Lunatick Racing

NOTE: Links to the two track videos from this event are at the bottom of the post.

This past Monday and Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending my first event with Hooked On Driving Northeast at Watkins Glen International.   We were the very first HPDE event to run on the fresh new pavement, and while WGI was already my favorite track, it is even better and more gorgeous than before.   I am particularly fond of the unique and unusual colors they picked for the curbing.

After taking last year off, since my wife and I bought a house, and my job situation was not entirely stable, I’m getting back into this hobby full time in 2016, and plan to get on track every 3 or 4 weeks.   This addiction must be satisfied, and I don’t have to explain that to the other people who suffer from it.    But if this is suffering, chain me to the wall, and torture me!!!

For this first blog post to revive Lunatick Racing, I’ll review the entire HoD experience, since this was my first time running with this organization.   I heard good things about them from other drivers that all proved to be true: HoD puts on a great event, and the format is a bit different from other HPDE events I’ve driven.   Most of my track days have been with the SCDA, but I have also run with IMG once, and done a few open track day events and some private member events as well.   HoD splits up the drivers into 4 groups: A (novice), B (intermediate), C (advanced) and D (instructors and racers).   The groups run separately in the mornings sessions, but were grouped together to give us slightly longer sessions in the afternoon.   The two morning sessions were 25 minutes long, but the afternoon joint sessions were 35 and 40 minutes each.    The first combined session was Groups C and D, and the second one was Groups B and C.

Passing rules for Group C were simple: passing allowed anywhere, with point-bys required.   Group D, which is all race-prepped cars, has completely open passing, and I am hoping to get moved into this group for my next event.  I drive a 1.6L Spec Miata race car, and I finally plan to get my comp license this coming August and get into endurance racing.   Regardless, Group C was a LOT of fun.    Passing in the turns can be a bit unnerving for inexperienced drivers, but HoD has gone a very good job of assigning drivers to the appropriate group, as I saw only one or two questionable moves during the entire 2 day event, and there were no incidents.  As a Miata driver, I’m used to giving lots of point-bys to high HP cars and then climbing up their tailpipe in the next turn, so being able to get a point-by going into the turns was a huge win for me.

Running in the combined groups was going to lead to crowded conditions on track, or so I thought, but that did not turn out to be the case.    In the C/D combined group, no one held anyone up, and I actually ran my fastest, unmolested laps in those sessions.   In the B/C combined group, things were a bit different, as you can typically expect intermediate drivers to not be quite as aware of the cars behind them, but generally speaking, that was a very smooth session as well.   My ego also enjoys passing slow drivers in big expensive fast cars that should eat my Miata for breakfast, I will have to admit.  (My apologies to the slow Ferrari driver that I make fun of in the 4K video — I couldn’t help myself)

My only criticism of the event was due to the confusion at the start of the first day.   We were told there would be 2 standing yellow laps for the first session, but then after the first lap, the guy in the pits waves the green flag, while all the flagging stations on track were displaying double yellow.    Also, as I was about to roll onto pit lane, someone leans into my car and says “2 by 2 something something yada yada” and walks away.   I found out later we were being asked to drive 2-wide down the front straight for a photo/video opportunity.   I don’t think ANYONE understood that, ’cause we all rolled by single file. Honestly, other than that minor bit of confusion, I have no criticism of the way the event was run.

Lunch was provided, and was adequate, but I have to admit I lose interest in food at the track.  It’s just another form of race fuel, and I’d eat granola bars all day just to avoid getting hungry.   That is, I could care less how good the food is, just feed me so I can stay at the track all day.

In the 3rd session on day one, I had a minor brain fart after I spun going into T1, and I didn’t pit like I damn well know you are supposed to.  Honestly, I have no explanation or excuse for this, but the result was that I got black flagged.   That’s in the 1st track video I’m posting, and I turned it into a public service example of how NOT to behave on track.   I also managed to NOT see the 1st two black flags thrown at me, since I was dealing with passing cars when I rolled by the flagging stations, and for that I was told if I missed them again, I’d be asked to leave the event.   Morals of the story: (a) don’t be an asshole like me and not pit, and (b) pay VERY close attention to the flagging stations.

Also, always remember that most of the people at those flagging stations are volunteers.   Only a few tracks have full time, paid professional crew, and most HPDE events you attend will have a lot of local volunteers working those stations.  They are there to keep YOU safe, so show them some love and respect.   I always go out of my way to acknowledge them, and everyone else should as well.   They are in many ways the unsung heroes of the track and racing world, so let them know you appreciate what they do.

There was supposed to be a track walk Monday evening, but the Glen staff were photographing the track and took forever, and like many folks I got tired of waiting and split before it was held.  I’ve done track walks of WGI before, so I didn’t particularly feel it was essential, however if you have NOT done so at any track and have the chance, it would have been worth the wait.  I highly recommend taking advantage of those opportunities when they are offered.  Most HPDE groups don’t do them, in my limited experience.

Day Two started out cold and wet, and I skipped the first session.  In fact, it was STILL cold and damp for the 2nd one, and I made the worst judgment call of the event: skipped that one, too, and I am honestly embarrassed to admit it.   In retrospect, I wanted to wait until the conditions were better so I could push harder than I did on Monday, but at my experience level, I need to be taking advantage of ALL available track time, regardless of conditions.    I will not make that mistake ever again, trust me.

The 3rd and 4th sessions of the day were warm and sunny, and this fair-weather wimp went out for the most fun of the entire event.   I chased my garage partner’s E30 around the track for a few laps, and managed to run some pretty consistent 2:28s, even though I only feel like I’m going at 90%.  I see where all the time is to be had, and can’t wait to come back and lower those lap times, but I have to admit: The Glen, with its minimal runoff, is one hell of an unforgiving track, so I will be taking tiny little bites as I push closer and closer to 100%.   I love this place, but it scares the hell out of me.   In a good way.

This was also a chance for me to do some experimenting with the GoPros I use.   I bought 4 of the new HERO cameras with the intention of offering them for rent (still hope to find an opportunity to do so, but its not a priority right now), and I picked up a HERO4 just last week so I could start playing with 4K video.   I usually run 4 cameras (Front, Back, Driver and Pedals) but with all this extra hardware, I put a pair of them right behind the front wheels, and ran with 6 total.   The 6 camera video suffers a bit from information overload, but it is VERY cool, since you get to see exactly where you hit or miss the apexes, and exactly where you track out.  I came close to kissing that cone at the T11 track out on every lap, or I tried to.

I had planned to capture 4K video for the entire event with the front-view camera (which is always the main view in the composite videos), but like an idiot I did not realize I had it set to 1080 until the very last session.   But, the last session was the best one, and I managed to get my 4K video to work with.   I’ve been waiting literally years for all the pieces to fall into place so I could do full 4K, and the result is…. well, you can judge for yourself.   The detail is incredible, and the results are just gorgeous.

So, in conclusion, I have to rate Hooked On Driving very, very high.   I am looking forward to running at least one more event with them this year, since they do a lot of weekends and it will be easy for my wife, Ivy, to attend them with me.   She is, after all, the one that got me into this, and continues to encourage me to play race car driver.  Now is that a recipe for a happy marriage, or what?

As promised, here are the two full session videos I made, one from each day.   The first is just 1080p, but the second one is 4K in all its gorgeous glory.

Hooked on Driving at WGI 2016-04-18 Session 3 Groups C/D (1080p)

Hooked on Driving at WGI 2016-04-19 Session 4 Groups B/C (4K)