Sept 2011. After a great track weekend on my first time out with sticky track tires (Toyo r888s), I decided to upgrade my front brakes. After the brakes were installed, I felt that my car was pretty much perfectly set up for my taste. In September 2010, I took it to Mosport for my first track run on the big brakes. I noticed two things: 1) it was incredible; the car felt amazing 2) it was harder. With just the addition of more braking power, I was carrying more speed around the whole track, and braking later, in places that I was not accustomed to. In my second session, I was still pretty rough in the braking zone for turn 5 because I wasn't used to the extra speed you build up in 4 when you can brake late for 5. As I passed the apex in 10, things felt a little slow, like I hadn't hit the sweet spot coming out of 9. But the general flow of the series felt good, and I felt like I was still in a good groove, so I put on the power early to pick up the pace. I never felt out of control of the car, but ended up running out of track on the left side. The two driver's-side wheels left the track, running probably only half a meter into the grass. The car hooked right, and slid sideways, spinning slowly to the right, down the track. Near the very end of Turn 10, the driver's-side nose hit the inside wall, and then the spin swung the driver's-side trunk into the same wall. No one was injured, and I felt fine at the time, but was very stiff the next day, especially across my waist under where the seatbelt had locked. The car was damaged beyond fixing.
At first, I was a little shocked, and had some short-lived misgivings about the track. Maybe it's not worth it? Maybe it's too dangerous? But within a few days, I began to appreciate what the experience taught me. Things I learned in Turn 10 for the relatively low cost of one (much loved) car:
