On 11/10/11 8:29 AM, Larry Colen wrote:
On Oct 10, 2011, at 2:01 PM, Philip Northeast wrote:
On 11/10/11 5:55 AM, Larry Colen wrote:
The bit I saw on you tube was heavily edited as the corners were not shown in
sequence and some were repeated - sort of like the movie Bullet.
Probably, the best comments from each of several laps.
But Mt Panorama is still an extremely challenging and spectacular circuit.
If I ever make it out to Oz, I'll have to try and sign up for an open track day
there.
The run up the mountain is daunting, but nothing compared to the run from
Skyline down to Forest Elbow and the start of Conrod straight.
Image the corkscrew at Laguna Seca then multiply by four.
Heh! The corkscrew, while very scenic, and rather fun, isn't usually a
particularly exciting, or challenging, turn. It's so sharp, you just have to
go into it slow. It's so steep that you don't even have to downshift that much
in even underpowered cars. Brake, turn, gas/drop, turn. Lot's of fun, unless
you do something stupid, then it can be way too much fun. Turn 9(old 7, under
the bridge) on the other hand is fast, down hill, oddly cambered and I don't
think I ever got it right. I think that's the one where a friend following me
said that he'd see about a foot of air under both rear tires of my cortina
following me through it.
The absolute biggest thrill at Laguna was the old turn 4, now turn 6. On the
old course you'd be flat out from the exit of turn 9 (now turn 11) all the way
to the entrance of 4, which was a sharp left before heading up the hill to the
corkscrew. The problem is that there was a cement barrier on the inside, and
there wasn't a lot of runoff on the outside. As a matter of fact, there was a
wee bit of a dropoff, such that the saying was that if you go off in four,
you'll land in Salinas.
It may be an apocryphal story that back in the days of Can Am, one driver call him Bob,
could never keep up with another driver, call him Dave, through turn four, and asked him
about his line. Dave said that he just lined up on the bushes on the outside of the
track and used something or other as a turn down marker. Bob was puzzled for a moment
about the mention of bushes, and Dave described them to him. "Oh!, those aren't
bushes. They're the tops of trees." After that, Dave was no longer faster than Bob
through four.
My first day at Laguna Seca was at a driving school. I had a rather
underpowered 1600cc rabbit (Golf) and in the afternoon, felt like I could take
the turn without lifting. My instructor was watching from that turn, and asked
just how many times I spun, because he'd lost count.
--
Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est
No track days - just turn up any day other then race week and drive - it
is public road.
--
Philip Northeast
www.aviewfinderdarkly.com.au
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