X-post: Calgary Audi Driving School Review (May 16, 05) (long)
05-22-2005, 11:18 AM
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X-post: Calgary Audi Driving School Review (May 16, 05) (long)
Hi folks,
Sorry for the delay on my review, but I started my new job this week and I don't seem to have much free time anymore! Anyhow, here's what I thought of it…
The cars:
We had about 20 cars in total, here's the break down:
- 2 B5-S4
- 2 B6-S4
- 1 B7-S4 avant
- 2 RS6
- 1 S6 avant
- 2 TT (coupes, 3.2 DSG and 225 ALMS edition)
- 1 allroad
- 1 Stage 3 B5-A4 1.8tq
- various B6-A4 sedans and avants
A very good mix if you ask me. Here's a pic of my S4 and the pit lane:
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/2005-05-16_-_calgary_driving_school_1.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/2005-05-16_-_calgary_driving_school_2.jpg">
Morning Session:
After registration, we had a condensed classroom session, learning the basics of car control and cornering lines. Even though I've been through it once before at the Edmonton school 2 years ago, it's still good to go over it again and re-learn it so it's fresh in your mind.
There were 2 exercises in the morning session, one was braking and slalom drills, and the other was to learn the proper lines using just the south end of the track. We were broken into 3 groups. I was in group C, and we only got 2 sessions, one of each, whereas group A and B had 3 sessions each. Not really a big deal I suppose.
Both exercises were good, except I was expecting more complicated braking exercise instead of just braking in a straight line. The slalom was fun, I think I only clipped one cone, but there were quite a few cones got knocked down that I had to take wider lines around them.
Two things bugged me a little; one was the slightly different driving lines that different instructors take. At the last turn using the service road at the south end of the track, it's a somewhat interesting combo of left-right-big left, and all instructors I had used varying lines. That's not so bad really as each lines suites certain car better, and since most instructors came from BMWs, I was expecting something like this to happen.
The other is driving style. Most instructors preach the 9 and 3 o'clock steering wheel position, which is what I am used to. But during a few turns where you turn the wheel nearly 180 degrees, one instructor insisted that I move my hands around the wheels so that I don't cross-over my hands. I and several other instructors didn't think that was necessary as it really wasn't close to being crossed, but I ended up doing it just when I was with him. Again it's not really a bad thing, you get the chance to learn different techniques, so that you can try them all and see which one works best for you.
My car did well on aggressive street damping setting according to Stasis. However, the front right brake was significant hotter than the other side. I was a little concerned, but then since the track consists if mostly left turns, you'd expect the right tires getting a harder workout. After some easier driving to cool the brakes they seemed fine.
Group Photo & Lunch:
Just before lunch was served, we arranged for a group photo shoot at the front straight of the track, here's a pic I took.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/2005-05-16_-_calgary_driving_school_3.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/2005-05-16_-_calgary_driving_school_4.jpg">
My car is finally at the front of the pack!! And I'm still waiting to see the pics taken by the photographer.
Lunch was pretty good, I had to try not to over eat so I can concentrate at the afternoon's lapping sessions!
Afternoon Session:
Afternoon is all lapping using the full track ;-) First it was the instructor taking the students out on to show us the lines (1 instructor to 2 students). My instructor took my car , along with another guy with an '02 S6 (very rare in Calgary) and did 4 laps, trying to faster and faster, but the car in front of us kept slowing us down. After that, we were broken into 2 groups, each has three 20 minutes sessions.
Here's a map of the track:
<img src="http://www.racecity.com/upload/images/mapofrc_lg.gif">
For this I cranked the damping on my Tracksport all the way to track setting (I have a separate review on my suspension setup coming up).
Again, different instructors had slightly different lines, I got to try them all out and found a few that I liked. Here's my view on the track:
- There were only 2 places allowed for passing, at the front and back straights.
- The first 2 turns after the front straight were fairly easy, the only problem was that you can get some wicked speed off the long straight, and you need to judge your braking accordingly. Too little and you'll understeer off the track, too much you'll just be going slower through those turns than you should be. My stock S4 can probably get to 180-190 kph, but I usually stopped at around 140, got to 160 twice, for the fear of burning up the brakes. One of the RS6 was regularly getting to over 220, requiring some good hammer-age on the gigantic brakes! The other thing is that I found myself not hugging the right side of the track enough before starting turn 1.
- Turn #3 (right-most of the track) is a hard left-hander. You are supposed to nip the apex then unwind and let the car naturally move the right edge of the track before you start the turn-in for turn #4. I knew the line I had to take, but I had some trouble unwinding correctly to get the edge of the track. I usually left a car's width before and turn-in point for #4. But of those 5, 6 times I nailed that turn, boy you can exit at a much faster speed.
- Turn #4 (top right of the track) is another fast hard left-hander. All instructors made you jab the brakes briefly before turn-in to get the weight up to the front tires, but the exit lines varied quite a bit. Most allow you to stay close to the center of the track, then move left in preparation for setting up turn #5 which is pedal-to-metal hard right-hander, going as fast as you dare with no lift. But at my last session, that instructor told me to try braking less, carry more speed into #4, than exit all the way to the right edge before moving left for #5 turn-in point. I didn't think there's enough straight-away to do that at first, but then I tried and it was so much quicker. The S6 in front of me put some distance between us at the front straight, and I made it all up in that 2 turns, incredible!!
- Turn #6 is a pretty easy left-hander, required just a little braking before turn-in.
- Turn #7, 8 and 9 is the chicane at the middle of the track. The only trick is to brake before #7 without riding the curbs, as that causes the car to swerve unpredictably for a second. While some instructor wanted me to use the curbs fully for #8 and 9, which is the properly racing line, some told me not to use it as much as then can chew up my tires pretty good. Exiting the chicane is fairly easy, but there were more than a few times where I wasn't heading to the exit cone to the far left.
- Turn #10 is pretty much a straight, not need to brake. For turn #11, the only trick there is to brake at the up hill portion from #10 to 11, and watch the apex on your left which is a little difficult to see.
- The last 2 turns, #12 and 13, are probably the most difficult and the most important part of the track. You need a good exit to the front straight to get up to speed as quickly as possible, and if you screw up #12 you're almost guaranteed to screw up #13 as well. Apex for #12 is extremely late, making it very hard to see. You have to look for it from the driver's side window for the fist part of the turn! And as soon as you hit that apex, which is also the turn-in for #13, you need to crank the wheel hard to the right, hug the concrete wall and shoot yourself out to the front straight. I was only happy about that combo turn 2 or 3 times all day. I usually hit #12 apex too early, which made me turn-in too early for #13, and I was coming out heading towards the concrete wall on the left just as the front straight starts. I could tell easily whether I did the turn correctly by the amount of body roll and lack of exit speed.
- I've heard that the track at Racecity can really use some repair work, but my experience this time (my first time on this track) was pretty good. Apparently the back straight was recently repaved, so that's good, but there're definitely some bumpy sections. It's far from the butt-smooth tarmac up in Stratotech Park, but it's driveable.
And here're a few extra observations of my car and others:
- For the first time in my 18 months of ownership of my S4, I wish I had more power after routinely watching the RS6 and S6 walking away from me exiting to the front straight! But realistically I'm still happy with stock power, as going fast in a straight line doesn't do a whole lot for me, it's all about the twisty stuff!!
- My Stasis Tracksport coilovers (500f/600r/sport valving) did quite well, but the limiting factor was the tires, I'm still running Blotenza RE-040 from the factory!
- Brakes are uber-important!! Especially for tracks that have long straights. How fast you go on these straights is directly proportional to how confident you are about your brakes. Obviously I wasn't too confident about mine. On the heavy cars like our Audis, I think a big-brake kit is a must if I keep the car and intend to do more track events.
- RS6 makes a pretty thunderous sound as it passes the pit lane at the front straight, it was something else. Here's a pic of it in action!
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/2005-05-16_-_calgary_driving_school_5.jpg">
- B6-S4 aren't too shabby either, especially the nagaro one with an aftermarket exhaust, the sound is unmistakably V8.
- The Stage3 B5-A4 made some interesting noise as it passes the pit lane, and it's pretty fast too
- I thought the S6 avant wouldn't be that fast, given its weight and only 340hp from the 4.2, but I was wrong, it passed me 2 or 3 times that day and you can see it walking away from me at the front straight!
- Mad props to the lady with the Moro Blue TT 3.2 DSG. She started out in front of me at one session, and I thought I'd be passing her in no time. But after a lap she started pulling away from me, I was pretty humbled by that!!
- There were zero mishaps, so kudos to everyone!
- The only quasi-incident was that the Dolphin B7-S4 avant, which was only 3 days old (!) was being flogged hard. I'd stay the hell away from it if it's ever for sale!! At one point the driver passed one RS6 and 2 others at the end of the front straight, Keith and Don weren't impressed.
So there you have it, hope you enjoyed reading it. Overall Don Skelton (ACNA rep), Keith Anderson (chief ACNA instructor from Minnesota), the various BMW and Porsche instructors and Glenmore Audi put up an excellent event, especially it was the first time in Calgary. I think everyone had an awesome time.
Lastly, as an advertising for Don, the next school is at Stratotech Park track up near Edmonton on June 25-26 weekend, signup quick before it's too late!!
Sorry for the delay on my review, but I started my new job this week and I don't seem to have much free time anymore! Anyhow, here's what I thought of it…
The cars:
We had about 20 cars in total, here's the break down:
- 2 B5-S4
- 2 B6-S4
- 1 B7-S4 avant
- 2 RS6
- 1 S6 avant
- 2 TT (coupes, 3.2 DSG and 225 ALMS edition)
- 1 allroad
- 1 Stage 3 B5-A4 1.8tq
- various B6-A4 sedans and avants
A very good mix if you ask me. Here's a pic of my S4 and the pit lane:
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/2005-05-16_-_calgary_driving_school_1.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/2005-05-16_-_calgary_driving_school_2.jpg">
Morning Session:
After registration, we had a condensed classroom session, learning the basics of car control and cornering lines. Even though I've been through it once before at the Edmonton school 2 years ago, it's still good to go over it again and re-learn it so it's fresh in your mind.
There were 2 exercises in the morning session, one was braking and slalom drills, and the other was to learn the proper lines using just the south end of the track. We were broken into 3 groups. I was in group C, and we only got 2 sessions, one of each, whereas group A and B had 3 sessions each. Not really a big deal I suppose.
Both exercises were good, except I was expecting more complicated braking exercise instead of just braking in a straight line. The slalom was fun, I think I only clipped one cone, but there were quite a few cones got knocked down that I had to take wider lines around them.
Two things bugged me a little; one was the slightly different driving lines that different instructors take. At the last turn using the service road at the south end of the track, it's a somewhat interesting combo of left-right-big left, and all instructors I had used varying lines. That's not so bad really as each lines suites certain car better, and since most instructors came from BMWs, I was expecting something like this to happen.
The other is driving style. Most instructors preach the 9 and 3 o'clock steering wheel position, which is what I am used to. But during a few turns where you turn the wheel nearly 180 degrees, one instructor insisted that I move my hands around the wheels so that I don't cross-over my hands. I and several other instructors didn't think that was necessary as it really wasn't close to being crossed, but I ended up doing it just when I was with him. Again it's not really a bad thing, you get the chance to learn different techniques, so that you can try them all and see which one works best for you.
My car did well on aggressive street damping setting according to Stasis. However, the front right brake was significant hotter than the other side. I was a little concerned, but then since the track consists if mostly left turns, you'd expect the right tires getting a harder workout. After some easier driving to cool the brakes they seemed fine.
Group Photo & Lunch:
Just before lunch was served, we arranged for a group photo shoot at the front straight of the track, here's a pic I took.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/2005-05-16_-_calgary_driving_school_3.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/2005-05-16_-_calgary_driving_school_4.jpg">
My car is finally at the front of the pack!! And I'm still waiting to see the pics taken by the photographer.
Lunch was pretty good, I had to try not to over eat so I can concentrate at the afternoon's lapping sessions!
Afternoon Session:
Afternoon is all lapping using the full track ;-) First it was the instructor taking the students out on to show us the lines (1 instructor to 2 students). My instructor took my car , along with another guy with an '02 S6 (very rare in Calgary) and did 4 laps, trying to faster and faster, but the car in front of us kept slowing us down. After that, we were broken into 2 groups, each has three 20 minutes sessions.
Here's a map of the track:
<img src="http://www.racecity.com/upload/images/mapofrc_lg.gif">
For this I cranked the damping on my Tracksport all the way to track setting (I have a separate review on my suspension setup coming up).
Again, different instructors had slightly different lines, I got to try them all out and found a few that I liked. Here's my view on the track:
- There were only 2 places allowed for passing, at the front and back straights.
- The first 2 turns after the front straight were fairly easy, the only problem was that you can get some wicked speed off the long straight, and you need to judge your braking accordingly. Too little and you'll understeer off the track, too much you'll just be going slower through those turns than you should be. My stock S4 can probably get to 180-190 kph, but I usually stopped at around 140, got to 160 twice, for the fear of burning up the brakes. One of the RS6 was regularly getting to over 220, requiring some good hammer-age on the gigantic brakes! The other thing is that I found myself not hugging the right side of the track enough before starting turn 1.
- Turn #3 (right-most of the track) is a hard left-hander. You are supposed to nip the apex then unwind and let the car naturally move the right edge of the track before you start the turn-in for turn #4. I knew the line I had to take, but I had some trouble unwinding correctly to get the edge of the track. I usually left a car's width before and turn-in point for #4. But of those 5, 6 times I nailed that turn, boy you can exit at a much faster speed.
- Turn #4 (top right of the track) is another fast hard left-hander. All instructors made you jab the brakes briefly before turn-in to get the weight up to the front tires, but the exit lines varied quite a bit. Most allow you to stay close to the center of the track, then move left in preparation for setting up turn #5 which is pedal-to-metal hard right-hander, going as fast as you dare with no lift. But at my last session, that instructor told me to try braking less, carry more speed into #4, than exit all the way to the right edge before moving left for #5 turn-in point. I didn't think there's enough straight-away to do that at first, but then I tried and it was so much quicker. The S6 in front of me put some distance between us at the front straight, and I made it all up in that 2 turns, incredible!!
- Turn #6 is a pretty easy left-hander, required just a little braking before turn-in.
- Turn #7, 8 and 9 is the chicane at the middle of the track. The only trick is to brake before #7 without riding the curbs, as that causes the car to swerve unpredictably for a second. While some instructor wanted me to use the curbs fully for #8 and 9, which is the properly racing line, some told me not to use it as much as then can chew up my tires pretty good. Exiting the chicane is fairly easy, but there were more than a few times where I wasn't heading to the exit cone to the far left.
- Turn #10 is pretty much a straight, not need to brake. For turn #11, the only trick there is to brake at the up hill portion from #10 to 11, and watch the apex on your left which is a little difficult to see.
- The last 2 turns, #12 and 13, are probably the most difficult and the most important part of the track. You need a good exit to the front straight to get up to speed as quickly as possible, and if you screw up #12 you're almost guaranteed to screw up #13 as well. Apex for #12 is extremely late, making it very hard to see. You have to look for it from the driver's side window for the fist part of the turn! And as soon as you hit that apex, which is also the turn-in for #13, you need to crank the wheel hard to the right, hug the concrete wall and shoot yourself out to the front straight. I was only happy about that combo turn 2 or 3 times all day. I usually hit #12 apex too early, which made me turn-in too early for #13, and I was coming out heading towards the concrete wall on the left just as the front straight starts. I could tell easily whether I did the turn correctly by the amount of body roll and lack of exit speed.
- I've heard that the track at Racecity can really use some repair work, but my experience this time (my first time on this track) was pretty good. Apparently the back straight was recently repaved, so that's good, but there're definitely some bumpy sections. It's far from the butt-smooth tarmac up in Stratotech Park, but it's driveable.
And here're a few extra observations of my car and others:
- For the first time in my 18 months of ownership of my S4, I wish I had more power after routinely watching the RS6 and S6 walking away from me exiting to the front straight! But realistically I'm still happy with stock power, as going fast in a straight line doesn't do a whole lot for me, it's all about the twisty stuff!!
- My Stasis Tracksport coilovers (500f/600r/sport valving) did quite well, but the limiting factor was the tires, I'm still running Blotenza RE-040 from the factory!
- Brakes are uber-important!! Especially for tracks that have long straights. How fast you go on these straights is directly proportional to how confident you are about your brakes. Obviously I wasn't too confident about mine. On the heavy cars like our Audis, I think a big-brake kit is a must if I keep the car and intend to do more track events.
- RS6 makes a pretty thunderous sound as it passes the pit lane at the front straight, it was something else. Here's a pic of it in action!
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/2005-05-16_-_calgary_driving_school_5.jpg">
- B6-S4 aren't too shabby either, especially the nagaro one with an aftermarket exhaust, the sound is unmistakably V8.
- The Stage3 B5-A4 made some interesting noise as it passes the pit lane, and it's pretty fast too
- I thought the S6 avant wouldn't be that fast, given its weight and only 340hp from the 4.2, but I was wrong, it passed me 2 or 3 times that day and you can see it walking away from me at the front straight!
- Mad props to the lady with the Moro Blue TT 3.2 DSG. She started out in front of me at one session, and I thought I'd be passing her in no time. But after a lap she started pulling away from me, I was pretty humbled by that!!
- There were zero mishaps, so kudos to everyone!
- The only quasi-incident was that the Dolphin B7-S4 avant, which was only 3 days old (!) was being flogged hard. I'd stay the hell away from it if it's ever for sale!! At one point the driver passed one RS6 and 2 others at the end of the front straight, Keith and Don weren't impressed.
So there you have it, hope you enjoyed reading it. Overall Don Skelton (ACNA rep), Keith Anderson (chief ACNA instructor from Minnesota), the various BMW and Porsche instructors and Glenmore Audi put up an excellent event, especially it was the first time in Calgary. I think everyone had an awesome time.
Lastly, as an advertising for Don, the next school is at Stratotech Park track up near Edmonton on June 25-26 weekend, signup quick before it's too late!!
05-22-2005, 12:04 PM
#5
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I forgot to mention about fuel consumption...
It's obviously sh!tty when you flog your car at the track, but the RS6 is especially pathetic. One of the owner was running out of gas near the end of the day! So basically after driving from home to the track in the morning (he filled up the night before I believe), he only got ~150 km of tracking driving, that's on a 80L tank!!
My stock S4 used approx 3/4 tank for the day, including ~150 km of track miles and ~30 km from home to the track, but my tank is only 55L.
My stock S4 used approx 3/4 tank for the day, including ~150 km of track miles and ~30 km from home to the track, but my tank is only 55L.
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