Review of Porsche Track Experiences 2 Day Master Racecar Course Held at Spa Francorchamps on September 4-5, 2024

Evaluation of Porsche Observe Experiences 2 Day Grasp Racecar Course Held at Spa Francorchamps on September 4-5, 2024

Final week, on September 4 and 5 at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, I attended the Porsche Observe Experiences Grasp Racecar 2 Day Course, which is run by Manthey Racing.

SUMMARY: Merely put, it was an impressive program, offering extraordinarily top quality one-on-one instruction as to easy methods to drive or enhance your driving of a race automobile on an F1 monitor, tons of monitor time in a Porsche racecar that’s your individual for the complete course (I drove over 700 kilometers at Spa) and nice worth for the enrollment worth, which is about $25,000. If you wish to learn to drive a Porsche racecar on an F1 monitor, that is the course for you. Photos from the course are beneath. The automobile that I used was the quantity 12 718 GT4RS Membership Sport. All different pictured vehicles had been utilized by others.

When you’ve got by no means pushed a race automobile on monitor earlier than, it’s an unbelievable expertise. The G forces and speeds of a race automobile on slicks are a lot higher than a road automobile. With these sorts of capabilities on a curler coaster of a monitor like Spa Francorchamps you really want to kick your sense of worry to the curb and persuade your self that the automobile can, the truth is, nook and brake THAT FAST. When you’ve got by no means skilled going 150-160 miles per hour on a straight after which standing on the brakes with 200 plus kilos of drive and braking right down to 40 miles per hour in 150 meters whereas getting thrown into your harness, downshifting and cornering, or going round corners at speeds you by no means thought attainable, prepare. Additionally, carrying nomex fire-resistant tops and bottoms, a balaclava, gloves, racing boots, a firesuit and a helmet in a automobile that has no air-con and no actual air flow you’ll sweat greater than you ever thought attainable. That’s all what you’ll expertise on the Grasp Racecar course.

COURSE SUMMARY: The Grasp Racecar course is an intensive, two day course whose sole focus is instructing its contributors easy methods to drive or enhancing its contributors' expertise in driving a racecar. There are solely 5 contributors within the course.

DEDICATED RACECAR, INSTRUCTOR AND MECHANIC FOR EACH PARTICIPANT: Every participant will get their very own racecar, driving instructors (all of whom have important racing expertise) and mechanic. Accordingly, there is no such thing as a sharing of your racecar. My teacher, Stefan Schmucker, was excellent. He had important prior Porsche racing expertise and knew his stuff. His steerage was invaluable and he’s an actual skilled and a fantastic individual as well. Extremely beneficial.

MASSIVE TIME ON TRACK – OVER 700 KILOMETERS DRIVING – AND LOTS OF SETS OF TIRES: Because of the undivided time in my racecar, I drove ten 45 minute stints within the automobile, driving over 110 laps at Spa or over 700 kilometers — nearly three lengths of the Belgian Grand Prix — on the monitor. Three stints had been within the rain on rain tires, one was in combined circumstances on rain tires and 6 had been on a dry monitor with slicks. And so they gave me at the least three new units of slicks in the course of the 3 days in addition to a set of rain tires at no further value. There are SO many classes that an teacher instructed me that some contributors choose out of driving the final stint of the day. In fact, after flying 8 hours from New York after which driving to Spa, I soaked in each minute of the expertise and drove each out there minute.

SMALL CLASS SIZE: The course solely consists of 5 contributors. That is so that every participant will get the assist of a full mini-race crew. The course was solely held three different instances this yr at different tracks.

THE PORSCHE RACECARS: The course got here customary with a 718 GT4RS Membership Sport. As a result of it was my first time with Manthey Racing, they required me to make use of this automobile. The reason being though it’s nearly as highly effective because the 992 GT3 Cup Automotive, it’s mid engine versus rear engine and isn’t practically as susceptible to snap oversteer because the Cup automobile. It additionally has much less downforce than the Cup automobile so its cornering speeds are decrease. For 3,000 Euros extra, contributors may use a 992 GT3 Cup automobile as an alternative. Most contributors opted for that. As anticipated, the vehicles had been glowing clear once they arrived, this yr's vehicles and meticulously maintained by Manthey Racing. Manthey Racing is. for individuals who don't know, one of many prime GT racing groups in Europe in addition to the main efficiency/racing package deal provider for Porsche, which is almost all proprietor of the corporate.

VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE RISK OF LOSS OF THE CAR REMAINS ON MANTHEY RACING/PORSCHE AND NOT ON THE PARTICIPANT: In contrast to personal racecar leases, the chance of lack of these vehicles for collision injury (though not for legal responsibility for harming others) is NOT on the contributors however stays with Porsche/Manthey Racing aside from a modest deductible in relation to the worth of the automobile – 10,000 Euros for the GT4RS and 25,000 Euros for the GT3 Cup Automotive. Which means, not like personal racecar leases, you do not want to purchase monitor insurance coverage, which could be very costly.

THE INSTRUCTION METHOD – HOW THEY TEACH YOU: After an preliminary security briefing, this 2 day course consisted of ten 45 minute driving stints on monitor, separated by 45 minute durations the place every contributors reviewed the information and video from their automobile and the teacher's automobile with their teacher (the road/highway automobile monitor classes had been held throughout these intervals). Throughout these classes, my teacher gave me pointers as to what I used to be doing mistaken and the way I may enhance in addition to what our improvement objectives had been for the following stint.

Through the first day, the participant follows the teacher across the monitor. You study the racing line, braking factors, braking strategies, flip in factors, correct nook exists and also you progressively get sooner. The second day is a mixture of the participant main the teacher and the participant driving alone. Through the driving, your teacher is regularly in communication with you, giving your driving suggestions in addition to holding you knowledgeable of security and monitor points reminiscent of overtaking, yellow and crimson flags.

THE RACING GEAR: Manthey Racing offers contributors with racing gear in the event that they want it together with the helmet, HANS system, firesuit, gloves, boots, balaclava, in ear headphones, and many others. I introduced all of my very own gear as did many however not all the contributors.

SUPPORT FROM YOUR DEDICATED MECHANIC: My devoted mechanic, Patrick, was superior. Not solely did he guarantee my racecar was operating in tiptop form, however he helped me strap into the automobile in order that the harness was very tight and correctly positioned over the HANS system (if the shoulder harness straps usually are not correctly positioned, the HANS won’t work and shield you) in addition to helped to attach my helmet communication programs to the automobile's radio. He additionally assisted with entry and exit, eradicating the steering wheel and placing it again on.

THE RISK LEVEL: Driving race vehicles on monitor isn’t with out danger. Particularly at one of many world's hardest tracks like Spa with its frequent rain, frequent crashes, its infamous and its thrilling Eau Rouge/Radillion nook complicated, the place a number of drivers within the junior system classes have perished within the final 5 years.

Throughout these two days, Spa lived as much as its thrilling however tough fame. Throughout our ten stints – the place we shared the monitor with many different racecars not taking part in our Grasp Racecar course – there have been eight offs/crashes, resulting in eight crimson flags. Not all had been Manthey Racing vehicles. To my data, at the least two of the various Manthey Racing Porsche GT3 Cup vehicles had been broken too extensively to place again on monitor (by the identical participant). One other participant had a minor off and obtained caught within the gravel. One other teacher's automobile went into the wall (not at excessive pace on the Brussels nook) because of the obvious failure of an ABS sensor or laptop, the place the pc controlling the ABS system thought the rear ABS was turned off when it reality it was set to setting ABS 7 (about 70 % on) so when the teacher hit the brakes arduous as you do approaching Brussels, the rear brakes locked, spinning the automobile round. Exterior our group, one of many racers not driving a Manthey racecar crashed a 991 GT3 Cup automobile at excessive pace into the wall at Eau Rouge and flipped over a number of instances, ensuing within the ambulance being known as.

As for me, I had no offs, spins or crashes. I had just a few moments the place my rear finish began to oversteer (essentially the most critical one at Eau Rouge at very excessive pace the place I entered the nook complicated a bit too late) however I used to be all the time in a position to right it by coming off the gasoline, steering in the identical path because the rear finish was going after which getting again on the gasoline when the rear finish had regained traction.

GROUP MEALS AND GIFTING: Porsche equipped very nice hospitality and catering for the occasion in a devoted very massive tent, supplying a really high-end, breakfast, lunch and dinner the place contributors of this program and the various different Manthey packages in addition to instructors, may eat, discuss and mingle. On the finish of this program, every participant within the Grasp Racecar course acquired a model new set of Puma nomex hearth resistant tops and bottoms, a balaclava and gloves in addition to a mannequin of the primary 930 Turbo. A pleasant contact.

ONE NEGATIVE ABOUT THE PROGRAM: There was just one factor I didn’t like about this system – which was shared by different program contributors. Porsche Observe Experiences/Manthey Racing did NOT hire out the monitor solely, which was not disclosed to us previous to coming. Certainly, to my shock, on the finish of the primary day of the course, dozens of race trailers laden with 992 GT3 Cup race vehicles from race groups throughout Europe confirmed up within the paddock. They had been there for the primary ever 12 hour 992 GT3 Cup Automotive endurance race, which is being held as I write this on Saturday, September 7. And naturally, this meant that over TWENTY FIVE GT3 Cup racecars pushed by professional and am drivers had been out in drive on the second day of our course testing on the monitor throughout our classes. This meant that they had been continuously overtaking us. Consequently, not one of many course contributors I spoke to (together with me) was in a position to get in a single clear lap on the second lap with out getting blue flagged or instructed by our instructors to decelerate and transfer over to let the racers cross. Furthermore, even once we indicated with the flip sign that we had been shifting to at least one facet of the monitor, the racers would generally overtake us on that facet anyway.

I don't blame the racers. They had been there to push their vehicles, get knowledge and prepare for right this moment's race. To me, this was Manthey's/Porsche Observe Experiences' fault for not renting the monitor on an unique foundation.

Sharing the monitor with dozens of sooner race vehicles was not secure for both the race vehicles or us due to the huge delta in expertise and pace between the racers and a number of the Manthey/Porsche Observe Experiences contributors. And it considerably pissed off the aim of the course on the second day as I couldn’t get in a single clear lap (I used to be driving a slower automobile than the 992 GT3 Cup Automotive and I lack that degree of racing expertise) or think about my method on the second day. As a substitute, a lot of my consideration on monitor on the second day was devoted to site visitors administration and continuously pulling to the facet and slowing down. Completely unacceptable. A few of the different contributors additionally complained as did I and a few ceased their involvement and stopped driving on monitor for both security or the truth that they might not get a clear lap and had been continuously pulling to the facet and slowing down as ordered to by their instructors.

After I complained to Manthey administration, they assured me that this could not be repeated after I return in a month to Crimson Bull Ring for 4 extra days of instruction (completely different programs). Don't get me mistaken – I nonetheless beloved the course however this actually diminished the standard of the expertise on the second day and was terribly disappointing. I’ve many monitor days on the AMG Driving Academy at COTA and Lime Rock Park and so they all the time rented COTA and Lime Rock solely. However the AMG Driving Academy within the USA doesn’t provide any racecar driving/ instruction experiences to my data. Similar with Porsche within the US.

To me, there was no excuse for them not having solely rented the monitor. They’d a large variety of contributors within the quite a few road automobile programs and packages occurring and being performed on the similar time – like GT Trackday and Grasp GT3RS – far outnumbering the race automobile contributors. They drove the monitor on the street automobile classes. And Manthey/Porsche had loads of race automobile contributors as they had been operating the GT Trackday Racecar program (the place you may hire from them or drive your individual Porsche racecar on monitor) along with the Grasp Racecar program.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Regardless of the one adverse above, this was a incredible program and I extremely advocate it. I look ahead to rejoining Manthey Racing and Porsche Observe Experiences and my GT Trackday Racecar and my Grasp GT3RS programs at Crimson Bull Ring in October.