BUTTONWILLOW RACEWAY PARK, VARA-U ’09

I spent this weekend at Buttonwillow Raceway Park with VARA-U, a combined school and Test&Tune event. VARA holds this event annually, and this year was a great success especially cosidering the current economy. The school event had over 100 students, and the T&T had over 30 participants. On Saturday the students alternated between the skid pad, slalom course, classroom, and the east loop of the track, while the T&T group drove the larger west loop. On Sunday, the whole track was opened up and used alternately by the school and T&T drivers. Instructors from the Fast Lane group taught at the skid pad, slalom course, and the classroom, while a cadre of two dozen VARA instructors “taught the race line” on the track.

As an instructor, I drove the track with students 4-5 times each day, alternating between showing them the line while driving their car, and then riding shotgun while coaching them around the track. I was able to use some of the spare time to get my race car out in the T&T sessions to brush of the rust, and test out this winter’s modifications. As instructors, our on-track emphasis was track safety, smooth car control, and understanding the racing line. Every corner has three parts: corner entry, apex, and exit. So we set up double cones at each of the three points for each corner in order to help accelerate the learning curve. The large class of students was broken into four groups in order to keep each one a manageable size, and to keep the track from getting too crowded. Due to the fair weather and the excellent event staff that kept the schedule running smoothly, everyone got more track time than they could ever want.

This year’s students were the usual mix of drivers:  folks trying out a performance driving school for the first time, returning students getting their annual fix of track time, new racers working on getting their race license, and licensed racers getting some more instruction. Cars ranged from low-buck daily drivers, to high-performance weekend toys, to two-seater race cars. Be sure to put this event on your calendar for next year.

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My car testing  had a mixed bag of results. The new throttle cable system was smooth and trouble free. The airbox flowed lots of air and required larger jets for the carbs. The new muffler was a little quieter and sounded great, but it’s still too loud for Laguna Seca.  The driver was a little sloppy at speed, but got smoother as the weekend progressed. You just can’t get enough seat time!