TunerN00b

Its not actually me who this is for. Rather, I'm taking my girlfriend to her first HPDE later this month. She's seen me auto-x, and she watched me do 1 HPDE before, but otherwise, she has no on track experience. So, here's what I'm asking:

Driver prep:
Is there anything I should be sure to drill into her head? I knew the basics from auto-x and videogames, but she doesn't have too much to draw from. I'll go over the basics of driving the line, and will try to do a 75% speed lap with her following first thing, if we can.

Car prep:
Its a 2002 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro automatic. It has the sport suspension, and has very little body roll and fantastic transitions, but I haven't pushed it hard enough to know if it understeers/oversteers. Aside from trying a slightly higher tire pressure (summer tires), is there anything else I should do? Should I worry about the auto tranny?

And any general advice that someone wants to throw out would be appreciated. I'm not all that experienced myself (1.5 years auto-x, 3 HPDEs), and am definately ready to listen to any advice some of you more seasoned weekend racers have to offer.

My95SlvrBlt

Being that I am still learning tons, and loving every step of the way. The best thing I can tell her while shes out there is to be aware around you, but dont get nervous if someones behind her. If shes aware, she can get rid of them fast.

The other thing, dont feel the need to push ANYTHING until it feels right. If she doesnt feel good out there, she might not be ready. Trying to go beyond her limits is gonna be probably the only thing that could result badly.

If she thinks shes not allowed enough braking room, DRIVE OFF, do not try to turn in while finishing braking, DRIVE OFF!!!! IF she goes off sideways, itll 9 times out of 10 result worse then just driving off.

My95SlvrBlt

Most of that stuff is gonna be drilled into her in the classroom, but IMO those 3 tips will probably serve her the best.

o-man

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, butleave her alone and let her find her own way. If she feels she needs/wants your help she will ask.

dn

If your club doesn't provide a track map, try to pack one for her so she can "drive" the track in her head while hanging out in between sessions. To this day, I still have the lamanated track maps with newb notes that I took my first time to each track.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by o-man &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I hope you don't take this the wrong way, butleave her alone and let her find her own way. If she feels she needs/wants your help she will ask. </TD></TR></TABLE>

o-man also gave some great advice. If she's having a good time and wants to talk about it or ask questions, she will. If she asks for any reading material before hand, the "1st HPDE" write up on the NASA site is good.

http://www.nasaproracing.com/hpde/firstday.html

Having track buddies really enhances the HPDE experience and who better to go with than your SO? I hope you two have a lot of fun

Oh also, I wouldn't stress out about trying to make the car handle any particular way. Just drive it and if you come out of the cockpit feeling like some aspect of your car could be working a bit better, you can work on it for the next time. Most likely if there are any gripes it will be with brakes/tires.

[edit]

Almost forgot, but you'll want to go over the rules for flags/passing before you go. Just real basic, no need for drilling


Modified by dn at 3:12 PM 4/6/2006

nonsense

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TunerN00b &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Driver prep:
Is there anything I should be sure to drill into her head? I knew the basics from auto-x and videogames, but she doesn't have too much to draw from. I'll go over the basics of driving the line, and will try to do a 75% speed lap with her following first thing, if we can.

Car prep:
Its a 2002 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro automatic. It has the sport suspension, and has very little body roll and fantastic transitions, but I haven't pushed it hard enough to know if it understeers/oversteers. Aside from trying a slightly higher tire pressure (summer tires), is there anything else I should do? Should I worry about the auto tranny?

And any general advice that someone wants to throw out would be appreciated. I'm not all that experienced myself (1.5 years auto-x, 3 HPDEs), and am definately ready to listen to any advice some of you more seasoned weekend racers have to offer.</TD></TR></TABLE>

She should have an instructor with her, so the only advice to tell her is relax and listen to the instructor. Since she doesn't have lots of experience, and doesn't think she knows it all, she'll probably make a better student than most guys who are first timers.

Like o-man said, leave her alone unless she ask you for help. Don't try to fill her head with too much info before hand, just let her deal with it the way she wants.

From HPDEs I've done, I see a couple of things that differ between women and men learning. Men usually go out there like they know how to go fast, and end up needing to be reigned in by the instructor and taught how to be smooth and then fast. Women tend to be a little less eager to go "all out" from the beginning and they start out slower and smoother. Then they learn to be fast.

Of course these are generalizations and there will be the exact opposites from time to time.

TunerN00b

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by o-man &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I hope you don't take this the wrong way, butleave her alone and let her find her own way. If she feels she needs/wants your help she will ask. </TD></TR></TABLE>

You know, thank you. I'm certainly not taking it the wrong way, and that is almost certainly something that I needed to be told.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nonsense &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">She should have an instructor with her, so the only advice to tell her is relax and listen to the instructor. Since she doesn't have lots of experience, and doesn't think she knows it all, she'll probably make a better student than most guys who are first timers.

Like o-man said, leave her alone unless she ask you for help. Don't try to fill her head with too much info before hand, just let her deal with it the way she wants.

From HPDEs I've done, I see a couple of things that differ between women and men learning. Men usually go out there like they know how to go fast, and end up needing to be reigned in by the instructor and taught how to be smooth and then fast. Women tend to be a little less eager to go "all out" from the beginning and they start out slower and smoother. Then they learn to be fast.

Of course these are generalizations and there will be the exact opposites from time to time. </TD></TR></TABLE>

That had not occured to me. In so many ways, she's like a guy, but thining about it now, I'm more than willing to bet that she'll go out there and stay within her comfort zone (something I certainly did NOT do).

Ok, so unless anyone has any specific recommendations for the car, I'll just give it the same basic checks I do on mine (oil, brakes, etc...), and try to not fill her head with too many things before hand.

Stinkycheezmonky

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TunerN00b &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Driver prep:
Is there anything I should be sure to drill into her head? I knew the basics from auto-x and videogames, but she doesn't have too much to draw from. I'll go over the basics of driving the line, and will try to do a 75% speed lap with her following first thing, if we can.

Car prep:
Its a 2002 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro automatic. It has the sport suspension, and has very little body roll and fantastic transitions, but I haven't pushed it hard enough to know if it understeers/oversteers. Aside from trying a slightly higher tire pressure (summer tires), is there anything else I should do? Should I worry about the auto tranny?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Driver prep: Stay hydrated, stay calm, don't pressure yourself or her. The instructor will have his own way of showing her around, and will have a certain agenda of what to have her do, so don't worry about that. The best thing YOU can do for her is just be supportive. Do NOT tell her what to do, leave that to the classroom and on-track instructors. If she asks advice, you can give it to her, but otherwise let her alone. Like any noob, she'll have enough on her mind as it is, she won't need to be bombarded with info from another person.

Car prep: Very little body roll? Heh heh heh. Well, no, sorry, that's just not right. But you can't do anything about it at this point. Tire pressures will make some difference, you'll have to play around with them a bit to see what works best (higher rear than front, higher front than rear, etc.). Really, it won't matter too much, as she'll be learning the basics of driving on track more than getting the last 10th out of the car. The auto tranny will be fine. Like any car, good brake fluid and general maintenance would be a good idea. Better brake pads would be a good idea too, but aren't absolutely necessary.

Boilermaker1

I just did my first HPDE last weekend (although not my first time on the track).... what got drilled to us is speed comes, don't force it, and they're right on the head with that.
The other thing is to know your limits..... as they put it, they want everyone back again, with the same car next time.

Just wave people by if they get in your mirrors and have some fun. No instructor is gonna get mad for someone driving a little conservative.
As far as the tranny... is it a manumatic that can be locked into a gear? If the track is conducive to it, I'd say just pop it in 3rd and leave it there.