May 2010 - PCA-SAR Home Page

ies down from 8 to exit of
8b, 10 stories down to
Turn 9. Wheee! YES!
Aside from several trips
back to Bondurant for
alumni events, I didn't do
much tracking until 2006
when one of you left a PCA-
SAR card on Greg's new
Cayman (thank you, whoever
you are), and we came
to Dave Radmacher's Pinal
chalk talk, and caught the
bug again. Thanks to
SAR's fantastic instructors,
including Walt Harrington,
Wendy Walker, Brian Willis,
Rink Reinking, and of
course, Dave Radmacher, I
have steadily gained the
competence and confidence
to not only control my car
on the track, but to even
venture to new tracks.
Which brings me to...
Turn 9 is a high-speed left
hand sweeper, with banking
in just the inner edge.
Hit it just right and all
that speed I've picked up
down the hill will load my
suspension and increase
my grip. Whoom. Nailed
it! Rotate for Turn 10 on the right, track out on the left and bring
it back to the right side for Turn 11. The slowest turn on the
track, 11 is a sharp left leading onto the main straight.
As much as I loved my Cabriolet, I fell for a new love in July 2009.
SAR hosted an event at Porsche to introduce the new PDK transmission.
When Greg suggested I drive the Carrera S PDK, I was
hooked. Face it, I'm a rear engine girl. I gotta swing my rear end! It
had that familiar feel, with handling to match Greg's Cayman, but
oh, the POWER! Mwaa ha ha! And great gadgets inside, too. I had
to have it.
The front straight is a long uphill to a blind apex on the left for
Turn 1, with a breathtaking view and drop to the Andretti Hairpin.
The hardest part of driving Laguna was keeping the accelerator
to the floor up and over the hill. Move to the right, threshold
brake, and trail the brakes into the hairpin, then back on the
throttle to control the rotation and settle the rear end. Track out
on the right, but don't go off. That wall is closer than you think.
Greg and our Vegas friend, Brad, had already made plans to catch
the end of the Monterey Historics and drive the MBR/CDS DE at
Laguna Seca. Now I had a new toy and was just ACHING to play
with it. I registered just in time to tag along with the boys. Now, to
get accustomed to the 997. A quick trip to Spring Mountain in early
August gave us an empty track for the three of us to play. Lapping
the 2.7 mile configuration gave me the familiarity and confidence I
needed to go to....
Turns 3 and 4 are straightforward right-handers inside the spectator's
area, not too tricky, but this is one of the passing zones, so
attention is warranted. Move to the right, look for my reference
point, and try to carry as much momentum around Turn 5 to the
left as I can, once again climbing the hill past the sound check
booth. I CAN DO THIS!
And so can you... Participate in SAR's Driver's Education Program.
Special thanks to LVR's Brad Zucroff and GGR's Larry Sharp for
coaching me at Laguna Seca.
Call for Cinco Volunteers!
It’s Never Too Late
e-mail the co-chairs
Dave and Kathleen at cinco@pcasar.com
...or just show up on May 1 and jump right in...
www.pcasar.com Zuffenhausen News | May 2010 | 7