Learning to Drive (Again)

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

I spent last friday out with the 3Balls crew at Waterford Hills, a glorified go-kart track that serves as eastern Michigan’s best road course. It’s a tight track with a big wall and limited runoff that scares the poop out of a lot of drivers. I lucked out – my friend Nick, who had an accomplished record of building track cars, showed up to watch his brother run his new-to-him Evo. Nick is a great instructor and volunteered to be my ballast for the day. We spent the entire day working on braking onset and release and throttle steering, rather than the usual trying-to-perfect-the-line thing. Not only did I scrub tons of time off my laps as the day went on, but I reduced my tire temps by close to ten degrees and got a lot quieter. Less tire squeal means more traction. I also discovered that the useless traction control system in the car is a conspirator in my boost limit problems. I brought home this neat-looking rock chip in my windshield courtesy of a 405hp Corvette on slicks.