first buttonwillow track day

Calista, the Miata and I survived our first Buttonwillow track days,
safe and sound. (Unlike some of our friends--more on that later.)
This was track day 8-9 for both of us, our first event not at
Thunderhill, and our first track day with SpeedVentures.

I was slow and careful for two sessions, braked way too much, but
found a basic line. Then one session with an instructor, and then two
more without. The instruction made a huge difference. It would have
been a total waste to have the instruction for the first session,
before knowing the sequence of turns. And instruction any later in
the day wouldn't have given me any time to practice what I had
learned. So instruction at session 3 of 5 seemed to be about right.
Best $50 bucks I spent all weekend.

$50 bucks? After having access to free instruction with TEAM and HOD,
I was surprised to have to pay $50 for one session with an instructor.
SpeedVentures pricing is...different. $170/day for each day's event,
with five 20-25 minute sessions. Throw in $20 for a transponder, $10
for a helmet, $10 to get in the gate, and $40 each for a few extra a
la carte sessions, and it adds up. The sign on the gift shop door:
"Spend $40 and get a free hot dog!" o.O? But having the option of
paying per-session is pretty cool. One ticket and a couple extra
sessions each day kept us both happy. And $40 doesn't even buy two
sessions at Go Kart Racer, does it? Puts things in perspective.

SpeedVentures is fantastically easy-going. I suspect it's a
buttonwillow thing. Except for one hill, the track is almost
completely flat. There's no concrete, except in the pit area. When
it's dry, it's safe enough to encourage recklessness. Tons and tons
of off-track excursions, at least in my "Low Intermediate" sessions,
and no serious attempts to rein them in. In my heavily-attended
sessions, someone was four wheels off at least every other lap.
Really. You could tell, because you'd turn a corner and be looking at
a GIANT HONKING DUST CLOUD, sometimes with a car cleverly hidden in
the middle. I found myself thinking of Mad Max a lot. One guy
managed to go off-track in precisely the direction necessary to place
a half-inch of dust onto every flat surface in his vehicle. (We
watched him scrub his seats for an hour.) The advanced sessions
seemed cleaner. "Low Intermediate" lives in the uncomfortable place
between "new to driving" and "good at driving." Two of our sessions
were cut short, due to the amount of dirt we tracked in.

But it was dry. In mud, the same behavior would have been disastrous.
One tow truck wouldn't have been enough to keep us pull us all out.
And somebody would have eventually rolled. SpeedVentures had a
rollover less than a year ago, so it surprised me to see them so
carefree.

So the Miata made it home dirty, in need of new brake pads, but
otherwise safe. Some casualties among my friends, however.

One guy blew a big gaping hole out the side of the block in his
Z06, on the first lap of his first session, with an instructor in the
car.

Another took a speedy dive into a tire wall. Body damage
to bumper, hood, and both front fenders. Drivable.

I snapped a wheel bearing on our lemon in a practice session. Snap.
Funny vibration and metallic noise. And oh, hey, the brake pedal goes
down to the floor. (Not at 90mph, thankfully.)

Overall, a great time. Calista and I were both surprised by how easy
it was to pick up a new track. Great second track. Even better if
you can stay on it.