Road Atlanta March Driving School

Track Pics

The following pics are from the Road Atlanta March 2005 driving school put on by the Peachtree Chapter of BMWCCA. If you live in the Atlanta area and own ANY type of track worthy car, you simply must do this school. Its sorta like sky diving, but more fun. If you are lucky enough to own Corrado, you will be amazed by the handling of the car.

I was easily able to keep up with the onslaught of BMW's (everything this side of E46 anyways). Enjoy the pics, a brief description follows...

Some set up notes about Corrado. According to the digital scales, the VR6 weighed in at around 2800 lbs. Over 65% of that weight was riding over the front wheels. Ordinarily, this would not make for a very track worthy car. But my set up proved to be somewhat of an anomaly. You see, Corrado has a fairly wide track - I also dropped the suspension and set the Bilstein PSS9 adjustable dampeners to full hard. The low slung C.O.G. combined with the wide track up front and lots of weight actually makes Corrado E-X-T-R-E-M-E-L-Y capable on track. So much so, that whenever I got into a turn under brakes, a quick blip of the throttle and opposite steer got things back on track instantly. Where the RWD cars need to worry about the tail sliding out, Corrado is simple to get back in line. On to the brakes -- this is one area of Corrado that just doesnt cut it. I was running Hawk HP Plus, and while they initially bite very well, the single piston Girlings up front were no match for even a 20 min session here at Road Atlanta. Ofcourse, I drive the shit out of my car, trying to break all these billet parts I design! I think with some venting, I can make braking much better. Stay tuned on that...

This was one of the most fun areas of Road Atlanta. Just passed the infamous "Esses" you descend into a valley only to rise up sharply into a sharp left hander. You dont get this kind of elevation change at most tracks, and if you run this section fast enough your gut goes from your throat to hips! This turn claims victims every school, Im told. But the FWD prowess of Corrado was more than capable of blasting thru this turn. Estimated speed : 80mph, gear : 3rd. RPM : 6000.

The right handers are the most fun! Even on street tires the Corrado was capable of great exit speeds!

Got brakes?! This is a shot coming to the end of the back straight into turn 10A. Speed : 120 mph, Gear : 5th, RPM : ~5500. Here is where you will find out whether or not those single piston Girlings are up the task. You need to be apexing this turn at ~55mph, flat out into 10B. As you can see from the tire marks into the wall, steady application of brakes is very important!!

Successfully exiting 10B, up the hill, under the bridge and back down the front straight to do it again. This is 1 turn where you dont want the FWD car to understeer too much. Those gators on the outside of the track are MEAN. I accidentally pushed too hot into this turn on 1 lap. Went 4 off into the gators and rattled the dash so hard the tilt wheel mechanism came apart in my hands. Needless to say, I paid far more attention to this turn on subsequent laps!!

A close up view of those gators. OUCH!

MORE DRIVING SCHOOLS TO COME!! KEEP BUYING PARTS SO I CAN TEST THE NEW ONES, TRY TO KILL THE WEAK CORRADO PARTS SO YOU DONT HAVE TO!!