 3 run groups started with lead-follow laps at 25%speed, to give the mostly novice drivers a chance to learn the course. It was then time for each run group to go out for a continuous lapping session lasting 10 minutes. 

Being part of the 2nd run group, I intently watched the 1st run group as I was a little nervous to be on an autocross-like course with 4 other cars! I quickly  realized there was plenty of room on track and with corner workers watching and flagging drivers to use the passing zones (a yield lane) the flow around the track was really smooth. My nerves were still up as I ventured out for my first session. However, my inner racecar driver immediately took control and I was laser focused and lost any previous anxiety. As I got more comfortable with the course I closed the gap between me and the car ahead of me, making it very interesting. I haven't been so close to another car pushing the limits ever, and it wasn't scary at all, more frustrating than anything! I wanted to go faster!

After all 6 run groups drove two 10-minute lapping sessions, we were given a lunch beak. I was surprised to learn that I had set the fastest time of the day (FTD) during my 2nd lapping session. But, that had quickly changed as friend and local autocrosser,  Brian Dickens in his C5 Corvette beat my time in the following run group. Pretty cool for a couple of "novices" to set such quick lap times!

As the day progressed, Brian and I were moved into more advanced groups and continued to battle! A Focus RS joined the top rankings, pushing me to 3rd fastest. A placement I was never able to advance. 

(Disclaimer: Arbitrary lap times were taken with hand held stopwatches to show students their progression throughout the day. Although, there is always an element of competition when people are passionate about their activity and trying to improve themselves, it is important to remember this was not a competition.)  

Although, trying to regain FTD was in the back of my mind, I was really excited to try new driving techniques to test and advance my skills. I began getting more and more comfortable with throttle steer around the tight corners. I also tried different driving lines and later braking zones. It was awesome to be able to try different things in the same turn, over and over, during continuous lapping. It really showed me how setting up turns ahead could provide better entry and speed for later sections of the course. I did plenty of over-throttling and recovering, which is a part of racing that gives me the most anxiety. I was also able to be very close to other cars when they made hard braking or over steer mistakes to give me a feel for how to react. A reaction, I might add, that seemed much more instinctual than I imagined. Granted the speeds were much slower than they will be on a full-sized road course, I feel much more confident in my ability to avoid collisions and stay in control. Overall, this is one of the best driver educations I've ever participated in and l look forward to attending another one!

Additional notes: 

-I had just over 60minutes seat time, not bad for a $90 track day.

-The Ford Performance Track Suspension gave Hank an entirely different driving dynamic compared to the FP Street Handling suspension I had been previously running. Body roll was greatly diminished during turns. Weight shifts were smoother during acceleration and braking. All this allowed me to push the car harder and go faster. I was able to use throttle steer without unsettling the car. And, I noticed that under hard braking, the car would pitch a little forward, but mostly stayed flat and didn't overload the front tires as much as it used to. Granted my daily around town driving is more firm with a tad more noise, it is a great sacrifice to have exponentially more control of the car during hard driving. 

-Oh, video. Always fun to get home and see the possibility for loads of improvement. The video I've posted was from my 2nd morning lapping session during which I set my recorded fastest time of the day. However, my afternoon lap times were close and very consistent.