This Memorial Day weekend, I had an HPDE at the Shenandoah circuit of Summit Point. It was a 2-day event organized by Trackdaze, and it was my first time driving this track. Overall, it was a bust for me.
For 2-day events at Summit Point, which is only an hour from my house, I typically plan to drive back and forth. Since the mandatory drivers’ meeting takes place at 8:00 AM, this makes for a pretty early morning, but does help save on the cost of hotel. Camping at the track is a popular option, but not one I’ve taken advantage of, yet. So, I spent some time the night before packing up the Miata to make sure I wasn’t scrambling to get everything the next morning. Much to my wife’s chagrin, I wake up at 5:00 AM on a Saturday and head out to West Virginia.
Once at the Shenandoah circuit, I choose to set up shop near the pit lane/tech inspection. I park near a Porsche Cayman, an Audi TT RS, and a Dodge Charger Hellcat. Together with my Miata, we represent very different approaches to this very technical track. After unloading the car, I bring it around to Tech. Everything checks out except they tell me to tighten down the battery in the trunk. I had changed it out a few weeks ago, because I let the car sit too long during the off-season and the original one died (lesson learned).
The HPDE had originally been scheduled for last week, but was postponed due to rain. At the drivers’ meeting, they announce that only about half of those who initially signed up are there today, which means a lot of open track. As I head back to my car after the meeting, I hear my name called, and it’s my instructor for the day, Tony.
Tony drives a supercharged NB (2nd gen) Miata, and he invites me to ride along with him during the first session. I ordinarily don’t like riding along. Although I recognize the benefits of seeing an advanced driver go around the track, I tend to get a little motion sickness if I ride for too long. However, since I have never driven the Shenandoah circuit, I figure it would be a good idea. My plan is to just sit through a few laps and then have him drop me off. Well, about 5 laps into the session, he starts to play a game of cat and mouse with a McLaren 570s. Yes, a Miata, albeit a supercharged one, is chasing down a McLaren. They swap places a couple times and Tony is clearly having a blast, so I just sit back and try to distract myself by asking about different points of the track.
After the full 20 minutes are over, Tony pits and I get out of the car. I’m woozy. The Shenandoah circuit is 2.2 miles long with 17 turns including a 20-degree banked carousel (we used the Old Ram cut through in the map). That’s a lot of directional change. Great for a small car like the Miata; not so great for a passenger. It takes the full 30 minutes before the novice classroom session for me to recuperate. The class is typical, but I get excited for how few drivers there are. My last HPDE at Summit Point Main had close to 30 cars, and there were quite a few trains that formed.
The first session is a blast. I heard Miatas love Shenandoah circuit and I can see why. The tight turns and short straights equalize the different cars and really allow the Miata to capitalize on its strengths as a nimble roadster. Going around the carousel is a very strange sensation. I’ve never driven around a banked turn before, and the centrifugal forces are significant for a beginner. On one lap, I drift too far toward the outside of the bank and “pop out.” I was going relatively slowly, so I just bottomed out harshly. Luckily, I have steel frame rail reinforcements on the underside of the car which bear the brunt of the mistake. Popping out of a carousel can cause some real problems, especially at higher speeds, so I make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Tony’s main feedback throughout is to use more of the track heading down the back straight into Turn 20. I also tend to lose a lot of speed in Turn 11, so I need to work on my entry there. Besides that, he says I’m doing great and applauds the 3 point-bys I got, including one from a Corvette Grand Sport. We finish the session, and I head back to my spot in the paddock. When I get out of the car, I experience a similar feeling as when I got out of Tony’s. I typically don’t get motion sickness on the track if I’m driving, so this is worrisome and does not bode well for the rest of the weekend.
To top it all off, when I check the GoPro I see that nothing has recorded. Not only that, but it appears something went wrong, and the screen is frozen. I can’t even turn the camera off. I curse myself for trying to pair the wireless remote the night before, the obvious culprit, and just put the camera away for the day. I’m in no condition to troubleshoot. Besides, another piece of feedback Tony gave was that his seat was sliding during the higher G-force corners. That is a more pressing issue to solve.
As a relatively new driver, I don’t bring a lot of supplies with me. In fact, what you see in the picture above is about all I can fit in the Miata. I identify the issue with the passenger seat as being loose fasteners between the seat bracket and the floor bracket, and it requires a hex key to fix. A simple bolt would be too easy. I walk around until I find someone with a real toolbox and ask to borrow their set of hex keys. I tighten the seat down and prepare for my second session.
The second session happens much like the first. I successfully work out the two problem corners, and I get progressively faster, although I tend to have trouble moving all the way to the right on back straight. Once I pit and get out of the car, the nausea returns. At this point, it is a hot and sunny day, and I just feel blah and exhausted. Nevertheless, I recuperate over lunch despite not having an appetite. And then the rain comes.
Luckily, I sensed it was coming, so I had covered all my belongings with a tarp, put the top up, and rolled the windows up. The rain dies in time for our third session, so I go out to my car to get it ready and find out that the driver side window won’t roll down. Since I bought the car, the windows have been struggling to go up or down, so I knew the regulators were likely dying. I was just hoping they would hold on for this season. One requirement for an HPDE is being able to give a point-by by sticking your arm out of the window, which I can no longer do.
Tony and I have a quick discussion about my options and decide to gamble and go out onto the track. It’s a gamble because I may very well get “black flagged,” meaning you have a mechanical problem with your car and need to pit immediately. The gamble works, but only because I have no top – if necessary, I could point out of the roof (I do not recommend doing this and cannot guarantee you would not get black flagged for the same thing).
I’m a stickler for rules and am not keen on putting myself or anybody else in a precarious position due to a non-functioning window, so I have to decide what to do for the final session. As it turns out, the weather makes the decision for me.
There is now thunder and lightning in the distance, and the track is closed temporarily until it passes. By 4:30, we are still waiting. The final novice session was originally supposed to go on at 5:00, but we are clearly going to be delayed as other groups still have to go first. At 4:45, the organizers announce that we will likely have to run short sessions in order to fit everyone in before the facility closes at 6:00. I take that as a cue to pack up and beat the rain back home. Given my broken window, I decide then to play it safe and not return for the second day.
I definitely played it overly cautious with the window. I could have worked that night to remove it manually, but there was no guarantee I could put it back if it rained again (rain was in the forecast). Plus, I was exhausted, and the prospect of more motion sickness the next day wasn’t exactly drawing me in. I now have my assignment for the next few weeks – fix the window. My options are to fix the regulator, if that is the issue, or convert to manual operation to preempt this from happening again. The next time I go to the Shenandoah circuit, I will have fully functioning windows and a bag full of ginger, which should stave off the motion sickness…or so I’m told.
Point-by Points:
- You can’t give a point-by if you can’t point out the window – Make sure even the basic mechanics of the car are working, like windows and seat bolts.
- Even a driver can get motion sickness – Consider bringing something to help even if you don’t usually get nauseous, especially at a new track.
- Watch the pop-out – Carrying too much speed in a banked turn will push you outside and cause you to pop out, which could be dangerous.
