DEKE01
Viper Owner
Monday was Ferrari day at Summit Point. Ferrari of Washington (FOW) rents the track a couple of times each year and puts on a really nice event. They cater breakfast and lunch, have most of the latest Ferraris and a few Lambos on display, and provide mechanics to service anyone who needs help.
To meet FOW's 75 car target to make the day profitable, they fill out the field with the riff raff like Vipers. There were lots of 360s, 430s, older F's I couldn't name, a Galardo, a Murci, and a few Maser GrandSports. I was surprised to see that only about half the cars were F / L / Ms.
Other cars:
Vettes - one of those very ugly late 70's models, a few from the 80's & 90's, bunches of newer ones and several new ZO6s.
A couple of C and S class Mercedes, one of which was very well driven.
At least 3 BMW M3s, a Z4, an M5, and a few old but race prepped 3 series that were fast and nimble.
A collection of odd cars which included a FAST Panoz, and a S L O W race prepped Mustang, and an even S l o w e r Trans Am, and one Caddy which ended his day by being towed off course (mechanical, not crash).
But mostly there were Porsches, several GT3s, a Cayman, and bunches of 911s that I'm not able to differentiate one from another because they all look alike to me. The only reason I knew the GT3s is because there were 3 of them beside me in the pits and they have a prominent GT3 badge.
The 3 run groups were novice - white, fast-blue, and racer-red. White required instructor ride alongs and was filled with lots of expensive cars with drivers who either didn't know how to drive racey or were afraid to. Blue requires track experience and that was my group. Red group requires a full race prepped car, cage, fire extinguisher, Nomex race suit, and a few other items that make that group only for the serious racey guys. Many of the cars in Red group were running race tires and some had NASA and SCCA badges so they had serious experience.
My first run in blue group was terrible. It had over 30 cars and it was bumper to bumper traffic most of the time. No one passed me but lots caught me because I would be at the end of a train waiting my turn to pass (passing is only allowed in the straights). And I passed everything including a lot of cars that had to cost 3 - 5 times more than mine. This group had the two Lambos and was a little less than half Ferraris, but maybe only two of them were driven hard and fast. The track was so crowed they took the top few cars in the blue group and asked us to move to red group after getting a safety sign off from an instructor.
I was moved up and qualified solo in red group which made me happy that my driving skills have gotten to the point that I'm at least safe and semi-fast. But everyone and their brother passed me in red group. Two crappy old M3s passed me and I've got twice their HP. There wasn't anyone who could best me in the straights where HP can overcome skill, but most everyone could out brake me and drive a faster line thru the turns. There were only two Ferraris in this group; it was mostly Porsches. I actually managed to pass the Ferraris a couple of times, but one of them got me back later.
It was my best driving day ever. I got a lot faster and was really moving thru the corners better because I was learning from watching better drivers. Unfortunately, about 2 laps into my last run of the day, I got a spot of liquid on my windshield, then I heard a whine I've never heard before. I pulled into pits and took the car over to the Ferrari techs. I blew up my power-steering pump. It had leaked to near dry.
On the hour long drive home, I had to stop and refill it three times. I drove it straight to the dealer and parked it beside my other Viper which is awaiting race brakes. My back up car, a Jetta, needs to go in the shop because the driver's window is broken. And my wife's van has to go in the shop because someone hit-and-run her in a parking lot Saturday.
I've got nothing to drive.
But I have some great memories of a fun track day. FOW returns to Summit Point in late october. I'll post a notice and hopefully we'll get more Vipers out there.
To meet FOW's 75 car target to make the day profitable, they fill out the field with the riff raff like Vipers. There were lots of 360s, 430s, older F's I couldn't name, a Galardo, a Murci, and a few Maser GrandSports. I was surprised to see that only about half the cars were F / L / Ms.
Other cars:
Vettes - one of those very ugly late 70's models, a few from the 80's & 90's, bunches of newer ones and several new ZO6s.
A couple of C and S class Mercedes, one of which was very well driven.
At least 3 BMW M3s, a Z4, an M5, and a few old but race prepped 3 series that were fast and nimble.
A collection of odd cars which included a FAST Panoz, and a S L O W race prepped Mustang, and an even S l o w e r Trans Am, and one Caddy which ended his day by being towed off course (mechanical, not crash).
But mostly there were Porsches, several GT3s, a Cayman, and bunches of 911s that I'm not able to differentiate one from another because they all look alike to me. The only reason I knew the GT3s is because there were 3 of them beside me in the pits and they have a prominent GT3 badge.
The 3 run groups were novice - white, fast-blue, and racer-red. White required instructor ride alongs and was filled with lots of expensive cars with drivers who either didn't know how to drive racey or were afraid to. Blue requires track experience and that was my group. Red group requires a full race prepped car, cage, fire extinguisher, Nomex race suit, and a few other items that make that group only for the serious racey guys. Many of the cars in Red group were running race tires and some had NASA and SCCA badges so they had serious experience.
My first run in blue group was terrible. It had over 30 cars and it was bumper to bumper traffic most of the time. No one passed me but lots caught me because I would be at the end of a train waiting my turn to pass (passing is only allowed in the straights). And I passed everything including a lot of cars that had to cost 3 - 5 times more than mine. This group had the two Lambos and was a little less than half Ferraris, but maybe only two of them were driven hard and fast. The track was so crowed they took the top few cars in the blue group and asked us to move to red group after getting a safety sign off from an instructor.
I was moved up and qualified solo in red group which made me happy that my driving skills have gotten to the point that I'm at least safe and semi-fast. But everyone and their brother passed me in red group. Two crappy old M3s passed me and I've got twice their HP. There wasn't anyone who could best me in the straights where HP can overcome skill, but most everyone could out brake me and drive a faster line thru the turns. There were only two Ferraris in this group; it was mostly Porsches. I actually managed to pass the Ferraris a couple of times, but one of them got me back later.
It was my best driving day ever. I got a lot faster and was really moving thru the corners better because I was learning from watching better drivers. Unfortunately, about 2 laps into my last run of the day, I got a spot of liquid on my windshield, then I heard a whine I've never heard before. I pulled into pits and took the car over to the Ferrari techs. I blew up my power-steering pump. It had leaked to near dry.
On the hour long drive home, I had to stop and refill it three times. I drove it straight to the dealer and parked it beside my other Viper which is awaiting race brakes. My back up car, a Jetta, needs to go in the shop because the driver's window is broken. And my wife's van has to go in the shop because someone hit-and-run her in a parking lot Saturday.
I've got nothing to drive.
But I have some great memories of a fun track day. FOW returns to Summit Point in late october. I'll post a notice and hopefully we'll get more Vipers out there.
