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Duane Black

Curbs go brrrppp
567
401
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Durham, NC
You werent a half bad driver to start with. No picture or video will fully prepare you for Road Atlanta, not thr first time at least. Knowing what to expect will help you use those simulators to prepare. If you can get iracing, it even has the power line balls set accurately. This track requires a level of precision though. I find myself going over lines here more than Roebling or CMP.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,422
8,346
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Agree completely with Duane's comments , and with your willing attitude and open mind you will only get better -- I bet much sooner than many! You may get lucky some time at the tracks in your area to get Mr. Black as your Instructor and we all know TMO members go out of the way to help each other.
 

Apex3V

Heel-n-Toe Enthusiast
I find myself going over lines here more than Roebling or CMP.
That sounds rights, it felt like so much more was dependent on your line here than at either of those. I'll be on the lookout for a wheel setup for a good price to start out with but don't think I'll start on iracing for a while until I can setup a decent rig.

Agree completely with Duane's comments , and with your willing attitude and open mind you will only get better -- I bet much sooner than many! You may get lucky some time at the tracks in your area to get Mr. Black as your Instructor and we all know TMO members go out of the way to help each other.
yeah he was a tremendous help to improving my driving and tackling the track. It was ironic that he was my instructor because only a few nights earlier I was browsing the pics at the track thread and saw his album of accumulated tracks on there and thought that was pretty cool. It seems like for the most part you'll find a couple of members here or there throughout weekends.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,422
8,346
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
I should have picked up on that , but that is fantastic, as Duane has a great rep! I have been very lucky to instruct some of the folks on TMO and I can honestly state all of them are skilled pilots, but in every case they are humble and willing to learn. I know that even though I have been doing some kind of track endeavor for around 38 years I am constantly amazed the learning never stops. Similar to golf , one can always get better and the students I have had who are on this Forum all seems to have that same desire to get better. Makes it fun for all , and brings up the competition level , so I don't want to teach some of them too much, ha,ha.

Glad to see there is some TMO camaraderie out East , similar to what we have here in the Midwest. We know it is strong in the West, since VoodooBoss and AZBoss have spread their love and assistance in wide swaths! Grant , not forgetting you , but then keep spending everyone else's money so we do have to warn them first when getting acquainted with the Soothsayer of Spending!
 

Boone

Professional Thread Killer
I am feeling so much love here. Maybe we need TMO East Coast swag. Not wanting to get into a B.I.G. vs Tupac kind of situation, though. I'm impressed by the dedication and commitment both of these guys have to work up through the NASA ranks. My HPDE dabbling feels a little inadequate now.:(

Apex, Charlotte Roval event with the Mustang Owner's Museum.
https://www.mustangownersmuseum.com...17dQiuzxRC2nX76m0KJLc9wpwJN-LIkHIUo5Y1nb5GyJA
I'll be there, and I'd love to meet some fellow TMO guys there.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,422
8,346
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Boone,

It truly makes for a more enjoyable time at the track and it gives one some real time ideas on what is working for guys with similar cars. We had 11 TMO members at the last Mustang Roundup , and are anticipating even more than that at this years's Event ( Sept. 12-15 race mph.com ). Heck, with just a few more TMO drivers could comprise 1/4 to 1/3 of all the trackaholics!!
 

Apex3V

Heel-n-Toe Enthusiast
I cant make either of those as I'll be out of town :(, Us east coast TMO-members should try and string something together at somewhere kinda in the middle of the map (possibly VIR). It would be cool to see many of us out there...
 

Apex3V

Heel-n-Toe Enthusiast

7500RPM_Ben

TMO Clueless
Nice write-up of everything man, I may ride out to CMP in May. I live 45 minutes away lol. I will probably put the Z on track for the TNIA event at Charlotte this year. VIR is on the schedule but that is a high speed track lol. TNIA events seem to be cheap and good.

Road Atlanta definitely is not like Forza lol. I ran RA when FM4 came out and I was like this is wayyy different. It is good practice though. Start practicing VIR, it is close and VIR in real life is a blast. The uphill esses are my favorite part.
 

Apex3V

Heel-n-Toe Enthusiast
Nice write-up of everything man, I may ride out to CMP in May. I live 45 minutes away lol. I will probably put the Z on track for the TNIA event at Charlotte this year. VIR is on the schedule but that is a high speed track lol. TNIA events seem to be cheap and good.

Road Atlanta definitely is not like Forza lol. I ran RA when FM4 came out and I was like this is wayyy different. It is good practice though. Start practicing VIR, it is close and VIR in real life is a blast. The uphill esses are my favorite part.
Yeah the TNIA event I attended was fun but raised some eyebrows on certain fronts for me as far as safety goes. For beginners I wish that they had some in-car instruction as there was some questionable driving on course though fortunately I wasn't in that run group. The price is pretty nice but if I'm travelling a longer distance like to VIR I want more time than I get with the one-day events. I need to start preparing for VIR over the next few months though after RA in June I don't know where I'll be again until Roebling road in late September. If you do end up going to CMP just come find me.
 

7500RPM_Ben

TMO Clueless
Yeah the TNIA event I attended was fun but raised some eyebrows on certain fronts for me as far as safety goes. For beginners I wish that they had some in-car instruction as there was some questionable driving on course though fortunately I wasn't in that run group. The price is pretty nice but if I'm travelling a longer distance like to VIR I want more time than I get with the one-day events. I need to start preparing for VIR over the next few months though after RA in June I don't know where I'll be again until Roebling road in late September. If you do end up going to CMP just come find me.

I have heard that about the safety as well, I will be in my death machine anyway. No instructors? Well that is not good at all. I have to check out the classes that are run. I only want to go 40% and have fun in the slow group but I guess not lol. I understand about VIR, it is a haul and 2 days would be best. I went with NASA in 2012 and have only 3 sessions a day and it cost me $550 or so I think. Back then $550 was a ton of money out of HS lol. Not too happy about the sessions per day and the cost. The track was amazing though. I will find you if I go.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,422
8,346
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Guys, I am sure others will chime in , but you have an extremely strong bunch of NASA Regions in the Southeast and you will not find a lack of safety at any of the events. Instructors are licensed, mandatory in HPDE groups 1 and 2, and used frequently in 3 and 4 ( necessary to move up a Class , as you will be critiqued and encouraged about areas of improvement). Check out nasaproracing.com and then look up the Regions to see which one is closest to you?
 

Duane Black

Curbs go brrrppp
567
401
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Durham, NC
Hey Chandler, compared to NASA SE, the Mid-Atlantic regions puts more instructors in DE2. You'll find every region runs things their own way. The NASA-FL region has literally every DE1-DE2 session on track together, much like how SE does DE3-4 together in the southeast. For NASA-FL, DE2 is literally just DE1 with no instructor. Usually if you run DE2 in NASA SE, you only get an instructor for 1-2 sessions and it's not even guaranteed to be your first session.


In the Mid-Atlantic, we can draw instructors since VIR is one of the most popular tracks in the country. A day for an instructor there typically means a DE1 student and back up instructor for Saturday or Sunday in DE2, or vice versa. My last run up I had a DE2 student who requested me specifically and I was a DE1 back up on Saturday. I'd say half-2/3rd's of hte DE2 drivers start the weekend with an instructor, and maybe 1/3rd still have their instructor by the end of the weekend.

If you come to a NASA-MA event, send me a message here or text/call me. I know for sure I want to be there in October. May and August are kind of "in the air" for a few reasons.
 

Apex3V

Heel-n-Toe Enthusiast
Hey Chandler, compared to NASA SE, the Mid-Atlantic regions puts more instructors in DE2. You'll find every region runs things their own way. The NASA-FL region has literally every DE1-DE2 session on track together, much like how SE does DE3-4 together in the southeast. For NASA-FL, DE2 is literally just DE1 with no instructor. Usually if you run DE2 in NASA SE, you only get an instructor for 1-2 sessions and it's not even guaranteed to be your first session.


In the Mid-Atlantic, we can draw instructors since VIR is one of the most popular tracks in the country. A day for an instructor there typically means a DE1 student and back up instructor for Saturday or Sunday in DE2, or vice versa. My last run up I had a DE2 student who requested me specifically and I was a DE1 back up on Saturday. I'd say half-2/3rd's of hte DE2 drivers start the weekend with an instructor, and maybe 1/3rd still have their instructor by the end of the weekend.

If you come to a NASA-MA event, send me a message here or text/call me. I know for sure I want to be there in October. May and August are kind of "in the air" for a few reasons.
I just looked into the remainder of the calendar season and am figuring out where I'll be heading, right now the only two events set in stone are the next CMP and Road Atlanta. over the summer there is a possibility of heading out there or maybe somewhere a bit further north. What would you personally recommend for an optimal season for VIR (Summer or Fall?) because I just looked at the cost for DE2 at VIR and the cost is $30 more than a weekend at Road Atlanta so it may be happening sooner than I had thought. I'm surprised that the mid-Atlantic region use's instructors in DE2 but I'm okay with it because I definitely learn more from having someone point out flaws and give insight immediately compared to going and reviewing data after the drive and recalling the info.
 

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