No, that’s not a vintage photo from 20 years ago. That’s from this past weekend at Summit Point. It was time for the annual Spring HPDE on the main circuit. It was a weekend of a number of firsts for me. First time out on R-comps; first time for this car; and first time on the track driving a rear-wheel drive car.

[The sound quality is poor. If you have a fast connection, click the HD button to get better picture quality once it starts playing.] The video doesn’t convey the sense of speed down the front straight. I was just touching on 120 before the braking zone. There may have been a bit more in the car, but since it’s more than 20 years old and has over 215,000 miles on it, I didn’t want to have to buy a new engine, so I didn’t push it. Since it’s so much quieter than the MINI, I often ran it out to 7,000 RPMs on the straight from turn 9 to 10 before I got my rhythm down.

The car was much more like the MINI than I thought it would be. They are similar in weight and braking characteristics, thought the MINI brakes have more bite. It is very neutral in handling like the MINI, but no where near the amount of torque. You have to get on the power much sooner in corners and are rewarded with trailing throttle oversteer. Toward the end of Sunday, I felt as comfortable diving it into an apex as I did the MINI.

Here are a couple of things to remember for next time on the main circuit in this car.

1. Between 2 and 3 don’t follow the edge of the track. Line up in the middle toward the gap in the tire wall, wait for the dip after the access road to turn in and use the camber on the inside.
2. Tap the brakes right after the crest before 4 to settle the car, turn in, and full gas through the apex. Brake straight into 5.
3. As soon as possible, get back on the gas in 5 to counteract the understeer. Go wide to keep up speed into 6. Position in 6 isn’t as important as a good set up to apex 7.
4. Between 7 and 8 starts steady throttle to max gas at apex of 9. Try to get the shift into 4th gear before 9. Don’t early apex 9. (See M3 photo below.)
5. Move the brake point for 10 back a bit. Key off of power lines. Brake less, carry more speed into corner, full gas through the apex. There is plenty of room to track out. An extra 3 MPH at exit is worth 10 MPH at the end of the straight. Remember to adjust brake zone into 1 with that in mind.
6. Try to separate end of braking from turn-in in your mind as you adjust. Work on one thing at a time. If you can get on the gas before the apex, then your speed at turn-in isn’t high enough.