It's Not Racing
by Stephen Goldberger, SOC2010 Coordinator
The Saab Owners’ Convention of 2010 will be starting off with a track event at historic Nelsen Ledges Road Coarse in bucolic Northeastern Ohio. It was there in 1980 that a Saab 900 Turbo was victorious in the inaugural “Longest Day at Nelson Ledges” 24 hour endurance race. We, however, will be learning, not racing, and there is a great distinction.
Racing is a speed contest, with each driver pushing the limit of both the vehicle and the driver’s ability. It’s serious business, with failures in equipment or lapses in judgment leading to expensive and sometimes injurious crashes. It’s also the first thing that comes to the mind of some when they hear the words “track event,” but it’s not what we’re doing.
The purpose of our event is to improve our driving skills in a safe but realistic venue. The lessons learned and practiced in the event have real application on public roadways, but can hardly be learned there. Other traffic, unseen obstacles in or near the road, the novelty of driving roads for the first time, not to mention the possibility of arrest for reckless endangerment by well meaning law enforcement personnel, make the public roadway a very bad place to learn performance driving skills. There is also the issue of having a qualified instructor. Do it yourself by trial and error may be a good way to learn a video game, but it has no place in driving instruction.
Compare that to learning high performance driving at a Saab Club track event. You learn on a closed course with no cross traffic and greatly reduced roadside hazards. Check the video at www.nelsonledges.com (follow the link to map of the track and a through-the-windshield video opens in a window). There are tens of yards of clear open space beside the track in most areas, and beyond the open space is a “tire wall” to limit further the extent of damage or injury. That said, I have attended five club track events, observed less than a half dozen instances of cars leaving the track, just one instance of damage to a car, and no injuries at all to our participants. I will add that most of the off-track excursions and single case of vehicle damage occurred to relatively more experienced drivers who were pushing toward, and ultimately past, their limits.
Repetition is the key to learning, whether it’s in sports, academics, farming, or performance driving. After a few laps you learn the track pretty well and you are able to explore your ability and your vehicle’s capability safely and effectively. When you misjudge the line through a corner, and you certainly will, you will have the opportunity for a “do over” within a couple or three minutes.
Good instruction is very important, and there will be instructors on-hand to help you. Every participant will have an instructor riding along during the first lapping session. After that, instructors will be available on an as-needed and as-wanted basis. The instructors are people who race at Nelson Ledges and are selected for both their driving skill and their ability to communicate their skills to both novices and those with track experience. Those with considerable experience need little more than pointing out the quirks of the track, while novices need more basic instruction in selecting the line through a corner, braking and acceleration strategies, and track etiquette. Participants drive in groups, selected according to driver experience and vehicle capabilities, so the more experienced participants in faster cars aren’t hindered and the novices don’t feel intimidated or as if they are interfering with another driver’s experience.
You will be amazed at the difference in your driving and your assessment of other drivers after just one track session. Your situational awareness, your confidence in your ability and your knowledge of the capability of your Saab will all take a quantum leap upward. In taking the “racing line” through curves and corners you will have more control and better vision through the corners. And you will be suddenly amazed at how bad the average driver’s line through a typical left hand turn looks: the very line that you may have taken prior to your track experience.
My best advice is for you, right now, to sign up for the track event. The price is probably less than your insurance deductible, which your very first collision avoidance will save. And by the way, it’s the most fun you can have in a car with your clothes on.
This article originally appeared in Nines,
the Official Magazine of the Saab Club of North America