

Understanding Your Car
Probably the most crucial part is for you to know your car’s limits, weaknesses and strengths. If you’re worried that your car is stock, that is completely fine as there are many cars that hit the track with showroom tires. There isn’t anything particularly wrong with it but you have to know what the car can and could not achieve. During our recent track day, one of our friends even brought a first-generation Honda CR-V just for giggles.

Getting To Know Your Tires
During our track day last weekend, I got a different sense of euphoria behind the wheel. I decided to ditch the Mazda for our MODS101 project car, a.k.a NEGTI, and took it out for a couple of laps around a hot and sunny Sepang. While I’m getting quite familiar with the GTI over the recent year, this was actually my first time driving it here. And on top of that, the GTI was recently equipped with a set of Dunlop Direzza Z3s and it was brilliant. It felt fast and I felt confident, mostly due to the new tires, as all I got was grip from the outlap until the cooldown. That being said, Qhalis was saying it felt rather slidey. I find that rather fascinating as I didn’t find myself in the same situation. Maybe I’m just slow? Possibly. Especially when the car isn’t mine to begin with, I was rather conservative with the tires. But it shows how a tire with the right compound and good coilovers can give you the thrills you’re looking for or even give you one of the best laps of your life. But then again I wasn’t chasing any times, I just wanted to figure out the fine line between planted and borderline oversteer.
Study The Lines and Braking Points
You can learn the lines and braking points with the help of games such as Assetto Corsa prior to the trackday, however, doing it behind the wheel of your actual car gives you a better understanding of momentum, force and weight transfer. Each corner has a different way to enter and exit hence making it crucial to know when to speed up, maintain or slow down. For example, Turn 4 requires heavy braking with a smooth exit and likewise at Turn 9. However, you can go flat (on some cars at least) on corners like Turn 12 and Turn 13 but it requires a little bit more understanding at Turn 14 for instance as the braking point is skewed at an angle and you’ll be coming in fast. Making it hard to balance the weight shift while keeping the car facing forward. But practice and patience makes it perfect, not everyone can master the track quickly especially when there are uncontrollable factors such as weather and temperature. But having a go at each corner multiple times at different braking points can point out your limits as well, just make sure your car is capable and comfortable enough to stop from that distance.
Have Someone Experienced Teach You
I wasn’t in much of a track driving mood over the weekend but the opportunity arose so I just carried on. But having known a few experienced drivers in the pitlanes, I wanted to see how much of a difference, for me to be as good as they are. One of the drivers being a young and skilled Amer Harris with a few accolades under his belt. First, I took the wheel of the NEGTI and took him around the track, and rather embarrassingly found it tough to get into third gear, but other than that it was all fine and dandy, with the car staying on track most of the time. He then took the helm of the GTI and showed me what it was like to toss the car around. It was completely different as there were times where the car was more than happy to give out a slide. While knowing racing drivers can be a privilege to some, having someone who has done a lot of track driving too is enough to show you a few pointers. While it may not be a thorough coaching session, they may be able to show you where you should accelerate, decelerate or just lift-off the throttle. This in turn smoothes out the whole dynamic and balance of the car without losing any momentum throughout the corner.