TommyG
Viper Owner
The car was all prepped and so was I. Or so I thought? Last Aug was my first Viper Day's at tws but I did it in my 996 turbo because the snake vert did not have roll bar. Best time was 2:06 and I won first place in the gt6 class to my suprise. Track was run couter-clockwise and I had PSM (porsche stability mgt) on.
This year roll bar, harnesses, 09 six spokes and new pilot sport cups on all corners it was the snake all the way. The track would be run clockwise and for the fist two sessions on Sat I had an instructor ride with me and show me the line. Best time was 2:12 which had me pretty sad.
The 3rd session the instructor said go solo, so I did and spun the car but stayed on track. By the end of the day, I was to be frank, not loving my car much or the track or my instructor. I was intimidated by my car, the imediate twisties that came off a 150-160mph straight at turn 15 and on and on.
Earlier in the week I had learned about an option to have Tommy Archer coach a few students at an additional cost. I called Tommy and discussed the program but hung up thinking "that is too much money on top of the cost of the event that already has instruction".
End of day Sat, I am feeling pretty low. I had such a great time the prior year and this year was not panning out that way. I called my beloved wife and let her know what was going on. I said, I think I should do this coaching with Tommy, I think it will do me good? She gave me the thumbs up. She is the bomb! Celebrated 8 years this week. I am Blessed.
Next morning at 7 am, I do a drive around with Tommy Archer and two others in a van. He drives the line, disects each corner, picks up speed and allows us to feel the van roll, brake, speed up. We spend good time doing this over and over. He tells us to on first session go do it on our own so I do.
2:05.5 is what I pull. Wow! Next session Tommy drives my car to show me what it is capable of doing. holy cow! Driven the right way, the car would handle much more than I thought. Tommy had my car sideways at turn 1 doing 90 mph and like it was no problem at all he realed it back in and threw her into 4th full throttle. His best time was 1:54 and I know that was with him knowing that it was my car with me in it.
At the end of that session, Tommy advised me to slow down the front suspension from diving down by clicking my motons from 3/3 rebound/compression to 4/4. He said that was part of why the car went sideways and also advised me to go into 4rth earlier in that turn.
Now it's my turn. Session 3 best time 2:05.2, ok just ok. Session 4, hot track 90 degrees +/- 4pm in aft Sunday. A whopping 2:03.178 .Now that is what I am talking about. Tommy gave me so many pointers and even still sent the students and email with some visualization techniques to practice after the fact. If you ever get a chance to work with him, you really should.
ps-the last pic is with Tommy Archer in driver seat. I had red gloves on and a red suite.
This year roll bar, harnesses, 09 six spokes and new pilot sport cups on all corners it was the snake all the way. The track would be run clockwise and for the fist two sessions on Sat I had an instructor ride with me and show me the line. Best time was 2:12 which had me pretty sad.
The 3rd session the instructor said go solo, so I did and spun the car but stayed on track. By the end of the day, I was to be frank, not loving my car much or the track or my instructor. I was intimidated by my car, the imediate twisties that came off a 150-160mph straight at turn 15 and on and on.
Earlier in the week I had learned about an option to have Tommy Archer coach a few students at an additional cost. I called Tommy and discussed the program but hung up thinking "that is too much money on top of the cost of the event that already has instruction".
End of day Sat, I am feeling pretty low. I had such a great time the prior year and this year was not panning out that way. I called my beloved wife and let her know what was going on. I said, I think I should do this coaching with Tommy, I think it will do me good? She gave me the thumbs up. She is the bomb! Celebrated 8 years this week. I am Blessed.
Next morning at 7 am, I do a drive around with Tommy Archer and two others in a van. He drives the line, disects each corner, picks up speed and allows us to feel the van roll, brake, speed up. We spend good time doing this over and over. He tells us to on first session go do it on our own so I do.
2:05.5 is what I pull. Wow! Next session Tommy drives my car to show me what it is capable of doing. holy cow! Driven the right way, the car would handle much more than I thought. Tommy had my car sideways at turn 1 doing 90 mph and like it was no problem at all he realed it back in and threw her into 4th full throttle. His best time was 1:54 and I know that was with him knowing that it was my car with me in it.
At the end of that session, Tommy advised me to slow down the front suspension from diving down by clicking my motons from 3/3 rebound/compression to 4/4. He said that was part of why the car went sideways and also advised me to go into 4rth earlier in that turn.
Now it's my turn. Session 3 best time 2:05.2, ok just ok. Session 4, hot track 90 degrees +/- 4pm in aft Sunday. A whopping 2:03.178 .Now that is what I am talking about. Tommy gave me so many pointers and even still sent the students and email with some visualization techniques to practice after the fact. If you ever get a chance to work with him, you really should.
ps-the last pic is with Tommy Archer in driver seat. I had red gloves on and a red suite.
