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Criteria to get to HPDE 3?


Ayrton

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I had the pleasure of meeting Cooper93 this weekend at CMP. We got hooked up on a session Sunday and had a blast being the 'AWD' crew doing some lead-follow. He is a very good driver, smooth and consistent. I started Sat in DE1 (first event with NASA, but 7th this summer) and my instructor bumped me up before the end of the day to DE2. So I got to run with Cooper.

 

I myself hope to work towards DE3 in 2011. I can and do toe-heel, but struggle with it under threshhold braking. I have to use the 'rocker' method where the ball of my foot is on the brake pedal and I rock the outside edge of my foot down to blip the throttle. I have a size 14-4E foot and the pedal spacing and the lack of room in the drivers feet area (Evo IX) left that as the only practical method. Under hard braking however, my brake pedal actually sinks slightly below the gas pedal and makes this method very tough. I am going to see what is involved to possibly raise the brake pedal about 3/8's of an inch.

 

As far as consitently hitting apex's and track out points, I feel I do pretty good, but see so much on vid that I feel I need to tweak. The in-car vid is very telling.

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To those who have some difficulty due to the size of their feet, I would suggest a racing shoe. The sole is more narrow and generally shaped better for the task - not to mention the increase in FEEL. Just don't wear them around the paddock too much - they wear out quickly.

 

Regarding the transition to DE3, I only encourage my DE2 students to go for a check ride if they are consistent, smooth, and aware of and comfortable moving through traffic. Passing everywhere is awesome, but you have to know there are drivers in front of and BEHIND you that you have to manage.

 

I like the criteria of NE mentioned earlier.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Grab your HPDE passport and ask for a check ride by the group 3 leader.

 

FYI we did not have open passing in group 3. We had open passing on certain corners and on the straights but not the whole track. We also did some side by side driving and rolling/standing starts. That was fun. A month later I had my comp school and was W2W racing.

 

kyle

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I've done 12 track days this year in HPDE2 and will be in HPDE3 for the first time with NASA SE at Road Atlanta in December. My goal is to be safe and learn in this less restrictive and faster group.

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  • 3 months later...

out of curiosity, even if my check ride from 2 to 3 went okay could I still sign up in a lower group if there is a new track that I haven't been to yet and don't want to be a moving pylon? (i.e. Road Atlanta).

 

My last track day I had an instructor ride along and he said I should definitely be getting a check ride, but this was also at CMP where I have plenty of seat time... but to go somewhere new like road atlanta in that group I know I'd just be an annoyance.

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My first time in HPDE 3 was with NASA SE at Road Atlanta last December. I can vouch for the fact that it can be intimidating at first especially since we had DE 3/4 combined on the first session. Close to 80 cars on the track. I was hanging on to the tail.

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Yeah I'm not remotely interested in being that guy learning the layout and possibly holding people up. Just seems like it would make more sense to sign up for 2 and get acclimated then move over on day 2

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As long as you're very aware in traffic you should be fine.

 

I would suggest finding someone that you could follow the first few laps around to show you the line and then when the faster cars start coming through be aware and use your traffic management you learned in DE2. Biggest thing is to be predictable in everything you do.

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