The Itty Bitty NOVA VW Committee

[*insertusernamehere*]

I did cofcu for the Fit and got like 2.2%. There are branches up here in nova and Harrisonburg.

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[Senor_Taylor]

Mileage: 800 lol

Wow. This car is fast.

Took the VEE DUUBZ to Dominion for their first TrackCross event and had a blast. I was wary to turn off the traction and stability control since I've only driven underpowered cars like Miatas and E30s, but this car inspires enough confidence that I realized that was a silly thought after my first run. The car excels at the "point and shoot" style, which I expected. What I didn't expect was just how much grip this car has on turn in, and how the mechanical LSD literally CLAWS its way out of turns. I expected to be SEVERELY disappointed by driving FWD, but the changes to my driving style were only noticeable after the long hairpin as the car would struggle at full throttle with the wheel turned 90 degrees. This was solved by going a tad wider on the exit to let both tires propel me to warp speed. I was running similar times to a Type R that was there and I'm certain I would have blown them out of the water with summer tires. Overall, I'm excited to get back in a slower car to hone my driving skills more, but this thing is an absolute blast to drive. I've got quite a few autocross/trackcross events marked on my calendar for this summer and you can expect to see me out there.

If anyone is curious, this is 64 seconds flat, which is <3 seconds slower than Ryan in his Miata, which makes me feel good. I had a setting wrong on my GoPro which is why the video is washed out. Check out the speedo as I cross the finish.

[Jake]

The car excels at the "point and shoot" style, which I expected. What I didn't expect was just how much grip this car has on turn in, and how the mechanical LSD literally CLAWS its way out of turns. I expected to be SEVERELY disappointed by driving FWD, but the changes to my driving style were only noticeable after the long hairpin as the car would struggle at full throttle with the wheel turned 90 degrees. 

What a good Brave Little Toaster it is!

I still think you could just use this for the first year or so of HPDE and have plenty of fun/learn a lot. Save your money otherwise.

[Senor_Taylor]

Not willing to write this car off, so no DE in it. Miata or E36 will come soon enough. I don't have the money for DE either so I'll survive with autocross/trackcross/Hyperdrive for now.

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[ViPER1313]

Not willing to write this car off, so no DE in it. Miata or E36 will come soon enough. I don't have the money for DE either so I'll survive with autocross/trackcross/Hyperdrive for now.

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How is a hyperdrive quantitatively safer than a HPDE?

[.RJ]

:?: :?:

[Senor_Taylor]

Not willing to write this car off, so no DE in it. Miata or E36 will come soon enough. I don't have the money for DE either so I'll survive with autocross/trackcross/Hyperdrive for now.

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How is a hyperdrive quantitatively safer than a HPDE?

Lower speed, less passing, instructors staying more conservative, less time out there for me to get the red mist and overcook it.

There are multiple reasons for me not the DE this... Like the other reason I listed. Not trying to drop $400 a weekend when that's almost what I can get a Miata for

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[ViPER1313]

Not trying to be a dick at all guys. I thought that there were not instructors during the hyperdrives; was that another group you ran with?

[Senor_Taylor]

Not trying to be a dick at all guys. I thought that there were not instructors during the hyperdrives; was that another group you ran with?

 Maybe you're thinking of other events like the refrigerator bowls? Jake and Joey did the Dub Deliverance thing which sounds like it was sort of a free for all type deal.

[Steve85]

Also look into Summit Points Friday at the Track (FATT). It's pretty much a one day HPDE. A little more than a Hyperdrive but not a full weekend. I think last time I looked it was about half of a full weekend and no need to hotel and compound the expenses.

I'm hoping to hit one soon, fits the life better right now and I do want to experience the BMW on track.

[JustinG]

Not trying to be a dick at all guys. I thought that there were not instructors during the hyperdrives; was that another group you ran with?

Hyperdrives involve instructors and multiple cars on track at once. It is a single HPDE 1 session for $50, vs like 8 over the course of the weekend for $400ish.

This was a circuit cross, which means not the full course, typically cones setup to slow drivers down, and one car on track. Think of it as a larger scale Autox held on a road course.

[Senor_Taylor]

Oh yeah, I misread the question. This was a track cross. No cones, but half of the track at a time with no instructors. It can get hairy when they place the finish line in odd places because it may force you to take a less than optimal line.

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[Sijray21]

Oh yeah, I misread the question. This was a track cross. No cones, but half of the track at a time with no instructors. It can get hairy when they place the finish line in odd places because it may force you to take a less than optimal line.

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Do they let you to recon the trackcross course before hand?

[Senor_Taylor]

Oh yeah, I misread the question. This was a track cross. No cones, but half of the track at a time with no instructors. It can get hairy when they place the finish line in odd places because it may force you to take a less than optimal line.

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Do they let you to recon the trackcross course before hand?

One parade lap. The bro in front of me in a debadged e36 on 18s was too busy "warming up his tires" (which is pointless at a track cross) for me to even run a line.

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[Jake]

Oh yeah, I misread the question. This was a track cross. No cones, but half of the track at a time with no instructors. It can get hairy when they place the finish line in odd places because it may force you to take a less than optimal line.

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I suspect the "forced, less than optimal line" is done to slow you down, something that 370Zbro may not have understood.

Dub Deliverance was not a free-for-all, either... that was just like a NASA weekend and was run by TrackDaze staff. Everyone got an instructor assigned and they were allowed to sign off on the student driving solo, but it was pretty buttoned-down.

[D_Eclipse9916]

That track is more of an autocross style track. You are trying the momentum line a bit too much with a FWD nose heavy car with power. Try cutting the lines a little tighter on entry, square off the corner so you have a straighter exit vs what you are finding that as you apply power its scrubbing wide. Unfortunately most instructors teach the "school line" which is a safe easy way through the corner but is hardly optimized for speed.

[Senor_Taylor]

That track is more of an autocross style track. You are trying the momentum line a bit too much with a FWD nose heavy car with power. Try cutting the lines a little tighter on entry, square off the corner so you have a straighter exit vs what you are finding that as you apply power its scrubbing wide. Unfortunately most instructors teach the "school line" which is a safe easy way through the corner but is hardly optimized for speed.

Thanks for the tips! I certainly had to change my mentality from driving Miatas and trying to never slow down. My first run was more of a point and shoot type run with hard braking, tight turns, and maximum acceleration and I expected a terrible time, but was surprised that my "smoother" runs later on weren't much faster. (I did improve every run over the last though).

Having this much power really let's you make mistakes because you're right back up to speed when you get on the gas.

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[Senor_Taylor]

Mileage: 1600 as off Monday night.



After dragging one of my highschool friends to a few track events, I finally convinced him to do a hyperdrive. After doing some thinking, I realized it made no sense not to hyperdrive the GTI as well, so I emailed Laura and got signed up. Since I was busy working, I had to go out in a later DE1 session instead of the hyperdrive session, but by the time that rolled around, it was pouring rain. Sean was my instructor and we agreed that perhaps it wasn't the best idea to waste my one session then, and to just save it for Sunday. That prompted me to ask Laura if I could actually run DE1 for Sunday and her and Jack agreed. With that good news, I felt inspired and begged Sean to let me go out in the rain.



I didn't record that session, but it was a very cool experience to see how well the FWD LSD and All Seasons could hurl me around in the rain. What it really did was make me hungry to get out on the dry stuff. Jake agreed to be my instructor for the day and we headed out after lunch. This was my first time on a full course with other cars, but it wasn't my first rodeo entirely, so I had something to prove. We started at the very back of the grid, which I was thankful for since I expected to be much slower than all of these people. These guys were in their 5 sessions of the weekend and I was only in my second one ever, and my first one dry! We took our pace lap, followed a C7 around for a lap and got the point by on the front straight. Off to the races! This car absolutely rockets from 40-100mph which makes it really easy to get the point by early in the straights. I pushed more and more each lap, running up on quite a few people, biding my time, then rocketing by them on the straight. It was an awesome experience.

Jake and I went out for 2 more sessions in the car after that (barely avoiding running out of gas in the second) and Jake even took it out in DE2 to terrorize Ryan in his Miata (Which he is absurdly fast in). The car itself blew me away constantly. The straight line speed was expected and was a treat to ride the tail of V8 Mustangs down the back straight until they get tired of all the plaid in their mirror. The turn in was also a bit expected considering the short wheel base, FWD, and electric steering. What impressed me was the sustained cornering speed and exiting acceleration. I found myself running up on people coming out of turns because all I had to do was make the initial turn in, set my steering angle, and plant my foot. The mechanical LSD would CLAW at the pavement and hurl you around the turn. If you had a little too much speed and started to push through the turn (surprisingly rare), a quick tap of the brake would slide the rear out very nicely and a stomp of the gas would whip the car straight and send you to warp speed. This car is REALLY awesome on track. Did I mention we were on 500 treadwear All Seasons? My car also has the larger Golf R brakes which include massive 14 inch calipers in the front and you can tell. We were braking hard and they never once complained. I didn't push because it was clear from Jake towards the end of the day that it may not be smart to try to win DE1 on the first time out there in my brand new car, but I'm confident the brakes had a lot more left to give.



Part of me is excited to get something less expensive that I can build into a true race car, but another part of me is a LITTLE sad that this car is THIS good on track and I'll be driving some cheaper and slower instead. In the mean time, I'll be signing up for at least 2 more autocrosses, a track cross, and A DE or two in this thing before I retire it to a life of commuting. One of my favorite parts of the weekend is when I brought the car back in fresh off of 3 almost back to back to back sessions with me and Jake driving it. The car is hissing and popping and creaking from everything being so hot, and Tom's dad asked me what kind of tires and brakes I had on the thing. I replied "Eh... Whatever VW uses at the factory" and he laughed his ass off. It really is wild to be going this fast in a little hatch back that college girls drive because they're cute.

Here is the middle session of the day before Jake realized I wasn't going to take it easy and encouraged me to back off.

[Sijray21]

Very nice! Did you notice any brake fade from the stock pads toward the end of the sessions?

[Apoc]

Not willing to write this car off, so no DE in it.

I'm only quoting it because it's on the same page.