TeamD Adventures

To prepare for the trip north, we got some seat-time in a skid-car. Prodrive held a class last Friday at PIR for local AlCan participants, 11 in all. It involved about 15 minutes of classroom instruction followed by a couple-three of hours instruction over 2 courses in the skid-car plus a little competition between 2 teams. Added bonus: it was a gray rainy day in Portland. The course was wet.

The first course was a simple figure-8. The instructors set the controls to ‘ice’ for maximum skid. It didn’t take much to get the cars to spin. Wow, icier than any conditions I’ve ever driven on. Anything other than a light touch = maximum skid.

We learned the difference between ploughing (let up on the steering wheel, will ya?) versus skidding (accelerate and turn!), when and how to brake (WAYYYY BEFORE you get to the turn, NOW! NOW! NOW! NOT NOW, STOP BRAKING!) and looking ahead (STOP looking at the cones!).

After a some laps with the figure-8, it was time to move onto the next course. It started with a figure-8, then a long arcing left turn, then some bumps, then a 90 degree left turn, a 90 degree right turn, and back to the start. Not so bad. Hey, why is the car coming around? Best moment: fast noisy power slide under control.

After the instruction part was finished, there was a little competition. All of Team Outlander vs Team Subie/TeamD. You can imagine the smack talk. Each student had to drive through a new course, jump out of the car and tag the next student. Team with the lowest time wins.

Great! ‘Icy’ conditions and speed on a new course all done in front of everyone. My plan was to keep the car under control by going granny slow: don’t spin (5+ seconds) and don’t hit the cones (10 second penalty).

Hey, no spin for me. Relieved. Straddled a cone with the outrigger on the car, but didn’t knock it over. The instructors didn’t penalize us for it. Well, the car *did* go around the cone. Team Outlander won by 12 seconds. Hmmm. Team Subie/D had only 1 spinner. Who was that (Hint: initials are PE)?

All in all, the training was invaluable and fun. Might even book another session before the AlCan.